Author: rincon

The Dodgers’ backup catcher moonlighted as their designated hitter for a game on Thursday, doing his best Shohei Ohtani impression by smashing a 412-foot grand slam to help sweep the Mets. 

Another time, he was their first baseman, filling in while Freddie Freeman was on the paternity list and launching two more home runs. 

Dalton Rushing has only played in nine of the Dodgers’ first 23 games this year, but he has turned those intermittent opportunities into a historic start to the season. Rushing went deep seven times through his first eight games of the year, a number that trailed only Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt (1976) for the most home runs through a player’s first eight games of a season. 

He’s one of many examples of the depth allowing the Dodgers to withstand the early-season obstacles that would otherwise overwhelm most clubs. 

Mookie Betts hasn’t played since April 4 due to an oblique injury. Blake Snell and Tommy Edman aren’t expected to make their 2026 debuts until next month. Edwin Diaz, seven appearances into a three-year, $69 million contract that gave him the largest annual salary ever for a reliever, has an ERA over 10.00 and is undergoing an elbow procedure that will keep him out until the second half. Kyle Tucker, fresh off signing the largest average annual deal in baseball history, has been a league-average hitter. Roki Sasaki’s command and control issues persist. 

And yet the Dodgers enter Wednesday with a 16-7 record, tied for the best in MLB.

Of course, Ohtani’s two-way skills tend to mask some of the team’s deficiencies. But the supporting cast is also playing a vital role in the club’s success. 

The Dodgers’ No. 7-9 hitters in the lineup have a combined .943 OPS this year, a total higher than Mike Trout (.939), Aaron Judge (.932) and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (.927). 

Outfielder Andy Pages leads the majors with a .366 batting average and the Dodgers with a 1.009 OPS. Hyeseong Kim and Miguel Rojas, the shortstops with Betts out, are both hitting over .300. Justin Wrobleski, the Dodgers’ sixth starter, is 3-0 with a 0.90 ERA in three starts this month. 

In the bullpen, Tanner Scott is bouncing back from an abysmal first season in Los Angeles. He has allowed one run through his first 11 appearances in 2026, while Alex Vesia still hasn’t allowed a run through his first 10 appearances. Those two will be crucial now in high leverage with Díaz down. 

And then there’s Rushing, who has the same number of extra-base hits in 31 plate appearances this year (nine) that he had in 155 plate appearances last year. His seven home runs are tied for the 12th-most in MLB. Every other player with at least that many homers this year has at least 69 at-bats; Rushing has 29. 

“I think he’s kind of in a better spot mentally — actually, I know he’s in a better spot mentally —  to kind of handle this role,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told me. 

After struggling in his first season to adjust to the sporadic playing time that exists as the backup catcher behind fellow University of Louisville product Will Smith, who’s under contract through the 2033 season, Rushing entered his follow-up campaign this year with a new perspective: Less is more. 

“Go back and look at last year.” Rushing told me last week, six days after a 4-for-4, two-homer performance in Toronto and three days before launching the first grand slam of his career. “I was over-swinging from the day I showed up. I felt like I had to show them who I was.” 

The result was suboptimal. 

Rushing, who excelled as a hitter at every level of the minors with a preternatural and atypical ability to both control the zone and slug, had a .582 OPS and just nine extra-base hits in 142 at-bats for the Dodgers last season.

“I would say he didn’t get used to it last year,” Roberts said. “He’s getting used to it now. I think there’s a little bit of trying to mentally adjust to playing two times a week. There’s a physical, mechanical part to the swing, to make it more simple. Maybe even a little bit of expectation, to lower your expectations. And the player never wants to, which I respect, but it’s hard to play twice a week to get in any type of real rhythm.” 

Added Rushing: “When you’re a part-time player you try to get back in compete mode once every five days, it’s not easy to do.”

Admittedly, he’s still in the process of figuring out how to handle that, though he’s clearly doing a better job. With a new mindset, Rushing is displaying the version of the player he knew he could be — and the one the Dodgers envisioned when they took Rushing with their first pick of the 2022 MLB Draft, despite already employing another star catcher from the same alma mater. 

Rushing has learned to challenge himself to be ready to play, even on the days he’s not in the starting lineup, spending time hitting on either the Trajekt machine or the regular pitching machine to be ready when called upon. 

And he has learned from the player he’s backing up, despite possessing a much different demeanor from the fellow Louisville product. Smith is stoic and reserved; Rushing is not. 

“It’s hard for me to play this game low heartbeat,” Rushing said. “I’ve played like my head’s on fire since I was 8 or 10 years old. I don’t think I’m ever going to lose that. I don’t want to lose that. I think that’s what kind of gets me up to play this game.”

At the same time, while that feistiness can drive him while he’s riding hot streaks like the one he’s on right now, it can also be detrimental when the inevitable drop-off comes. He admires Smith’s levelheadedness and the belief that demeanor can foster in teammates. 

“I think the more you can play at a median, low heartbeat, the more it shows to the older guys, ‘This guy looks like he’s been doing it for seven to 10 years, and there’s never a doubt he’s going to get it done,’” Rushing said.

So, he’s still working on that. 

“That’s part of being an everyday guy,” Rushing explained. “You need the median heartbeat, man. Nothing brings you up, nothing brings you down. Throughout this year, that’s going to be my goal. I know if I keep that as my goal, then the hitting and everything else will take care of itself. It always has.”

There are nine players with more at-bats than Rushing on the Dodgers roster, yet he ranks second on the team in homers and fourth in RBI. 

With more success, the Dodgers are finding creative ways to get him opportunities, even beyond giving Smith a breather behind the plate. 

After Ohtani was hit by a pitch in the back of the right shoulder in the first game of the Dodgers’ series against the Mets last week, the Dodgers elected to keep their two-way superstar out of the DH spot two days later. It was the first time since 2021 that Ohtani pitched but did not hit in a game. 

The DH role went to Rushing, who doubled and broke the game open with a grand slam. 

“There’s no more trying to show them,” Rushing said. “Just let your game play for itself.”

Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports

The Kansas City Royals are moving from their longtime home at Kauffman Stadium to the downtown Crown Center area, partnering with Hallmark Cards on a $3 billion project that includes a mixed-used development with a new ballpark as its centerpiece.

Royals owner John Sherman was joined by Hallmark chairman Don Hall Jr., Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe and Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, along with other local and state dignitaries, in making the announcement Wednesday near Hallmark headquarters.

