Worldwide Sports News

You all know that the Cubs struggled for the first 16 games of 2026, going 7-9.

Since then it’s been almost all winning — 10 straight, then three losses, and now entering Wednesday night’s game against the Reds on a seven-game winning streak (and also 13 consecutive wins at Wrigley Field).

I decided to see how this year’s 24-12 start ranked in franchise history.

Just four teams in Cubs franchise history had more wins over their first 36 games than the 2026 edition. You’ll be pleased to know that three of those four Cubs clubs made the World Series and two of those were World Series champions:

The calendar has flipped to May, which means we aren’t allowed to say “it’s still only April!” any longer. That’s fairly obvious when one actually reads the calendar, but by this point in the season, some of the things that are happening on the field may actually be how the season is going to happen for players. That troublesome two weeks at the beginning of the month? We’re now near 150 plate appearances at this point. Maybe there is something to the noise that their data is putting out. We can start to investigate a little further to be able to give a more definitive answer about questions that may have trailed some of the players on the roster. Let’s look at a few things that have popped out for the Phillies.

J.T. Realmuto is back to being an upper echelon catcher

When the team re-signed J.T. Realmuto over the winter, most of the discussion was about giving that much money to a player that was in decline. Almost everything about Realmuto’s season in 2025 was down – offense, defense, speed, all of it. Yet being arguably the best option on the free agent market for a position the Phillies didn’t really have much depth in, it made sense to bring him back, even if the price caused a brow or two to furrow.

At this point, Realmuto is about 15 games behind his contemporaries in the statistical realm, so a lot of his counting stats are going to lag behind the players at the top of the list when sorting numbers, but there are some things to like, some things to continue to worry about.

The offense is still in the territory where one might be concerned. The bat speed at this point looks to have returned after a down season in 2025, but a drop in exit velocity might concern. The thing to remember with Realmuto though – he’s only had 72 plate appearances. His missing several games with a back injury means the sample size is still very small. The gains he’s made to being one of the better defensive catchers in the game are great, but again, small sample size.

Verdict: Too early. I’m not sure that Realmuto will ever get back to the halcyon days of his being the BCIB. Age never loses when she plays the game, and he is a 35 year old catcher who regularly plays 130-135 games a season. However, the defensive numbers may be a bit stickier and could give the team some real value if he can hold up through the summer. We’re so used to seeing Realmuto play through nagging injuries, but it seems more and more that those injuries are lingering longer. Calls for his to have less playing time will likely fall on deaf ears, but as we have said each year for <checks watch> forever, saving some innings on his body would go a long way.

Aaron Nola is cooked

Nola’s 2025 season was marred with ineffectiveness and injury. When he was off the mound, the team needed to come up with innings to cover his absence. When he was on the mound, some wondered if that absence could somehow be extended. The numbers he produced were easily the worst of his career, yet optimists could handwave it away with a simple blame of injury. It was easy to think this, that the injuries and innings were taking their toll. This season began with his having a good showing in the World Baseball Classic, hopefully a good omen for the season to come and a cause for optimism for the coming season.

Sadly, in April, Nola showed that maybe 2025 is the new norm. Or is it?

There are lots of various pitching models out there that grade the stuff of a pitcher. How reliant you are on them to tell you a story might cloud your judgement of Nola and his path forward from here. At this point, his numbers over the 2025 season and the start to his 2026 would paint the picture of a rotation workhorse that is starting to see the innings totals begin to take their toll. Nola’s baseball card numbers showed a pitcher with a 6.03 ERA, not a whole heck of a lot of that unlucky and more questions about his future with the team. Dig a little deeper and the picture does look a little bit rosier.

He’s striking out about the same amount of hitters that he usually does. His control isn’t the control we’ve come to know from Nola, but it also isn’t in the red yet. There is a tinge of bad luck surrounding his game (.343 BABIP), and the Phillies’ defense does stink, but there have been a lot of weak contact from him (6.1%, the highest of his career) that is finding the holes in the field, suggesting maybe the baseball gods are against him. He’s getting barreled more often and that’s entirely a him thing, but there is a bit of luck involved.

It’s the stuff that is a bit more encouraging. Using Stuff+, he has a really good pitch (knucklecurve, 121 Stuff+), two decent pitches (both fastballs, sinker and four-seam, 105 each), one that is slightly below average (cutter, 90) and a pitch that is pretty rough (changeup, 66). The results don’t exactly trend with those numbers as a few of those, at least by wOBA, are getting destroyed.

The fastballs have been steadily getting worse by the season, somewhat expected considering he’s reliant on location when using them. It’s the secondaries where there have been good results when hitters hit them. The changeup and curveball have been effective and probably should see an uptick in their usage.

