SURPRISE, AZ - FEBRUARY 24: Asa Lacy #33 of the Kansas City Royals poses during Photo Day on Wednesday, February 24, 2021 at Surprise Stadium in Surprise, Arizona. (Photo by Rob Tringali/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Lacy, a lefty out of Texas A&M, was the #4 overall pick in the MLB Draft in 2020, ranked #3 overall by Baseball America, and his $6.67 million signing bonus was the fourth largest in the class. He has been dogged by injuries in his professional career, and hasn’t pitched in an affiliated game since 2022, when he had a 10.61 ERA in 28 innings over 15 appearances between the Arizona Complex League and the Texas League.
We have previously discussed how the 4th overall pick in the MLB Draft seems cursed, although Wyatt Langford and Nick Kurtz are currently doing their best to dispel that notion. Still, in the 30 years since Kerry Wood was selected fourth overall in 1995, only five players — Ryan Zimmerman, Kevin Gausman, Kyle Schwarber, Gavin Floyd and Wyatt Langford — have hit double digits in bWAR.
But fourth pick superstitions aside, almost six years after the 2020 draft took place, the first round as a whole appears to be a massive disappointment. Here are the first ten picks:
1 — Spencer Torkelson to the Tigers. Torkelson, a third baseman out of Arizona State, was supposed to be a major league ready impact bat. After three disappointing seasons in the majors from 2022-24, Torkelson appeared to have turned a corner in 2025, when he put up a 117 OPS+ and 2.3 bWAR. Alas, he’s off to a slow start in 2026, slashing .179/.329/.224 in 22 games.
2 — Heston Kjerstad to the Orioles. Kjerstad was a below-slot pick as an outfielder out of the University of Arkansas. He’s slashed .218/.284/.365 in 314 major league plate appearances over three seasons as a platoon COF/DH, and started 2026 on the injured list.
3 — Max Meyer to the Marlins. Meyer got the third highest bonus as a righthander out of the University of Minnesota. He’s missed time with injuries and hasn’t been good when he has been on the mound, with a 5.07 ERA in 30 career starts, though the 27 year old has a 3.96 ERA and 3.49 FIP through five starts this season.
4 — Asa Lacy to the Royals. Released.
5 — Austin Martin to the Blue Jays. A shortstop out of Vanderbilt, Austin Martin got the second highest bonus in the draft. Barely a year later, he was traded, along with Simeon Woods Richardson, to the Minnesota Twins in a deal that was initially viewed as a coup for Minnesota, but was probably more the Jays realizing their #5 overall pick wasn’t what they had hoped. He’s missed a lot of time with injuries, and has just a 0.5 bWAR in 163 major league games, though he’s off to a very good start in 2026.
6 — Emerson Hancock to the Mariners. Hancock was a righthanded pitcher out of the University of Georgia. After spending parts of 2023-25 in the majors and not pitching well, he’s put up a 2.83 ERA in five starts so far this season, albeit with a 3.97 FIP and 3.81 xERA.
7 — Nick Gonzales to the Pirates. A shortstop out of the University of New Mexico, Gonzales has played mostly second base in the majors. He has a career .257/.300/.370 slash line in 244 games, with a 0.2 bWAR.
8 — Robert Hassell IIIto the Padres. The first high schooler selected, Hassell was a toolsy outfielder who you may remember as being the subject of talks between the Rangers and Padres when they were discussing Joey Gallo. Hassell, who turns 25 in August, ended up being traded to the Nationals in the Juan Soto trade. After slashing .223/.257/.315 in 206 plate appearances in 2025, with an ugly 62:8 K:BB ratio, Hassell is back in AAA this year and sporting a 667 OPS.
9 — Zac Veen to the Rockies. The second high schooler taken, and like Hassell an outfielder, Veen made his major league debut last season, putting up a 424 OPS in 12 games. He is in AAA this year and has a 576 OPS.
10 — Reid Detmers to the Angels. Finally, a success story, kinda! A lefthanded pitcher out of the University of Louisville, Detmers, in typical Angels first round fashion, made his major league debut in 2021. He put up a 4.6 bWAR between 2022-23, was bad in 2024, pitched out of the bullpen in 2025, and is back in the rotation in 2026. His 4.9 career bWAR is the fourth highest of any 2020 first rounder.
There were some productive picks later in the first round. Garrett Crochet went 11th overall. Pete Crow-Armstrong was the 19th overall pick. Jordan Westburg looks like a terrific pick at #30. Tyler Soderstrom, selected 26th overall, had a very good 2025 season. Patrick Bailey, selected 13th, is a defensive savant behind the plate, though the bat is lacking.
Still, this is an underwhelming draft — particularly given how college-heavy it was, especially at the top. A college player selected in 2020 should be in his age 26 or 27 season, should be in his prime. Out of the 37 players selected, it looks, at this point, like there are two stars* — Crochet and Crow-Armstrong — a handful of solid regulars, and then guys who are role players, at best.
* Three, if you are sold on Jordan Walker’s start to the season.
That includes, of course, Justin Foscue, who the Rangers took 14th overall. Texas would have been much better off grabbing Crow-Armstrong, or Westburg, though the picks immediately after Foscue were Mick Abel, Ed Howard, Nick Yorke and Bryce Jarvis.
The overall whiff is, I imagine, largely going to be blamed on the pandemic, which resulted in an abbreviated spring season that left evaluators with scant data to go off of in making their selections, as well as disrupting players’ overall development paths, both pre-draft and in the year-plus after they were picked. Under the circumstances, the large number of misses seem understandable.
But hey, at least the Rangers grabbed Evan Carter that year.
The 1962 Mets | (Photo by Authenticated News/Getty Images)
For much of Mets history, fans have been able to find some solace amid their misery in a simple notion: At least it’s not as bad as 1962. With the 2026 Mets mired in an 11-game losing streak, now would seem the perfect time to cue that sentiment once again.
The 1962 Mets managed to lose at least 11 consecutive games on three separate occasions en route to a 40-120 record, the third-worst win percentage (.250) of any AL/NL team in the modern era behind the 1916 Athletics (.235) and 1935 Braves (.248). The Mets even began the season on a nine-game losing streak. But after that horrific start, they actually managed to go 12-10 over their next 22 games. On May 21, they had won 9 of their last 12 games, including four walk-offs at the Polo Grounds, moving all the way up to eighth place out of ten teams in the National League.
That’s when the wheels came off. They would never see the likes of eighth place again, and soon ninth place would be permanently out of reach as well, as the 1962 Mets were about to begin a breathtakingly baffling 17-game losing streak — the longest in franchise history, and the subject of this long-deserved, game-by-game retrospective. However absurd, miserable, and outright hilarious you might think this seventeen-game losing streak was: think bigger.
It involved a curse on eighth innings, a run-in with Calvin Coolidge (not that one), a brawl with a pair of Hall of Famers, a homestand of emotional reunions at the Polo Grounds, a forgotten hitting streak, and the dramatic redemption of possibly the worst pitcher in Mets history. So without further ado, let us travel back to May 21, 1962, taking a whimsical journey through baseball history to witness what is actually, indisputably, still the feeblest stretch of New York Mets baseball….
GAME 1: NYM 2, HOU 3 (Monday, May 21)
The Mets made their first-ever trip to Houston to face a fellow rookie franchise in the Colt .45s, who at this point were 1.5 games behind the Mets in the NL standings.
Believe it or not, the first game of this unfortunate streak began as the snapping of a positive one, as the Mets entered looking to extend their budding three-game win streak. They even took an early 2-0 lead (the ’26 Mets are still yet to maintain a two-run lead at any point during their losing streak) against Houston starter Jim Golden, but were shut out the rest of the way in one of Golden’s five career complete games. Golden would go on to win only seven games during the 1962 season; five of them came against the Mets.
Relief pitcher and future U.S. congressman Vinegar Bend Mizell, nicknamed for a town in Alabama near his native Leakessville, Mississippi, was pinned with a hard-luck loss for the Mets despite turning in 5.1 innings of one-run ball in relief. The game was tied at 2-2 until the bottom of the eighth (an inning which would soon come to be synonymous with terror for the Mets), when Houston’s 38-year-old Jim Pendleton knocked a pinch-hit triple off the left-center-field wall and was promptly brought home on a sac fly. The Mets threatened in the ninth thanks to hits from Sammy Taylor and Richie Ashburn, but could not tie it.