While the finalized master plan has yet to be complete, Sherman said the $1.9 billion stadium would break ground next year in the middle of Crown Center as part of the first phase of an 85-acre project. Two-thirds of the funding will come from private sources and the remaining one-third from public partners, including money earmarked by the state for stadium projects.

“This is a partnership between two treasured Kansas City institutions,” Sherman said. “We are committed to creating a vision which honors our history, the rich past of both organizations, while reinvigorating and reimagining what our future can be together.”

The announcement came about a week after Kansas City officials passed an ordinance authorizing City Manager Mario Vasquez to negotiate a $600 million deal to help the Royals move downtown. Most believed the stadium would sit on Washington Square Park, which is next to Union Station, but it will instead be located just south of it, with the park featured in the development.

Hallmark intends to build a new headquarters in the area, which is connected by a streetcar to the Power & Light District, where the T-Mobile Center serves as its anchor. That part of downtown Kansas City will provide the backdrop beyond the outfield fence.

Officials touted the availability of public parking already in the area and convenient traffic flow from nearby highways.

Missouri’s contribution comes from a law enacted last year that authorized bonds covering up to 50% of the cost of new or renovated stadiums in the state, plus up to $50 million of tax credits for each stadium and unspecified aid from local governments.

“We think it’s a great investment for our Missouri taxpayers, because this does not affect existing programs,” Kehoe said. “The ripple effect from this facility will truly be far-reaching into rural Missouri and other parts of the state.”

The Royals have insisted they would leave Kauffman Stadium when their lease expires at the Truman Sports Complex in 2031, and the intention of Sherman ever since purchasing the club in 2019 was to build a downtown ballpark as its replacement.

Yet reaching Wednesday’s announcement did not come without plenty of pitfalls.

The biggest stumbling block came in April 2024, when the Kansas City Chiefs joined the Royals in a plan to renovate Arrowhead Stadium and replace Kauffman Stadium. The plan hinged on the extension of a sales tax that had been paying for stadium upkeep, and voters in Jackson County, Missouri, overwhelmingly rejected the proposal, forcing the franchises to go their own way.

The legislature in neighboring Kansas aggressively pursued the Chiefs, committing last December to issuing $2.4 billion in bonds to cover 60% of the cost of a new $3 billion domed stadium in Kansas City, Kansas. The NFL franchise ultimately decided to move across the state line, where it also will build a new training facility in the nearby suburb of Olathe, Kansas.

Officials in Kansas briefly pursued the Royals, too, but their interest in the MLB franchise had always been lukewarm.

The Royals had been weighing several options in recent months. But they ultimately rejected an option in the suburb of Overland Park, Kansas, and allowed a deadline to pass for a site north of downtown and across the Missouri River in Clay County, Missouri.

Economists have long concluded that subsidizing stadiums isn’t worth the cost for communities because the venues pull economic activity away from other parts of the area, rather than expanding the overall economy. Yet states and cities continually provide money to renovate stadiums or build new ones — 49 of the 60 used by MLB or NFL teams are publicly owned or sit on public land.

One of the stadiums that Sherman has cited as an example of what’s possible in Kansas City is Truist Park in Atlanta.

The stadium was a public-private partnership in which the Cobb-Marietta Coliseum & Exhibit Hall Authority issued up to $397 million in bonds, the county raised millions more from transportation taxes and businesses added millions in cash. The Atlanta Braves contributed the remaining money for the park and The Battery, a mixed-use development, with a total cost of more than $1.1 billion.

“There are many great ballpark neighborhoods in Major League Baseball,” Sherman said, “but this is a bigger project with more land in downtown and in the heart of the city. We are bringing a modern, state-of-the-art ballpark experience to our fans, closer to our public transportation and where more people work and live.”

Reporting by The Associated Press.

Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports

There is always baseball happening — almost too much baseball for one person to follow themselves.

Don’t worry, we’re here to help you by figuring out what you missed but shouldn’t have. Here are all the best moments from last night in Major League Baseball:

The Mets blew it, again

That’s 12 losses in a row for the Mets, who in their latest snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. The Twins had lost four games in a row themselves and were sitting at .500, and while things started out well enough for New York, they did not stay that way.

As for that start, shortstop Francisco Lindor hit a three-run homer, just his second long ball of the year, following a single by first baseman Mark Vientos, a grounder and force out of the lead runner by left fielder Carlos Benge and a walk from second baseman Marcus Semien. 

Mets 3, Twins 0 — that’s where things stood for quite a bit. New York starter Nolan McLean was rolling through the first five innings, keeping Minnesota off the board with eight strikeouts, no walks and no hits allowed in that stretch — that was 15 outs into a perfect game. Things came undone in the sixth a bit, however, when right fielder Matt Wallner led off with a single, and center fielder Byron Buxton followed up later in the inning with a two-run homer.

McLean would recover but give up another run in the seventh to tie things, on a single by second baseman Luke Keaschall that drove in first baseman Kody Clemens, who had hit a double in the at-bat before.

McLean was lifted with the game 3-3, and reliever Huascar Brazabon managed to get out of the seventh and through the eighth without incident. The Mets put closer Devin Williams in to give themselves their best hypothetical chance at playing for one run and winning in the bottom of the ninth. It did not work out as intended.

Instead, Williams walked the inning’s leadoff hitter, DH Josh Bell, then pinch-runner James Outman stole second. Catcher Ryan Jeffers would also walk, and then Clemens would lay down what was intended to be a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position but instead ended up loading the bases. Keaschall would then give the Twins their first lead of the game with a bouncing grounder just out of the reach of both third baseman Bo Bichette and Lindor.

Williams would then walk Wallner with the bases still juiced, putting the Twins up 5-3. Austin Warren would come on in relief of Williams, and proceed to strike out all three batters he faced on just 12 pitches.

The Mets went down in order in the bottom of the ninth, ending the Twins’ smaller losing streak while extending New York’s to a dozen defeats. Star outfielder Juan Soto is supposed to be activated on Wednesday, which should help with at least some of what ails the Mets, but this is also a team that has been outscored by 45 runs in its last 12 games — more needs to be different than just filling the hole Soto left behind.

That’s 53 in a row for Ohtani

The Dodgers lost to the Giants, 3-1, in that series opener, but fret not fans of Shohei Ohtani: his on-base streak persisted. The two-way star is now up to 53 games in a row, which puts him into the top-25 on-base streaks in MLB history, tied with the likes of Alex Rodriguez and former Dodgers’ standout Shawn Green.