Another issue with Nola has been how he has fared with left handed hitters. The difference between lefties (.909 OPS) vs. righties (.688 OPS) has been stark. Left handers are crushing his fastball right now, posting a .654 wOBA against the pitch even as he uses it a third of the time when they are in the box. A key to his having a better season moving forward would be a better pitch mix when facing left handed hitters.

Verdict: Fake (but it’s really close). Expectations for Nola moving forward probably should be ratcheted down quite a bit, if they haven’t been already. The days of his being an co-Ace are long gone, as are the days of his being a #2 or even a #3. If he can still settle into a #4 role, using his stuff in a better manner as he did on Monday night, the team might be able to use that well.

The Phillies badly need another outfielder

Check your preseason Phillies Bingo card. Did you have Brandon Marsh as a possible All-Star candidate?

The national narrative surrounding the team is that their outfield is bad and needs an upgrade (or two). In his most recent article where he decided to try and trade Mike Trout to the Phillies, Keith Law used that line to describe the team’s current outfield state.

The most obvious trade partner is the Phillies, who need help in the outfield corners and would get an immediate bump from bringing a local star.

As a whole unit, the team’s outfield ranks in the bottom third in OPS (.671, 22nd in MLB), so there’s truth to that statement. Marsh has been very good this season, though most of his damage has come against right handed pitching (.919 OPS against RHP, .432 against LHP). Justin Crawford is getting leeway this year with his offense, just needing to tread water for the most part, something he has done solidly thus far. Adolis Garcia hasn’t had the power arrive just yet, but the at bats have been quality thus far and defensively, he has made a difference.

It still just feels like there needs to be something more.

Verdict: Real. By the time the trade deadline rolls around, the team will probably know what they need with the outfield. How they continue to view Crawford both now and in the future will likely determine the course of action they choose with this group. If they believe that there is another gear for him to take, holding on to him and continuing to let him develop at the major league level probably means they don’t make a move for an outfielder. If they can find someone to platoon with Marsh, it would make for a more effective situation for their overall offense.

Of course, one can argue that this should have been done already at this point, but that just feels pointless right now.

If you had told me before the season started that one Yankees batter would have a wRC+ starting with 2 at the beginning of May, I would have immediately guessed Aaron Judge, since, you know, that’s what he did the past two years. Failing that, my next guess would have been Ryan McMahon, with the caveat that his would be in the 20s rather than the 200s. There’s a chance that Ben Rice wouldn’t have even been my third guess. But here we are on May 5, and lo and behold: through Sunday’s action, Rice leads the team with a 211 wRC+.

Rice probably isn’t going to maintain this level of production for the entire year. However, he doesn’t need to for him to be a godsend for the Yankees. In fact, even if Rice only managed to replicate his 2025 stats – a 133 wRC+ and 3.0 WAR – I would have been ecstatic. Are my expectations too low? Maybe. But after a decade-plus of lackluster production from first base, even 2025 Ben Rice was like a desert oasis.

To wit: that 133 wRC+ that Rice posted in 2025? The last Yankees first baseman to post a higher mark over a full season (excluding 2020) was…Mark Teixeira, all the way back in 2009. Indeed, Tex really was the last stable presence at first base before the rise of Rice; the intervening years saw many first basemen try to hold the position down, but none could. That’s not to say that the position was a black hole for 15 years – there were some bright points from time to time. Ultimately, though, even the players who enjoyed success could not sustain it. In order to fully appreciate the Ben Rice experience, let’s take a small trip down memory lane to recall what it was like before our boyish-faced king came around.

2013-2016: Mark Teixeira’s fall and Greg Bird’s emergence

After the Yankees signed him to an eight-year, $180 million contract in the 2008-9 offseason, Mark Teixeira certainly lived up to it during the first half of the pact. After a spectacular 2009 season which saw him win a ring and place 2nd in MVP voting, Teixeira hit 96 home runs and was worth 10.4 WAR from 2010-12. However, things went south quickly for the switch-hitting slugger thereafter. He missed nearly the entire 2013 season due to wrist issues and subsequent surgery, forcing the Yankees to make do with a truly uninspiring list of replacements – Lyle Overbay, Mark Reynolds, Kevin Youkilis, and a bunch of dudes that sucked even worse. I was there to witness it – on the game threads, at least. It was bad.

2014 saw Teixeira return to the field at least, but the results were meh at best – a .216/.313/.398 line, good for only a 102 wRC+, over 123 games. It was better than 2013 in the sense that in-flight meals are better than eating nothing at all. Given his age – this was Tex’s age-34 season – the consensus among Yankees fans was that we had seen the last of him as a productive major leaguer.