GAME 2: NYM 2, HOU 3 (Tuesday, May 22)
Jay Hook, owner of the first win in Mets history the previous month, took the ball for a nighttime getaway game in Houston. Hook went eight strong, surrendering a game-tying solo shot to Román Mejías — the right fielder who delivered the sac-fly the day prior — and nothing else until the eighth inning, when the Colt .45s rallied for two.
Houston starter Turk Farrell, who would go on to put up 7.0 bWAR that season despite going just 10-20 with a 3.02 ERA in 241.2 innings pitched, worked around trouble. The Mets mustered ten hits but just two runs. A promising rally seemed to be building in the ninth inning when they got two on with nobody out while trailing by two, but Sammy Taylor flew out and the pitcher Hook (who was not pinch-hit for in this situation, probably making Casey Stengel delighted there was no Twitter at the time) struck out. The Mets’ lone All-Star Ashburn once again came through late, hitting an RBI single to make it a 3-2 ballgame, but an Elio Chacón grounder ended it.
The Mets were now bound for the West Coast to face their New York forefathers, the Dodgers and Giants, for the first time. The flight from Houston to Los Angeles was scheduled to arrive at about 5:45am, though Roger Craig, the next day’s starting pitcher and the ‘62 team’s de facto ace, had already made the trip.
GAME 3: NYM 1, LAD 3 (Wednesday, May 23)
The first-ever contest between the Mets and Dodgers was, fittingly, a pitchers’ duel, as Roger Craig and NL Cy Young winner Don Drysdale kept things locked at a 1-1 tie until the eighth. The Dodgers got on the board in the third thanks to NL MVP Maury Wills, who hit a one-out single just out of the reach of a diving Richie Ashburn and drew enough attention at first to cause a balk from Craig after multiple pickoff attempts.
The Mets got on the board with an RBI single the following inning from right fielder Joe Christopher, who had been promoted from Syracuse two days earlier (meaning his first game with the Mets unfortunately aligned with the start of the losing streak). The next batter, Frank Thomas, nearly put the Mets ahead with a deep fly ball to left field, but the Dodgers’ Tommy Davis caught it before it could land in the sparkling new Dodger Stadium seats.
The Dodgers finally got to Craig in the eighth, of course, scoring a pair. Meanwhile, Drysdale was impenetrable, retiring nine of the last ten Mets to complete a dominant four-hitter. Speaking of streaks, the game began a stretch lasting through early August in which Drysdale went 16-1.
GAME 4: NYM 2, LAD 4 (Thursday, May 24)
The Mets’ defense got off to a hot start in this one, with Wills shockingly being caught stealing by Mets catcher Harry Chiti before Tommy Davis was robbed of a hit in right. The game then became a battle of the Franks, with the Dodgers’ Frank Howard and Mets’ Frank Thomas trading early homers. The Mets were up 2-1 until an error by second baseman and former Dodger Charlie Neal set up an L.A. run in the seventh, and the familiarly stubborn eighth inning yielded two more. For four consecutive games, the Mets had surrendered the go-ahead run in the eighth.
Aside from Thomas’ homer, the Mets couldn’t get anything going against Johnny Podres — the man on the mound for 1955 World Series MVP who was on the mound when Dem Bums finally won a championship — and were four-hit for the second straight day.
With the loss, the Mets were now relegated to last place in the National League. It was a slot in the standings they would never escape.
GAME 5: NYM 8, LAD 17 (Friday, May 25)
Unlike their previous four losses, this one wasn’t a tight, low-scoring affair decided by a late rally or defensive miscue. The Dodgers barraged the Mets for 17 runs on 18 hits, tying a record for the most runs the Dodgers had scored since moving to Los Angeles four years prior.
To add insult to injury, the Mets’ offense actually put up a valiant effort, scoring eight runs off 19-year-old Dodger rookie Joe Moeller. It was the only game during the 17-game losing streak in which they would score more than six runs, and yet they still somehow lost by nine. Frank Thomas hit another home run for New York, while third baseman Cliff Cook — who had been traded to the Mets from Cincinnati as part of a package for veteran third baseman and baseball legend Don Zimmer — notched his first Mets homer.
The Mets also got the first four-hit day in franchise history from Félix Mantilla, who somehow accomplished the feat despite only entering the game in the third inning after starting shortstop Elio Chacón was ejected. But this one was all Dodgers, leaving the Mets searching for answers as they departed north for San Francisco.
GAME 6: NYM 6, SF 7 – f/10 (Saturday, May 26)
It seemed the Mets might finally pull one out, leading 5-4 with only six outs to get. But that pesky eighth inning struck again, as the scorching hot Willie Mays — coming off three homers in his prior two games — drilled a solo homer off the Mets’ starter Jay Hook. Just like that, the first Mets-Giants contest was going to extra innings.
Félix Mantilla, despite his four-hit performance in L.A. the previous day, once again was forced to prove himself off the bench. Entering late at third base, Mantilla hit a go-ahead solo homer in the top of the tenth, putting the Mets back in position to win. But with one out in the tenth, Mays struck again, hitting a two-run, walk-off homer off Hook, who was still on the mound facing his 39th batter of the game.
While one established Giants Hall of Famer proved the hero at the plate, a 23-year-old rookie named Gaylord Perry proved himself with four quality innings of relief in just the seventh appearance of his career.
GAME 7: NYM 1, SF 7 (Sunday, May 27)
The Mets didn’t show much fight in this 7-1 loss, though they did fight in a much more literal way with the Giants. It just wouldn’t be a seventeen-game losing streak without a brawl, would it?
Trailing 4-1 after a Willie Mays RBI single in the seventh inning, Mets starter Roger Craig — who had pitched up and in on Mays a earlier in the game — drilled Orlando Cepeda in the back. Cepeda went for Craig at the mound before being tackled by his own manager Alvin Dark, preventing a larger melee at least for the moment. Craig then tried to pick off Mays at second, with the Say Hey Kid supposedly spiking shortstop Elio Chacón as he slid back to the bag. Chacón then threw a punch at Mays, who, in the words of the New York Times’ John Drebinger, proceeded to “pick up Elio bodily and throw him to the ground as though he were a sack of flour.”
While the idea of Craig and Chacón going toe-to-toe with Hall of Famers Mays and Cepeda during a blowout loss might seem like the ultimate encapsulation of the ‘62 Mets, the funniest part was actually yet to come. Craig immediately tried to pick off Cepeda at first after the brawl was over, but the throw got by first baseman Ed Bouchee, allowing the runners to advance before Felipe Alou singled them both home. Talk about an embarrassing inning. Additionally, Chacón, who had been ejected two days prior as well, managed to be the only player ejected after the scuffle. But he was right back in the lineup for the back half of the doubleheader…
GAME 8: NYM 5, SF 6 (Sunday, May 27)
This time, it really seemed the Mets’ misery was coming to an end. The lovable losers were up 5-2 with four outs to go, having jumped on San Francisco’s 23-year-old starter and future Cy Young Award winner Mike McCormick.
But the curse of the eighth inning came back to haunt them, with Mays, Cepeda, and Alou all delivering clutch hits as the Giants mounted a three-run comeback. Reliever Bob Miller looked to keep the game tied facing a young Willie McCovey, but instead the go-ahead run came home on a passed ball charged to catcher Harry Chiti.
The Mets made a familiar late comeback attempt, getting a pair of two-out hits in the ninth from Marv Throneberry and Richie Ashburn, but Rod Kanehl flew a 3-2 fastball into the glove of left fielder Harvey Kuenn to bring the Mets’ losing streak to eight games as they departed Candlestick Park.
GAME 9: LAD 13, NYM 6 (Wednesday, May 30)
The Mets returned home to New York for a Memorial Day doubleheader with a familiar old friend: the Dodgers.
The highly-anticipated return of the Dodgers resulted in a crowd of 55,704 fans, the largest attendance at the Polo Grounds since a matchup between the Dodgers and Giants on September 6, 1942, and overtaking the opening of Dodger Stadium on April 10 for the largest crowd at a Major League game that season. Unreserved seats were sold for a sum of $1.30, while bleacher seats cost 75¢, and fans lined up as early as 7 a.m. on the day of the games.
The Mets faced off against 26-year-old Sandy Koufax, who was yet to win a Cy Young but had earned his first All-Star selection the prior season. The Mets managed six runs and thirteen hits off Koufax, but the Dodgers put up 13 runs, reaching that total for the second time in six days against New York. Maury Wills continued his MVP campaign by clubbing two homers, one of the inside-the-park variety to right-center and one which landed in the left-field seats. Four different Dodgers got at least three hits, and Jay Hook wound up on the hook for the loss.
GAME 10: LAD 6, NYM 5 (Wednesday, May 30)
The Mets put up quite the fight with Johnny Podres back on the mound for the Dodgers. Gil Hodges, after hitting a homer off his old teammate Koufax in the opener of the doubleheader, hit two more in the back half. The second homer moved Hodges into a tie with Ralph Kiner for 10th place on MLB’s all-time home run list, and it was the second-to-last homer Hodges would hit in his big league career.
The Mets even turned a triple play to end the sixth inning, the first in franchise history and the first in the Majors since July of 1960. The triple play preserved a 4-3 Mets lead, but homers by Frank Howard and Willie Davis gave the Dodgers a late edge. The Mets, of course, rallied with a pair of singles in the ninth, but could not push the tying run across.
While their losing streak wasn’t snapped, another Mets streak was: Frank Thomas’ hitting streak, which had reached 18 games. It would hold as the longest hitting streak by a Met until Tommie Agee hit in 20 straight in 1970.
GAME 11: LAD 6, NYM 3 (Thursday, May 31)
The festive series served not only as a chance for fans to see their formerly beloved Dodgers take the field once again, but for ex-teammates to reunite as well. Former Dodgers Charlie Neal and Frank Thomas got to reunite with old friends, while pitchers of days past Ralph Branca and Don Newcombe returned to throw out batting practice. Casey Stengel embraced the pregame atmosphere by talking to devoted Mets fans in center field, vowing that the team would attempt to do better while the fans assured him they would support the Mets even in bad times.
Such times were not difficult to find, as the Mets suffered their 11th straight defeat, while the Dodgers conversely picked up their 11th straight win. It was a meager effort, with the Mets’ lineup recording only three hits while the Dodgers scored six off Al Jackson.
Above all else, the series was perhaps a spiritual a sort of spiritual passing of the torch for fans, affirming the Mets as New York’s new team rather than — though unmistakably in the spirit of — the departed Dodgers. The New York Times’ Arthur Daley wrote in a May 31 story:
“Yet even when the Mets were being hanged, drawn and quartered, their new rooters cheered wildly at every feeble and hopeless counter-rally by their heroes. It’s the same sort of fierce devotion the Dodgers used to get from the Flatbush Faithful when they were so fearsomely inept in ancient days. Perfection cannot evoke such deep emotions and, heaven knows, the Mets are far, far from perfection.”
GAME 12: SF 9, NYM 6 (Friday, June 1)
After the Dodgers’ dramatic return to New York, now it was the Giants’ turn to come into town for a four-game set, with the two California squads tied for first place in the N.L. The Giants blasted four homers during the opener in their old home ballpark, with one from Willie Mays, one from that season’s Gold Glove Award winner Jim Davenport, and two courtesy of Willie McCovey.
The Mets trailed 9-1, appearing doomed to a dismal 12th-straight loss. But their curse of miserable eighth-inning meltdowns was suddenly reversed, as an error by San Francisco’s shortstop José Pagán ignited a five-run Mets rally. A two-run homer from Félix Mantilla brought the score to 9-6, apparently leaving the crowd in such a frenzy that play had to be paused when one fan actually made their way into the Mets’ dugout.
Frank Howard came to bat as the tying run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but the Giants held on as Thomas grounded into a 5-4 forceout to end it.
GAME 13: SF 10, NYM 1 (Saturday, June 2)
Any logical hope of the Mets’ losing streak ending at 12 was quickly quenched when the Giants pounced on Jay Hook for five runs in the first inning, before adding two more against Bob Moorhead in the second. The remarkable duo of Willie Mays and Orlando Cepeda continued to shine, with each homering and driving in three runs.
Aside from squeaking out a run in the first with help from an error charged to Mays, the Mets’ offense got nothing across against 33-year-old Jack Sanford, the former 1957 N.L. Rookie of the Year with the Phillies who would go on to finish second in N.L. Cy Young Award voting with 24 wins in 1962. Seemingly the hardest hit at the Giants’ expense came when Jim Davenport had to be removed after being struck on the base paths by a throw from Mets right fielder Jim Hickman.
Before the Mets could recover from the rout, they headed right back onto the field for another contest with the Giants.
GAME 14: SF 6, NYM 4 (Saturday, June 2)
The Mets found life in the back half of the doubleheader, erasing an early 4-0 deficit. The Mets had help from a pair of unearned runs, with Felipe Alou making an error in the third and second baseman Chuck Hiller dropping a throw from catcher Tom Haller (you’re forgiven if you think you’ve just stumbled upon a lost Abbott and Costello bit) in the fourth, allowing the Mets to tie the game. The score held at 4-4 until, of course, the haunted eighth inning, when Harvey Kuenn took Craig Anderson deep and handed the Mets a 14th consecutive loss. Over the course of the doubleheader, there were apparently six arrests made for disorderly conduct in the stands, meaning the number of spectators detained outweighed the number of Mets to score in both games combined. I suppose there are only so many losses a fan can take in a given day.
Anderson was pinned with his fourth loss of the losing streak, and he would end the season with a total of 17 losses while accumulating -2.6 bWAR. 64 years later, no player has managed to put up a single-season mark that low with the Mets since. Craig’s -3.6 bWAR over three seasons in orange and blue is also the lowest of any pitcher in franchise history.
But Anderson’s role in this story wasn’t over. Not yet.
GAME 15: SF 6, NYM 1 (Sunday, June 3)
The Giants’ stars were at it again in the Sunday afternoon series finale. 24-year-old Juan Marichal tossed a six-hit complete game, allowing just one unearned run on an error from Chuck Hiller, while Willie Mays hit yet another home run — his fifth in seven games against the Mets.
The score was even at 1-1 until the top of the seventh, when Mets reliever Bob Miller surrendered a single to Tom Haller, hit Chuck Hiller (welcome back Abbott and Costello), allowed a hit to José Pagán and then egregiously walked Marichal to force in a run, igniting a four-run Giants rally.
Having now been swept at home and on the road by both the Dodgers and Giants, the Mets’ losing streak reached 15 games. The New York Times ran a piece on June 3 by Robert L. Teague titled “Close-up of the Met Fan: Loud, Happy Desperation,” which I believe is just as relevant 64 years into the franchise’s history as it was two months in. Here is just one excerpt from it:
“Baseball’s latest phenom is so singular a performer that he strains credulity even when observed at close range with the naked eye. He is a Met Fan—a warm-hearted mixed breed that cannot be explained but merely described. His natural habitat is the Polo Grounds, where he cheerfully and regularly pays from 75 cents to $3.50 to suffer the exquisite tortures involved in watching the objects of his unbounded affection battle valiantly but vainly against clearly superior forces.
He voluntarily put himself on the rack again yesterday while the Mets scrambled and stumbled through a doubleheader with the mighty San Francisco Giants. Deep in his heart he know [sic] that the odds against his heroes were prohibitive, to say the least. But he does not believe in odds, facts, league standings, or diamond statistics. He concedes defeat almost daily, but only after the very last Met has been retired…”
GAME 16: NYM 0, PHI 2 (Wednesday, June 6)
The Mets and their 15-game losing streak were bound for Philadelphia to face the fledgling, eighth-place Phillies in a quick doubleheader. Ace Roger Craig turned in his best performance of the season thus far, tossing eight innings and allowing just two runs, but the Mets ran into a buzzsaw in the form of 36-year-old Phillies starter Cal McLish. The Mets had a golden opportunity to score in the top of the seventh with the bases loaded and nobody out, but a questionable call on a forceout of Elio Chacón at second ended the threat. Stengel and Chacón argued with the umpire, though Chacón avoided being ejected for at least the third time of the losing streak.
In case you happened to be wondering, Cal McLish’s full name is Calvin Coolidge Julius Caesar Tuskahoma McLish. When asked for an explanation of his name, McLish pointed to the fact that he was his parents’ seventh child, and the first that his dad got to name. Despite the many historically relevant options, his nickname of choice somehow wound up being “Bus” or “Buster.” Go figure.
McLish’s name might be long but he made quick work of the Mets, shutting them out on seven hits to extend their losing streak to 16 games. It now tied the longest streak recorded by a New York major league team, a mark set by the 1944 Dodgers. That unfortunate streak began for Brooklyn on June 28, 1944, in a game at Wrigley Field which featured relief pitching from — you guessed it — 18-year-old Cal McLish. Et tu, Brute?
GAME 17: NYM 1, PHI 2 (Wednesday, June 6)
The 17th and final loss in the Mets’ streak might just have been the most painful.
The Mets seized an early lead in the top of the first when Richie Ashburn drew a leadoff walk, stole second, and came home to score on a single by Charlie Neal. The Mets struggled to manufacture any more runs against right-hander Art Mahaffey, but starter Al Jackson was masterful on the mound, holding the Phillies scoreless through seven innings.
In the bottom of the eighth, longtime Philly second baseman Tony Taylor led off with a solo homer to even the score. Jackson escaped the rest of the eighth and came back out for the ninth, getting one out before allowing back-to-back singles, forcing Stengel’s hand. The ball was handed to Craig Anderson, who avoided being pinned with his fifth loss of the losing streak only because the run which he promptly allowed to score was charged to Jackson. Anderson threw just one pitch, and it resulted in a walk-off base hit off the bat of pinch-hitter Wes Covington. And thus, the streak had reached 17 games.
THE WIN: NYM 4, CHC 3 (Friday, June 8)
If the Mets overcoming the Cubs to win the N.L. Pennant in 1969 was one of the greatest miracles in sports history, perhaps this triumph over Chicago was a tinier but no less certain act of the baseball gods. How did the Mets, these Mets, who had lost 17 games in a row, finally taste victory? In the most bafflingly lucky way possible, of course.
It was an adventurous afternoon at Wrigley for starting pitcher Jay Hook, who put the Mets on the board with an RBI single in the third and held the Cubs to one run through six. The Mets clung to a 3-1 lead which nobody seemed to expect them to hold, and it evaporated when 22-year-old Ron Santo hit a game-tying, two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh.
The score was even at 3-3 until the top of the ninth, when the Mets loaded the bases on a series of Chicago miscues. Jim Hickman hit a leadoff single, Hook reached on a bunt thanks to an ill-advised forceout attempt at second, and Richie Ashburn reached on a bunt of his own thanks to an error by Ernie Banks at first. Charlie Neal hit a one-out fly ball to right to bring home Hickman, somehow giving the Mets a 4-3 lead. The New York Times’ Louis Effrat wrote that the run “should probably be donated to Cooperstown,” as it not only helped snap the streak but was also “one of the most uninspiring runs imaginable.”
Since the losing streak began, the Mets had now scored 58 earned runs. 14 of those 58 (24.1%) were unearned.
Hook was sent out to pitch the top of the ninth inning, but was removed after his warm-up pitches due to fatigue from baserunning (Hook had now reached base multiple times). Stengel handed the ball to none other than Craig Anderson. After loss upon loss, Anderson quickly retired Lou Brock and Bob Will to get the first two outs, putting the Mets on the cusp of salvation. Then, a pair of singles — the first a bloop hit, the second a grounder up the middle. Santo, who homered in his previous at-bat, came to the plate with the winning run on base.
The 1962 Mets, and Anderson in particular, had seen this movie a million times by now. They knew how it ended. A future Hall of Famer at the plate. A flimsy lead about to be obliterated. But somehow, against all odds, Anderson induced an easy grounder from Santo, one fittingly hit right back to the mound. Anderson fielded it cleanly and fired to Marv Throneberry at first.
It took a gift-wrapped run courtesy of botched fielding on a pair of bunts. It took arguably the worst pitcher in Mets history retiring two Hall of Famers in the final inning. It took 18 games and 19 days, enduring an eighth-inning hex, and surviving fights (of the baseball and brawling variety) with their city’s ex-sweethearts. But the Mets had finally won. Ya gotta believe.
How did they celebrate their long-awaited victory?
By immediately playing another game against the Cubs that very same day, and losing 3-2 when the game was called for darkness. In the eighth inning.
The Boston Red Sox are something of a rollercoaster ride…
It’s safe to say that watching them has been rather nauseating at points, as the peaks and valleys not only arise with each passing series, but with each game, inning, and pitch.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa was the perfect encapsulation of this on Monday, as he was called upon to pinch-hit for Jarren Duran in the seventh inning of an eventual 8-6 victory over the Detroit Tigers. Kiner-Falefa, whose only job was to drop down a bunt and advance the runners on first and second, failed miserably and was eventually called out on strikes as he bunted the ball foul — which might just be the worst thing you can do in professional sports. How did he respond? That very same guy lined a two-run single into the right field gap and played what would ultimately serve as the game-winning runs.
No, seriously!
It’s like that one episode of “The Office” where Michael Scott admits during the dinner party that he had three vasectomies for Jan Levinson.
Snip-snap! Snip-snap! Snip-snap!
Does that sound fun to you?
It isn’t, which is why folks should be excited about what this week’s series against the New York Yankees represents.
The Red Sox, despite having done the exact opposite over the last several weeks, have an opportunity to find consistency in their first divisional matchup of the season.
Why?
Connelly Early, Ranger Suarez, and Brayan Bello are slated to start during the three-game set, but if the folks in charge want to get funky, they could replace the latter with Payton Tolle — who is likely to soon receive a call-up thanks to Sonny Gray hitting the injured list — and make it three consecutive left-handed starters against New York.
The Yankees probably won’t be too thrilled to face three consecutive southpaws, as they carry a significantly lower team slash line against left-handers (.185/.283/.393) than they do against right-handers (.232/.340/.417).
Roman Anthony, Masataka Yoshida (please), and Caleb Durbin should help lead the charge offensively, with all three starting to string together consistent at-bats over the weekend. Wilyer Abreu and Willson Contreras tapping back into their power alongside that trio would go a long way in helping an offense that scores either two runs or nine runs and nothing in between.
The Yankees, who boast one of the best pitching staffs in baseball, are at their worst when facing heavily left-handed lineups.
I don’t want to be the guy who gets clouded by his admiration for one team and his hatred for the other, but things have lined up rather nicely for the home side. It’s too early to call this a must-win series, but it’s about as close as you can get while still recovering from the festivities (either your hangover from watching people run or your dead legs from running yourself) of Patriot’s Day.
Alex Cora’s club is starting to get the hang of this whole small ball thing, is moving in the right direction when it comes to the pitching staff, and should be playing with unmatched desperation.
Call me dumb, but I like their chances of taking two out of three.
SURPRISE, AZ - FEBRUARY 22: Alec Zumwalt #37 of the Kansas City Royals poses for a photo during the Kansas City Royals Photo Day at Surprise Stadium on Thursday, February 22, 2024 in Surprise, Arizona. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Clamoring for someone to lose their job isn’t the best thing to do in the world. However, if you are bad at your job, what reasons should you keep it? It’s just the nature of the real world, when you can’t maintain the standard that your job requires of you, you have to go and someone else should get your job and a chance to make things better.
After the Royals made the playoffs in 2024, the expectations the last two seasons have been to win the division. Well, we know how last year turned out. This year is somehow off to an even worst start.
Before the Thursday meltdown in Detroit, the Royals had scored 2 runs or less in 11 of their first 18 games and in 7 of their last 8. Losing games despite strong starting pitching, with no one running away with the division, makes those early-season games a lost opportunity. Similar to last season, the Royals are losing a bunch of games because their offense is downright terrible.
The Royals have the worst record in baseball at 7-16, losing eight straight contests. They are currently averaging 3.30 runs per game, second worst in the league. They have seven guys who have struck out 17 or more times in the first 23 games. If you took a shot for every pop up or strike out the Royals hit every game, you might be heading to the hospital by the fifth inning. They’ve been shut out three times in 23 games, which makes them to be on pace to be shut out 22 times this season. Finally, they are awful with runners in scoring position. As a team, they are hitting .200/.277/.259 in those situations, a wRC+ of 50 that is dead last in baseball.