Ohtani got on base just the one time, as he didn’t draw any walks or get hit by a pitch. It wasn’t his greatest showing at the plate by any means, but then again, it wasn’t exactly the Dodgers’ night, either. Los Angeles recorded just three hits and the one run against San Francisco pitching, which included five innings of one-run ball out of Landen Roup and then the bullpen shutting the Dodgers down the rest of the way. A bit of a waste of seven strong innings from Yoshinobu Yamamoto, but hey, even Los Angeles can’t win ‘em all.

Royals walk it off, wildly

The Royals have had some bad luck in the ninth inning this season — including on Monday, when they let the Orioles tie the game while down to their final out — but last night was different. On Tuesday, it was the Royals benefitting from someone else forgetting themselves, instead.

Time to set the scene: the Royals were up 4-3 after picking away at the Orioles’ early 3-0 lead, but in the top of the eighth, Baltimore backstop Adley Rutchsman, fresh off the IL, hit his first homer of the year to give the O’s back the lead.

Kansas City would respond, immediately: second baseman Michael Massey got his own first dinger of the season in the bottom of the eighth to tie things back up at 5-5, and there the score stood until the bottom of the ninth.

The Royals started the inning against new reliever Ryan Helsley with second baseman Maikel Garcia at the top of the order, and he drew a walk, his third time on base in the game. Shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. also walked, despite an ABS challenge from Rutschman, giving the Royals two on and no outs. While first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino would strike out, it ended up being on a wild pitch that Rutschman couldn’t corral, allowing Garcia and Witt to move to third and second, respectively.

And then, Helsley threw another wild pitch, this time to catcher Salvador Perez, that Rutschman was able to block but not pull in. With no one covering the plate as Rutschman dashed off into the infield to retrieve the ball, Garcia bolted for home — neither Rutschman nor Helsley could beat him there, and the Royals would walk it off.

The Orioles wouldn’t have even had a chance to win without Rutschman’s home run earlier, but it still stings to have the game decided on wild pitches to consecutive batters. Now, they aren’t entirely Rutschman’s doing — that’s why they were wild pitches instead of passed balls — but it’s still all a team effort in the end.

Inside-the-park whoops

It was not a great night for those expecting baseballs to do something different than they ended up doing. Helsley and Rutschman were just one example (well, two). There was also poor Lourdes Gurriel Jr. out in left or the Diamondbacks against the White Sox, on what should have been a fairly routine play. One that scored a run, maybe, but not an inside-the-park homer, that’s for sure. Observe:

Gurriel is clearly expecting the umpire to call the ball dead after it went down the left field line and rattled around near the ball boy and ball boy stool. It bounces right back into the field, though, and just… sits. Waiting for someone to pick it up. Roughly seven seconds passes in between Gurriel noticing the ball ricocheted back into the field and his actually picking it up — he is casually walking toward it while baserunner Everson Pereira (on first at the start of the play) and left fielder Sam Antonacci slow up, hesitate, then realize they are being gifted the opportunity to just keep on running because no one is stopping it from happening.

The play was challenged, but upheld: a reminder that you just have to play to the proverbial whistle. It could always be challenged after the fact, but not until the play is over; a fielder doesn’t get to decide the ball is dead on their own, and the White Sox ended up scoring two runs because Gurriel forgot as much.

Amazingly enough, Antonacci hit a triple earlier on, so that ended up being some night for him.

Murakami keeps on homering

Not just Antonacci, though. The White Sox would win 11-5, and a key part of that was in the second inning, when first baseman Munetaka Murakami hit a home run for the fourth-straight game.

It was his ninth dinger of the year, and also made him just the third-ever Japanese player to go yard four games in a row in MLB.

It was also the start of a back-to-back-to-back homer run for the White Sox, their first in six years: the other two came courtesy third baseman Miguel Vargas and shortstop Colson Montgomery.

Now that’s a dive

But wait, there’s more White Sox, somehow! Check this catch that Pereira made out in right.

That is some serious extension — not a little fall right near the end, but full-out going as long as he can and holding onto the ball despite his body crashing into the ground because of that stretch.

De La Cruz passes Rose

Reds’ shortstop Elly De La Cruz had himself a day against the Rays, powering Cincinnati to a 12-6 win. Literally powering, since De La Cruz went deep not once…

…but twice. 

As the tweet from the Reds says, this was the sixth multi-homer game of De La Cruz’s career — he’s only been in the league since 2023 and isn’t that close to 500 career games yet, yet already passed Pete Rose for the most multi-homer games by a Reds’ switch-hitter. Pretty good! De La Cruz is just 24 — he’ll have time to make that figure a bit more impressive before he wraps.

As is, he’s leading the National League in homers with eight, and looking a lot more like the player from 2025’s first half who slugged .495 and had 18 home runs, before a partially torn quad severely limited his offense, as he hit just four long balls and posted a .666 OPS in his last 65 games. That’s great news for the Reds, who needed that kind of pop in their lineup, and still do now.

Chase this

The Astros were up 4-2 on the Guardians through seven innings, but Cleveland finally put together some serious offense late in the eighth. Enyel De Los Santos came on in relief for Houston, and proceeded to walk second baseman Daniel Schneeman before giving up a single to left fielder Angel Martinez. Shortstop Brayan Rocchio would single in a run, forcing Houston to swap out De Los Santos for Bryan King, but King walked center fielder and leadoff hitter Steven Kwan to load the bases for rookie Chase DeLauter. The DH would triple in all three runners to put Cleveland up 6-4. He’s having a great season so far: sure, he’s batting just .221, but when paired with the patience to get a .322 on-base percentage and enough power to slug .506, anyway, what’s that matter?

That triple wasn’t it for the Guardians, either. King would then intentionally walk third baseman Jose Ramirez to get to first baseman Kyle Manzardo, but Ramirez stole second and Manzardo then drove both runners home with a single to right.

While DH Yordan Alvarez would get a run back for Houston in the ninth on an RBI double, it wasn’t enough to undo the damage of the eighth. Cleveland would take the W, and remains in first in the AL Central while the Astros are stuck in last in the West, already 4.5 back.

Cruz gets 10th steal, ump goes down

Two things to pay attention to here: one, Pirates’ center fielder Oneil Cruz picked up his 10th steal of the year, which leads the National League, and two, look at the umpire barely avoiding getting whacked by the throw from catcher Danny Jansen. The second base ump, Dan Merzel, might have avoided getting hit with the throw, but he paid for it with a tumble.