So, imagine our shock when Teixeira found the fountain of youth in 2015, hitting 31 home runs in just 462 plate appearances and posting a 143 wRC+. It was glorious, it was stupendous, and it was marvelous – before it came to an abrupt halt. In mid-August, Tex fouled a ball off his foot and left the game. Just like that, his season was over – though initial tests came back negative, a mid-September MRI revealed that he had suffered a fractured shin. However, a rising star within the Yankees’ system softened the blow. It was none other than the original Baby Bomber, Greg Bird.

Having been called up on August 13, Bird assumed starting duties at first base immediately following Tex’s injury, and spent the rest of 2015 looking like the Yankees’ first baseman of the future. He hit 10 home runs and garnered 1.1 WAR in just 178 plate appearances, and was one of only three Yankees to record a hit in the 2015 Wild Card game loss against the Astros. Every fan in Yankeedom was hoping that Bird would wrest the position from Tex for good in 2016.

Alas, it was not to be. Bird tore his labrum in the offseason and missed the entire 2016 season. Forced into a starting role, Teixeira posted a 76 wRC+ and -0.7 WAR over 116 games before retiring at season’s end. Thus ended Tex’s reign, with a whimper, an injured heir, and a cloudy future.

2017-2018: Greg Bird’s failed liftoff and Luke Voit’s magical run

There were many questions surrounding Greg Bird prior to the 2017 season. How did missing all of 2016 affect his development? Would he be able to hit like he did in 2015? Would his body hold up over a full season?

Then spring training started, and Bird absolutely raked. He hit eight homers, tied with Bryce Harper for the MLB lead, and had an OPS of 1.654. It was more than enough to turn the conversation surrounding him from “Is he good?” to “How many MVP votes will he get?” Every Yankees fan – at least those who frequented this site – could not wait for the season to start so that Bird could wreak havoc on the league.

If there is an omnipotent being, they must have it in for Bird for some reason. On March 30, less than 48 hours until Opening Day, Bird fouled a ball off his ankle. That was all it took to sap all of his offensive production. Over the first month of the season, Bird hit a paltry .100/.250/.200 across 19 games before being placed on the IL with a bruised right ankle. In July, he underwent surgery to remove a bone from his ailing foot. He would not return until August 26.

Luckily for the Yankees, they had acquired veteran slugger Chris Carter in the offseason for exactly this sort of situation. Unfortunately for the Yankees, Carter was utterly washed. He hit just .201 with eight homers with -0.3 WAR in 62 games. It was so bad that the Yankees had to turn to literally Chase Headley at first base. To his credit, Headley hit well, posting a 114 wRC+ in his 39 games played at first. That was good enough to hold down the fort until Bird’s return – and return he did, hitting eight home runs with a .575 slugging percentage in 98 PAs to close out the year.

Bird hit well during the Yankees’ 2017 postseason run as well, with a .244/.426/.512 line across 54 PAs. Who could forget his signature moment, a 7th inning solo shot against prime Andrew Miller in a do-or-die ALDS Game 3 against the Guardians which proved to be the margin of victory?

That postseason performance, coupled with a strong finish to the year, was more than enough to rekindle hope for Bird in even the most cold-hearted fans. But the universe is cruel and indifferent to our wishes. On March 26, 2018, it was announced that Bird would undergo ankle surgery, sidelining him for six to eight weeks. Two months later, he returned to the starting lineup, but his mojo was gone. Bird struggled to the tune of a .672 OPS in 82 games before losing his starting gig in late August. He played in just 10 games the following year, before yet another foot injury sidelined him for the entire year, and was designated for assignment in November. Just like that, the Yankees’ once first baseman of the future was gone.

However, as the saying goes, when one door closes, another one opens. The man who replaced Bird at first base in August 2018 was none other than Luke Voit. Acquired from the Cardinals at the trade deadline, Voit took the job and never looked back. In 39 games with the Yankees, he hit 14 homers with a .335/.405/.689 line, good for a 195 wRC+. Outside of Aaron Judge, I don’t really think I’ve ever seen a Yankee run this hot for this long; it really felt like he was homering every game. He was so good that even Ken Singleton was flustered.

Although the 2018 season ended in a painful fashion, there was a feeling among Yankees fans that they had finally found the answer at first base in Luke Voit. But as a wise man often said, you can’t predict baseball. Tune in on Friday for another look back at the Yankees’ first base situation from 2019-2024.

Today, the Atlanta Braves made the move to call up utility infielder Jim Jarvis from Triple-A Gwinnett. Here is a look at what you can reasonably expect from the newest Brave, as well as a little more background.

