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Phillies' slow start continues and the fans aren't happy about it originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Yo, Phillies. You know the season has started, right?

Just asking because the first four games have been more bad than good and the natives are getting a tad frustrated.

Yes, those were boos raining down in the early innings Monday night. The Washington Nationals turned the basepaths into a carousel in the first inning. They scored four times against Taijuan Walker in that frame and went on to beat the Phillies, 13-2, in front of 35,609 at Citizens Bank Park.

In the second inning, as the Nats opened up a 5-0 lead, one of the patrons shouted, “Pull the goalie!”

In the third, as the Nats opened up a 7-0 lead, the folks just booed.

And it’s still March.

Yikes.

Since their exhilarating opening day win over Texas, the Phillies have dropped three straight en route to a 1-3 start. They were no-hit for the first 4 2/3 innings in Saturday’s loss and the first five innings in Sunday’s loss.

Monday night, they had just two hits through 4 2/3 innings and played some sloppy defense against the team widely picked to bring up the rear in the National League East. Manager Rob Thomson was spared watching most of the carnage. He was booted in the first inning for arguing the placement of a base runner after a play had been challenged and won by Washington.

The ugly night included Phillies newcomer Dylan Moore, a utility man, making his first appearance in the field … as a mop-up reliever in the ninth inning.

Washington left-hander Foster Griffin, who spent the last three seasons pitching in Japan, was a winner in his first start back in the majors. He held the Phils to five hits and two runs over five innings. He walked none and struck out five. J.T. Realmuto got the night off. Rafael Marchan made his first start of the new season and provided the Phillies’ offense with a two-run homer to left in the fifth inning. It was the Phillies’ first homer and just their second extra-base hit since opening day.

In his first start of the season, Walker was tagged – softly – for 10 hits and seven runs over 4 2/3 innings.

Walker gave up four runs in the first inning on five hits, a walk and a sacrifice fly. The exit velocities on the five hits were 73, 91, 68, 91 and 91 mph, not exactly bullets. Nonetheless, Walker didn’t miss many bats. He gave up another run in the second and two in the third, one of which was unearned.

Walker is not one to light up the metrics with his overall stuff. It’s worth noting that it was down, across the board, from where it was last year. His four-seam fastball touched 94 mph early but averaged just 91.5 mph.

Starting the final year of a four-year, $72 million contract, Walker is in the rotation only until Zack Wheeler returns sometime in April. At that time, Walker will head to the bullpen. Despite his poor results Monday, he remains an important guy on this team for the starting pitching depth he provides in an organization that lacks it.

On Tuesday night, the Phillies will debut the young prize of their pitching staff, rookie Andrew Painter. Who knew he’d have to play the role of stopper in his first big-league start?

Painter would benefit from a little early offensive support, which has been scarce the last three games.

In fact, the Phillies have not held a lead in any of those games. Through four games, they are hitting .189 (25 for 132) as a team.

The middle game of the Dodgers’ game against the Guardians on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium features the 2026 pitching debut of Shohei Ohtani at Dodger Stadium.

This is expected to be a full two-way season for Ohtani, who had his second Tommy John surgery in 2023, did not pitch in 2024, and last year didn’t pitch in a game until June. In all, Ohtani in 2025 had a 3.34 ERA in 67 1/3 innings between the regular season and postseason, with 90 strikeouts (a 33.2-percent rate) and 16 walks.

Right-hander Tanner Bibee starts on the mound for Cleveland, making his second start of the season. He allowed three runs, all on solo home runs, in five innings in a no-decision last Thursday, with seven strikeouts.

Tuesday game info

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Guardians
• Ballpark: Dodger Stadium
• Time: 7:10 p.m.
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

A new week means a fresh start, something the Athletics badly need after losing all three games of the season-opening series against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Entering the season, the team’s pitching was considered its biggest weakness as the A’s did not do much to improve that part of its roster this offseason. It did not take long for that to come back to hurt the team. They lost their initial two games in walk-off fashion. On Friday, reliever Justin Sterner allowed the Blue Jays to score the winning run in the bottom of the ninth immediately after A’s catcher Shea Langeliers hit his second home run of the game to tie the score in the top of that inning. The next day, Langeliers bashed a grand slam to give the A’s a four-run lead in the seventh inning. Only nine outs away from a victory, the A’s bullpen just needed to protect that sizable lead to get the team its first win of the season. Alas, that was too much for them to handle as multiple relievers let the Blue Jays come back and eventually win in 11 innings.