He’s alright, folks, just a little embarrassed.

Yankees topple Red Sox

The Yankees and Red Sox met up for the first time this season on Tuesday, and things did not go so hot for Boston despite being the host. They can thank New York’s designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton for that, mostly. Stanton hit a dinger over the Green Monster in left in the top of the second, off of starter Connelly Early, to put the Yankees up 1-0.

Stanton came to the plate in the sixth with the score holding, but it was 3-0 when he finished: he didn’t go yard this time, but actually hit the ball further on this two-run double against Early than on the homer, 378 feet to 369. Fenway’s dimensions are something.

The win was “mostly” Stanton’s doing, in the sense he drove in three of New York’s four runs, but don’t let the job the pitching staff did go unnoticed. Starter Luis Gil went 6.1 innings giving up no runs and just two hits, and the bullpen combined to limit Boston to just two more hits the rest of the way.

New York sits atop the AL East at 14-9, despite a problematic losing streak not all that long ago, while Boston is just one of four AL teams to fail to reach double-digit wins this late into the season: they’re in last place in the East despite the uninspiring pennant defense of the Blue Jays to this point.

Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports

Embattled Mets closer Devin Williams allowed a tiebreaking RBI single to Luke Keaschall in the ninth inning, and New York lost its 12th consecutive game, falling 5-3 to the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night.

The Mets’ skid is their longest since they dropped 12 straight from Aug. 10-23, 2002. No team has made the playoffs after a season in which it lost 12 in a row.

Matt Wallner followed Keaschall by drawing a bases-loaded walk off Williams (0-1), who didn’t retire any of the five batters he faced before being booed off the mound. Williams has allowed seven runs while recording four outs in his last three appearances.

The Mets were in position to end their streak when Nolan McLean retired the first 15 Twins batters and Francisco Lindor hit a three-run homer in the third to give the Mets their biggest lead since April 5, when they beat the San Francisco Giants 5-2.

The homer was Lindor’s first with a man on base since last Aug. 15 — one day before McLean’s debut.

Wallner led off the sixth with a single off McLean and Byron Buxton homered with two outs. Keaschall tied the game with an RBI single in the seventh.

A quartet of Twins pitchers retired the final 14 Mets in order. Cole Sands (1-1) tossed the last two innings.

McLean allowed three runs and struck out 10 in 6 2/3 innings. Twins starter Simeon Woods Richardson gave up three runs and struck out two in five innings.

 Reporting by the Associated Press.

Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports

Will Shohei Ohtani win the National League Cy Young? Will Aaron Judge be replaced as the American League MVP? Will the New York Mets turn things around? 

All those questions are answered on the latest edition of MLB on FOX’s “Fact or fiction” with MLB on FOX analyst Dontrelle Willis.

Shohei Ohtani will win the Cy Young: Fact

“He’s already pacing — 18 innings pitched, 18 strikeouts. He will continue to stay healthy. Dave Roberts and Co. are continuing to give him chances. Also, he’s conserving himself. He’s not running as much. You’re not going to see some of those triples that we know and love, especially on the days he has to go both ways, and start and hit. But he’s going to stay healthy, 14-2 last month, or they’re going to a 5-man rotation to get him enough reps to get him that Cy Young.”

Aaron Judge will win his 4th straight MVP: Fiction

“Yordan Alvarez is a monster. He will stay healthy. Leads the American League in home runs and RBIs, third in batting average. I know the Astros are in last place right now, so he’s going to have to consistently do damage to get them out of that cellar, but I think he’s going to win MVP.”

The Mets will finish last in the NL East: Fiction

“They better not come into last place, you hear me! All that talent. All that payroll. All that expectation. I believe that they’re going to get out of the cellar. Juan Soto will be back. (Bo) Bichette will be better. (Luis) Robert will be better… I just find it hard to believe they will come in last place. It’s been catastrophic, but I don’t believe it’s going to be all season long.”

The Pirates will make the playoffs: Fact

“They will get in. First of all, I love the addition of (Ryan) O’Hearn. He has been outstanding, leading the team in batting average. O’Neil Cruz is a healthy monster. Nineteen RBIs, nine stolen bases already on the season, and I love this rotation top to bottom. Yes, we know the ace, Paul Skenes, but the veteran (Mitch) Keller has a 2.7 ERA, (Braxton) Ashcraft has a 2.3 ERA. They have enough talent, and swing and miss in that rotation to keep their offense in games all day long. And the crowd is starting to feel it.”

Mason Miller will allow a run before the end of April: Fiction

“He is a machine right now. The fastball’s going anywhere from 100 to 103 miles an hour. The slider is harder than my fastball… He’s getting 70% whiff rate on the slider alone. You keep seeing that nasty changeup. Listen, he’s living on the edges. He is a tough cover. I don’t believe he’s going to give up a run, not only this month, but the next month as well.”

Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports

Remember me?

That’s what Trout seemed to be asserting when he rocked the Bronx last week in a firework show that got everyone buzzing about his resurgence. Trout crushed five home runs in the Los Angeles Angels series against the Bombers, becoming the first visitor ever to hit a homer in all four games at Yankee Stadium. 

No matter how much the baseball landscape has changed over the years — new stars, new rules, new technology, more parity — Trout still stands out. Just like Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds, and Ken Griffey Jr. represented past eras, Trout is right there on the list of enduring legends and all-time greats. He serves as a bridge between generations of fans. He’s universally beloved in Major League Baseball.

So, what gives? How is Trout, in his age-34 season after 16 years in the big leagues, making it seem like he’s still in his prime? He chalked it up to a mentality shift. 

“I’m just going out there and having fun again,” Trout told me on the field at Yankee Stadium last week. “Just out there playing my game, feeling lighter on my feet. And I think we got a great group. We’re all pulling from one string.”

Trout is off to yet another terrific early-season start. His seven home runs entering Tuesday are tied for fourth-most in the league. His .958 OPS is ranked 13th in MLB. Under new Angels manager Kurt Suzuki, Trout is regularly patrolling center field again after mostly being in right field or designated hitter in recent years. Even though crushing the ball in April has been a trend for him lately, followed by the inevitable trip to the injured list, there’s legitimate reason to believe he can sustain this run for at least the majority of the season. 