Jarvis is a 25-year-old who was drafted by Detroit in the 11th round in 2023, and given a slightly overslot bonus of $175k, after a four year career at Alabama. The California native came over to the Braves last year at the trade deadline in one of the few moves the team made, for Rafael Montero. At the time he was hitting .242/.316/.336 in the Tigers Double-A affiliate.

Jarvis went right to Columbus and hit .265/.344/.361 in 21 games, then went three for nine in a short stint in Gwinnett. After the season he went to the Arizona Fall League and slashed .259/.394/.426 with three doubles and two homers in 16 games.

He came into this season off of the strong AFL performance, and got a decent amount of playing time in spring training, getting 18 plate appearances with the big league club and a spot on the Spring Breakout Game roster before being sent to Triple-A. He then started to breakout with Gwinnett, as he has slashed .305/.418/.445 with six doubles, four homers, 15 steals in 17 attempts, and 23 walks to 27 strikeouts.

Jarvis has played almost exclusively at short this season, with 32 starts there and one at second. However in the minors he has played 42 games at second and 53 at third, with 178 at short. In terms of the defense we’ve seen this year, there have been some great plays mixed with some errors/lapses in concentration, which gives the feel of a guy who can fill in at short in the bigs, rather than a guy you’d want out there every day.

Jarvis projects as a utility infielder off the bench, a player whose versatility, speed, and solid contact/on base skills will give him a chance to stick around in the big leagues. However he has shown more power since coming to the Braves organization, as his four homers this year are only one off his career high of five back in 2024 – though doubles power is more the expectation from him.

Chances are if you are reading this article, you’re close to done with Bo Naylor. If you’re ok waiting longer and seeing if he can figure things out, welcome to the ranks of the few, the proud, the patient to a fault.

Here we are on May 6th and Bo Naylor has a 6 wRC+ and a 23.5/7.1 K/BB%. Among MLB players with 80 or more plate appearances this season, Bo and Ke’Bryan Hayes are the worst hitters so far. Interestingly, both Naylor and Hayes have expected weighted on-base averages of around .300 and actual weighted on-base averages of .180-.190. Hayes has a batting-average on balls in play of .123 and Bo is at .155. A wOBA of around .300 would be around 90 wRC+, which would be more than acceptable for a catcher in MLB (and for Hayes with his excellent defense, but this article isn’t about Ke’Bryan Hayes).

So, is Bo simply unlucky? Well… pretty much. Naylor has the lowest swinging-strike rate of his career, he is not going outside the zone more than his career norms, he has career highs in zone-contact rate and overall contact rate, and he’s running a career high barrel rate. His batted-ball date for groundballs, fly balls and line drives looks solid, also. I really hate to tell you this, guys, but Bo Naylor seems to be simply having one of the most unlucky starts to a season we’ve ever seen.

It’s obviously notable that pitchers on the Guardians do not seem to throw as well with Bo behind the plate. Guardians’ pitchers have an ERA of right around 4 with Bo and a 3.34 ERA with Austin Hedges. How much of that is Bo’s fault is virtually impossible to say. Bo is around average in blocking and pop-time, and in the 72nd percentile for framing. He’s not been good with catching would-be basestealers, but neither has Austin Hedges, so I’d tend to blame this on the pitchers and those coaching them on how to hold runners. Overall, Bo still looks like an average defender by the numbers, and, if the team has issues with his pitch-calling and/or receiving, it’ll be up to them to come to grips with that. They could always call pitches from the dugout as needed.

Of course, as luck would have it, the Guardians do have two catchers absolutely lighting up the statsheets as hitters in Triple-A Columbus. Kody Huff has a 140 wRC+ and an 18.9/11.1 K/BB% with a .333 BABIP. Cooper Ingle has a 246 wRC+ with a 19/33 K/BB% with a .480 BABIP. Recently, Guardians executive James Harris made it clear the team does not believe Ingle is not ready to play catcher at the major league level. When will that change – who can say? As for Huff, of course, there is no way to know that 140 wRC+ would translate at all to the majors. But, in general, Huff has a great defensive reputation. Does there a come a point where the Guardians just acknowledge that Bo is immensely snake-bit as a hitter and admit some frustrations with his pitch-calling and handling?

To be honest, I find that unlikely. I think until the time would come where Bo’s underlying metrics come more in line with his actual production, we are going to see him continue to get the lionshare of plate appearances to try to figure things out. And, while I am not opposed to getting a look at any player who is dominating in Triple-A, I think that patience is probably the right decision here.