Look no further than last night’s debacle against Baltimore. The Royals loaded the bases THREE times, once with nobody out and ZERO times did they hit the ball out of the infield. They have run into more outs on the bases than homers hit, although that might be a Hollins/Wilson issue. The Royals were 5-for-21 with RISP and left 16 guys on base in the loss last night. The performance is preposterous and the lack of runs puts way too much pressure on the bullpen. Yes, I know they’ve struggled, but they have no breathing room. The Royals had 14 hits last night, 12 singles. Meanwhile, guys like Leody Taveras, who has 42 career homers, is crushing grand slams to dead center in Kauffman Stadium. The Royals can’t even hit doubles or triples! Only the Mets have fewer extra-base hits!
The Royals haven’t won a baseball game in which the other team has scored since April 6th.
The best hitters in the lineup, Bobby Witt Jr., Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez are all struggling. Bobby Witt Jr. is looking for his first home run. Salvy is 2-for-27 with runners in scoring position. Vinnie and Salvy are among the ten worst qualified hitters in baseball by wRC+.
If you want to blame it on the Royals big three mightily struggling as to why the offense is bad, fine you can do that, but what is your solution, bench them? Trade them? Send them down? Salvy sat out on Saturday afternoon and he posted his displeasure on social media on the way it was handled.
Royals director of hitting performance/player development Alec Zumwalt has had a rather long leash and opportunity to prove his worth to stay. He is in his ninth season with the organization – he is a holdover from Mike Matheny’s staff! And what does he have to show for his performance?
Jac Caglianone currently sits at one homer. While he is hitting the ball hard a decent amount of the time, his swing is pounding a lot of balls into the ground. After he crushed homers all throughout the minors, who is to blame for his big league struggles?
Cags isn’t the only hitter to struggle under the Zumwalt regime, Drew Waters was once a highly touted prospect, he is nothing more than an AAAA player now. He is Barry Bonds in Omaha but has consistently been bad when getting run with Kansas City. MJ Melendez was a 40-homer guy in the minors and was then really bad for the Royals. Look at what he is doing so far for the Mets. Ryan O’Hearn and Brent Rooker have also found success with other organizations.
And this isn’t just a three-week sample size to panic over either. It’s a multi-year issue with Zumwalt and the offense. In the 130 games that Zumwalt was the hitting coach in 2022, the team averaged 4.01 runs, which over a full season, would’ve been 23rd best in the league. Since then, the 2024 playoff run looks like an aberration, rather than progress.
Outside of the runs not being scored, the Royals hit a lot of fly balls, and most of them are easy outs. They have a 43.4 percent flyball rate, third-highest in baseball. The Royals are batting .223 as a team currently, but according to Baseball Savant, their expected batting average is just a measly .229, which means they aren’t unlucky. Their at bats stink and when they put the ball in play, it’s either not well struck, or the launch angle is astronomical which makes for a very routine play. As a team they have a 13.8% pop up rate, fifth-highest in baseball.
The Royals also don’t hit for that much power for a team that is trying to hit as many flyballs as they do. In 2022, they hit 138 homers, the 26th most in baseball. In 2023, they hit 163, tied for 26th most. In 2024, they hit 170, which was tied for the 20th most. Last year, they hit 159, which was 26th best. So far this year, they have hit 18, which is tied for 22nd most. So, they’ve always been bottom third of the league in homers, despite putting the ball in the air a lot, and moving the fences in this year.
The Royals may turn it around like last season, but like last season, it’ll probably be too late, and they’ll never truly compete for a postseason spot. We are in the prime Bobby Witt Jr. era, and he has been turned into a singles hitter that can’t be driven in by his teammates. They are also wasting a top three starting pitching staff in baseball. It’s beyond time JJ. The move needs to be made now.
To borrow a phrase from Rex Hudler, “Alec Zumwalt, you got to go!”
ATLANTA, GA - APRIL 15: Matt Olson #28 (wearing #42 in honor of Jackie Robinson) of the Atlanta Braves celebrates with Drake Baldwin #30 after hitting a two-run home run in the seventh inning during the game between the Miami Marlins and the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park on Wednesday, April 15, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Todd Kirkland/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
It’s been a bit of a tradition around here to have a Community Bold Predictions post. Last week, Demetrius put a boldest prediction post on our Feed. We got some interesting feedback. Let’s sift through these and have a look at some of the great ones.
Win the whole thing
This is a mainstay of the predictions post. Running the table and going all the way always gets a mention. Is it bold? Sure, I think so. It’s been a minute since the Braves have made a deep playoff run. They haven’t advanced to the NLCS since their World Series run. Right now, they’re at +1400 to win it all. That suggests around a 7% chance to win it. That seems a tad low to me, considering how fast the Braves got out of the gate. Yankees are have about a 22% chance to make it to the World Series to lose.
This post is how you play. Pro-Braves and around 2-3% chance of happening? Certified bold.
Walt puts the hurt on WWE
If there was a MMA competition for MLB personnel, I would not want to be in Walt’s bracket. A little taekwondo, a little ground and pound. That’s a no from me. I do think Weiss has to be the leading candidate right now for the National League Manager of the Year competition. MOY is basically awarded to the manager of a team that improves the most year-to-year. And Atlanta’s 2026 is the opposite of last year so far.
Weiss is maybe 30% odds for Manager of the Year for me right now. Summer Slam? I’m not telling him no, even if the Braves will be beating down the Nats that weekend. Bold for me.
Luke Williams gets a save
The MLB rules don’t state it exactly but do imply that a player listed as a shortstop cannot get a save. However, ones classified as a two-way player can and pitchers do. He has a career 54 wRC+ and no true position. He has a lifetime 3.27/4.47/5.13 line and a 61 MPH eephus. So you can squint and say he might have more of a MLB job as a pitcher. That route would might start in Single-A Rome though. Maybe not this season, but soon?
Bold? Oh please please please make this happen, baseball gods.
Braves finish with best run differential in baseball
I’m very curious about this one. So let’s dig in. The Dodgers were +48 coming into tonight (and looking like +57 after they’re done with the Rockies). The Cubs are next at +34.
Coming into this season, the Braves were short five starting pitchers, Sean Murphy, Ha-Seong Kim, and Daysbel Hernandez. Spencer Strider will miss at least a month. It hasn’t mattered. The Braves are 16-7 and in first place at +62 in run differential. They’re second in baseball in wRC+, second in wOBA, second in OPS. They’re first in ERA, sixth in FIP, fourth best at walk prevention.
They’re getting big contributions from the 17th to 26th players on the team. Bryce Elder, Grant Holmes have been great. Even Martin Perez and Jorge Mateo have chipped in. The Braves are also taking pitchers that pick up three-inning saves and cutting them or sending them to Gwinnett. That’s seemingly one large benefit of having an open competition for several spots. Guys threw themselves into Spring Training, and that’s continued into the season. Interestingly the only open lineup spot that had a lot of coverage, left field, has not been great outside of super-utility Mauricio Dubon.
Their starters have been great as well. Drake Baldwin and Matt Olson have been on fire. Michael Harris’ Savant page is filled with giant red bars. Chris Sale has been dominant as well. So they’re gonna run away with the run differential title. Eh, maybe? Let’s look at the other side.
Fangraphs Depth Charts isn’t a Braves fan
These are the Fangraphs Depth Charts estimates right now. This has the Braves’ hitters in eighth in WAR, and the pitchers at tenth. WAR isn’t perfect (and neither is projected WAR), but it can give you a good idea because it’s measured in runs above replacement. So it’s a decent proxy for run differential. These get updated throughout the season.
They do a great job at Fangraphs, but I have a couple of issues with it. One issue with Depth Charts is that it is underselling the contributions of the currently injured players and fringe players (or at least fringe coming into the season). Are Hurston Waldrep and Spencer Schwellenbach going to throw fewer than 60 innings each? Is Spencer Strider perma-broken at 120 innings and 2.0 WAR? Bryce Elder is only getting 110 innings, when he already has 30 and led the team last year?
Are the Braves keeping JR Ritchie and Didier Fuentes down on the farm for under 30 MLB innings apiece? JR has a sub 1.00 ERA in Gwinnett right now. Didier is mowing down practically everybody and looks completely bored in Triple-A for my eyes. With Strider coming back, Hurston Waldrep and Spencer Schwellenbach behind him, and two prospects looking to break down the door, the entry to the Braves’ rotation is going to get higher. They have Martin Perez right now, who has been good and someone that the Braves will likely keep as depth. But he’s not long for the rotation, and may not stay through this week. I think the fifth starter in going to be getting 1.5-2.0 WAR per 150 innings pretty soon, and the top end might be closer to 4.
The other issue is that while I don’t doubt their math, the numbers going into 2026 they they were mathing with have been soured by 2025. A lot of those poor numbers was the injury misfortune and results from the hitting approach from last season. Last year the hitting approach forced some aggressive players into worrying about swing rate and cutting down their swing with two strikes. But look at the turnaround that Michael Harris II has made. He’s just concerned with killing the ball now, and that’s it. And it’s handy because he can do that.
These factors along with some weird choices make me doubt the estimates. Drake Baldwin at 2.9? After a 3.1 WAR rookie year while playing zero DH? He’s already at 0.9 WAR now. Mauricio Dubon at 1.1 WAR was always silly to me. He’s already at 0.6. You can see most of the logic being applied, and FG is very good. But if they’re off to the downside as much as they were to the upside last year, the Braves can win the team WAR title and likely the run differential one as well.
The Braves schedule has been light so far
The Braves will play a heavy schedule early (29 in the first 31 days), but the competition will be light. There’s only one 2025 playoff team in that time, and it’s the Phillies. I think Philly will piece it together soon, but right now they’re a train wreck. It’s been the Kansas City Royals, the (don’t call me Sacramento or any city) Athletics, D-backs, Angels, Guardians, Marlins, Nats, and those underperforming Phillies. It hasn’t been murderer’s row. And they are killing them, like any top team should. But let’s pump the brakes a little. They haven’t met the NL West or NL Central. And outside of the Rockies, they’re decent to outstanding. The Guardians look good, but the Braves haven’t met the Dodgers, Yankees, and Cubs yet. And those look to be the top teams.
The Dodgers might lap the field
Speaking of the Dodgers, they are punishing the Rockies tonight. (Though along with the White Sox, Colorado is barely in professional baseball.) The Dodgers will field Yamamoto, Glasnow, Sheehan, Snell, Ohtani in the rotation. They have Ohtani, Tucker, Betts, Freeman, Smith, Muncy for hitters and on and on. They’re pegged at 47 WAR this season, far and away the best. It’s almost not fair the wealth of talent and pocketbook.
The TLDR
And yet, the Braves have the Dodgers beaten by 5 runs in the run differential race. Can the Braves outrun the Dodgers, injuries, and a tougher schedule? I’ll put it at around 20 percent. Definitely a bold prediction. Let’s just make sure they can beat the Dodgers in the playoffs when it really counts.
DENVER, CO - APRIL 20: Miguel Rojas #72 of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates towards the dugout as he rounds third after hitting a solo home run in the second inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on April 20, 2026 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images) | Getty Images
“Getting to 1,000 hits in my career is something that I marked on my calendar for this year,” Rojas told Kirsten Watson on the field on SportsNet LA after the game. “It’s a pretty cool personal accomplishment, but at the end of the day the most important part was winning this game with the boys banging at the plate and [Justin Wrobleski] throwing the ball really well.”
“He’s been waiting for this one. He’s big on milestones and moments,” manager Dave Roberts told reporters at Coors Field, as shown on SportsNet LA. “He’s done a lot of good things in this game, so for him to get it was a huge thing for him.”
You’ll notice at the end of that clip that Roberts started to pretend that he was going to throw the ball from Rojas’s milestone hit into the stands. “I wanted to have a little fun with him, but I don’t think I had enough arm to throw it over the screen anyway,” Roberts said.
Rojas, now 37, is in a reserve role now, having started eight of the Dodgers’ 22 games. Five of those starts have come against left-handed pitching, against whom Rojas has nine hits in 17 at-bats with two doubles, a home run, and three walks.
Getting to 1,000 hits seemed like a long shot when Rojas signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers in November 2012, then at age 24 hit just .233/.303/.307 with a 74 wRC+ in Double-A Chattanooga. Defense was his calling card, and for that he received high praise. Manager Don Mattingly in 2014 compared Rojas’s glovework to Omar Vizquel, which fueled Rojas making it through nearly all of spring training camp as a non-roster invitee before getting cut.
The timing was perfect, as only one more player batted in that game at Coors Field. The game was called by rain after six innings. Clayton Kershaw struck out nine in his five innings to earn the complete-game victory, two starts before his no-hitter, which Rojas famously helped preserve with an outstanding play from behind third base.
It was defense that kept Rojas in the majors, first in Los Angeles and then eight years with the Marlins in Miami before returning to the Dodgers in 2023. But he’s going out with a relative bang, having hit .279/.333/.410 with a 109 wRC+ in a part-time role since the start of 2024, including .296/.361/.477 with a 134 wRC+ against lefties, the longest sustained run of offensive success of his career.
Rojas will be forever remembered in Los Angeles for his game-tying home run with one out in the ninth inning of Game 7 of the 2025 World Series. His place in Dodgers history is cemented. But it was a nice touch that Rojas got his 1,000th hit in the same ballpark as his first, a nice bookend to a long major league career.
“It means a lot, because I received an opportunity 13 years ago by this organization,” Rojas said Monday night. “And remembering that this is a special ballpark, because that’s where I got my first hit. All it took was an opportunity.”
Mika Zibanejad has been through a ton of highs and lows over the course of his 10-year tenure with the New York Rangers.
When Zibanejad was traded to the Rangers in 2016, he joined a team filled with veterans at the tail end of a multi-year playoff run that was simply running out of steam.
Two years into his time on Broadway, the Rangers’ management released a letter outlining the team’s plan to reshape the roster and get younger, essentially rebuilding.
From 2018-2021, the Rangers failed to make the playoffs, as they progressed through their rebuild. Over that time frame, Zibanejad emerged as one of the Blueshirts’ cornerstone pieces.
Once the Rangers rose from the shadows and became a playoff team again, starting during the 2021-22 season, Zibanejad experienced the best statistical seasons of his hockey career.
The veteran forward posted a career high of 81 points during the 2021-22 campaign and followed that up with a 91-point season during the 2022-23 campaign.
After two trips to the Eastern Conference Final in three years, the Rangers plateaued in 2024-25, failing to make the playoffs for the first time since 2021. Zibanejad’s individual statistics also took a dip, with his 62 points in 82 games being a significant decrease from his output compared to the previous seasons.
Despite the Rangers' further plummeting in the Eastern Conference in 2025-26, Zibanejad had a resurgence, going from 62 to 78 points and regaining his dominant offensive form.
“I think I proved — to not myself, but maybe to some other people who had a thing or two to say about me last year — what I can do and what I’m still capable of doing,” Zibanejad said. “I’ve still gotta bring it again next year, but of course it was a positive thing for me. … I don’t think I doubted myself too much, but it’s nice to see some results.”
In January, Chris Drury issued a letter outlining the Rangers’ plan to “retool” the roster, putting the team's immediate future in doubt.
At 33 years old and still in the midst of his prime, does Zibanejad have the appetite to sit through yet another retool?
The Swedish forward, who holds a full no-move clause in his current contract, expressed his desire to stay in New York for the long haul.
Contrary to public sentiment, Zibanejad believes the Rangers could become a competitive team in the immediate future.
“I’ve been here for 10 years. I’ve gone through the ups and downs,” Zibanejad said in his exit interview. “For me, yeah retool or whatever, but you just look around the league and see how fast it can go. I’m optimistic, especially with the young guys coming in, too, and playing. I don't feel like we need a whole lot. I want to be here to turn this around.”
Zibanejad is still under contract with the Rangers until 2030 at a cap hit of $8.5 million, and for now, it doesn't appear he’s going anywhere.
Runs — or a lack thereof — is the theme of our MLB best bets for today, April 21.
Our MLB expert picks have found the best prices at Polymarket (which allows users coast-to-coast to get in on the baseball action), with a focus on pitching outlasting the wind in Wrigley, a slow start in Kansas City, and Atlanta continuing to roll with Reynaldo Lopez on the mound.