The 11-time All-Star reflected on his career after the Angels’ last-place finish in the AL West last season. Trout couldn’t believe how fast his 15 years in MLB flew by, so he vowed to slow down and enjoy the moment. His perspective coming into spring training was intentionally different. He tried not to pay attention to outside noise. He tried not to take anything for granted, even the mundane moments of putting on an Angels uniform and slapping hands with his teammates before every game. He tried not to rush while working in the batting cage. As usual, people pulled him in different directions and asked him to fulfill multiple obligations. 

But he kept in mind his new objective: take a beat, and make things simpler. 

“He’s the greatest of all time,” Judge said of Trout last week in the Yankees clubhouse. “He’s been fun to watch his whole career, coming up at such a young age and instantly just putting yourself at the top of the list. It’s special. I know he’s had some tough injuries over the years, but it’s great to see him put himself back in a good spot this year.”

A small, but meaningful, change in perspective can do wonders for someone as elite as Trout. But there are also physical and mechanical transformations that are behind his exciting start to the season. 

Noting how difficult it is to return to peak form after athletes suffer lower-body injuries, including managing his knee injuries in 2024-25, Trout dropped about 5–7 pounds this offseason in an effort to be lighter on his feet. Now, after playing 21 games in center field this year, Trout is maintaining an elite sprint speed of 28.6 feet per second, which ranks in the 90th percentile. That’s an increase from last year’s sprint speed of 27.9 feet per second, which fell into the 62nd percentile. 

Mechanically, Trout has added a new step-back at the plate, bringing his back foot a step back right before connecting. Even though he’s experimented with it before, that’s something we haven’t seen Trout consistently execute over the years. The step-back has helped Trout get more underneath the ball, which has led to the power surge we’ve seen in the early part of the season. Not even Judge, who’s won the AL MVP three times in the past four seasons, could catch up to Trout’s torrent of homers at Yankee Stadium last week. The Yankee captain fell just short, slugging four homers to Trout’s five. 

“I love watching Judge,” Trout told me. “Just like in the last 8–9 years, competing against each other, it’s been fun. I’m a big fan of Judge, and every time I come back to Yankee Stadium, it’s always special going back and forth with him. Being on the West Coast, I don’t see him as much. But I love tuning in after the games and seeing what he’s doing. It’s great for baseball.”

Trout’s renaissance feels different now. 

He’s overcome injuries and concerns about his durability. He’s serious about pregame strength and training and postgame recovery in a way he hadn’t been before. He knows what he’s capable of doing, and how much his peers respect him. He’s finally feeling like himself again. The air of inevitability surrounding his at-bats has returned. In an era obsessed with launch-angle tweaks, swing paths, barrel rates and an avalanche of modern-baseball analytics, Trout’s greatness feels almost stubbornly pure. 

“It’s unreal,” Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton said of Trout’s talent. “Cool showing from him and Judgey the whole series. Obviously, you don’t want that against us. But you got to acknowledge the greatness.”

Whispers of what could’ve been have followed Trout’s every injury over the years, and those maladies were so persistent that they became the norm. Even as Trout is regaining peak performance to start the season, there’s an industry-wide underlying fear attached to every home run, hit-by-pitch, or diving catch. With Trout, it seems like the threat of injuries is always knocking at the door. 

But, this year, the three-time MVP is ignoring the sound. He told himself he’d focus on having fun this season. And when an all-time great is having fun, so is everyone else. There are so few players that baseball fans can root for, no matter the jersey they wear. Trout breaks through that lens. Like Ichiro Suzuki, Tony Gwynn, Cal Ripken Jr., and Albert Pujols, Trout is respected by everyone. 

So, Trout returning to vintage form isn’t just a personal comeback. It’s a boost for the entire sport. It’s a reminder of sustained excellence in an era of rapid player turnover. Seeing greatness again feels rare and nostalgic. Trout looks like Trout again. He’s reminding us how enormous the gap can be between being great and being generational. 

He’s no longer the young phenom, or the injury-riddled All-Star veteran. He’s the future walk-in Hall of Famer, proving his peak wasn’t a fluke.

___

“In The Dugout” is where we provide an insider’s view on the biggest and best storylines surrounding MLB’s top players and teams.

Deesha Thosar covers Major League Baseball as a reporter and columnist for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.

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Cubs manager Craig Counsell thinks a Major League Baseball rule that allows the Los Angeles Dodgers to carry 14 pitchers because of Shohei Ohtani is “bizarre.”

Major league teams are allowed to have a maximum of 13 pitchers on their active 26-man roster from opening day through Aug. 31. From Sept. 1 through the end of the season, the roster limits increase to 14 pitchers and 28 active players.

But Ohtani is designated as a two-way player, which means he doesn’t count as a pitcher. So the reigning World Series champions have a total of 14 pitchers on their active roster.

Asked about the 13-pitcher limit before Monday’s 5-1 victory over Philadelphia, Counsell said he has never understood the reasoning for the restriction.

[Shohei Ohtani On-Base Streak Tracker: Ohtani Ties Choo, Millar With 52-Straight]

“It’s a rule to help offense, I think, more than anything, if you ask me,” Counsell said. “And then there’s one team that’s allowed to carry basically one of both, and that he gets special consideration. Which is probably the most bizarre rule. … For one team.”

The two-way player designation is for players with at least 20 innings pitched in the major leagues and at least 20 big league starts as a position player or designated hitter with at least three plate appearances in each of those games. The player has to reach those numbers in the current or any one of the two most recent seasons.

The designation went into effect for the 2020 season. The 31-year-old Ohtani is the only current player who meets the criteria.

“There’s not another player like that, but one team gets different rules for that player,” said Counsell, who played in the majors for 16 years.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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There is always baseball happening — almost too much baseball for one person to follow themselves.

Don’t worry, we’re here to help you by figuring out what you missed but shouldn’t have. Here are all the best moments from last night in Major League Baseball:

Orioles-Royals got wild

You might think, looking at the final score of 7-5 in the Orioles-Royals game from Monday, that this one was fairly offense-centric throughout. The truth is that all but two runs were scored from the ninth inning onward — everything changed as the game approached its original endpoint, and escalated from there. Observe!

In the bottom of the second, with the game still scoreless, Royals’ right fielder Jac Caglianone hit his first homer of the year, off of starting pitcher Kyle Bradish. Despite giving up 10 hits and walking three, Bradish gave up just that one run in his 5.1 innings of work: the next four Orioles’ relievers would allow just one hit and no runs combined.

Seth Lugo went seven shutout innings against Baltimore, and then Matt Strahm pitched a scoreless eighth for a hold. Closer Lucas Erceg got the O’s down to their last strike, with Kansas City up 1-0… and then he blew it.

Catcher Samuel Basallo tied things up, 1-1, and the two teams headed to extras in what had been, to that point, a pitching-focused battle. While the 10th was scoreless and continued that trend, it was also the end of it. With two outs and the only baserunner on Blaze Alexander, who was placed there to start the 11th, DH Dylan Beavers managed a single to put the Orioles ahead for the first time all night.

The lead did not last. Center fielder Kyle Isbel bunted Isaac Collins to third to kick off the bottom of the inning and put the tying run for Kansas City 90 feet away. Shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. then singled Isbel home to make things even once more.

The Royals wouldn’t score again, however, bringing Baltimore back to the plate, where Basallo once again made his presence felt with an RBI single to give the O’s another lead.

This wouldn’t be a one and done like every other inning in the game for both sides, however. Baltimore poured it on from here. Second baseman Jeremiah Jackson followed Basallo’s single with one of his own, then third baseman Weston Wilson — who had entered as a pinch-runner earlier — drew the walk to load the bases. Center fielder Leody Taveras would then hit his second homer of the year, clearing the bases with a grand slam; 7-2, Orioles.

Cameron Foster came on in relief for Baltimore to try to close out this five-run lead, and it looked like he might falter in that. DH Salvador Perez led off with a single, then right fielder Lane Thomas walked to load the bases. Nick Loftin, who was playing second after coming in as a pinch-hitter earlier in the game, doubled in three runs, making it 7-5 with no outs.

That was all Kansas City could manage, though: the next three batters were retired by Foster in order, with a backwards K to wrap it up against Isbel.

The Orioles now sit just one game under .500 and 2.5 back in the AL East, which is collectively off to a slow start. The AL Central isn’t looking much better off, but the Royals have managed to sink to the bottom of it, anyway, thanks to losing what is now eight-straight.

MLB’s strikeout leader is Dylan Cease

There were some understandable questions about why the Blue Jays would be willing to give Dylan Cease a seven-year, $210 million deal this offseason, given the right-hander posted a 4.55 ERA in 2025 with the Padres. Teams are looking at far more than a basic stat like ERA when they make these decisions, though, and something no one could question was Cease’s ability to throw swing-and-miss pitches. Whatever Toronto saw that made him worthy of a franchise-record deal for a pitcher seems to be on display for all now, as Cease struck out 12 Angels on Monday in a 5-2 Blue Jays’ W, tying his own earlier mark for the most in a game so far in 2026, and now leads the majors in strikeouts with 44 on the season.

Cease is also the fastest Blue Jays pitcher ever to 44 strikeouts, per Blue Jays Nation; whatever little adjustment Toronto thought he needed to unlock his best self seems to have taken hold already. Of course, this is five starts and 25.2 innings, so no need to hand the righty the AL Cy Young Award just yet, but still: this is one hell of a start. Both referring to last night and 2026 as a whole for Cease.

Big Dumper dongs

Cal Raleigh bashed 60 homers for the Mariners in 2025, a record for the team, for catchers and for switch-hitters. He hasn’t been nearly as powerful out of the gate in 2026, but he has shown some flashes of that pop. We got another example that it’s still there yesterday, when Big Dumper went the other way on a sinker to the outside part of the zone, sending it 382 feet into the bullpen.

That’s Raleigh’s third homer of the year; through 24 games last season, he had nine. Still, Raleigh always being a 60-homer guy — or even a 50-homer guy — wasn’t an automatic just because it was done once. There have been just 10 such seasons in MLB’s long history, and all. The more important thing are the signs that Raleigh can get out of his slump, which has impacted more than just his power. Hitting a ball 382 feet the other way is one such sign that Raleigh will bounce back, maybe sooner than later. 

Rodriguez’s awkward adjustment

Nintendo used to have majority ownership of the Mariners, but now, the video game developer and publisher is just a minority investor. Apparently that’s all that’s needed for center fielder Julio Rodriguez to have some video game-esque reactions and adjustments to a fly ball hit at him, though. Look at this weirdo — the play, not Rodriguez.

That ball just kept hooking, which Rodriguez did not account for, but he still made a ridiculous change in direction himself for a catch that looked like a buggy animation from a baseball video game instead of a real one. 

No not Honkbal, Honk Ball

The square footage of a baseball field is immense, the probabilities for where a ball in play could land impacted by everything from the ability of the hitter and pitcher themselves to where the ball is in the zone and where the bat meets it and how hard. Somehow, this ball was struck in such a way that it landed near a goose that had otherwise been unbothered, and that bird took flight as a result.

Everyone was unharmed, that’s the important thing. Except for this baseball that Cubs’ shortstop Dansby Swanson had crushed an inning before, anyway.

And also the psyche of Phillies’ fans, that’s probably not at its strongest at the moment. Philadelphia dropped its sixth game in a row here, managing just one run against the Cubs. That’s just one more than the goose recorded.

Ohtani makes it 52

Dodgers’ star Shohei Ohtani did not make everyone wait long to see if he could extend his on-base streak to 52 games, tying the longest such streak of the last decade. In the third inning against Rockies’ starter Jose Quintana, the DH hit a liner to right for his first hit of the game.

While Ohtani had reached earlier on an error, those do not count for on-base streaks, but even this hit didn’t prove necessary, either, since he picked up a pair of walks later in the game, as well. 

He is now a single game away from moving into the top 25 for longest on-base streaks in MLB history. The top of the mountain is still a ways away, however: that Ted Williams guy was quite the hitter himself, and he made it on in 84-consecutive games back in 1949. Still! Ohtani can rocket most of the way up the list before he even runs out of April — the top few spots aside, history’s longest on-base streaks are mostly clustered together — fewer have reached where Ohtani is now, and even fewer have gone much further than this.

D’aww

No babies were harmed in the making of this catch.

Listen, you don’t have anywhere to go — there’s a baby in your hands. The ball is coming right at you, so your options are to attempt to catch it or at least deflect it from the direction of the child, or let the ball hit you, which hey, might hurt enough to make it tough to hold onto the baby. The right call was made here.

The better call? Giving the baseball to the baby afterward. The rest of this Dodgers-Rockies game wasn’t quite so cute for Colorado fans — they lost, 12-3 — but hey. Foul ball baby!

