Category: Baseball

The first two weeks of the MLB season have already given fans plenty to talk about. Some teams are showing they could be dominant, while others are surprising everyone with unexpected performances. 

Pitchers who struggled in past seasons are suddenly looking like Cy Young contenders and rotations that seemed shaky are starting to click. The big question now is which of these early trends will stick and which are just noise? 

FOX Sports MLB analyst Dontrelle Willis weighs in on the storylines already shaping the season.

The Yankees have a historically great rotation: Overreaction

Willis’ take: “It’s an overreaction, but they will be good. I love what I’ve seen from Max Fried being in a Yankees uniform. He’s been outstanding… 19 wins last year, 2-0 this year. Will Warren has a two ERA pitching today, and Cam Schittler is one of the best young arms in all of baseball. He’s truly fun to watch ever since he rolled over the Red Sox in that postseason start last year. You see the confidence bleed in. Also, they get [Carlos] Rodon and Gerrit Cole back into the fold. Watch out. Nobody is going to want to see that Yankee rotation.”

The Yankees are off to a strong 8–3 start, driven largely by how locked in the rotation has been to start the year. As a group, it holds a 2.47 ERA—tied for second-best in baseball as of Thursday. Fried and Schittler have led the way, combining for 36.2 innings while allowing just six total runs.

Sandy Alcántara is back to Cy Young form: Not an overreaction

Willis’ take: “Breaking all my records one start at a time. He is fun to watch. The 30-year-old is finally healthy. The efficiency and command is there, not only with that sinker but the secondary pitches as well. The only thing that’s going to be unfortunate is that the Fighting Fish are not in the race. He’s going to be a big trade piece once again.”

Alcántara has struggled to stay on the field in recent seasons due to multiple injuries, but he’s opened this year looking fully rejuvenated. Through 24.1 innings, he owns a 0.74 ERA. He’s also recorded 18 strikeouts, reestablishing himself as one of the most dominant arms in the league. 

Even with the Marlins not viewed as a serious contender this season, he remains firmly in the mix for a Cy Young-caliber season.

Alcántara is also closing in on a franchise milestone in complete games, sitting at 13 — just two behind Willis, who holds the record at 15. Willis even joked on the broadcast that Alcantara could surpass that mark within a few weeks and at this pace, it’s hard to argue otherwise.

The Angels are a playoff team: Overreaction

Willis’ take: “It’s early, but I do love how Mike Trout is playing every single day. Zach Neto is going to take that next step. We talked about (Jorge) Soler in the power department, but a little shaky in that rotation. [José]  Soriano has been outstanding, but [Yusei] Kikuchi and company have struggled. They need to play better, but also the AL’s kinda shaky, so maybe they could stumble in there.”

Not only have the Angels been one of the early surprises this season, but their rotation is off to a strong start and Trout looks as healthy as he has in recent memory. They may have been overlooked entering the year, but Soriano is quickly becoming impossible to ignore as a legitimate threat at the top of the rotation.

Soriano is 3–0 with a 0.45 ERA and 21 strikeouts through 20 innings this season. If the Angels are going to contend in a competitive AL West, they’ll need a true ace — and Soriano is making a strong case to be exactly that.

 

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:

ABS ends a rally

The Twins and Tigers faced off on Wednesday, with free-agent acquisition Framber Valdez on the mound for Detroit and Bailey Ober for Minnesota. It did not go well for the Tigers almost immediately: Valdez allowed six runs in the first, a stretch that began with a wild pitch to score center fielder Byron Buxton and was capped off by third baseman Royce Lewis driving in a pair on a single to center.

The Twins would add a couple of runs by the end of the sixth inning, bringing their lead to 8-2, but in the seventh, Detroit started to truly come back. Designated hitter Gleyber Torres hit a double to score shortstop Javier Baez and rookie third baseman Kevin McGonigle, then left fielder Riley Green singled in Torres.

Reliever Cole Sands would come in for Anthony Banda after this rally, but the righty would give up a single to catcher Dillon Dingler and then throw a wild pitch, allowing Greene to score — 8-6, Twins, with Dingler on second and two outs in the inning.

That’s where the rally would end, however. Center fielder Parker Meadows had a far too passive at-bat to close it out. He took the first two pitches for balls — including a fairly close second pitch under the zone — then watched a 92.5 mph fastball on the inside corner for a strike. Meadows would foul off an 86 mph cutter in the middle of the zone on the next pitch, and then for the fifth, despite having two strikes, watched a curveball hit the bottom of the zone.

The Tigers would get another chance in the eighth, though. The inning began with second baseman Zach McKinstry called out on strikes after catcher Ryan Jeffers challenged and won, but then Baez doubled and Spencer Torkelson was hit by a Cody Laweryson pitch. McGonigle popped out for the second, leaving Torres as Detroit’s last hope in this potential rally. Instead, in a 1-2 count, he didn’t protect the plate in the way that needs to happen in a world where ABS challenges exist.

The 93-mph four-seamer caught just enough of the zone for the initial call to be overturned, resulting in a strikeout to end the eighth. Detroit would attempt another rally in the ninth, and while ABS didn’t stop it, the Tigers faltered the old-fashioned way by grounding out with two runners on, then lining out to harmlessly end the game.

This game is a reminder that hitters need to be even more aware of the count than usual in 2026, and they already had to be real aware before ABS. Borderline pitches are not necessarily up to the ump’s discretion anymore: both McKinstry and Torres ended up striking out on fastballs that were in that outer part of the zone that is still very much a strike if it catches even a little bit of the interior. Those are pitches that, a year ago, would probably have been balls — borderline, but excusable. They are strikes now, though, and hitters are going to have to adjust as the season progresses.

Blue Jays avoid the sweep

It’s been a rough week for the Blue Jays, as Toronto had a World Series rematch with the Dodgers while scuffling out of the gate a bit to begin 2026. The result of that, before Wednesday, was a 14-2 beatdown and a 4-1 loss on Tuesday. The Blue Jays were able to avoid the sweep at the hands of Los Angeles, though, thanks to a late rally in the third and final game of the series.

Shohei Ohtani exited as the starter and Jack Dreyer entered in relief in the bottom of the seventh. That’s when Toronto got to work. Pinch-hitter Davis Schneider started things off with a walk, then catcher Tyler Heineman singled him over to second. DH George Springer would double Schneider home, then center fielder Daulton Varsho tied things up with a ball right up the middle.

Blake Treinen would come on in relief and, despite a steal of second by Varsho and walk to first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., got out of the inning without the Blue Jays scoring again. Ben Casparius would not be so lucky in the eighth in relief of Treinen. Schneider walked to give Toronto its first baserunner of the inning with one out, then shortstop Andres Gimenez singled him over to third, and that’s when things went off the rails for the Dodgers.

Instead of just letting Gimenez have second, Dodgers’ catcher Will Smith tried to catch him stealing even with Schneider on third — when the throw wasn’t properly corralled, it gave Schneider a chance to score, and he did. The rest of the inning would go off without a hitch for Los Angeles, but the damage was already done, and Jeff Hoffman was able to close things out for Toronto in the ninth.