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Josh Inglis' expert pick: Cubs/Phillies Under 8.5
Price: 50¢ (+100) at Polymarket
The 10 mph wind blowing out may be driving some Over action at Wrigley Field, but I’m comfortable on the Under, which has a fair price around -150 and THE BAT projecting 7.79 total runs. Jesus Luzardo is not a 7.94 ERA pitcher and should get things back on track as an elite groundball + strikeout pitcher, while Shota Imanaga has allowed just six hits over his last 17 innings and will be backed by a Cubs bullpen with five LHPs — against a Phillies lineup that ranks last in wRC+ vs. left-handed pitching.
Neil Parker's expert pick: Orioles/Royals NRFI
Price: 51¢ (-104) at Polymarket
The Orioles and Royals rank third and last in percentage of games scoring a run in the first inning, so even with the wind forecasted to be howling out at Kauffman Stadium, I’m expecting starters Shane Baz and Kris Bubic to post zeros in the opening frame. Baltimore hasn’t scored an opening-inning run on the road all season, and Kansas City is the lowest-scoring team in the opening frame for the year — and the second-lowest scoring team overall.
Joe Osborne's expert pick: Braves moneyline
Price: 57¢ (-133) at Polymarket
While both starting pitchers are off to respectable starts, these offenses are miles apart right now, and the Braves' bullpen has been lights out. Atlanta is 4-0 in Reynaldo Lopez’s starts, as he's allowed one earned run or fewer in three of them, and this matchup suits him against a Nationals lineup that ranks 28th in OPS vs. righties over the last two weeks. On the other side, Foster Griffin could struggle against a Braves team that's crushing left-handed pitching and is 6-1 when facing lefty starters.
Odds are correct at the time of publishing and are subject to change. Not intended for use in MA. Affiliate Disclosure: Our team of experts has thoroughly researched and handpicked each product that appears on our website. We may receive compensation if you sign up through our links.
Apr 20, 2026; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Stars center Wyatt Johnston (53) and defenseman Esa Lindell (23) and defenseman Miro Heiskanen (4) and right wing Mikko Rantanen (96) celebrates after Johnston scores an empty net goal to seal the win over the Minnesota Wild during the third period in game two of the first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
Jerome Miron/Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
DALLAS — Wyatt Johnston scored goals on a ricochet and a roller, Matt Duchene had a tiebreaking power-play goal and an assist, and the Dallas Stars beat the Minnesota Wild 4-2 in Game 2 to even their Western Conference first-round playoff series.
The Stars went ahead to stay with a power play winding down about four minutes into the penalty-filled second period when Duchene made a quick pass to Mikko Rantanen and then got the puck back just in front of the crease. That made it 2-1 in the kind of physical game expected between the Central Division rivals.
Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger stopped 28 shots, including a point-blank attempt by Kirill Kaprizov with 2 1/2 minutes to play when the Wild were on a power play after Dallas was penalized for too many men on the ice.
Brock Faber scored his first two playoff goals and Quinn Hughes had two assists for Minnesota, which won the opener 6-1 but missed a chance in its 15th playoff appearance to take a 2-0 series lead for the first time.
“From our end anyway, it was a playoff game. I thought they played two, we played one,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. “So it’s more of what we look like, more of the way we are, but you can still see how tight it is.”
Jason Robertson, who like Johnston had 45 goals in the regular season, also scored for Dallas. Nils Lundkvist had two assists.
“It was good just to show each other what we can do, and not get kind of pushed out of the series,” said Robertson, who has scored in both games. “We’re going to try to ride the momentum into Game 3.”
The series now shifts to Minnesota.
Johnston, the 22-year-old center already in his fourth postseason and 58th playoff game, put Dallas up 1-0 midway through the first on his shot that ricocheted off the boards behind the net and then went off the left skate of goalie Jesper Wallstedt and just inside the post. Lundkvist got the primary assist for pushing the puck with his skate back to Johnston.
“Guess you try to hit the net,” Johnston said. “Good things happen when you do that.”
The Stars were on another power play in the final minute when Johnston — from a crowd in front of Oettinger — knocked the puck to the other end, with it rolling and swerving just inside the right post of an empty net.
Wallstedt, the rookie who has started both games ahead of playoff-experienced Filip Gustavsson, also had 28 saves.
“He was solid through the whole game,” Wild coach John Hynes said.
Right after Duchene and Rantanen combined on the power-play goal, another scuffle broke out in the corner and both of them ended up in the penalty box. That gave Minnesota a man advantage, though Oettinger kept Dallas ahead with a glove save on a shot by Boldy during the ensuring power play. Minnesota finished 0 for 4 on the power play.
“A hard-fought game by both teams,” Hynes said. “Obviously a tight-checking, hard-fought game by both teams, and you know, we won the first one, they won the second one.”
The second period ended right after Marcus Foligno got a double minor for roughing, when he basically put interfering Thomas Harley in a headlock and took him down to the ice near the boards.
Already without forward Mats Zuccarello because of an upper-body injury after he had three assists in the series opener, when he took an elbow, the Wild lost another forward. Yakov Trenin took a crushing blow at center ice from Colin Blackwell late in the first period. After staying face-down on the ice momentarily, he was helped off and never returned.
Hynes said only that Trenin had an upper-body injury.
Utah Mammoth forward Dylan Guenther is one of the best sharpshooters in the NHL, and he had plenty of chances to grip it and rip it in the series opener against the Vegas Golden Knights.
My Mammoth vs. Golden Knights predictions expect his strong shot-generation to lead to production in Game 2.
Let’s take a closer look at my NHL picks for Tuesday, April 21.
Puck drop is set for 9:30 p.m. ET from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, with the game airing on ESPN2.
Mammoth vs Golden Knights Game 2 prediction
Mammoth vs Golden Knights best bet: Dylan Guenther Over 0.5 points (-145)
Dylan Guenther didn’t hit the scoresheet, but there was a lot to like in his playoff debut.
The Utah Mammoth controlled 79% of the expected goal share during his 5-on-5 minutes, generating 21 shot attempts and 1.31 xG.
Guenther did some heavy lifting, piling up 10 shot attempts, five scoring chances, and a pair of rebound opportunities. And that doesn’t even factor in the power play.
The Vegas Golden Knights didn’t seem to have an answer. If that continues, expect Guenther to break through against a goaltender who posted an .891 SV% this season.
Mammoth vs Golden Knights Game 2 same-game parlay
Logan Cooley also had a strong series opener, leading Mammoth players in shot attempts (22) at 5-on-5 while also scoring a goal.
He centers Guenther at even strength and feeds him a lot of shooting opportunities on the power play, making him a natural correlation play.
Rasmus Andersson ranked second among all skaters with nine shot attempts. Yes, nine.
The Golden Knights love to go low-to-high and funnel pucks to the net. Andersson chews up a lot of minutes and is a willing shooter, so he’s a prime benefactor of that style.
Mammoth vs Golden Knights SGP
Dylan Guenther Over 0.5 points
Logan Cooley Over 0.5 points
Rasmus Andersson Over 1.5 shots
Mammoth vs Golden Knights Game 2 goal scorer pick
Dylan Guenther (+145)
Utah had only one power play opportunity in the series opener, and Guenther still managed to record 14 shot attempts and seven scoring chances.
It’s tough to limit his volume, and he generally doesn’t need much to find the net.
Mammoth vs Golden Knights odds for Game 2
Moneyline: Utah +130 | Vegas -150
Puck line: Utah +1.5 (-190) | Vegas -1.5 (+160)
Over/Under: Over 5.5 (-135) | Under 5.5 (+115)
Mammoth vs Golden Knights trend
Dylan Guenther has compiled 14 points over his last 10 games. Find more NHL betting trends for Mammoth vs. Golden Knights.
How to watch Mammoth vs Golden Knights Game 2
Location
T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, NV
Date
Tuesday, April 21, 2026
Puck drop
9:30 p.m. ET
TV
ESPN2
Mammoth vs Golden Knights latest injuries
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DETROIT, MICHIGAN - APRIL 19: Jalen Duren #0 of the Detroit Pistons plays against the Orlando Magic during game one of the first round of the eastern conference playoffs at Little Caesars Arena on April 19, 2026 in Detroit, Michigan. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Detroit Pistons and Orlando Magic are getting set to face-off in Game 2 of the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs. Given Orlando’s status as an eighth seed, their inconsistent regular season, and Detroit’s dominant campaign, most people (myself included) thought this would be a cakewalk for the Pistons.