Friends don’t rob friends of hits

Elly De La Cruz and Junior Caminero were happy to see each other prior to the Reds-Rays tilt. The two early 20s Dominican-born infielders are close friends — Caminero described De La Cruz as his “brother” postgame, even, per MLB — so it was no surprise to see them embrace before they faced off on Monday.

Then the game started, though, and De La Cruz showed no mercy to Caminero on this ball hit to the shortstop’s right.

Make sure you watch through for the reaction by Caminero. In that exchange where he called De La Cruz a brother postgame? Caminero also joked through an interpreter that, “I’m not going to give him any food tomorrow. We were talking about exchanging something, but I’m not going to give him anything.” Man, baseball is a rough game.

Red Sox win early Patriots’ Day matchup

The Red Sox played their traditional Marathon Monday early game on Patriots’ Day, this time to wrap up a four-game series against the Tigers. Boston was attempting to even things up and not drop the series to Detroit, which had won the previous two games, and sent Sonny Gray to the mound to do it. Gray had to be lifted after 2.2 innings with hamstring tightness, however, so the bullpen had to hop in early.

In the fourth, 23-year-old rookie third baseman Hao-Yu Lee picked up his first career hit and RBI with a single off reliever Zack Kelly to tie things up 2-2. 

A couple of innings later, pinch-hitter Jahmai Jones subbed in for Kerry Carpenter and delivered a hit to left-center to drive in the go-ahead run.

Boston’s bats would wake up from here on. With the game tied in the bottom of the seventh, Ceddanne Rafaela pinch-hit and drove in two runs — nearly three — with a single to right, to put the Sox up 5-3. 

That was not going to be enough to win, but the Sox drove in another before the inning ended when backstop Carlos Narvaez singled in a run, and then Boston added two more in the eighth. And good thing, too, because the Tigers made it 8-6 against relievers Ryan Watson and Aroldis Chapman before running out of outs in the ninth.

Boston needed this W badly, to avoid dropping alone into fifth place in the AL East. The Tigers could have used it, too, in the way all teams need a win, but Detroit is at least just half-a-game out in the AL Central, not staring up from the bottom like the Sox. Boston gets the Yankees next, starting Tuesday, while Detroit takes on a Brewers team that is in last place, sure, but is also 12-9 while doing it — a better record than the Tigers have.

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Just 48 players had ever managed an on-base streak of at least 50 games entering the 2026 season, but Shohei Ohtani made that 49. The Dodgers’ two-way superstar, through Apr. 20, has now reached base in 52 consecutive games, by either a walk or a hit, after a third inning single off Jose Quintana against the Rockies on Apr. 20.

The streak began on Aug. 24, 2025, and through Apr. 19 Ohtani had hit .281/.399/.597 with 55 hits — 16 of them home runs — 37 walks, eight intentional free passes and three hit by pitches. On Monday in the series finale against the Rockies, Ohtani pushed the streak to 52 games, tying him with Shin-Soo Choo — the last player to get to at least 50 games — as well as 10 other players who have managed the same, a group that includes the likes of Hall of Famers Joe DiMaggio, Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig and Tris Speaker.

That ties Ohtani for the 28th-longest on-base streak in MLB history, and if he can keep getting on base, the DH will rocket up the all-time leaderboard. Getting to 53 games would put Ohtani not just in the top 25, but in a tie for 23rd with Alex Rodriguez and four others. Luke Appling is alone at 22nd, with 54. Three others — Hall of Famers Stan Musial, Harry Heilmann and Cobb again — are tied for 19th at 55. Five players are tied at 56-straight games, including modern-day legend Barry Bonds. And reaching base for 57 games in a row would get Ohtani into the top 10 all-time.

There comes a point where it becomes much more difficult for anyone to climb this leaderboard, however. Orlando Cabrera is fourth with 63-consecutive games, achieved in 2006. Ahead of the former shortstop, though, is Hall of Famer and Red Sox great Ted Williams with a 73-game on-base streak achieved in 1941, DiMaggio again with his top mark of 74 — also achieved in 1941, as part of his 56-game hitting streak — and then Williams in 1949, when he reached base in an absurd 84-straight games. Williams would bat .343/.490/.650 for the season, and win his second of two MVP awards.

Here are the top 25 on-base streaks in MLB history: Ohtani is one game away from making it to that point himself.

Streak data via Baseball-Reference

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By year’s end, odds are we’ll be crowning Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge as the MVPs yet again. 

To this point, though, neither player has been his team’s best hitter. 

Ohtani is flashing his two-way prowess with a dominant 0.50 ERA and a respectable .915 OPS, but another Dodgers teammate leads MLB in hits and batting average and is well ahead of him in every slash-line category. Judge, meanwhile, is pacing the Yankees with nine home runs, but another Bronx Bomber has the highest OPS in MLB. 

So, who is every team’s early MVP? We’ll take a look as part of this week’s power rankings: 

We might have a new poster boy for three true outcomes: Munetaka Murakami is tied for the third-most homers in MLB and also has the fourth-highest walk rate and 11th highest strikeout rate. 

Hunter Goodman looks poised for another 30-plus homer season, but the bigger story is what Antonio Senzatela is doing in a new long relief role on the mound. The veteran righty allowed his first run of the season Sunday, but he also picked up the win and now sports a 0.63 ERA in six appearances (14.1 innings) while throwing harder than ever before. 

Perhaps lost among the shocking disasters around the league, the Royals have now lost seven straight games and have scored the fewest runs in MLB. Michael Wacha (1.00 ERA) and Seth Lugo (1.48) are doing their part on the mound to try to give their team a chance, though. 

Woof. The losing streak is up to 11. Since 2020, 11 other teams have lost 11 straight games at some point in a season; none of them made the playoffs. The Mets can’t seem to score runs with Juan Soto sidelined, but at least they have a chance to win every time Nolan McLean pitches. He has the lowest WHIP of any qualified National League pitcher and, as expected, looks like an early Rookie of the Year contender. 

If I told you Yordan Alvarez was leading MLB in home runs and fWAR, you’d probably assume the Astros were doing quite well. And you would assume incorrectly. They have two wins in their last 14 games — both against the Rockies, who also swept them during that stretch — and their pitchers have a 6.11 ERA. Yikes. 

The pitching is, as expected, a problem. The offense, however, offers plenty of intrigue. CJ Abrams, who has nearly doubled both his walk rate and barrel rate in the early going, ranks fourth among all qualified hitters in OPS. As a team, the Nationals are tied for second in runs scored with the Dodgers and Astros, just one run behind the Braves. 