Ohtani vs. Okamoto

The Dodgers didn’t win the game, no, but they did take the series, and also came out ahead in the first matchup between two-way star Shohei Ohtani and Blue Jays’ offseason acquisition and third baseman, Kazuma Okamoto, who Toronto signed out of Nippon Professional Baseball this winter.

Hey, if the Blue Jays turn things around soon enough, maybe there will be more matchups between these two Japanese talents later on this season.

Things are rough for Philly

Phillies fans have been known to overreact a little, it’s true. But let them have it this time, since Philadelphia hasn’t scored a run in 20 innings and just lost a series to the Giants to drop to 6-6 on the season. It’s not the end of the world — or even the end of early April — but yeah. Twenty innings without scoring. Woof.

The Giants did not have trouble plating runs. First baseman Rafael Devers — he’s back to playing there now that his hamstring is feeling better — went yard in the bottom of the sixth, crushing a three-run shot 411 feet to center off of Aaron Nola to give San Francisco the only runs it would need.

The Giants would score more, though. First on a sacrifice bunt by designated hitter Luis Arraez in the eighth, then when Devers singled him in later in the inning, making it 5-0. Nola actually pitched well overall, as he gave up three over six innings while walking one, but with Philadelphia’s bats missing, even that seemed insurmountable before the Giants added on against the Philly pen.

The good news is that the Phillies won’t stay scoreless forever. The bad news is that Phillies’ fans have to wait until at least Friday to know if that’s true or not, since Thursday is an off day.

Walker is locked in

Jordan Walker has been on one in the early going. The Cardinals’ right fielder blasted his fourth home run in five games on Wednesday, taking Nationals’ hurler Brad Lord deep on a slider that didn’t slide so much as stay up in the zone. Walker hit it 108 mph back in the other direction, 405 feet to center, putting the Cardinals up 3-1.

Walker is currently leading the majors in dingers with five, which is wild since just last year he hit six all season in 111 games. That was an abysmal year unlike what he managed as a rookie in 2023, however, when he batted .276/.342/.445 with 16 homers and a 113 OPS+, so maybe he’s finally locked in again at 24 years old following an interminable intermission the past two seasons. He was always supposed to develop into a hitter with real pop, and it might finally be happening.

Four-hit day for Ward, O’s sweep

What a day for Orioles’ left fielder Taylor Ward. He went 4-for-5 against the White Sox, bringing his average for the season up to .383, and he also drove in two runs and scored another in a 5-3 victory for Baltimore over Chicago. The last of those came in the ninth, when Ward had his second double of the day to provide some insurance for the O’s in their quest to pick up the sweep on the road.

It ended up being insurance Baltimore didn’t need, but either way, they have to be pleased with how Ward has done in his first season in orange. Ward is batting .383/.464/.574 with an American League-leading 18 hits and MLB-best nine doubles in his first 12 games since coming over from the Angels in the Grayson Rodriguez trade. Rodriguez hasn’t taken the mound yet for Los Angeles, and it’s also April 9, but he might have some catching up to do, is all.

Carroll gets three XBH

Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll helped Arizona even the series with the Mets 1-1, heading into Thursday’s finale, thanks to picking up three extra-base hits in five trips to the plate. The right fielder got going early with a double in the first inning, and eventually came around to score Arizona’s first run of the day, as well. He then hit another double on a liner to center in the second, driving in two runs to put the Diamondbacks up 4-0 against a struggling David Peterson.

While Carroll was done driving in runs, he wasn’t finished with the extra-base knocks. In the seventh, he moved into a tie for fifth among active players with the 46th triple of his career, tying Amed Rosario. Arizona wasn’t able to drive him in, but it also didn’t matter in the long run: the Diamondbacks didn’t need the help, as they ended up winning 7-2 even without that additional run.

The Rockies are .500 for the first time in awhile

The Rockies want you to forget 2025, but right now they are also reminding you of just how poorly that season went. Luckily, that’s because this one is going so much better. Their winning streak is now up to four games, and after sweeping the Astros, they have a .500 record. Once again, a big inning did Houston in and made the day for Colorado: the Rockies were up 1-0 after the first inning, but then had a five-run second, capped off by shortstop Ezequiel Tovar’s RBI double.

Sure, the Rockies were .500 a year ago… literally days into the season, when they were 1-1 on March 29. But a non-losing record for the Rockies even this late into the early season, just 12 games in? You have to go back to 2022 for that. Which also happens to be the last time the Rockies didn’t lose at least 101 games. There is going to be a lot of remembering the Rockies’ terrible recent past throughout 2026, but maybe — maybe — it will be as a positive point of comparison instead of as part of the same endless sludge that the franchise has been stuck in throughout the decade.

Martinez goes 4-for-5, hits a grand slam

There was another big four-hit game on Wednesday, this one from Guardians’ left fielder Angel Martinez. Not only did he go 4-for-5, but he also hit a four-bagger, clearing the bases with one swing of the bat in the bottom of the eighth.

Granted, Cleveland was already up on the Royals and in position to win at this point, but with the way big innings turn things over in a hurry in MLB these days, you can never have enough runs. Martinez’s grand slam made sure the Guardians had a dominant lead instead of a tenuous one, and it pushed Cleveland to 8-5 on the season. As has been mentioned before in this space and will be brought up again, the American League Central is likely going to be a tight race this year — these early divisional wins are going to matter a lot down the road.

Mason Miller returns home, strikes it out

Padres’ closer Mason Miller is a Pittsburgh native, and he returned to his hometown for the first time as a professional on Wednesday to take on the Pirates. Of course, these moments can only be so friendly: Miller is there to do his job, and his job is getting Bucs’ batters out. Which he did with ease, sitting them down 1-2-3 with a pair of strikeouts and a ground out.

Using Miller in an 8-2 game might seem like overkill, but he had not pitched since April 5 against the Red Sox, so the Padres were just trying to get their closer some work rather than letting him rust in the pen. 

San Diego now heads back home to host the surging Rockies, so maybe Miller will get a little more work in on Thursday as these two teams duke it out to see which can get over .500 on the season first.

Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports

The City Connect uniforms are back in MLB for this season.

MLB unveiled City Connect uniforms for eight teams Thursday morning. Prior to the start of the regular season, the teams partnered closely with Nike and Fanatics, MLB’s uniform manufacturer, for the next batch of City Connect jerseys. The eight teams: Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Royals, Milwaukee Brewers, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres and Texas Rangers.

The goal for these uniforms is to reflect “the energy and pride of each Club’s community, offering bold and expressive interpretations that celebrate both team history and what’s ahead for the game.”

The descriptions of each uniform below are courtesy of MLB.

“A brighter powder blue anchors the design as a modernized callback to the Club’s beloved 1980s uniforms. Red piping, an updated ‘Atlanta’ script and ‘ATL’ block letter sleeve patch marry vintage style with today’s team colors.”