However, the Magic shocked us all in a Game 1 victory that proved that they are finally clicking and that they can exploit the Pistons’ lack of true two-way players. Oddsmakers still believe that the Pistons are in the driver’s seat to win this series, as they are a nine-point favorite in Game 2 (right around the spread from Game 1), and have -220 odds (an implied probability of -68.8%) to win the series.
To make this come to fruition, the Pistons either need Ausar Thompson and Ron Holland to find ways to exist on offense, Daniss Jenkins and Duncan Robinson to stop getting hunted on defense, or Kevin Huerter and Caris LeVert to step into larger roles. But more than anything, they need their All-Star big man to live up to his reputation.
Jalen Duren Needs A Big Game 2
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few days, you are likely aware of Jalen Duren’s unspectacular Game 1 performance.
The Pistons can’t win this series without Duren. This season, they led the entire NBA in points in the paint per game (per NBA.com). A big reason why is Duren’s merciless pursuit of shots at the basket. Outside of Giannis Antetokounmpo, no one attempted rim field goal attempts at a higher clip than Duren (he and Zion Williamson were tied for second-place in this category, per Dunks & Threes).
In Game 1, Duren only attempted four field goals. A big reason for this was Detroit’s lack of spacing making it easy for Orlando to pack the paint on him. But the thing is, the Pistons’ spacing concerns are nothing new (29th in 3-point rate during the regular season). I hate to sound like a fake tough guy here, but Duren needs to be the human adonis that he is and fight through the extra physicality and be the biggest man in the room.
On defense, Duren has always struggled with defending in space (particularly in the pick-and-roll) and lapses in threat detection around the rim. Those weaknesses were magnified in the first match (see the tweet above). Some of this is on head coach J.B. Bickerstaff to put him in better spots, but again, Duren needs to make the classic “play better” adjustment in Game 2 if the Pistons are going to avoid the dreaded 0-2 hole.
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Rockets -4.5
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Over 208.5 points
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Our predictions:Rockets -4.5 — Yes
Los Angeles won’t connect at the same clip tonight, and Houston will tighten the bolts on offense, with or without Kevin Durant.
Head coach Ime Udoka is emphasizing spacing and more screen action — both on- and off-ball — after iso-heavy sets stagnated the Rockets in Game 1.
I’m holding out hope Durant returns for the sake of this bet, but I’m confident Houston will still perform better than Game 1 if he doesn’t.
Other Rockets vs Lakers prediction markets available
LeBron James 25+ points (Yes: 49¢)
Alperen Sengun 6+ rebounds (Yes: 54¢)
Reed Sheppard 3+ threes (Yes: 56¢)
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Jiri Kulich (blood clot, Nov. 4; injured reserve - out for the season)
Sam Carrick (upper body, Mar. 31; injured reserve)
Noah Ostlund (upper body, Mar. 25; day-to-day)
Notes
On April 4, Buffalo clinched a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2010-11. The Sabres have compiled 125 playoff wins all-time, 93 of which have come in regulation. Game 1 marked just the second time the Sabres overcame a third-period deficit of two or more goals in a playoff game in franchise history.
The Sabres’ four-goal third period marked the third-fastest four-goal
stretch (6:46) in Sabres playoff history. The team scored four goals in 6:38 vs. Boston on April 29, 1992 and in 5:28 vs. Philadelphia on April 27, 1998. The Sabres registered 53 hits in Game 1, the most by Buffalo in a single playoff game since the league began tracking hits in 2005-06.
Alex Tuch’s 10 hits were the most by a Sabres skater in a single playoff game. Entering Game 1. Tuch had never recorded more than six hits in any game of his career (regular season and playoffs).
Tage Thompson’s three points (2+1) in Game 1 were the most by a Sabres forward in a playoff game since Daniel Briere on May 6, 2007 at NY Rangers (0+3). A multi-point performance tonight would make Thompson the first Sabres forward to record back-to-back multipoint games in the playoffs since Mike Grier from May 2 to 5, 2006 (2+5).
Peyton Krebs and Thompson each posted a plus-3 rating in Game 1, the highest plus/minus all-time by a Sabres skater in their first career playoff contest.
Mattias Samuelsson’s Game 1 goal was the first playoff point of his career and it made him the first Sabres defenseman since Jason Woolley on April 30, 2001 at Pittsburgh to score a go-ahead goal in the third period of a playoff game.
Owen Power (0+1) and Jack Quinn (0+1) also registered their first career playoff point in their first career playoff game.
The Montreal Canadiens will hope to pick up right where they left off when the puck drops on Game 2 of their best-of-seven series with the Tampa Bay Lightning, but chances are the Bolts will have adjusted. Coach Jon Cooper was far from pleased with his team’s performance after their 4-3 overtime loss. Speaking to the media after the game, he said:
I mean, come on, we took four offensive-zone penalties. Just look at them. That’s not over-aggression. That’s just stupidity, you know, a lot of them. That was on us. That was a game that we just allowed them to win. This is the Stanley Cup playoffs. This isn’t Game 62. So that is extremely disappointing in the way we conducted ourselves and the amount of penalties we took.
It shouldn’t have surprised anyone then that on Monday, while the Canadiens held a practice lasting around 15 minutes, Cooper put his men through a much longer one. Tampa has no interest in going down 2-0 in this series, but the fact is that their home record in the playoffs since the spring of 2023 stands at one win and eight losses. In overtime, they are 0-5 in the same time span. Needless to say, the heat is on.
Historically, the Bolts have a 24-15 record in Game 2 overall; at home, they are 13-8. However, when they trail 1-0 in a series, they have a 12-11 record overall and an 8-5 record at home for a .615 winning percentage. As for the Canadiens, they have a record of 82-43 in Game 2 overall but are 24-22 on the road. When they lead 1-0 in a series, they are 64-11 overall and 10-3 on the road for an enviable .769 winning percentage.
Martin St-Louis didn’t discuss his lineup yesterday, which is no surprise, but given Sunday’s result, it would be surprising if he made any changes to his lineup. However, that doesn’t mean there won’t be any in the series. The coach has some good options waiting in the wings, such as Brendan Gallagher and Joe Veleno up front, and David Reinbacher and Adam Engstrom on the back end.
With the Laval Rocket having won their division, they have a bye in the first round of the Calder Cup playoffs, meaning the young defensemen might as well stay with the Canadiens and get a feel for the Stanley Cup playoffs, even if it’s just in practice. The Rocket will either face the Toronto Marlies or the Rochester Americans in the Division Semifinal. Should it be the Marlies, the series will start on April 29; if it’s the Americans, the date is to be determined. Once Laval starts playing, one of the two youngsters will more than likely be sent down to help.
All eyes will be on the Canadiens’ first line tonight. They’ve been the team’s offensive dynamo all season, but in Game 1, they were unable to make an impact. If the Canadiens are to win the series, they will need that line to elevate its play. In the 10 minutes that Nick Suzuki’s line spent on the ice at even strength against the Anthony Cirelli line, the Lightning led 9-2 in attempted shots.
On Tampa’s side, Charles-Edouard D’Astous, who left game one after being simultaneously hit by Josh Anderson and Jake Evans, is doubtful to play on Tuesday night. As for Dominic James, who momentarily exited the game after colliding with Arber Xhekaj in his first shift, it doesn’t seem like there was lasting damage since he did practice yesterday.
One thing to watch on Tuesday night is whether the referees are as strict on penalties as they were in Game 1; if so, players will need to adjust in a hurry. Both teams have proven they have efficient power-play units, and, as evidenced by the Canadiens’ overtime win in Game 1, an ill-timed penalty can be very costly.
Frederick L'Ecuyer and Graham Skilliter will officiate, while Jesse Marquis and Andrew Smith will be the linemen; none of them were on duty in Game 1. The game is set for 7:00 PM at the Benchmark International Arena, and you can catch it on The Spot, ESPN2, SN, TVAS, and CBC.