With Logan Webb, Adrian Houser and Tyler Mahle all sporting ERAs over 5.00, the early work from Landen Roupp (2.38) has been needed in the Giants’ scuffling rotation. Roupp hasn’t allowed a home run, or even a barreled ball, through four starts. 

The Blue Jays rank in the bottom 10 in MLB in runs per game, which certainly wasn’t expected after they ranked fourth in the category last season. It could be a lot worse if it weren’t for Kevin Gausman and Dylan Cease, who get co-early-season-MVP honors here. The Blue Jays are 5-4 in games in which they’ve started, and they’ve held the depleted Toronto rotation afloat. Among MLB pitchers who’ve thrown at least 20 innings, Cease is third in strikeout rate while Gausman is third in strikeout-to-walk percentage. 

As bad as it has been overall in Boston, Willson Contreras is giving the Red Sox everything they’ve needed at first base. As a team, Boston first basemen last year ranked 27th in fWAR and 26th in wRC+. With Contreras this year, they rank in the top five in both categories at the position. 

MLB’s shortstop leader in fWAR? Nope, not Bobby Witt Jr., Gunnar Henderson or Elly De La Cruz. It’s Miami’s Otto Lopez, who’s hitting .338, the best mark of any player at his position. 

They have the worst run differential (-38) in all of MLB. No, not a typo. Yes, hard to believe. They’ve now lost five straight games and nine of 11, and they scored three runs total while getting swept by the Braves over the weekend. At least they have Cristopher Sánchez, who started three of the team’s eight wins and hasn’t allowed more than two earned runs in any of his five starts. 

I would like to use this section to rave about Mike Trout, who leads all qualified AL center fielders in OPS as he turns back the clock to start the year… but this spot might need to be reserved for the Angels’ early Cy Young contender. José Soriano is 5-0 with a ridiculous 0.28 ERA. 

The Twins’ trade for 25-year-old right-hander Taj Bradley at last year’s deadline is looking like a huge win, especially with Pablo López out for the year. Bradley is 3-0 with a 1.63 ERA through five starts; Griffin Jax, the player Bradley was traded for, has a 7.04 ERA in Tampa Bay. 

On a team with so much offensive firepower, Shea Langeliers can sometimes get lost in the shuffle. But he has been the A’s best hitter this year, and he leads all catchers with six homers, including a 467-foot blast that is the longest by any player in MLB this year. (Marvel at it here.) 

Jeremiah Jackson is slashing .303/.319/.561 with five homers despite walking just once with a chase rate over 40%. It may not be sustainable, but considering the injuries around the Baltimore infield, his production to this point has been vital. The other contender for the early-season honor is Taylor Ward, who hasn’t provided the power many expected (he hit his first home run of the year Sunday) but leads MLB in doubles and has a career-high .388 on-base percentage. 

The Rangers have to be feeling good about their one-for-one swap of Brandon Nimmo for Marcus Semien. Nimmo has been the Rangers’ best hitter (.311/.386/.522), while Semien has played at a replacement level so far in Queens. 

Bryan Woo has looked the part of an ace with a 2.25 ERA through five starts, but the bigger story in the Mariners’ rotation is Emerson Hancock. With the help of his sweeper, it seems to all be coming together for the 26-year-old, who’s 2-1 with a 2.28 ERA and tied for the second-lowest WHIP (0.76) among all qualified MLB starters. 

The Rays rank 10th in OPS, thanks in large part to Yandy Díaz. He has the second-highest wRC+ of any qualified DH in MLB behind only Yordan Alvarez and is tied for the second-most hits of any player in baseball behind only Andy Pages. 

The early-season MVP award in Detroit can be split between arguably the best pitcher (Tarik Skubal) and rookie (Kevin McGonigle) in MLB. But it’s also worth giving some attention to Dillon Dingler, who has been tearing the cover off the baseball and leads all qualified catchers in OPS.

They’ve been arguably the most surprising team in baseball this year, and the breakout appears to be here for 23-year-old Jordan Walker. He ranks first among position players in bWAR and is tied for third in MLB in home runs and fifth in OPS. 

After a slow start, the Cubs are starting to kick into gear. Only two teams — the Braves and Dodgers — have a better run differential than them. That may not be a surprise, but Nico Hoerner being the Cubs’ best hitter certainly is; he’s tied for the MLB lead with 21 RBI, and he already has three home runs after hitting just seven each of the past two seasons. 

Sal Stewart leads all National League rookies in hits, homers, RBI and slugging. In a rookie class loaded with talent, Stewart and Mets pitcher Nolan McLean currently look like the best in the NL. 

The answer is always Jose Ramírez, who’s back to doing his thing after a slow start, but Parker Messick needs a mention. He’s 3-0 with a 1.05 ERA, and he had to earn those numbers. His four starts — all of which ended in Guardians wins — came against the Dodgers, Cubs, Braves and Orioles. He’s emerging as a sneaky AL Rookie of the Year contender. 

Brandon Lowe leads all MLB second basemen with seven home runs and a .600 slugging percentage and leads his new team with a .975 OPS. 

There was some fear that Corbin Carroll might not look the same after returning from a broken hamate bone in the spring; instead, he has been even better than usual, slashing .300/.390/.600. Carroll ranks eighth in MLB in OPS and leads the league in triples. 

While Jacob Misiorowski continues to rack up strikeouts — he leads MLB in the category — the most valuable player on the team is WBC standout Brice Turang. With four homers and the sixth-highest OPS in MLB, Turang is demonstrating he’s a lot more than a Platinum Glove defender. 

The best hitter in baseball so far this year is a Yankee, but it’s not the one you might think. Ben Rice leads all qualified hitters in on-base percentage (.476), slugging (.800), OPS (1.276) and wRC+ (246). Meanwhile, on the mound, Cam Schlittler leads all AL starters in K/BB% and fWAR. 

It takes a lot for a closer to be singled out on this list, but Mason Miller is deserving — 11 appearances, two hits, no runs, 27 strikeouts, two walks. Just absurd stuff. He’s 8-for-8 in save chances and, at this overpowering pace, could end up getting Cy Young consideration. 

Matt Olson leads the Braves in on-base percentage, slugging and OPS and has more doubles (10 total) than any first baseman in MLB. 

Shohei Ohtani has a 0.50 ERA and a 51-game on-base streak that is the third-longest in franchise history, but he’s not the team leader in WAR. That honor belongs to Andy Pages, who leads MLB in hits and batting average and ranks third in OPS. 

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