On the other hand, the A’s offense was seen as its biggest strength, the likes of Brent Rooker, Tyler Soderstrom and Nick Kurtz bringing enough firepower to help the team overcome any pitching struggles. Through three games, that has not been the case.

The team is off to an extremely slow start at the plate with the exception of Langeliers. The A’s struck out an MLB record 50 times in their inaugural series. Even contact-king Jacob Wilson, who only struck out 39 times in 486 at-bats last year, has already struck out five times in 13 at-bats. Part of the credit goes to Toronto’s stellar rotation fronted by right-handers Kevin Gausman and Dylan Cease. Yet, the A’s have been pressing, chasing pitches and just having bad approaches at the plate.

Hopefully, things will change now that the team is back on U.S. soil. This evening, the A’s begin a three-game series against the Atlanta Braves. Like the A’s, the Braves have several talented hitters but pitching question marks due to key starters Spencer Strider and Spencer Schwellenbach beginning the season on the injured list.

Left-hander Jacob Lopez will make his first start of the season today. Lopez has a high ceiling as evidenced by how well he was pitching last summer before his injury. If he can return to that level of performance, that would alleviate some questions surrounding the A’s starting rotation.

The A’s starting lineup:

Despite the team’s putrid performance this past weekend, Kurtz remains in the leadoff spot with Wilson batting fifth. Playing in his hometown, look for Lawrence Butler to put forth a strong showing in front of family and friends. He gets the start in center field with Carlos Cortes in right as the A’s give offensively-challenged Denzel Clarke the night off.

The Braves starting pitcher is right-hander Bryce Elder, who went 8-11 with a 5.30 ERA in 28 starts last year. If the A’s offense struggles against Elder, that would further raise alarm bells.

Here’s how Atlanta lines up behind Elder:

The top of their lineup features a formidable trio of superstar right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr, reigning National League Rookie of the Year Drake Baldwin and former A’s player Matt Olson. Atlanta’s catcher Jonah Heim also used to play for the Athletics before he was traded to the Texas Rangers.

Let’s go A’s! Time for that first win!

Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Cincinnati Reds, March 30, 2026, 6:40 p.m. ET

Location: Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati, OH

Broadcast: KDKA AM/FM, FS1, SportsNet Pittsburgh+

The Pittsburgh Pirates are on the road today against the Cincinnati Reds looking to grab a win at Great American Ball Park.

Please remember our Game Day thread guidelines.

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BD community, this is your thread for today’s game. Enjoy!

Texas Rangers @ Baltimore Orioles

Monday, March 30, 2026, 5:35 PM CDT (105.3 The Fan / RSN, Victory+)

Camden Yards

RHP Jack Leiter vs. RHP Chris Bassitt

Go Rangers!

Monday notes…

• THE ANGELS ARE EARLY: Today, March 30, is the earliest date on which the Cubs ever have played the Angels. This will be the 27th game between the teams. The previous earliest meeting was on April 4, Opening Day of 2016, at Anaheim. The earliest at Wrigley Field was April 12, in 2019. The Cubs have played two games earlier than March 30 against other American League teams, both on March 28, Opening Day, at Texas, in 2019 and 2024. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• MARCHING ALONG: The Cubs are 1-4 all-tiime on March 30. They lost to the D-backs in 2025, to the Rangers in 2024 and 2019, and to the Marlins in 2018. Their only March 30 win was in 2023, a 4-0 win over the Brewers.
• NOT YET: Five of the 26 Cubs on the Opening Day roster have not appeared in a game yet. They are starting pitchers Edward Cabrera (who goes tonight) and Jameson Taillon, bench players Dylan Carlson and Scott Kingery, and swingman Colin Rea.
• PCA NOTE: Pete Crow-Armstrong has recorded eight multi-steal games since the start of the 2025 season, the most in the NL and second-most in the majors behind José Caballero (10).

Cubs lineup:

Angels lineup:

Edward Cabrera, RHP vs. Ryan Johnson, RHP

Edward Cabrera makes his Cubs debut this evening.

This is also his first career start against the Angels. Current members of the Angels are a small sample size 5-for-28 (.179) against Cabrera with 11 strikeouts. Keep that up and tonight will be a good night.

The “changeup” noted below is really more a different version of his fastball. Here’s more on that pitch. If it’s effective, he usually pitches really well.

Ryan Johnson was the Angels’ second round pick in 2023 out of Dallas Baptist University, the same school where former Cubs draft pick Burl Carraway (remember him?) pitched.

Johnson made his MLB debut last year and made 14 relief appearances with a 7.36 ERA and four home runs allowed in 14.2 innings. Thus this is his first MLB start. He’s never faced the Cubs or anyone on their active roster. As you can see below, he doesn’t throw particularly hard, though he does have a pretty good pitch mix.