Rooted in the soul of Baltimore, the design pays tribute to Camden Yards through motifs including the brass home run plaques, wrought-iron scoreboard clock and a Camden ‘B’ inspired by the 1890s Baltimore Baseball Club. An Oriole bird sits perched proudly atop the ‘BMORE’ wordmark.

“Embracing the color that defines the franchise, pinstripes make a modern comeback in a tone-on-tone style and a nod to the popular vest-style jersey last worn more than two decades ago. A sleeve graphic features the iconic Tyler Davidson Fountain, which begins flowing each year around Opening Day.”

“A bold fuchsia-to-blue gradient draws inspiration from Kansas City’s official City of Fountains logo, channeling the spirit of the city’s people and iconic waterways. The updated ‘R’ logo pays homage to the Club’s original 1969 mark, while a heart logo reflects Kansas City’s place as the nation’s heartland.”

“A water-toned base and cream accent evoke Wisconsin’s endless lakes, sandy shores and sandstone bluffs, while a gradient wordmark captures the state’s beautiful summer sunsets. A ‘Wisco’ wordmark on the chest, state motto on the collar, bobber jock tag detail and redesigned Barrelman sleeve patch round out a uniform that celebrates the team’s history and Wisconsin’s rich heritage.”

“Built around Pittsburgh’s unmistakable black and gold identity, the uniform features a rugged, pirate-style wordmark whose font draws inspiration from the city’s ‘Sister Bridges.’ Red accents and Jolly Roger elements add boldness without breaking the city’s iconic color palette.”

“Celebrating the Padres’ bi-national region and culture through honoring its traditions and families with a focus on Día de los Muertos, the design features a sunset-ombre ‘San Diego’ chest wordmark, La Catrina sleeve patch, marigold-patterned trim, bone colored hat and pants, and papel picado jock tag.”

“Cochineal red anchors a design steeped in Texas and Mexican heritage, highlighted by the ‘Tejas’ chest wordmark, a charro-embossed belt and mariachi-inspired fill patterns.”

Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports

Edwin Díaz hasn’t been a starter since he was in Double-A a decade ago, so the three-time All-Star closer doesn’t know exactly how exhausting it must be for a starting pitcher to have to navigate the Dodgers’ daunting lineup multiple times on a single night. 

He can commiserate with opposing starters, though, as they attempt to deal with a Dodgers’ offense that is starting to look like the inexorable machine their fans envisioned and their foes feared. 

“You don’t have any place to breathe,” Diaz told me last week. “Good luck to the opposing team.”

The way the Dodgers’ offense is now firing, crossing fingers and hoping for the best might be an opponent’s only hope. 

After a slow start to the year for the Dodgers’ top sluggers, they’ve found their form away from home. The Dodgers were averaging more than nine runs per game in a 5-0 start to their road trip before dropping Wednesday’s series finale to Toronto in which two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani gave up just one run in six innings.

When the Dodgers’ offense is clicking the way it can at full strength, it can wear an opponent down with patience and strike with power. Even if a pitcher emerges unscathed against Ohtani and four-time All-Star Kyle Tucker atop the star-studded lineup, eight-time All-Star Mookie Betts, nine-time All-Star Freddie Freeman, three-time All-Star Will Smith, two-time All-Stars Max Muncy and Teoscar Hernández and reigning National League Player of the Week Andy Pages are then waiting to pounce. 

“It certainly has to be taxing when you’re facing our guys, and when you feel like you have to be perfect,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “Just to continue to keep executing and executing, it’s tough mentally, physically.”

It looked that way Friday for Miles Mikolas, who became the first pitcher in Nationals history to surrender 11 earned runs in a game. Betts went deep in that 13-6 win before hurting his oblique the following day, but the injury hasn’t stopped the Dodgers’ unrelenting attack. 

After pulverizing Mikolas, the Dodgers proceeded to pummel Nationals starter Jake Irvin for six runs in four innings on Saturday before tagging Washington’s bullpen for seven runs in the final four innings Sunday to finish off a sweep. 

They then traveled north of the border for a highly-anticipated World Series rematch that figured to present more of a challenge. The first two games were a one-sided onslaught in favor of the back-to-back champs, who outscored the Blue Jays by 15 runs. In Wednesday’s game, it was a throwing error by Dodgers catcher Will Smith that allowed Davis Schneider to score the winning run in the bottom of the eighth.

The last time Miguel Rojas was in Toronto, the veteran infielder’s ninth-inning heroics at the plate made him a Game 7 World Series hero. Five months later, his next game against the Blue Jays ended with him on the mound in the ninth inning Monday night finishing off a 14-2 drubbing that included five Dodgers home runs. 

“We’re feeding off each other,” Freddie Freeman told reporters after Monday’s rout in Toronto. “Everyone’s just doing their part.”

A week into the season, it didn’t look that way. Ohtani, Betts, Tucker and Smith were all hitting .200 or worse to start the season. Freeman wasn’t much better at .208, and Hernandez had yet to record an extra-base hit. The slow starts were clearly the result of a small sample. 

And, perhaps the scariest part for the rest of the league: when the Dodgers weren’t hitting to their capabilities, they were still winning, a testament to the complete juggernaut they’ve built. 

Even with Blake Snell sidelined to start the year, Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow give the Dodgers as fearsome a top starting pitching trio as any in baseball. Diaz has helped transform the Dodgers’ shoddy 2025 bullpen into a strength, and 25-year-old outfielder Andy Pages has demonstrated after a forgettable October that he’s capable of lifting the Dodgers’ offense through rough spells when he’s going right. The Dodgers began the year 4-2 despite hitting below league average as a group at the time. 

The most obvious tell that Ohtani was searching for his form, beyond his 3-for-15 start, was his presence on the field at Dodger Stadium before the series finale against the Guardians. Ohtani rarely takes batting practice on the field, but he made an exception on April 1. 

It seems to have worked. 

Now, Pages is still rolling — he leads MLB in hits (19) and batting average (.452) — while the rest of the lineup is pulling its weight. 

Ohtani has reached base multiple times in every game on the Dodgers’ road trip and has three homers in his last six games. Freeman’s on a seven-game hitting streak with three home runs and three doubles over that stretch. Tucker has yet to consistently showcase his power, but his average is up to .268. Hernández has seven hits, including three extra-base hits, over his last four games. 

On Tuesday, Hyeseong Kim and Alex Freeland, who will get extra playing time in the middle infield while Betts is down, provided the team’s extra-base hits in the fifth straight win. 

Suddenly, a Dodgers offense that ranked 14th in OPS six games into the season now ranks first. They’re up three games up in the division, they look indomitable, and they should only get better as more reinforcements arrive (Betts, Snell, Tommy Edman, Kike Hernandez, Evan Phillips, Brock Stewart, Brusdar Graterol among them) over the coming weeks and months. 

The Two-way Ohtani Plan 

When Ohtani took the mound Wednesday afternoon in Toronto, it was on seven days of rest (as a pitcher) and had the longest active regular-season scoreless inning streak in MLB before the Blue Jays’ third-inning run.