Throw your tomatoes, folks. We are going to get more Bo for a while. Let’s all just hope he can start to right the ship – and hope the same for Steven Kwan, Jose Ramirez and Kyle Manzardo while we’re at it.

The Astros Curse has now taken Carlos Correa for the season, further testing the depth of the organization.

Whitcomb was optioned to Triple-A Sugar Land Monday when the team recalled C Cesar Salazar in light of an injury to starting C Yainer Diaz.

The injury to Correa allows the Astros to recall Whitcomb while bypassing the mandatory waiting period.

Whitcomb is batting .269 for the Space Cowboys with an .835 OPS. He has produced 4 HR, 10 RBI and 4 SB in 13 games and 52 AB for Sugar Land.

Whitcomb was sparsely used in his previous stint with the Astros this season. In 10 games, he 1 for 13 with a 3-run HR.

With the latest Baseball America Top 100 prospect rankings dropping this morning, the Mariner farmhands were well represented up and down the list. Featuring five of the M’s top prospects, both Colt Emerson and Kade Anderson found themselves inside the top ten of all minor leaguers, with Emerson appearing at #4 and Anderson at #9. In fact, if prospects who have already made their major league debuts are removed from the list, those numbers improve to #3 and #6 respectively, with Konnor Griffin, Trey Yesavage, and Payton Tolle all on the cusp of graduation. It’s clear the industry is bullish on the 1-2 punch atop this system, and with their combination of talent and youth, it’s easy to see why.

Ryan Sloan, the Mariners #3 prospect by most outlets, appears on the list at #20, though his non-debuted rank would push him all the way up #12 overall. Sloan was challenged with an aggressive promotion to Double-A this season and has looked more human than many expected him to after a dominant spring, but still just 20 years old, his package of physicality, command, and stuff makes him one of the best pitching prospects in the game.

The final two M’s to make the list, both Lazaro Montes (#60) and Michael Arroyo (#87) are excelling in Double-A Arkansas and have looked good to begin this 2026 season. Montes, who’s off to an exceptionally hot start, is flaunting his tremendous power seemingly every game, and Arroyo, whose numbers aren’t entirely reflective of how he’s played thus far, is still commanding the strike zone well and is incredibly polished at the plate. Both are in line to compete for a big league promotion some time in the next calendar year.

All five prospects featured in the rankings play at the Double-A level or higher, a fantastic indicator for the overall health of this system. All of these players are well below the average age of their competitors, and they’ve been capable of holding their own despite their youth. There is a promising young core of Mariner talent biding their time in the minor leagues, and fans should be ecstatic about the future prospects of this ballclub. 

Carlos Correa was scratched from last night’s game following an injury to his ankle in batting practice. As it turns out, that will be the last time that Correa is seen on the field this season in an Astros uniform. Correa suffered ligament damage in his ankle and will have surgery. According to reports, he will be out six to eight months following the surgery.

The Astros have called up Shay Whitcomb to take his place on the active roster. Presumably, this means that Isaac Paredes will become the everyday third baseman and Jeremy Pena will slot into the shortstop position when he returns from the injured list. The injury is another crushing blow in a season that has seen a number of things go wrong for the Astros.

In particular, this is a devasting injury for Correa as he had a good road trip and seemed to be settling in as the new leadoff hitter and team leader. Nick Allen took his place at shortstop last night and will continue to play there until Pena returns from the injured list. Reportedly, Pena is ready to begin a minor league rehab assignment this weekend.

As for the Astros, this takes a bit of wind out of their sails even though they are 4-4 in their last eight games. They will finish off with the Dodgers this evening and then begin a seven day road trip against the Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers. Those seven games will go a long way in determining whether the Astros will remain in the hunt or fall further behind in the standings.

Last of three in Tampa. If they light a match on the way out, I will not shed a tear.

I hate afternoon weekday games, it messes up the day.

There are some updates:

• Addison will be addisoned to the roster Friday. They haven’t said who is going to leave the roster. I’m think Sosa but I don’t know.
• The team got a new MRI on José Berríos and are ‘still thinking things through’.
• Max Scherzer’s forearm ‘isn’t responding the way he hoped’. That’s age Max, nothing responds the way you hope.
• Kirk is ‘on schedule’.

Today’s lineup:

Go Jays Go. I could really use a win today.

The St. Louis Cardinals will try to wrap up their 3-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers Wednesday afternoon at Busch Stadium after game 2 was postponed due to weather. The Cardinals will send Andre Pallante to the mound while the Brewers starter looks to be Brandon Sproat who was scheduled to be the starter Tuesday night before the weather postponement. First pitch is scheduled for 12:15pm at Busch Stadium and the game will be broadcast on Cardinals.tv.

Go Rays!