Here is the weather forecast for the area around Wrigley Field.

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network.

Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit the Angels site Crashing The Pearly Gates. If you do go there to interact with Angels fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.

The 2026 game discussion procedure has been changed, so please take note.

You’ll find the game preview, like this one, posted separately on the front page two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games).

At the same time, a StoryStream containing the preview will also post on the front page, titled “Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of week/date) game threads.” It will contain every post related to that particular game.

The Live! (formerly “First Pitch”) thread will still post at five minutes to game time. It will also post to the front page. That will be the only live game discussion thread. After the game, the recap and Heroes and Goats will also live on the front page as separate posts.

You will also be able to find the preview, Live! thread, recap and Heroes and Goats in this section link. The StoryStream for each game can also be found in that section.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

About a week ago, it was reported that the San Diego Padres were nearing a deal with a key player from the Texas Rangers’ 2023 World Series run. According to Mike Rodriguez, the Friars were targeting a deal with José Leclerc as a depth piece in their ‘pen.

That deal has now been made official, per MLB.com’s transactions page.

A former closer for the Rangers, Leclerc dominated on the mound when he was healthy. But he wasn’t always that way.

Injury worries before a dominant resurgence

When he was first named the closer by Texas in 2019, Leclerc struggled. He ended the year with a 4.33 ERA across 70 innings for a Rangers squad that finished third in the AL West.

Then, in early 2021, he underwent Tommy John surgery that kept him out for the season, leading many to question if he could ever return to the flashes of dominance he displayed in 2018 (1.56 ERA, 57.2 IP).

He put those worries to rest in 2022.

From 2022-23, Leclerc recorded a 2.75 ERA with Texas, capping it off with a World Series ring to boot. He was a key piece out of the relief corps for the Rangers, and helped bring the club its first ever Fall Classic win after falling short in 2010 (San Francisco Giants) and 2011 (St. Louis Cardinals).

Has Father Time caught up?

That being said, Leclerc struggled mightily in his last two seasons. From 2024-25, between the Rangers and Athletics, he posted a 4.64 ERA across 74 games.

That figure includes a ballooned 2025 ERA (6.00) after he only saw nine innings of action with the A’s, giving up six runs in that time frame. His season in Sacramento ended early due to a right shoulder injury that saw him undergo surgery last July.

He’s certainly had an up-and-down career in terms of results, but the stuff is there. He obviously has a desire to compete after throwing a bullpen session for interested clubs earlier this offseason.

Leclerc is still rehabbing after his season-ending surgery, targeting a return sometime around July. If that’s the case, it will mark an opportunity for San Diego to bolster its relief corps amidst the dog days of summer.

Until then, it is a low-risk, high-reward move for the Padres. If Leclerc can touch his previous heights and offer some serviceable innings, then San Diego will have made a worthwhile pickup.

That’s the beauty of a minor-league pickup. There are no real strings attached. If Leclerc comes back at the Triple-A level and struggles, then he’ll likely not get an opportunity to affect the big-league club.

On the other hand, if he can be dominant again, Leclerc could figure to be a valuable piece of a bullpen already crowded with shutout relievers.

The Mets are (probably) one better third-base coach decision away from being 3-0 on the young season, but there’s an issue that has already reared its head in all three games of 2026 thus far: the bullpen. 

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but the Mets are coming off a season where their bullpen was less than spectacular, and so a stated goal of the offseason was to rebuild the relief corps. On the higher end of the free agent pool, the Mets did just that, bringing in both Devin Williams and Luke Williams and retaining both Brooks Raley and A.J. Minter through options. Tobias Myers was part of the Freddy Garcia trade, and Huascar Brazobán is also back, and those six pitchers are making up the core of the bullpen. And, although Minter hasn’t played yet and Brazobán has had an up and down Mets career thus far, those players aren’t the issue. 

But it’s the other three pitchers currently in the Mets’ bullpen that are the issue. Our Chris McShane already spoke about Sean Manaea’s velocity dip and how that is likely unsustainable at the big league level. The other two arms are Luis García and Richard Lovelady, both of whom have appeared in multiple games and surrendered multiple runs. 

There has been discussion about how the Mets are leaving a few spots in the bullpen for the waiver wire/upward mobility pool. To translate that a bit, he means guys who are fungible enough to call up for a few games and then send down and/or designate for assignment when they’ve been used too many days in a row. It’s an approach that makes sense when you consider how many more bullpen innings are needed in the modern game and you don’t want to destroy your main guys’ arms. 

However, this weekend was a prime example of why that methodology may be logical but unsound. On Opening Day, the Mets had a big lead going into the ninth inning, and so when García gave up two runs on three hits without a strikeout, it wasn’t such a big deal. But the Mets had to get Williams up and throwing in what should’ve been a laugher of a game. Again, the schedule helped here with the off day on Friday, but that’s not going to be the norm throughout the season. When you can’t close the door on a big lead against a second division club with a fully rested bullpen, that’s an issue. 

On Saturday, García was back at it in the tenth inning and surrendered the free runner on second while allowing two hits and one walk. One inning later, after the Mets had scored to tie the game, Loveady entered the game and surrendered the Manfred Man again. Thankfully, Luis Robert Jr. sent the Mets home happy and the bullpen ineffectiveness is a footnote rather than a headline. 

But on Sunday, the Mets’ luck would run out. After Manaea somehow tap-danced through seven batters with limited stuff, Weaver sat the Pirates down in the ninth. But Lovelady was back for the tenth, and on the first batter of extras, the game was untied by Ryan O’Hearn. Dicky got a ground ball double play to almost escape the inning but couldn’t put it away. Two straight walks and a single put Pittsburgh up by two. 

Like I said at the top, if Francisco Lindor was held at third base, the Mets might’ve come back to win that game and this would all seem a little less pressing. I’m really not trying to pick on Garcia or Lovelady, two journeymen relievers trying to put food on their families’ tables and keep their careers going. I’m questioning the construction of the roster and the deployment of the relief pitchers. 

The answer seems fairly simple, which is that if you want fungible relievers, you’ve got a number of relievers in your minor league system with minor league options: Austin Warren, Ryan Lambert, Dylan Ross, Jonathan Pintaro, Alex Carrillo, and Joey Gerber. I’m not sure any of them are the answer long term, but I can’t imagine that they would be appreciably worse than García or Lovelady were in their first two appearances each. Using those players also helps you see what you have in terms of potential long-term pieces instead of getting the expected results from a guy who your team has already DFA’d four times. 

The Manaea of it all is the hardest part of this, because if either Lovelady or Garcia were DFA’d ahead of today’s game, no one would blink an eye. But if we’re stashing Manaea in the bullpen, we’re not talking about a third fungible spot. We’re talking about a veteran who was expected to be a big part of this team whose stuff is simply not up to snuff. This won’t be an easy cut in any way, and this seems like the type of player who will linger on the roster long past their possible usefulness. 

This is the least Stearnsian piece of the Mets’ current roster, and one that I fear won’t be addressed for some time. However, this would be less of an issue if there weren’t two other (at best) replacement-level players in the ‘pen. 

Personally, I would advocate for the Mets to take a more proactive approach and add at least one reliever who isn’t intended to be here today and gone later today. It may hurt some of the churn, but it would also likely prevent some of the issues that cropped up over the weekend. If one roster spot was dedicated to the churn guy, and the pool for that spot was minor league relievers who need some big league appearances to evaluate, sign me up. But to have three borderline poor performers on the roster at once is a bad place to be, even just three games into a season.

Going out of their way to provide Roki Sasaki with the opportunity to find himself as a starting pitcher, the Dodgers offer him a spot in the Opening Day rotation. The reigning champs do that even if his spring training showing did little to lower the volume on those concerns. Part of why that’s feasible is that, to no one’s surprise, the Dodgers already start the year with starters on the shelf, as Blake Snell is currently on the injured list. Even so, if going by performance alone, Dave Roberts had better candidates for that fifth rotation spot and chose to hand Sasaki this opportunity.

It’s under this outlook that Sasaki makes his season debut, dealing with the pressure of someone who probably has more to prove than any other player on this roster. The young Japanese starter was supposed to be the next big thing coming out of the NPB, and so far, all of his better moments have come as a reliever. Intent on making it as a starter, Sasaki needs to get off to a hot start in order to gain some confidence and then take things from there.

The Guardians at home aren’t exactly a cakewalk, but he could hardly ask for a much better matchup, squaring off against a team that averaged 3.25 runs per game in their first four appearances. Although that probably had a lot to do with facing an outstanding Seattle Mariners pitching staff, and not just the reflection of a mediocre effort from Cleveland. Don’t let Chase DeLauter beat you. Sure, José Ramírez is the big star, but what the rookie DeLauter did against the M’s was magnificent, hitting four home runs in as many games.

Monday’s game info

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Guardians
• Ballpark: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles
• Start time: 7:10 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

Here are the lineups. For the Phillies:

For the Nationals:

Let’s talk about it.