This season, Ohtani plans on going wire-to-wire as a starting pitcher for the first time since undergoing his second career elbow procedure in September 2023, but the Dodgers are going to still be mindful about his rest between starts, considering his two-way duties. 

That will make it tough for Ohtani to win his first Cy Young Award this year — a goal many of his coaches and teammates believe he is striving for — but he could still find a way. If he continues to blank every opponent, it may be easier to overlook his lack of volume. 

“I think if anyone can manage the designated hitter role and be as productive as he’s been and still chase that elusive Cy Young for a Japanese pitcher,” Roberts said, “I think he can do it.” 

The two-way sensation didn’t pitch during the World Baseball Classic, but he returned to spring training still ready to handle a full workload from the jump. He threw 4.1 scoreless innings against the Giants in Glendale, Arizona, in his first official spring start on March 18, struck out 11 batters in his final spring tune-up against his former team on March 24, then fired six scoreless innings of one-hit ball against the Guardians in his first start of the regular season. 

“Last year I felt good,” Ohtani said after his 2026 debut, “but this year I do feel a lot more loose and easy pitching overall.”   

Ohtani featured more of his curveball than usual in his start against Cleveland, and Roberts said he believes Ohtani’s feel for his breaking ball this year is much better. Multiple members of the Dodgers’ staff have expressed a belief that Ohtani will only continue to get more comfortable using his full arsenal — and tweaking it depending on opponent — the more he settles into his full two-way duties again. 

He entered his start Wednesday with both the longest active scoreless innings streak as a pitcher (22.2) and the longest active on-base streak as a hitter (42 games). He failed to hit in Tuesday’s game, but reached on base via walk to keep his on-base streak to 43 games. For now, the Dodgers plan to keep him in the leadoff spot on days that he starts, though that could be subject to change at some point, depending on how he performs. 

So far, so good. 

“I think he’s already proven that he’s the best player, you can argue, that’s ever played the game — best baseball player in totality,” Roberts said. “I do think that he sees himself as a baseball player, yes, but when he’s pitching he sees himself solely as a pitcher, and he wants to be the best pitcher.”

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.
 

Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports

Texas Rangers left-hander Jacob Latz has a no-hit start this season, setting a franchise record over nine innings in his first five appearances.

Opposing hitters were 0 for 28, one batter more than 27 outs needed for a full game, against the pitcher who turned 30 on Wednesday.

The 66-season franchise’s previous record for consecutive hitless batters to start a season had been Yu Darvish retiring the first 26 batters in his first start in 2013 at Houston. Marwin Gonzalez ended Darvish’s bid for a perfect game with a two-out single up the middle with two outs in the ninth inning.

Latz retired all six batters he faced over two innings in the Rangers’ 3-2 win over Seattle on Tuesday night.

“We knew he was going to be on the team, we just didn’t know what role it was going to be,” new Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said Wednesday. “We still think he can be a starter. I mean there’s no doubt at it, but the way our roster was looking like and being constructed, we were going to use him in very valuable situations.”

Latz has started 10 of his 88 big league games, including his debut in 2021. His latest start was four no-hit innings in the second game this season, when two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom was a late scratch because of neck stiffness. Latz has since made four relief appearances.

[Last Night in Baseball: The 2026 Rockies Want You to Forget the 2025 Rockies]

Retiring 28-straight batters is surprising at any time for nearly any pitcher, but for Latz right now, especially. The Rangers’ rotation was already full – in addition to deGrom, the Rangers feature Nathan Eovaldi, acquired MacKenzie Gore from the Nationals this offseason, and have both Kumar Rocker and Jeff Leiter at the back-end – but Latz didn’t help his case much during spring training, as he produced an 8.04 ERA over six appearances and five starts while allowing three home runs and 10 walks in 15.2 innings.

However, the southpaw pitched well both as a starter and reliever in 2025: in eight starts, he produced a 2.72 ERA while opponents hit .206/.285/.338 in 39.2 innings, against 2.93 and a .236/.320/.368 line in relief. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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:

Rockies win third in a row

The Colorado Rockies have won three games in a row, and are 5-6 for the season. Without context, that is mildly impressive and not-at-all impressive, but let’s consider the 2025 Rockies for a moment. That team didn’t win its fifth game of the season until the final day of April, and it took until June 4 to rattle off three consecutive dubs. Hell, Colorado had a three-game winning streak and a four-game winning streak in June last year, and still went just 10-16 for the month, which helps explain quite a bit of how the Rockies ended up avoiding the modern loss record but still finished as one of the worst teams to ever do it. So yeah, 5-6 on the morning of April 8 the following season? Colorado will take that.

Rockies’ starter Kyle Freeland threw 6.1 innings of one-run ball, striking out five Astros against one walk allowed. While the lefty allowed a homer to first baseman Christian Walker, he was otherwise tough on Houston’s hitters, and then reliever Antonio Senzatela finished out the game with 2.2 scoreless frames.

Willi Castro did most of the damage for Colorado, as the second baseman drove in the tying run in the second with a single, then in the fourth hit a two-run home run to drive in first baseman TJ Rumfield, giving the Rockies a 3-1 lead. Outfielder Mickey Moniak would add on to that lead later with a dinger of his own, but it was unnecessary given the work the pitchers were doing.

A good, dominant win from Colorado — that’s not something you get to say very often these days. They are off to a better start than usual, however, after losing over 100 games in three-straight seasons, so that kind of W — and the current win streak — are the kinds of signs fans will hope are good ones for digging out of a years-deep hole.

Braves, Angels brawl

Well this got out of hand in a hurry. Angels’ designated hitter Jorge Soler hit a home run off of Reynaldo Lopez in the first inning…

…and then was hit by a pitch by Lopez the next time up. The next time Soler came to the plate, Lopez threw a pitch to the backstop that was up-and-in, and the Angels’ DH did not appreciate it. A staredown and words were exchanged, and Soler charged the mound and Lopez.

While the same kind of slapping that happens in seemingly every bench-clearing incident in MLB happened here, Soler and Lopez also threw some actual punches with weight behind them here — luckily, those seemed to miss their mark, and teammates focused on separating the two rather than continuing the fighting. Both Soler and Lopez were ejected for their actions.

The two had been teammates on the Braves before, but when Soler isn’t with Atlanta, he has Lopez’s number: Soler is 14-for-23 in his career against Lopez, which helps explain why he might have thought Lopez’s frustration with facing Soler and failing once more was bubbling over into an HBP and pitch up near his head. Per Lopez’s own comments, he denies that’s the case, but MLB is sure to hand out punishment of some kind against the two for this disruption regardless of intent or it being a misunderstanding.

The Braves would end up winning, 7-2, despite making a couple of errors and having Lopez pulled early.

Rosario goes deep twice, Yankees win

It was a big day for Yankees’ third baseman Amed Rosario against the Athletics. In the bottom of the second, Rosario hit a solo shot 399 feet to left field off of starter Aaron Civale, who otherwise didn’t give up any runs despite four walks. Civale ended up going five innings without any further damage, and even left with the lead thanks to a three-run Athletics’ third. 

Mark Leiter Jr. came on to pitch the bottom of the eighth for the A’s, though, and Rosario was ready for him, too. So was seemingly the rest of the Yankees’ lineup: three consecutive singles opened the inning, from left fielder Cody Bellinger, first baseman Ben Rice and DH Giancarlo Stanton, then Rosario hit a three-run homer to complete a four-run inning for the Yankees.

New York would not score again, but didn’t need to: they were up 5-3 at this point, and righty David Bednar closed things out in the ninth with a 1-2-3 inning to give the Yankees the W.

Ump jump

This one does what it says on the box. Hup!

Too late at the plate

The outcome of Royals-Guardians came right down to the end. The two entered the bottom of the ninth tied at 1-1, Kansas City having scored its lone run in the second and Cleveland in the fifth. Four Guardians’ relievers — Tim Herrin, Erik Sabrowski, Shawn Armstrong and Cade Smith — had combined for 3.1 scoreless innings of relief to follow starter Gavin Williams’ spotless last few frames. This gave Cleveland the chance to walk it off in the bottom of the ninth, and they did.

Right-hander John Schreiber came in from the bullpen for the Royals with the game on the line, and got the leadoff batter, second baseman Juan Brito, to ground out. Right fielder CJ Kayfus followed with a single, though, putting the winning run on base, and then Bo Naylor came in to pinch-hit and walked to bring up number-nine hitter and shortstop Brayan Rocchio. That’s not bad as far as strategies go: Rocchio is a career .221/.295/.327 hitter whose best-ever season featured an OPS+ of 76 — he’s there for his glove, folks.

But here, Rocchio’s bat showed up. He hit a hard grounder through the hole on the right side of the infield, and while right fielder Lane Thomas scooped it up and made a strong throw home, it wasn’t strong enough and Kayfus just beat the tag at the plate.

The Guardians won, pushing them to 7-5 early and keeping Kansas City at arm’s length early on in the AL Central. There’s a whole lot of season left, but every one of these head-to-head wins is going to matter in the Central this year.

Susac keeps swinging

Last week, Giants’ catcher Daniel Susac made his first-ever start, and went 3-for-3. The rookie was behind the plate once more on Tuesday, and he once again starred for San Francisco. While he did make an out for the first time all year, he still went 3-for-4, and this time managed to drive in a couple of runs, too, thanks to his first big-league triple.

Now, this was in the bottom of the eighth, and the Giants were already up 4-0, but it’s still pretty incredible that Susac has had seven trips to the plate in two games and managed to go 6-for-7 with a triple and a walk. Obviously he’s not going to be like this for his entire rookie season, but Susac was a quality bat in the minors, and the threshold for productive offense from catchers is pretty low in the majors these days — he can be a helpful piece on the Giants even in a backup role.

Bradley whiffs 10

The Twins’ bullpen helped, too, limiting the Tigers to a run over their 2.2 innings of work, but starting pitcher Taj Bradley did most of the heavy lifting here. In his 6.1 innings, the righty struck out 10 batters against a single walk allowed, and mostly scattered six hits to give up just one run to Detroit.

Bradley never quite took off for Tampa Bay before a midseason trade brought him to Minnesota in 2025, and trouble with home runs kept him from succeeding much in the half-dozen starts he made in a Twins’ uniform. To begin 2026, though, Bradley has allowed just two runs over three starts and 16.2 innings, striking out 22 batters while walking four, and without giving up a long ball. Whether that sticks remains to be seen, but if Bradley can figure out how to keep the ball in the yard with more regularity, it’s not difficult to see someone with his stuff take it to the next level like he has so far.

Skenes, Griffin lead Pirates to W

It’s April 8, so don’t get too excited, but the Pirates feel a little different this year. It’s not the record as much as the vibes: ace pitcher and reigning NL Cy Young Paul Skenes doesn’t feel so lonely on the roster, since Pittsburgh actually added some intriguing pieces like outfielder Ryan O’Hearn in free agency, and have already called up MLB’s top prospect, Konnor Griffin, in the early going. Griffin responded by hitting an RBI double in his first at-bat in the bigs, and he’s already shown off his glove, too.

On Tuesday, Skenes looked a lot more like he’s supposed to after a rough start to 2026, going 6.1 innings against the Padres while allowing just one run on two hits and two walks each — Skenes also struck out six. While he held San Diego down, Pittsburgh’s offense was humming: they were up 2-1 entering the bottom of the eighth, but then dropped another five runs on the Padres to put the game out of reach. Griffin delivered in that inning, too, hitting a two-run single — a hard-hit one with an exit velocity of 113.4 mph — to plate Pittsburgh’s last two of the night.

The Pirates won, and fans woke up to both that box score and the news that Griffin agreed to a nine-year deal worth at least $140 million — the largest contract in Pirates’ history. Pittsburgh hasn’t won anything yet, no, but that it feels like the team might actually want to at some point is already quite the shift.

Marlins waste Alcantara gem

Marlins’ starter Sandy Alcantara has been looking great to start 2026 after a rough summer last year: he threw seven innings without allowing a run in his opening start, threw a complete-game shutout in his second and went the first eight innings without allowing a run on Tuesday against the Reds.

The bad news is that the Marlins pulled Alcantara at the first sign of trouble in the ninth, when he was at 95 pitches after allowing a double to second baseman Matt McLain and a walk to shortstop Elly De La Cruz. Miami put righty reliever Anthony Bender in for Alcantara just needing two outs to secure a 2-0 win, and Bender couldn’t deliver to the point that one wonders why Alcantara wasn’t given the chance to get out of trouble himself. The one doing the wondering, by the way, was Alcantara himself, who did not appreciate not having input when he was only at 95 pitches and a righty was coming to the plate.

Bender would allow both baserunners to steal before he even recorded an out, and then the righty Alcantara mentioned, catcher Sal Stewart, hit a sacrifice fly to drive in McLain. DH Eugenio Suarez would then draw a walk to put runners at the corners, and Bender would then throw a wild pitch to the next batter, left fielder Spencer Steer, allowing De La Cruz to score the tying run.

The 10th inning didn’t go any better for Miami. Calvin Fauchner replaced Bender, with Steer starting the inning on second, and promptly threw his own wild pitch to move Steer to third. Backstop Tyler Stephenson would walk, and Nathaniel Lowe, who came in as a pinch-hitter earlier and had taken over at first, singled in the go-ahead run.

The Reds weren’t finished. Friedl would walk to load the bases, then McLain hit a two-run double. De La Cruz would ground out, but not without pushing another run across, making it 6-2 Reds. Remember, an inning before, Alcantara had a shutout going.

Miami would get a run in the bottom of the frame, but it wasn’t enough: you can see why Alcantara was annoyed enough postgame to bring it up with the media.

What a start for Mauricio

The bad news for the Mets is that star left fielder Juan Soto had to go on the IL for at least two weeks with a strained calf. The good news is that they called up utility infielder Ronny Mauricio to take Soto’s spot on the roster, and he delivered with a game-winning hit in his first plate appearance of the season.

Mauricio came up with shortstop Francisco Lindor already on third and just one out, and he crushed a middle-middle, 90.3 mph Paul Sewald fastball over the head of Diamondbacks’ right fielder Corbin Carroll. The Mets win, and while they still have to make it at least a couple of weeks without Soto, at least the bad luck didn’t immediately compound on itself.

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Atlanta Braves pitcher Reynaldo Lopez and Los Angeles Angels designated hitter Jorge Soler were ejected after getting into a brawl on Tuesday night.

Soler homered off López in the first inning and was then hit by a 96 mph fastball from the right-hander his next time up. In the fifth, Soler charged the mound after López threw a high-and-inside wild pitch that tipped off catcher Jonah Heim‘s mitt.

At first, López held up his hands as the two glared at each other before both started throwing punches.

“I asked him if everything was OK and the answer he gave me, I didn’t like it,” Soler said through a translator, according to MLB.com. “That’s why I went out there.”

The benches and bullpens emptied as players from both teams tried to separate the two. Atlanta manager Walt Weiss was among those who tackled Soler, the 2021 World Series MVP with the Braves.

“I love Soler. We were teammates here,” Weiss said. “But that’s a big man, and so I just felt I’ve got to get him off his feet because he’s going to hurt somebody. And so, that was my instinct, just to get in there and get Jorge off his feet, yeah, because he was on a warpath.”

López was still holding the baseball when he landed a punch on Soler’s batting helmet.

The two were teammates in Atlanta during the second half of the 2024 season.

“It’s just a shame, the situation and how things unfolded,” López said through a translator, according to MLB.com. “On my part, there was never any intent to hit him at any point. So, again, it’s just a shame.”

Atlanta led 4-2 when the fight occurred and went on to a 7-2 victory.

Soler’s two-run shot in the first made him 14 for 23 with five homers and three doubles against López.

“Obviously, I have good numbers against him,” Soler said. “After the home run and getting hit by a pitch after that, and then he missed way too high and close to my head. At this level, you can’t miss like that.”

Weiss understood why Soler was mad.

“I know it didn’t look good because of Soler’s numbers against Lópey [Lopez], and he hit a homer, he hit him. It didn’t look good,” Weiss said. “Lópey’s not throwing at him. I don’t allow our pitchers to throw at people just because they can’t get them out. Our job is to get them out. But I understand why Soler got angry. And he’s a really mild-mannered guy. So, I think the switch flipped for him.

“There was no intent there. I just think that Lópey’s just overthrowing, because he’s had a hard time getting him out. But he’s certainly not trying to hit him,” Weiss added.

López pitched 4 2/3 innings, allowing three hits with seven strikeouts and two walks.

“Obviously, the guy’s got good numbers off López and hits a homer in his first at-bat. Gets drilled up high in the wrist in his second at-bat and then the third one, takes a good swing and then throws the next one head-high. It wasn’t over his head, but it was head-high coming in,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said.

“I don’t blame Jorge one bit. He went out there and words were exchanged and Jorge went out,” Suzuki added. “You get thrown at your head, you have a family, your career, you know, it’s dangerous. I know it’s part of the game. I know it happens.”

The Angels won 6-2 on Monday in the opener of the three-game series. Tuesday night’s game was more eventful, to say the least.

“It gets your juices flowing a little bit, on both teams I’m sure,” Weiss said. “So, as long as nobody gets hurt, it’s kind of a good time. But as long as nobody gets hurt. But yeah, I was proud of our guys for the way we handled everything tonight.”

Reporting by The Associated Press.

Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports

NEW YORK – The night before the Yankees home opener, Aaron Judge sent a message in the team group chat, simply saying: “Suits tomorrow.” 

So the team rolled up to the Bronx wearing suits. The clubhouse was fired up to follow the Yankee captain’s directive and continue that momentum onto the field. Their formal wear set the tone for what would end up being a series win against the Miami Marlins in front of a Bronx crowd that loved the new attitude from a team that has played heads-up baseball to start the season. 

“There’s been an intensity to everything they’ve done, and a focus on every little detail,” manager Aaron Boone said this past weekend in a crowded press conference room at Yankee Stadium. “I just think it’s a very hungry, focused group is how I’d describe it. And those guys are driving that.”

These days, the Yankees are taking everything seriously. Frankly, it’s a frame of mind that’s been missing and badly needed in recent years. 

Players have talked about wanting to be more aggressive on the basepaths this year, and we’ve already seen fruitful results in the early going. The Yankees enter Tuesday leading the American League in stolen bases, with Judge and, yes, even Giancarlo Stanton, swiping one bag each in their first nine games of the year. On Saturday, Stanton stole his first base in a regular-season game since 2020. He eventually trotted around the bases and scored on a passed ball in the Yankees’ comeback win. 

Even if it doesn’t always work out, as evidenced by Trent Grisham being thrown out at third base in the eighth inning of Friday’s win, the Yankees pushing the envelope is a positive change for the organization. 

Particularly in recent years under the Boone era, the team has been heavily criticized for their June swoons that feature a complete lack of fundamentals, sloppy play, and an absence of concentration and focus. Their mental mistakes reached the point of becoming a part of their identity. After the Dodgers defeated the Yankees in the 2024 World Series, Los Angeles players said they were simply just waiting for the Bronx Bombers to slip up on the field. So, now, even the Yankees acknowledging their league-wide reputation and attempting to reverse it is refreshing. The most critical part will be maintaining that edge and accountability throughout the year. 

Slumps are going to happen. But a lack of hustle and poor situational hitting has seemingly become unacceptable for the Yankees, who are eager to win a championship in the Judge-Stanton-Gerrit Cole era. Good teams find ways to win even when they’re not at full strength or playing their best. 

Take Judge’s early-season performance, for example. The three-time MVP resembled a league-average hitter in the first week of the year, and the Yankees have still managed to put up a 7-2 start.

Judge entered Friday hitting .125/.160/.375 in his first six games of the season. Compare that mediocre performance to the start of 2024, when Judge hit .125/.214/.167 in his first six games of the season. Judge actually had a worse start to the ‘24 season than the one he experienced in the short sample this year. In both instances, the Yankees went 5-1 in that stretch. In both instances, Judge hit a home run in his seventh game. In ‘24, of course, Judge won his second-career MVP despite the slow start. This year, too, Judge is the favorite to win the award. 

There was a time not too long ago when the Yankees lineup was built to depend on year-long, MVP-caliber production from Judge in order to be competitive in the tough AL East. That’s part of why after Judge slammed into the Dodger Stadium bullpen gate and tore a ligament in his right big toe in June 2023, forcing him to miss 42 games that season, the Yankees couldn’t make up for his bat in the lineup. Forget even trying to flourish without the Yankee captain. The team struggled mightily to string wins together, playing under .500 during his absence before eventually missing the playoffs for the first time in seven years. 

Now, the Yankees are still dangerous without Judge putting up video-game numbers (yet). 

First baseman Ben Rice is off to a torrid start. He hit his third home run of the season in Sunday’s loss to the Marlins. He’s batting .370 in eight games, and he leads the major leagues with a 1.380 OPS so far this season. Right-hander Cam Schlittler enters his third start of the year on Tuesday having limited opposing hitters to a 0.79 batting average, which ranks third-lowest across all MLB pitchers. As a staff, Yankees starting pitchers open their series against the Athletics flaunting the best ERA (1.81) in MLB.

Yankees starters are throwing so well that, for the most part, they’ve been able to cover up the team’s weaknesses. The bullpen has permitted 10 earned runs in 13.2 innings their last four games entering Tuesday. The Yankees’ 6-9 hitters in Jazz Chisholm, Austin Wells, Jose Caballero and Ryan McMahon have a combined .144 average to start the year. That’s pretty abysmal, and outside of Chisholm, it’s not like those bats are underperforming, either.

Normally, the news of left-hander Carlos Rodon having a setback in his rehab would be fresh meat for those that are hyper-critical of the Yankees’ health and training processes. Rodon is recovering from an October surgery that removed loose bodies from his left elbow. On Sunday, after throwing 50 pitches in batting practice, he felt his right hamstring tighten up while running. That’s something worth watching as the southpaw attempts to rejoin the rotation sometime next month.

Rodon’s setback was just the latest reminder that the Yankees aren’t even at full strength yet. That will happen when their ace, Cole, returns from Tommy John rehab sometime around late May or early June. In theory, that will also happen when shortstop Anthony Volpe returns to the team after undergoing an October surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left (non-throwing) shoulder. 

It’s been impressive to see what the Yankees can achieve while playing slapdash baseball. They went to the Fall Classic in 2024 while the rest of the world knew their season-long lack of fundamentals would hurt them. They tied the Blue Jays for the best record in the AL East in 2025, a 94-win season, while baserunning blunders and sloppy defense were a part of their formula. This year, the Yankees are cleaning up their mistakes and improving on the margins. It will be fascinating to see how much stronger they’ll be because of it. 

If they can hold onto that higher level of execution all year, it could be the difference between an early October exit and a ticker-tape parade down the Canyon of Heroes.

“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.

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:

Ramirez is 1-of-1

Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez went hitless on Monday — though he did draw two walks — and Cleveland lost to the Royals, 4-2. So what’s he doing in the feature spot up top in this article? Making some history, is all: Ramirez’s game last night was number 1,620 in a Guardians’ uniform, the most that anyone in the franchise has ever played for it. On top of that, it makes Ramirez the only active player to also be the leader in games played for their team.

Playing a lot is one thing, but Ramirez has also been excellent this whole time. He’s in his 14th year in the majors after debuting as a 20-year-old back in 2013, and has hit .278/.352/.502 in that time. He ranks fourth all-time among Cleveland position players in wins above replacement, behind only a trio of Hall of Famers in Nap Lajoie, Tris Speaker and Lou Boudreau. He’s ahead of the likes of Kenny Lofton and Jim Thome — another Hall of Famer — in part because he has spent his entire career with Cleveland, but also because he’s just been that good.

He ranks seventh in hits (1,674), second in total bases (3,018) and home runs (286), third in doubles (400), second in RBIs (954) and stolen bases (289), and first in extra-base hits (729).

Ramirez also has the chance to be just the ninth player to ever reach the 300-home run, 300-stolen base club — and could do so as soon as this season — with plenty of potential to go beyond that, to levels that only Barry Bonds has ever reached. The Giants’ legend is the only player to ever reach 350-350; Ramirez is 33 years old and needs 64 more home runs and 61 more steals to get there. He went 39-41 in 2024 and 30-44 in 2025.

Ramirez is a future Hall of Famer who doesn’t get as many headlines or as much attention as he should, but that just means he is quietly moving up the ranks — he is and has been legit, and his continued push up both Cleveland’s and MLB’s leaderboards backs that up.

A first since ‘95

Now here’s a play you have to see, because you might not see another like it for decades, if the previous gap between them was any indication. All four Royals’ infielders touched this grounder from Guardians’ DH Rhys Hoskins, starting with third baseman Maikel Garcia. He couldn’t get a handle on it, and the ball bounced over to shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., who then tossed it to second base and Jonathan India before he fired to Vinny Pasquantino at first to get Hoskins. A 5-6-4-3 double play, the first since 1995.

Maybe you don’t want to give Garcia credit there at the start, since he didn’t actually pick it up and throw it, but his deflection went right to Witt to the point that it looks intentional even if it might not have been. Yeah, 5-6-4-3, that rocks.

Cam Smith crushed this

Things didn’t go so well for the Astros overall on Monday — the Rockies ended up with an eight-run fifth inning that won the game for Colorado — but before then, Houston gave us something to marvel at. Right fielder Cam Smith absolutely unloaded on a 2-0 pitch that could not possibly have caught more of the middle of the strike zone.

Smith sent that 95 mph fastball 462 feet to straightaway center, with an exit velocity just shy of 111 mph. He’s off to an excellent start in his sophomore campaign, hitting .297/.422/.595 with three home runs and 11 hits in the first 11 games of the season. Smith wasn’t bad last year by any means, but his rookie campaign showed off his defense more than his bat. If he has them both going at once this year, the AL West is not going to be thrilled.

Beat that bunt, you can’t

The Astros had Smith hitting a ball that Artemis II might have captured in its photos of Earth, but the Rockies had this bunt from their own right fielder, Troy Johnson. It’s basically the equivalent of impressiveness, but on the other end of the spectrum. Look at this thing roll: 

Literally nothing to be done about it. You can’t pick it up because it might roll foul. You can’t even pick it up when it’s showing that it might stay fair, because it’s too late then and the chance of it still rolling out of play are higher than those of an out at first at that point. A true thing of beauty, just a few hundred feet shorter than Smith’s own showcase hit. Baseball rules.

Freeman keeps doubling

Freddie Freeman is great at a lot of things, but the thing he might be best at? Hitting doubles. He’s MLB’s active leader, and hit number 551 on Monday against the Blue Jays: 

The game — which the Dodgers would win in a World Series rematch, 14-2 — was already well out of hand at that point, as Freeman drove in Los Angeles’ 11th run of the night with the two-bagger. So let’s just talk about Freeman for a second. The Dodgers’ first baseman has hit at least 43 doubles — and as many as 59 — five times in his career, and has a season with 39 in the mix, too. Two 35-double campaigns, and in 11 of his 16 completed seasons, managed at least 32 of them. In 2020, which was limited to 60 games thanks to COVID-19, Freeman led the majors with 23 — that very well could have ended up being his career-best season, if the whole thing had played out.

[4 Takeaways: Dodgers Defeat Blue Jays In World Series Rematch]

Freeman currently ranks 32nd in MLB history in doubles — 24 more will get him sole possession of 25th place, and another 25 would make him just the 19th player to ever pick up 600 of them. It’s not like doubles are the only thing Freeman hits, either. He has 370 career homers, too, after also smacking one of those on Monday. 

Just 12 players have ever managed to hit at least 550 doubles and 400 homers in their career. Freeman is 36 years old, but he’s also coming off of a season in which he hit .296/.367/.502, and has an even higher OPS+ than last year to start this one. He might even end up being the 10th 400 homer, 600 doubles player ever, at this rate; he’s just also at the age where you have to take those kinds of projections one year at a time.

Dalton Rushing x2

Obviously the Dodgers had more of an offensive attack than “just” Freddie Freeman, considering the score. He’s another big part of that result: Dalton Rushing. The Los Angeles catcher went deep twice against the Blue Jays, first in the seventh to give the Dodgers a 10-1 lead, off of reliever Tommy Nance… 

Then in the very next inning, off of Spencer Miles, to make it 14-1 Dodgers.

Good news, Blue Jays fans: Tuesday is a new day. Potential bad news? That one also features the Dodgers.

Dumper goes deep

The end result of this is that Mariners’ backstop Cal Raleigh, he of the 60-homer 2025, on Monday finally went yard for the first time in 2026. It ended up being the only offense that Seattle could generate against the Rangers, so Texas was the winner, but still, Raleigh deserves more here than just “he finally hit a dinger.” And that’s because he got it in a 12-pitch at-bat against Jacob deGrom.

Raleigh fouled off seven pitches, pushing the count to 3-2 on the eighth pitch of the at-bat before rattling off the last three fouls in a row. On the 12th pitch, a 99.1 mph four-seamer, Raleigh sent it back 418 feet to right. Just a tremendous battle between two elite players, and Raleigh fouled off some wicked pitches to get things to that point, too, with all but one of the fouls coming on pitches that very easily could have been called strikes, even in an ABS world.

What a snag!

Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson is a double-threat, in that he can hit plenty but he sure can play defense. And not just in the traditional ways, either. Check out this running snag to left-center — you can’t even really call it shallow left at that point, he’s nearly halfway into it — where he manages the over-the-shoulder catch with a flourish at the end to secure it.

The Cubs would end up falling to the Rays, 6-4, despite Swanson’s effort, but hey, we’ll get to that.

The Rays are back home

See?  The Rays went back to Tropicana Field for the first time in 561 days, following the destruction that Hurricane Milton wrought on it in Oct. 2024 — if you’ll recall, Milton tore through the roof of the Trop, allowing its winds and torrential rains to fill the stadium interior. Tampa Bay played in actual Tampa in 2025, at George M. Steinbrenner Field, but with the roof and insides once again fixed up, the Rays were able to go back to St. Petersburg for 2026.

And on Monday, Cedric Mullins hit the first home run of the season at the Trop for Tampa Bay.

The Rays’ center fielder lined a Jameson Taillon changeup to right, tying the game up at 2-2 in the second inning. DH Yandy Diaz would then single in another run, giving Tampa Bay a lead they would not relinquish in what became a 6-4 victory.

Soriano keeps rolling

What a start for Jose Soriano. The Angels’ right-hander went eight innings against the Braves on Monday, striking out 10 batters without walking any and allowing just three hits, one a solo homer — the lone blemish on an otherwise stellar performance. That shot came in the first inning, when catcher Drake Baldwin smashed his fifth homer of the year: Atlanta’s bats were almost entirely silent from that point forward, as one of the only other two hits also came in that frame.

Soriano has already amassed a league-best 20 innings, and is also leading the league in strikeouts with 21. He’s had plenty of success in the past, and his 2025 was much better than his 4.26 ERA indicated, too, but if he can limit walks while being his usual stingy self with homers, then the Angels really have something here in their rotation.

Nationals dinger their way to comeback

The Nationals went up on the Cardinals early, scoring a pair of runs in the first off of starter Andre Pallante, but the righty settled down from there and held Washington scoreless for his other four innings of work. St. Louis then scored once in the fifth, twice in the sixth and three times in the eighth to go up 6-3 on Washington. That was not enough of a lead.

In the bottom of the frame, right fielder James Wood hit his third long ball of the year, a three-run liner to center, to drive in Drew Millas and Joey Weimer, tying the game up 6-6. 

St. Louis changed pitchers, taking out Ryne Stanek for Matt Svanson, but things did not go better for him. First baseman Curtis Mead, who had pinch-hit earlier, doubled to left, and then third baseman Brady House hit his own homer to put the Nats up 8-6. Shortstop CJ Abrams then followed up with a solo shot to push the lead to 9-6 — St. Louis did not score again.

The Nationals aren’t exactly playing like a powerhouse early, but they are 4-6 with a run differential of just -1 to begin the year. Remember, this team lost 96 games in 2025, and avoided 100 because of a second half that was just regular bad instead of atrocious — maybe they can keep it going and get moving on that rebuild with more success than the last one.

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Boston Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras had a warning for the Milwaukee Brewers after he was hit on the hand by a pitch Monday night from right-hander Brandon Woodruff.

“They always say, ‘I’m not trying to hit you,’’’ Contreras said after the Brewers beat the scuffling Red Sox 8-6 at Fenway Park. “That gets old. So, next time they hit me again, I’m going to take one of them out. That’s a message.”

Contreras has been hit by a pitch 131 times in his major-league career, including 24 times by the Brewers — which is 10 more than he’s been plunked by any other team. He has a testy history with Woodruff, who has nailed Contreras six times.

After the latest one, Contreras yelled at Woodruff from first base. Then, on a force play, Contreras slid hard into second, banging into shortstop David Hamilton’s left knee with his cleats and tearing his pants.

“I mean, we’ve been through that. It’s been like nine years for me. It seems like every year,” Woodruff said. “He’s trying to play a game, and he’s trying to get his side fired up, which is fine. Once I knew what was going on, I wasn’t going to let it affect me.”

Before getting traded to the Red Sox in the offseason, Contreras spent his first 10 big league seasons in the NL Central, where he played against Milwaukee a lot, first with the Chicago Cubs and then the St. Louis Cardinals.

Contreras was hit Monday night on the left hand with a fastball that grazed his fingers. Brewers manager Pat Murphy challenged the call, which was upheld following a replay review.

“I thought it wasn’t a hit by pitch,” Murphy said. “That’s why we challenged it. Those are really hard to get overturned.”

Contreras’ younger brother, William, was Milwaukee’s catcher Monday night.

Did he try to calm his big brother as he walked toward first with him?

“I tried,” he said. “He plays like that.”

Willson Contreras hit a solo homer in the ninth inning and reached base five times. He flung his bat not only after the homer, but his first-inning walk, too.

From behind the plate, his younger brother challenged a 2-0 pitch to Willson Contreras that was called a ball. The call was confirmed by ABS.

“I was going to check it whether it was my bother at the plate or not,” William Contreras said through a translator. “I saw it a little closer than it was.”

The teams have two games left in their three-game series.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports