The Month That Was in Baseball: April 2026

Wednesday, April 1

The Sandy Alcantara of old is new again. The Miami ace, broadsided by Tommy John surgery in 2023, throws MLB’s first complete game and shutout of the 2026 season as he silences the visiting Chicago White Sox, 10-0. Alcantara needs just 93 pitches to complete his gem, allowing three hits, hitting one batter and striking out seven. It’s the 13th career complete game and fifth shutout for Alcantara; he had neither in his first year back from TJ last year, posting an 11-12 record with a substandard 5.36 ERA. So far in two starts this season, Alcantara has thrown 16 innings—allowing just one unearned run.

The first game ever to end on an Automatic Ball-Strike (ABS) challenge takes place in Baltimore, where the Orioles wrap up an 8-3 decision over the Texas Rangers. With two outs in the ninth, Albert Suarez’s 1-2 pitch against the Rangers’ Evan Carter is called a ball by home plate umpire Manny Gonzalez—but Orioles catcher Samuel Basallo immediately double-taps the top of his helmet, signaling for a challenge. The ABS system kicks into gear and shows that the pitch is firmly nestled into upper right corner of the strike zone, overturning the initial call and ending the game.

In his second start of the year, Toronto’s Kevin Gausman does pretty much what he did in his first: Strike out 10-plus batters with no walks. He thus becomes the first major leaguer to start a season with back-to-back K/BB ratios of 10+/0. Despite this latest stellar effort in which Gausman also allows no runs on just two hits, the Blue Jays can’t hold a slim 1-0 lead against the visiting Colorado Rockies—who tie the game in the eighth before winning it in the 10th, 2-1, on Tyler Freeman’s RBI single.

It hasn’t been a good last several days for umpire CB Bucknor. He first has a miserable day on March 28 at Cincinnati calling balls and strikes—with six initial calls overturned via ABS—then makes a horrendous out call at first base on March 31 at Milwaukee, declaring that Brewers baserunner Jake Bauers missed touching the bag—though replays clearly show Bauers firmly planting his foot on the base, with Bucknor not appearing to even be looking toward the play. With Bucknor behind the plate at Milwaukee, Tampa Bay’s Nick Fortes gets a piece of a 100-MPH fastball from the Brewers’ Jacob Misiorowski—slightly redirecting the ball right at Bucknor, square in the forehead portion of his facemask. Bucknor quickly stumbles to the ground and is immediately tended to; he stays alert, but departs as trainers are concerned that he may have suffered a concussion. He’ll be out for at least a month.

Thursday, April 2

The Pittsburgh Pirates have already seen enough of #1 MLB prospect Konnor Griffin at the Triple-A level, and are calling him up to the parent team. After tearing apart the minors at the Class A, A+ and AA levels last season—his first in professional baseball, Griffin started the year 7-for-16 with three doubles and three stolen bases for Triple-A Indianapolis. The Pirates have thus decided that he’s ready for a promotion, in time for their home opener on April 3 against Baltimore.

Reports are buzzing that Griffin has signed a nine-year, $140 million extension with the Pirates, who are hush-hush on the topic. The report will be confirmed five days later.

Back-up catcher Daniel Susac has a debut to remember in San Francisco, collecting three hits and a walk in his four plate appearances during the Giants’ 7-2 win over the New York Mets. He’s the third Giant to begin his career by reaching base in each of his four (or more) PAs, joining Willie McCovey (1959) and Ramon Martinez (1998).

Independent leagues often attract failed minor leaguers, aging “forget-me-not” former stars, and talented outcasts. Trevor Bauer fits the latter description. The former Cy Young winner, embroiled in a sex abuse scandal that led to a 192-game suspension in 2022—forcing him into baseball exile in Japan and Mexico—has signed on with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League. He is slated to pitch the team’s opener on April 21 and, in what has to be considered a risky move given Bauer’s outspoken personality, will be mic’d up for all games and practices for the purposes of social media. The 35-year-old Bauer was 4-10 with a 4.51 ERA last season with Japan’s Yokohama Bay Stars.

Friday, April 3

Konnor Griffin, baseball’s top prospect, doesn’t disappoint for the Pirates in their home-opening 5-4 win over Baltimore. The first teenage position player to debut in the majors since Juan Soto, the 19-year-old Griffin strokes an RBI gap double in his first official MLB at-bat, bringing home Pittsburgh’s first run in the second inning. He’ll finish the day 1-for-3 with a walk before a sellout PNC Park crowd of 38,986.

Griffin is the youngest Pirates player with a hit in his debut since Bill Mazeroski (1956)—who recently passed away and is honored before the game. Attending the ceremony is Maz’s son, Darren Mazeroski—who just happens to be the Pittsburgh scout who signed Griffin.

The Dodgers pound away at the Nationals in their home opener at Washington, as Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Tucker each hit their first home runs of the season—part of a barrage of five round-trippers that leads to a 13-6 romp. It’s the fifth straight year that the Nationals have lost their initial home contest; Miles Mikolas, in his first game pitching before the DC home fans after eight years at St. Louis, lasts just four innings and ties a Nationals/Expos record by allowing 11 runs.

The Mets roll over the Giants at San Francisco, 10-2, but there’s concern for Juan Soto, who suffers a calf injury in the first inning while running from first to third on a Bo Bichette single. After the game, New York manager Carlos Mendoza stresses “concern” about the injury to his star slugger; while an MRI the next day doesn’t show worst-case-scenario results, Soto will miss the next 19 days.

It’s a strange home opener for the Minnesota Twins, against the Tampa Bay Rays. The first pitch is delayed an hour due to a downtown power outage; it’s a miserably wet 38 degrees; little-used Tristan Gray belts his first career grand slam for the Twins against one of his three former teams; teammate outfielder Matt Walner strikes out in all five of his at-bats; and Minnesota star center fielder Byron Buxton gets hurt (again). All of this, and the Twins roll to a 10-4 victory, as Gray adds a sacrifice fly to give him five RBIs on the day.

The oft-injured Buxton waxes indifference at his latest knock, telling reporters afterward: “Sore arm. It ain’t broken, so I’m good.” Sure enough, he’ll only miss a day.

Baseball’s two biggest problem franchises, at the moment, lay absolute eggs in their home openers. In Denver, the Rockies quickly spot the Phillies a 7-0 advantage before even coming to the plate in the first, eventually suffering a 10-1 blowout loss. Starting Colorado pitcher Michael Lorenzen is tagged for nine runs over three innings, as the Rockies suffer their worst home opening loss in their 34 years of operation.

Later out in Anaheim, the Angels are silenced for nine innings by Seattle’s Bryan Woo and two relievers, but still manage to take a 0-0 game into extra innings. That’s when the Mariners open up for three runs; the Angels counter with a gift runner-aided tally, but still fall short in a 3-1, 10-inning defeat. The Angels collect just one hit while striking out 12 times; no team’s done that in their home opener since the Reds in 1934. There are two other baserunners for the Angels, one of those after Mike Trout is hit near his head. In pregame ceremonies, Angels president John Carpino is heavily booed by 44,931 home fans. Life is not good right now in Orange County.

Saturday, April 4

If any player in baseball history previously accomplished what Jo Adell does against the Mariners at Anaheim, it has yet to be noted. The Angels’ right fielder robs not one, not two, but three home runs to preserve a 1-0 win over the Mariners at Anaheim. Adell’s first robbery comes in the first, leaping him over the right-field wall to take away a home run from Cal Raleigh—still seeking his first homer of the year after belting 60 last season. In the eighth, Josh Naylor’s deep drive to practically the same spot is also grabbed by Adell. And in the ninth, J.P. Crawford’s leadoff bid for a game-tying homer is hauled in by Adell, catapulting over Angel Stadium’s short wall near the right-field foul pole. The hat trick of home run robberies by Adell holds up Zach Neto’s leadoff homer in the first as the game’s only tally. It’s the first time in Angels history that they’ve won a 1-0 game with the lone run coming off a leadoff blast in the first.

Some on social media believe that Adell’s third catch, sending him into the seats, should still be a home run because he went into the crowd with the ball. The rules, however, state that it would be a homer only if the fielder goes completely over the wall before the ball makes contact with his glove. It’s the same rule that applies to a fielder on a foul ball, though that rarely happens now with netting separating much of foul territory from the seats.

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Mookie Betts is forced to leave the field with lower back pain after walking and scoring on a Freddie Freeman double in the first inning of a 10-5 victory at Washington. The 33-year-old veteran, who has a pair of homers thus far for the Dodgers but is batting .179, will miss the next month-plus of action.

The Yankees’ 9-7 home win over Miami lasts three hours and 49 minutes—the longest elapsed time for a nine-inning game since the pitch clock was instituted at the beginning of the 2023 season. The game features 379 pitches, 21 hits, 15 walks (10 given to the Yankees), a hit batsman, two errors and seven ABS challenges.

Sunday, April 5

Despite nine walks and a three-run rally in the first inning off Miami reliever Pete Fairbanks—who gets a rare starting assignment so he could leave the ballpark early to be with his wife, who’s expecting—the Yankees can’t finish off a three-game sweep of the Marlins, who score four in the eighth to help secure a come-from-behind 7-6 win. By nevertheless taking the series with two victories in three tries, the Yankees draw 30 walks—setting a team record for a three-game series.

Monday, April 6

The Tampa Bay Rays return to Tropicana Field for the first time since the end of the 2024 season, shortly before the venue’s Teflon-coated fiberglass roof was shredded by a major hurricane. With repairs still taking place on an empty upper deck, a crowd of 25,114 settles in below and watches the Rays take care of the visiting Chicago Cubs, 6-4, belting three home runs—including a two-run shot by Jonathan Aranda in the seventh to cap the scoring on the day.

The Trop isn’t just repaired; it’s been improved. The new roof provides more natural light, there’s new field turf and a new video board, and upgrades have been applied to the premium seats and suites. The Touch Tank, featuring real rays, is back as well.

It’s an early World Series rematch, er, mismatch, in Toronto as the Dodgers pummel the Blue Jays, 14-2, on the same field in which they won a classic Game Seven a little over five months earlier. Los Angeles drills five home runs, including two from back-up catcher Dalton Rushing; the Blue Jays handicap themselves when 41-year-old Max Scherzer departs after two innings, suffering from forearm tendinitis.

It’s early, but the Dodgers own (along with Milwaukee) the majors’ best record at 8-2, along with an MLB-high +35 run differential. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays have lost six of seven since sweeping the A’s to start the season.

Jose Ramirez sets a Cleveland franchise record merely by taking the field. In starting for the Guardians in their 4-2 home loss to Kansas City, Ramirez plays in his 1,620th game—breaking the team record held by Deadball Era infielder Terry Turner, a defensively solid but offensively average stalwart who played for the Naps/Indians from 1904-18. Ramirez goes 0-2 with a pair of walks.

The game is noted for the first 5-6-4-3 double play since 1995. In the fourth, Rhys Hoskins’ sharp grounder deflects off the glove of Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia, right to shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.—who throws to Jonathan India at second for one out, then on to first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino to complete the double-kill.

Cal Raleigh has to work hard for his first homer of the season. Against the Rangers and Jacob deGrom at Arlington, the 60-homer guy from last year quickly falls two strikes behind in the count, but eventually draws the count full with six foul balls mixed in. Finally, on the 12th pitch of the at-bat, Raleigh wins the battle by unloading a 418-foot drive well over the wall in right-center.

The 12-pitch sequence is the longest resulting in a home run for both Raleigh and deGrom, who later departs after five innings—with the Raleigh homer being his only hit allowed—because of a tweak in his knee suffered before the game. deGrom won’t get credit for the 2-1 win, as Jake Burger’s go-ahead RBI double in the sixth occurs after his departure.

Tuesday, April 7

What had been rumored for a week is now official, as the Pirates announce a nine-year, $140 million extension for 19-year-old shortstop Konnor Griffin, less than a week after his promotion to Pittsburgh. The deal includes no options nor deferrals; it’s the largest contract ever given out by the Pirates, and the largest ever given to any major league ballplayer before turning 20. In five games thus far with the Pirates, Griffin has three hits in 17 at-bats with three RBIs.

A week after throwing a complete-game shutout, the Marlins’ Sandy Alcantara looks to be on his way to another. But after conceding a double and walk with one out in the ninth, Miami manager Clayton McCullough decides to pull the plug on the former Cy Young winner, hoping closer Anthony Bender can preserve a 2-0 lead against Cincinnati to the finish. He can’t. With Bender on the mound, the Reds perform a double steal, followed by a Sal Stewart sac fly, followed by a Eugenio Suarez walk, followed by wild pitch that brings home the game-tying run. Both runs are charged to Alcantara. With the game moving into the 10th, it only gets worse for the Marlins as the Reds pile up four runs and checks out of loanDepot Park with a 6-2 victory, their fifth straight—all on the road.

In a postgame presser, Alcantara struggles to find a fine line between diplomacy and frustration. “I understand there’s a decision, and you cannot control it…So I’ll be there with my teammates and my coaches,” he tells reporters, “But I think next time, they have to make sure to ask me before taking me out of the game.”

After belting a first-inning home run against his former team—then getting hit by a pitch in the third by the Braves’ Reynaldo Lopez—the Angels’ Jorge Soler takes issue with an up-and-in heater from Lopez in the fifth, first in the form of a death stare before rushing out to duke with his former pitching mate. It precipitates baseball’s first big brawl of the 2026 season, as Soler and Lopez exchange blows—with the latter taking one punch with baseball in hand, landing on the brim of Soler’s batting helmet. All of this, while Soler is being tackled to the ground by Atlanta manager (and martial arts expert) Walt Weiss. Calm is restored, Soler and Lopez are both ejected, and the Braves finish off the evening with a 7-2 victory at Anaheim. Soler will later be suspended (after appeal) for four games, Lopez for five.

The Giants snap a four-game losing skid at home with a 6-0 win over the Phillies thanks to Robbie Ray’s 6.2 shutout innings and another impressive night for Daniel Susac. In just his second appearance of the season, the rookie catcher knocks out singles in each of his first two at-bats, extending to five the number of knocks he collects without making an out to start his career to break a post-1900 Giants record. After his batting average finally dips below 1.000 with a pop out in the sixth, Susac will slide a two-run triple down the right-field line in the eighth to cap the scoring for San Francisco.

It’s good news for the Cubs on the field—defeating the Rays at St. Petersburg, 9-2—but it’s awful news off it. It’s learned that pitcher Cade Horton, runner-up for last year’s NL Rookie of the Year Award with an 11-4 record and 2.67 ERA, will miss the rest of the regular season as he’ll undergo elbow surgery. Not decided at this moment is whether Horton will have a traditional operation or a reconstructive Tommy John procedure performed on him. In two starts this season, Horton allowed two runs on four hits through 7.1 innings.

Wednesday, April 8

Davey Lopes, an efficient basestealer and member of the Dodgers’ longstanding infield from 1973-81 that also featured Steve Garvey, Bill Russell and Ron Cey, passes away at the age of 80. The short (5’9”), somewhat stocky and speedy second baseman debuted in the majors with the Dodgers at age 27 and, a year later, became a mainstay in a Los Angeles infield that would help the team rise to prominence in the 1970s after its brief, post-Sandy Koufax/Don Drysdale malaise, winning three NL pennants. Lopes hit peak in 1978, earning his first of four All-Star spots, landing his lone career Gold Glove, and enjoying a sparkling postseason in which he batted .341 with five homers and 12 RBIs over just 10 games—the last six of those a World Series defeat to the Yankees. After a lousy 1981 season in which be batted .206 at age 36 and committed six errors for the Dodgers in that year’s World Series—albeit, this time, in triumph over the Yankees—Lopes became the first member of the tightknit Dodgers infield to be let go with a trade to Oakland; his spot was taken over by Steve Sax, who won 1982 NL Rookie of the Year honors. Lopes stole 557 bases in a 16-year career; three times, he swiped over 40 bags while being caught only four times. In 1975, he stole 38 straight bases without being tagged out, setting a major league mark later broken by Vince Coleman. After his playing days, Lopes turned to a long career in coaching, most recently as a first-base coach for Washington in 2017. He tried his hand at managing, lasting two-plus forgettable years with Milwaukee from 2000-02.

Could the Colorado Rockies be, gulp, competitive? Granted, the team that looked even worse than their hideous 43-119 record of last year suggested is an average 6-6 after a 9-1 home win over Houston, so it’s certainly premature for Rockies fans to start making World Series reservations in October. But it’s a far better circumstance than where they were at this time last year. The three-game sweep of the Astros is Colorado’s first of the season—matching their entire total for 2025. Furthermore, the Rockies didn’t win their sixth game last season until May 1. Now the trick is to start convincing Rockies fans that their upbeat start is no mirage. So far, that’s not been happening; the crowd of 15,189 at Coors Field for the Rockies’ win is the lowest for a game at the 31-year-old facility not hampered by COVID-era seating restrictions.

Have you noticed all the lack of scoring taking place in MLB so far this season? We have. Yes, the season has only lasted two weeks and we’re slowly emerging from the short-sample stage—plus, cold weather still lingering from Winter typically depresses hitting numbers in any year. But if you’re a bettor and focusing solely on picking the under so far this year, well, as the Beatles once sang, “Baby, you’re a rich man.” Things just aren’t looking great for major league hitters. The collective batting average for all players thus far is .234. That figure is on pace for the lowest in a season, ever. Okay, one might argue that there’s more power and walks to help offset that number, right? Wrong. The .688 OPS, if that sticks to the end of the campaign, will be the lowest in 50 years. Where’s the Cactus League when we need it?

Not helping the hitters’ cause thus far has been the Automatic Ball-Strike (ABS) system instituted for the first time this year in regular season play. Fans and the media alike seem to be good with the system; catchers and pitchers certainly are, too. So far, they’ve combined to challenge questionable calls by the umpires 290 times, with 186 overturns for a 64% success rate. By comparison, batters have called for 263 challenges, with 153 overturns for a 51% success rate. That discrepancy has so far led to a minor handicap for batters, thus likely affecting the overall batting average.

As with any season, the weather will warm, pitching arms will begin to tire out, and hitters’ timing will peak. But those hitters had better start hurrying and play catch-up with the numbers—because right now, those figures are definitely not in their favor.

Thursday, April 9

It takes 12 innings, but the Padres pin down the visiting Rockies, 7-3, ending Colorado’s four-game winning streak on a Xander Bogaerts grand slam—the latest hit in the majors since 2019. Helping to keep the Padres alive is closer Mason Miller, who strikes out all three Rockies he faces in the top of the ninth. Miller’s numbers have been borderline insane to start the year; in six appearances, he has struck out 16 of the 21 batters he’s faced—otherwise allowing no runs on a hit and walk. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg to an extended streak going back to his last game allowing a run, back on August 5. Since then, Miller has the majors’ longest active streak of consecutive scoreless innings (27.2), allowing just five hits, walking 10, and striking out 58.

The average major league salary at the start of the 2026 season is up 3.4% from the same time last year, according to analysis conducted by the Associated Press. It has risen 28% since the current Basic Agreement between owners and players was agreed to in 2022; that pact expires at the end of this year. The median salary—the point at which half the players make more money, the other half less—rises to $1.4 million, but is still lower than its peak of $1.65 million from 10 years ago. Another alarming fact revealed by the AP’s study is that there are three more teams this season with payrolls below $100 million, reflecting a widening gap in spending among franchises. At the top, the Mets have the highest payroll at $352 million, followed by the Dodgers at $316 million. That may be surprising for those who believe that the Dodgers throw money at everyone, but remember that $76 million is being deferred to a future date. On the flip side, the lowest season-starting payroll belongs to the Cleveland Guardians with a $62 million budget—$40 million lower than last year.

It’s not a financial cataclysm for the Angels on a par with some of their disastrous, much larger contracts of the past handed out to Anthony Rendon, Josh Hamilton and Vernon Wells, but it’s just as embarrassing. In 2024, the Angels signed reliever Robert Stephenson to a three-year, $33 million deal which many at the time (including us) considered quite an over-expenditure given Stephenson’s rather mediocre career numbers to that point. Performance is one thing, but availability is another—and Stephenson couldn’t even deliver on the latter premise, missing the entire 2024 season as he underwent elbow ligament surgery. He managed to make the mound in 2025, but only for 12 appearances as more elbow issues flared up. Now, Stephenson is going to miss the entirety of the 2026 campaign. Reason? You guessed it—a torn ligament and flexor tendon in his pitching elbow. And so, the Angels will have paid this guy $33 million for all of 12 relief assignments.

There is a clause in Stephenson’s contract that allows for a fourth-year, $2.5 million team option should he miss more than 130 straight days for exactly the kind of injury he suffered. Memo to Angels: Don’t bother.

Friday, April 10

Max Muncy performs the season’s first hat trick of home runs, with his third blast of the night walking it off for the Dodgers in an 8-7 home win over the Texas Rangers. It’s Muncy’s second three-homer game of his career, previously accomplishing the feat on May 4, 2024 against Atlanta.

Of historic note in the Dodgers’ win is a single and walk for Shohei Ohtani, extending his streak of consecutive games reaching base safely to 44—breaking Ichiro Suzuki’s major league mark for Japanese-born players.

A day after shutting out the Yankees at Yankee Stadium, the Athletics make the short drive to Queens and do the same to the Mets, winning 4-0. Former Mets infielder Jeff McNeil, in his first game back at Citi Field after eight years with the Mets, starts a three-run rally in the ninth with an RBI single, his second hit of the night. It’s the first time that a team has shut out the two New York teams, the Yankees and Mets, on back-to-back days.

Could football’s Denver Broncos soon own the Colorado Rockies? The NFL team with three Super Bowl trophies purchases a 40% share of the team, making them the Rockies’ largest minority partner. The Rockies say that the infusion of cash will allow them to erase all of their existing debt. The Broncos’ ownership group includes head investor and Walmart heir Rob Walton, racing star Lewis Hamilton and former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Saturday, April 11

Play Fernando Tatis Jr. anywhere, and he’s likely not to disappoint. The talented defender, who began his career as a shortstop before moving to right field and winning two Platinum Gloves, gets his first-ever start at second base, playing error-free baseball with three putouts and two assists while, at the plate, collecting two singles, a double and a stolen base in the Padres’ 9-5 home win over the Rockies. Tatis had played second base before, moving to the position in a late 2023 game against the Phillies after starting that day in the outfield; he also played second 10 times while in the minors.

Getting the win for the Padres against his old teammates is German Marquez, who settles in after a wobbly start (three home runs allowed over the first three innings) with four runs conceded over five innings. He’s 2-1 on the year with an unimpressive 5.54 ERA this far for the Padres—but that’s an improvement from finishing 3-16 with a hideous 6.70 ERA last season for Colorado.

The Houston Astros are dropping both games and players like flies. In Seattle, the Astros blow a 7-2 lead as the Mariners score six unanswered runs, the last on J.P. Crawford’s RBI game-winning single in the ninth after Houston pitcher Bryan Abreu walks the bases loaded. The 8-7 loss is the Astros’ sixth straight, compounded by the mid-game departure of shortstop Jeremy Pena with knee discomfort. Pena will miss the next month, and his absence will continue a trend of hobbled Astros—especially a rotation that’s once again decimated with Cristian Javier (shoulder sprain), Hunter Brown (shoulder strain) and Tatsuya Imai (tired arm) recently joining Ronel Blanco and Hayden Wesneski (Tommy John recoveries) on the shelf.

In just four innings of work this year, Abreu has walked 10 batters and given up six hits—three of them home runs—for an early ERA of 20.25. He’s been doing more ninth-inning work to start the season in the place of closer Josh Hader—himself recovering from a spring camp biceps injury.

Sunday, April 12

Phil Garner, a three-time All-Star infielder and manager of 15 seasons—leading the 2005 Astros to their first-ever pennant—passes away at the age of 76 from pancreatic cancer. A tough-as-nails competitor, Garner debuted with the Oakland A’s in 1973, becoming an everyday presence in the lineup two years later. After the 1976 campaign, Garner was dealt to the Pirates in a trade that did very well for Oakland (the A’s received Tony Armas, Mitchell Page and Rick Langford, among others) but also well for the Bucs, as Garner peaked through the late 1970s—batting .472 (17-for-36) during the team’s 1979 world championship run. Entering the 1980s, Garner played mostly with the Astros, for whom he’d manage from 2004-07 after turns with Milwaukee and Detroit. Overall, Garner garnered 1,594 career hits with 109 homers, including three grand slams—two of them hit on back-to-back days in 1978.

A highly anticipated pitching duel between two-time reigning AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal and former NL Cy honoree Sandy Alcantara—off to an electric start—becomes a one-sided romp. Alcantara is rocked for seven runs on 10 hits (including three home runs) through six innings, while Skubal doesn’t allow his first hit until two outs in the sixth; he’ll end up allowing a run on two hits in six-plus innings of work as the Tigers breeze over Alcantara and the Marlins, 8-2.

The Mets and Yankees are a combined 0-10 over the last five days. At Citi Field, the Mets are swept in three games by the Athletics, 1-0, as they continue to struggle at the plate without injured star slugger Juan Soto. Meanwhile down in St. Petersburg, the Yankees are swept by the Rays in a three-game series for the first time in five years, as Drew Rasmussen silences the Yankees for six shutout innings, allowing one hit. After Rasmussen’s departure, the Yankees make a late go of it but fall a run short, losing 5-4.

The Rays have drawn crowds of over 20,000 in all six of their games at the reopened Tropicana Field this year. That’s the longest streak of 20,000-plus at the ballpark since 2019.

Monday, April 13

There are nine players on the day with multiple-homer efforts—one shy of the all-time record—and three of them do it at Yankee Stadium. Two of those players are the Angels’ Mike Trout and Yankees’ Aaron Judge—both three-time MVP winners—while the other is Trent Grisham, who doesn’t even enter the game until the fifth as a pinch-hitter. But it’s a ninth-inning wild pitch by the Angels’ Jordan Romano that leads to the deciding run, scoring Jose Caballero from third shortly after Grisham’s second homer, a two-run blast, had tied the game for the Yankees. The 11-10 victory ends New York’s five-game losing streak.

For Judge, it’s his 47th career multi-homer game—moving ahead of Mickey Mantle for second on the all-time Yankees list. Remaining well ahead of Judge at the top is, but of course, Babe Ruth (68).

Baltimore’s Jeremiah Jackson is one of the other six players to hit two homers on the day, but that’s not the only damage he does. Early in the Orioles’ 9-7 comeback win over the visiting Diamondbacks, Jackson slices a sharp foul into the Baltimore dugout—nailing manager Craig Albernaz on the right cheek. Despite suffering a broken jaw and seven other fractures of the cheek, Albernaz returns to duty later in the game and, perhaps even more amazingly, will not require surgery for his injuries.

It’s a night to forget for Garrett Crochet—though it’s going to be hard for him not to remember the shellacking he gets from the Twins at Minnesota. Crochet can’t make it past the second, removed with two outs after allowing a career-high 11 runs (10 earned) on nine hits and three walks; he strikes out none, the first time he’s failed to collect a single K in a start. The Twins’ 13-6 win gives them a 10-7 record, tied with divisional rival Cleveland (9-3 winners at St. Louis) for the AL’s best. (Yes, 10-7 is the league’s best record.)

The Pirates are learning to score runs when Paul Skenes is on the mound. At home against the Nationals, the Buccos rack up five runs early, then really pile it on in the sixth with a 10-spot, on their way to a 16-5 rout. Skenes gives up just one hit—a solo CJ Abrams homer in the first—over six otherwise flawless innings, striking out six.

The Pirates have scored at least seven runs in each of Skenes’ four starts this year—he’s won three of them—and that matches the total number of games in which they did that over 32 Skenes starts last year.

Tuesday, April 14

After Detroit rallies for two runs in the bottom of the eighth to take a 2-1 lead over Kansas City, Kenley Jansen closes out the win for his 479th career save— passing Lee Smith for sole possession of third place on the all-time list. At age 38, Jansen may have to settle for nothing higher than #3; at #2 is Trevor Hoffman, who’s got 601.

A pitching duel between the Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Mets’ Nolan McLean in Los Angeles lives up to its billing. Yamamoto serves up a home run to the very first batter (Francisco Lindor) he faces, then proceeds to retire the next 20 batters before being removed with two outs in the eighth; McLean allows a run himself in the bottom of the first on a Freddie Freeman RBI double, then retires his next 13 batters, not allowing a hit until the seventh. McLean doesn’t so much blink as does the Mets’ coaching staff, which removes the young phenom after the seventh. Brooks Raley, his replacement, shows his relative lack of immortality by getting into immediate trouble in the eighth, leading to a Kyle Tucker single that brings home the eventual game-winning run in the Dodgers’ 2-1 win.

Over his first 12 career starts, McLean has struck out 85 batters; the only pitcher to strike out more with fewer runs allowed in a similar span to begin a career is Paul Skenes (97 K’s 16 runs allowed).

It’s another loss for the Red Sox—shut out at Minnesota, 6-0—and another head-shaking moment involving Red Sox center fielder Jarren Duran. In the midst of a 0-for-4 night—dropping his season average to .182—Duran responds to a heckler in the Target Field crowd by flipping him off, a moment caught on camera. This is the same Duran who once audibly called a Fenway Park fan both f-words, and last year stared down a Cleveland fan being escorted out of Progressive Field after he loudly brought up Duran’s suicide attempt in 2022.

Duran says after the game that he gave the fan the middle finger after being told to “go kill yourself.”

The Astros end an eight-game skid, hanging on for dear life while doing so as they edge the visiting Rockies, 7-6. Christian Walker’s three hits, including a home run, help lift the Astros to a 7-3 lead after three innings—but the Rockies nip back here and there, placing runners at first and third with two outs in the ninth before Enyel De Los Santos puts out the fire to record the save. The eight-game losing streak was Houston’s longest in 13 years, when they lost a franchise-record 15 straight.

Wednesday, April 15

The Tigers have seen enough of rookie Kevin McGonigle—not to send him back to the minors, but to lock him up with an eight-year, $150 million extension. It’s the latest lucrative, long-term deal for a player who’s barely gotten his feet wet in the major league waters. The 21-year-old McGonigle has shown that, early into his rookie season, he belongs. Playing in each of the Tigers’ 18 games, he’s batting .313 with six doubles, a home run, eight RBIs, and more walks (12) than strikeouts (10). While McGonigle will still be paid the minimum $780,000 this year, his salary will jump in the years to follow per the contract; with escalator clauses, he could make $28 million during the final year of his deal in 2034.

What a night, and what a homestand it’s been so far for the San Diego Padres. They’ve already walked off two victories—one with a grand slam, the other a three-run homer—but Wednesday against Seattle, there’s an extra layer of heroism provided by center fielder Jackson Merrill. In the third inning, Merrill leaps above the outfield wall to rob a two-run homer from his opposite number (the Mariners’ Julio Rodriguez); in the ninth, with the Padres having already rallied for three runs to cut the Seattle lead to one, Merrill shoots a liner down the opposite line, doubling in the final two tallies needed to complete a 7-6, comeback win—the Padres’ seventh straight.

According to STATS, the Padres are the first team with three multi-run walkoff hits in a span of a week since the world champion Reds in 1975. 

An exhausted but still pumped Merrill concludes his postgame, on-field interview on Padres.TV by yelling, “Let’s f**king go, San Diego!”

The day is not all full of sunshine for the red-hot Padres. Nick Pivetta, coming off an excellent 2025 campaign, will miss “weeks and maybe months” with a right elbow strain, according to manager Craig Stammen. Pivetta is 1-2 through four starts this year with a 4.50 ERA.

Shohei Ohtani proves that he’s not immortal on the mound—he gives up one run, not none—but he’s still sharp enough to easily temper the struggling Mets in the Dodgers’ 8-2 win at Los Angeles. Over six innings, Ohtani allows the one run—ending a streak of 33 consecutive innings without conceding an earned tally—and strikes out 10. Interestingly, Ohtani is left out of the batting lineup, but rookie Dalton Rushing has him covered at the DH spot—launching his fourth homer of the year, an eighth-inning grand slam, to pull the Dodgers away late.

Mike Trout continues to dazzle with his fourth homer in three games at Yankee Stadium, a two-run shot in the fifth that gives the Angels a 4-3 lead that holds until the bottom of the ninth. That’s when his teammates spit the bit. With one out, the Yankees’ Jazz Chisholm Jr. hits a pop fly to the left side of the infield that looks routine—except that third baseman Oswald Peraza and shortstop Zach Neto each thinks the other will catch it; neither will, as the ball drops between them for an infield single. After Jordan Romano walks Austin Wells, Jose Caballero wins it for the Yankees, 5-4, on a two-run gapper to left-center.

Thursday, April 16

Len Barker is still the last Cleveland pitcher to throw a no-hitter. At Progressive Field against the Orioles, Parker Messick heads into the ninth inning with a no-hitter intact—and immediate serves up singles to the first two batters he faces, including a first-pitch poke into right field by leadoff hitter Leody Taveras. Messick is removed after 112 pitches—the most thrown by an MLB pitcher thus far in 2026—and the Orioles’ rally continues with the tying run reaching second with one out against Cade Smith, who finally manages to put out the fire and preserve a 4-2 win for the Guardians.

In 1981, Barker threw a perfect game for the then-Indians; since then, every other MLB team—except Cleveland—has no-hit an opponent at least once.

The Orioles have broken up a no-hitter in the ninth inning in each of the last three seasons. The last team to do that was the Twins, from 1980-82.

The Mike Trout–Aaron Judge Show concludes without disappointment at New York. Trout reaches base four times for the Angels—three via a walk, the other a solo home run that’s his fifth of the four-game series against the Yankees. Judge, meanwhile, goes deep for the fourth time in the series, with one in each game; in the end, the Angels squash the Yankees, 11-4, earning a split in the series.

Trout is the first visiting player to belt five homers in a single series at either Yankee Stadium; he’s the second opponent (after Roy Sievers, in 1958), to go deep in five straight games at the Stadium.

Who says the bunt is dead? Don’t tell that to the Milwaukee Brewers, who lay down three straight bunts in the seventh inning to complete the ultimate small-ball rally and bring home the eventual winning run in a 2-1 victory over the visiting Blue Jays. In defeat, Toronto’s only run is scored on a suicide squeeze bunt from Tyler Heineman in the third.

The Brewers are tied with Tampa Bay for the most sac bunts thus far in 2026, with nine. While that doesn’t sound like a lot—and compared to the old days, it’s not—they’re still on pace for 81 this season. That would be the most since the 2013 Reds.

Friday, April 17

Garret Anderson, the Angels’ all-time leader in hits and doubles, suffers a fatal heart attack and passes away at the age of 53. A three-time All-Star, Anderson was a local product selected by the Angels in the fourth round of the 1990 draft. Four years later, he made his debut at the big-league level and, a year later, became an everyday fixture in the Angels’ outfield. A solid contact hitter, Anderson showed a remarkable mix of quality and consistency through 14 seasons, batting anywhere between .280 and .321. He rarely walked and thus could not fatten his OPS value, but opposing pitchers were wise never to overlook him. They got burned anyway; Anderson delivered the eventual decisive blow with a three-run double in Game Seven of the 2002 World Series—giving the Angels their lone world title to date—and in 2003 was the winner of both the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game, going deep in that event as well.

The Seidler family is ready to cash out in San Diego, and they have an interested buyer who’s ready to purchase the Padres for a whopping $3.9 billion—which, if approved by 75% of MLB owners in June, would be the largest sale price ever recorded for a major league team. The new owner would be Jose Feliciano—no, not the blind, Puerto Rico-born singer of Feliz Navidad, but the co-founder of the Santa Monica-based investment firm Clearlake Capital and current co-owner of Chelsea in England’s Premier League. (Like his aforementioned namesake, Feliciano is also a Puerto Rican native.) Peter Seidler bought the Padres along with two others, including his uncle Peter O’Malley, son of former Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley, in 2012 for $800 million. Over time, Seidler took over majority control of the team and began an aggressive spending spree which has yet to yield an elusive first world title for the franchise, but has certainly resonated with a fan base which has transformed Petco Park from a laid-back, half-filled setting to everyday sellouts featuring a rowdier presence. Seidler’s death in 2023 led to a family struggle between his widow and his two sons over team control.

Denver’s Coors Field looks to be in the grips of winter in the morning with snow covering the facility, but with the help of field crews and a warming afternoon sun, the ballpark emerges into playing shape for an evening contest between the Rockies and Dodgers. Despite still-chilly (35 degrees) first-pitch conditions, the game goes on with the Dodgers easing to a 7-1 bruising. Tyler Glasnow allows a run on two hits through seven innings for Los Angeles, while Max Muncy propels the Dodgers at the plate with a double and two home runs.

Jose Soriano continues his white-hot start for the Angels, cooling off the equally white-hot Padres at Anaheim. Over 5.2 shutout innings, Soriano allows two hits, walks four and strikes out eight; three Angels relievers finish off an 8-0 shutout victory, ending the Padres’ eight-game win streak. Over his first five starts this year, Soriano has won all five, allowing just one run on 11 hits. No previous major leaguer began a season with fewer runs or hits conceded over more innings through a similar span of starts.

Saturday, April 18

The team with the majors’ highest official payroll is having its worst losing skid in over 20 years. With Juan Soto still out with a right calf strain, the Mets drop a 4-2 decision to the Cubs at Chicago for their 10th straight loss. It’s tied at 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth when New York starter Freddy Peralta walks a pair of batters with two outs—then serves up a three-run homer to pinch-hitter Carson Kelly, putting the Cubs ahead to stay.

Statistically, it’s been a complete meltdown for the Mets during their 10-game slide. They’ve batted .203 and only managed to score more than two runs twice—both in games in which the other team plated over 10. On the mound, the staff ERA is an awful 6.24.

In one of three games that goes 11-plus innings on the day, the Tampa Bay Rays survive an 8-7 win over the Pirates at rainy Pittsburgh. The first pitch is moved 30 minutes earlier to avoid incoming wetness, but it’s not early enough; the tarps are brought out after the fourth inning with the Pirates ahead, 4-0, after four shutout innings are tossed by Paul Skenes on his bobblehead night before a big PNC Park crowd of 37,773. When play resumes—two and a half hours later—both Skenes and most of the fans are gone, and the Rays take immediate advantage, posting five runs in the fifth to go ahead. The Pirates knot it up in the eighth, and the game moves into extras—with things finally being settled in the 13th amid returning rain on Cedric Mullins’ two-run homer.

Not to be outdone on the overtime front, the University of Northern Colorado settles a game that began the day before—and is picked up completed over 24 hours later with the Bears defeating the University of St. Thomas, 8-7, in a game lasting 21 innings. (Needless to say, there are no gift runners in college baseball.) It could have gone longer; with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 21st, St. Thomas commits a balk—sending the winning run home. The game was halted after the first 11 innings due to darkness, and was continued the next day.

Sunday, April 19

Oh, Mets. Trying to snap a 10-game skid, New York takes a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth at Chicago against the Cubs. But closer Devin Williams gives up a leadoff single to Ian Happ—who then scores two batters later on a double from former Met Michael Conforto, tying the game. Just one inning later in the 10th, with Craig Kimbrel trying to preserve the tie, the veteran reliever throws a wild pitch that allows gift runner Pete Crow-Armstrong to advance to third with no outs; Nico Hoerner will bring him home two batters later on a sac fly. The 2-1 loss for the Mets extends their losing streak to 11, tying them with the Kansas City Royals—who’ve lost seven straight—for MLB’s worst record at 7-15. (Yes, even Colorado has a better mark.)

The Cubs’ victory over the Mets is their fifth straight overall, propelling them…into a last-place tie with Milwaukee, with both teams at 12-9. Over three weeks into the 2026 season, all five teams in the NL Central are playing well, with Cincinnati topping the table at 14-8 after a 7-4, 10-inning road win over the Twins. Only a game and a half separate all five teams in the division; oddly, the Reds and second-place Cardinals both have run differentials of -8, a consequence of winning the close ones while losing more one-sided affairs. (Cincinnati and St. Louis are a combined 11-0 in one-run games, and 8-0 in extras.)

There have only been six intra-divisional games between NL Central teams so far this year—and there won’t be a seventh until the Pirates travel to Milwaukee starting on April 23. Until then, the five Central teams will get extended opportunity to feast on AL teams, for whom they’re already 49-30 against.

The Cardinals’ latest interleague triumph is a 7-5, 10-inning win at Houston, a game noted for the moment Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez becomes the first major leaguer this year to reach double-digits in home runs. Alvarez’s 10th shot is already four more than he hit all of last season, when injuries muted his total output to just six over 48 games.

Monday, April 20

The Dodgers learn that pricey first-year closer Edwin Diaz will undergo elbow surgery and miss the next three months. Diaz’s troubles began on April 10 when he gave up three runs on four hits, blowing a save opportunity in a game the Dodgers would ultimately win against Texas, 8-7. He didn’t pitch again for another nine days, but the unusual amount of rest did him no good; against the Rockies on April 19, Diaz faced four batters who all reached safely, on three hits and a walk. Three of them scored in a 9-6 Dodgers loss.

A day after Diaz’s latest meltdown, no closer is needed for the Dodgers in their 12-3 rout of the Rockies at Denver, earning a four-game split in the series. Max Muncy enjoys his second multi-homer game of the series, while rookie back-up catcher Dalton Rushing, given time at first base, continues to rake with his seventh home run in just 28 plate appearances this year.

The Red Sox win their traditional Patriots Day morning tilt against Detroit at Fenway Park with an 8-6 decision—but lose starting pitcher Sonny Gray in the process. Midway through the third inning, Gray feels tightness in his right hamstring and departs; Red Sox coaches don’t think the injury will lead to a long layoff. An MRI will confirm that notion, with Gray expected to miss a couple of weeks.

In their victory, the Red Sox walk eight times, reflecting one of the starker side effects of the new ABS system. Pitchers can no longer depend on painting the strike zone, while catchers can no longer reframe it to steal strikes. Result: A 15% rise in walks over last year. If the 3.73 walks per game holds, it would be the highest rate seen since 2000, and the second highest since circa 1950, when baseball was full of players thriving on drawing walks—most of them, it seemed, named Eddie (Joost, Stanky, Yost, etc.)

Tuesday, April 21

No team has ever lost 12 straight games and made the postseason the same year. That is now the factual challenge facing the high-priced Mets. The Mets look solid for the first five innings against the visiting Twins, thanks to Nolan McLean’s five perfect innings and Francisco Lindor’s three-run homer to give New York a 3-0 lead. But McLean wilts, the Mets’ bats go quiet, and the game moves to the ninth inning knotted at 3-3. Called on to preserve the tie, Mets closer Devin Williams flops again, allowing two runs on three walks and a base hit to give the Twins a 5-3 lead, which they will hold to the finish; Williams departs to a cacophony of boos from 32,798 fans at chilly Citi Field.

McLean is the first major league pitcher to twice throw five perfect innings within his first 13 starts.

After the game, the Twins’ X handle cruelly posts: “Things you can get in a dozen: Eggs, roses and Mets losses.”

The first career home run for the White Sox’ Sam Antonacci is a memorable one on multiple fronts. It’s an inside-the-park shot—the first by a White Sox rookie since 1976—that starts as a fair ball and curls down the left-field into foul territory, where a ball guy accidentally attempts to make a play off it. The ball ricochets off his glove and into left field—where Arizona’s Lourdes Gurriel Jr. doesn’t make a move on it, believing that interference has already been called. But Gurriel has to be the one throwing his arms up in the air to let umpires know; he doesn’t, and by the time he realizes Antonacci is still rapidly rounding the bases, he restarts back into action, collects the ball and throws home—too little and too late to retire Antonacci. The bizarre sequence has no bearing on the game’s outcome; it takes place in the ninth inning of Chicago’s 11-5 beatdown of the Diamondbacks at Phoenix. Antonacci’s homer is the fourth of the game for the White Sox, with the other three coming back-to-back-to-back in the second inning from Munetaka Murakami, Miguel Vargas and Colson Montgomery. The blast from Murakami is his ninth of the year; it’s his fourth straight game going deep.

A new book from Lew Wolff, the former co-owner of the Oakland A’s, has reopened all the wounds revolving around the team’s move out of the Bay Area—and its many efforts to build a new ballpark somewhere within it. The 90-year-old Wolff writes that the crosstown Giants bare “100 per cent” responsibility for the A’s departure due to their “nasty, shameful, and continuing opposition” to shut the team out of a potential move south to San Jose, the Bay Area’s largest city and self-anointed “Capitol of Silicon Valley.” Wolff notes, factually, that the A’s once owned the territorial rights to San Jose, but previous owner Walter Haas gifted those rights to the Giants when that team sought—and failed—to build a new ballpark there; when Wolff asked for those rights back so he could build a new ballyard there, the Giants refused. When reached by The Athletic to comment, Giants majority partner Greg Johnson defended his team’s ongoing hold of San Jose, stating that the team has a “huge fan base” there and that a move to the city by the A’s would have “been detrimental to the strength of (the Giants),” adding: “The ownership group personally guaranteed debt (to get Oracle Park) built. And a part of that was, ‘You’re not going to put a team next to us after we’re taking the risk.’”

The Giants certainly can’t be wholly blamed for the A’s exodus to Las Vegas (via Sacramento) when the A’s, the City of Oakland and Alameda County were deep into a project for an attractive new waterfront ballpark. Though the project never got far past the planning stages and a shovel was never placed into the ground, the city and county reportedly spent tens of millions of dollars on a myriad of consultant fees and detailed reports. Yes, the project was moving slower than the A’s wished, but in the end team owner John Fisher—whom Wolff dedicates his book to—simply just wanted to be in Las Vegas.

Wednesday, April 22

Even on a night when the Mets finally win—snapping a 12-game losing skid—they can’t win. Their 3-2 victory over the visiting Twins is boosted by the return of Juan Soto, who had sat out the previous 19 days (and all 12 of the Mets’ defeats) to a calf injury. But in a frustrating irony for the Mets, they lose Francisco Lindor—the team’s other marquee hitting star—to a similar injury in the fourth inning. Lindor is likely to miss at least the next month.

The Mets’ victory leaves the Phillies, another alleged titan of the NL East, saddled with the majors’ longest active losing streak. At Chicago, the Phillies take it on the chin for an eighth straight time with a 7-2 loss to the Cubs—who extend their winning streak to eight. It’s the Phillies’ longest slide since 2018, and puts them in a last-place tie in the East…with the Mets.

It’s a night of double frustration for Shohei Ohtani in San Francisco. He makes his fourth pitching start of the season and, as usual, is fantastic—throwing six shutout innings with seven strikeouts and no walks—but right after his departure, Jack Dreyer takes over for the Dodgers in the seventh and ultimately serves up a three-run homer to the Giants’ Patrick Bailey, a blow that will account for all of the runs in San Francisco’s 3-0 victory. At the plate, Ohtani fails to reach base safely for the first time in 53 games, ending a streak that ties Shawn Green in 2000 for the second longest in modern Dodgers history. The longest such run remains the property of Duke Snider, who reached base safely in 58 straight games during the 1954 season.

Ohtani has allowed only one earned run over 24 innings thus far in 2026, but Jose Soriano still has him beat for the moment. At Anaheim against the Blue Jays, Soriano spreads out seven hits over five innings but does not concede a run, extending his remarkable run with just one run allowed over six starts and 37.2 innings, a combination of numbers no major league pitcher ever has accomplished to begin a season. Alas for Soriano, he fails to pick up a win for the first time this year as the Blue Jays tie the game in the seventh after his removal; the Angels will bounce back after the stretch with four tallies, three of those on a bases-clearing double from Nolan Schanuel, to take a 7-3 decision.

The White Sox may still not be very good, but at least they’re becoming fun to watch. In an 11-7 loss to the Diamondbacks at Phoenix (dropping Chicago to 9-15), Japanese import Munetaka Murakami belts a home run in his fifth straight game, while Colson Montgomery—last year’s second-half breakout slugger—goes deep for a fourth straight. The five consecutive HRs for Murakami ties a White Sox record and an MLB mark for rookies; his 10 homers in total thus far come in just his 24th game, breaking a team record for the fewest contests needed to reach double digits to start a White Sox tenure. (Zeke Bonura held the old mark with 10 homers over his first 25 games in 1934.)

Once-and-current Diamondback Ildemaro Vargas smacks two home runs for Arizona, giving him five for the young season; his career high for a full campaign is six. Vargas’ 20-game hitting streak, the longest active in the majors, is the fifth longest in Arizona franchise history.

The Kansas City Royals announce their latest ballpark proposal, partnering with local greeting card giant Hallmark to create an 85-acre mixed-use district south of downtown in what is now the Crown Center shopping mall. Besides the new ballpark, the project calls for Hallmark will get a glitzy new headquarters complex in the area; what would happen to the current mall tenants at Crown Center is anyone’s guess, but it will eventually be something where lawyers get involved. Renderings of the ballpark, to be designed by Kansas City-based Populous, has architectural echoes of Kauffman Stadium, the Royals’ home of the past 54 years. It includes a crescent-shaped roof overhang, fountains behind center field, and symmetrical field dimensions. What appears to be a hotel stands tall behind the left-field bleachers, giving those within it unobstructed views of the game.

The project is said to be budgeted at $3 billion, with private financing accounting for roughly two-thirds of that figure. Which leaves one to ask: How will the $1 billion in public financing be appropriated, and from what sources—the city, county, and/or state? (Even local politicians are said to be blindsided by the joint announcement between the Royals and Hallmark.) For now, the project will not be put to a vote by residents—who flatly knocked down another downtown ballpark proposal in 2024.

Thursday, April 23

After scoring five runs in the top of the ninth at Colorado with the final three coming off a home run from Gavin Sheets—celebrating his 30th birthday—the unstoppable Mason Miller comes in to preserve a 10-8 win with a scoreless bottom of the ninth against the Rockies. Astonishingly, Miller doesn’t get a strikeout after racking up 27 K’s to the previous 38 batters he’s faced this season, but he does extend his streak of consecutive scoreless innings going back to last season to 33.2—officially tying him with Cla Meredith for the longest in Padres history.

We italicize “officially” because it’s not truly correct. According to retrosheet.org, Meredith’s streak actually lasted 34 innings. Meredith entered a September 17, 2006 game against the Dodgers at Los Angeles having gone 33.2 scoreless innings, and retired the first batter to extend that mark to 34. Then, he gave up a home run to Russell Martin to end the streak. Apparently, some sources rule that if a pitcher gives up a run at any point in an inning, the streak is over and it reverts back to what it was before the frame began. We disagree with that method. After all, what if Miller makes his next appearance, strikes out the first guy he faces, and the announcers all shout out, “There it is, the record is broken, 34 straight scoreless innings,” before the next guy hits a home run? That one-third of an inning before suddenly doesn’t count as part of the streak? Of course it should count.

Things initially look far from great for Atlanta’s JR Ritchie in his major league debut. The 22-year-old right-hander’s very first pitch is socked by the Nationals’ James Wood over the wall, but any surge of jitters that follows that moment quickly turns to calm as Ritchie settles in, pitches seven innings, allows two runs on five hits and picks up the win as the Braves take a 7-2 win at Washington.

After receiving death threats upon him and his family from angry Red Sox fans after his dominant playoff effort against Boston last year, Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler makes his first-ever start at Fenway Park and silences Sox fans who have, quite frankly, become angrier at their own team after its poor start. The tall, 25-year-old Schlittler tosses eight innings—matching a career high he set in shutting down the Red Sox in last season’s Wild Card Series at New York—and allows just two-runs (one earned) on four hits in the Yankees’ 4-2 victory, completing a sweep of the Red Sox at Boston. It’s the sixth straight win for New York, which easily owns the AL’s best record at 16-9. (By the percentages, Tampa Bay is the next best at 13-11.)

Jazz Chisholm Jr. scores two of the Yankees’ four runs, one on his first home run of the year in this, New York’s 25th game of the season; during spring camp, he had set a goal for a Shohei Ohtani-like 50-50 season. Chisholm’s first homer is hardly a tape-measure blast; he pokes it 333 feet past Fenway’s Pesky Pole down the right-field line. 

With the loss, the Red Sox drop to 9-16, are batting .223 as a team and are tied with the Giants for the fewest home runs (14) so far in 2026.

Friday, April 24

Fusing the Smiths and Bruce Springsteen, there’s panic on the streets of Philadelphia. The Phillies suffer their first 10-game losing streak of the 21st Century, dropping a 5-3 decision to the Braves at Atlanta. The game’s key hit comes in the sixth when, with the Phillies ahead 3-2, left-handed-hitting Michael Harris II—who had been scratched before the game with a quad issue—shows up as a pinch-hitter. This surprises the Phillies, who aren’t preparing a left-handed reliever to face him. Against right-handed starter Andrew Painter, Harris launches a two-run double to give the Braves a lead they will not relinquish. The Braves have won nine of 10 games and own the majors’ best record at 19-8. Conversely, the Phillies’ 8-18 mark is the majors’ worst.

The Cubs also have themselves a double-digit streak, winning their 10th straight game with an impressive come-from-behind, 6-4 effort against the Dodgers at Los Angeles. Chicago is trailing 4-0 with one out and one on in the seventh when Dodgers starter Emmet Sheehan is removed, having allowed four hits while striking out 10; the Los Angeles bullpen proceeds to stink it up from there, allowing six unanswered runs through the next three innings. Four of those runs come off the bat of Dansby Swanson, with a two-run triple in the seventh and a tie-breaking, two-run homer in the ninth off Tanner Scott.

The streak of 10 straight wins is the longest for the Cubs since taking 11 in a row during their iconic, curse-shattering championship season of 2016.

The Athletics take an 8-1 victory over the Rangers at Arlington—and grab sole possession of first place in the AL West—all while making history in the process. In the first inning, the A’s jump out to a 3-0 lead thanks to solo home runs from Nick Kurtz, Carlos Cortes and Tyler Soderstrom; it’s the first time in the franchise’s 126-year history that they’ve gone deep three times in the initial frame of a road game. Cortes will add a second, three-run shot in the fifth, while Luis Severino picks up his first win of the year, allowing a run through 6.2 innings, to wrap up the easy victory.

On his 20th birthday, Pittsburgh rookie shortstop Konnor Griffin smokes his first career MLB home run on a three-hit night, while Paul Skenes takes a perfect game into the seventh as the Pirates cruise to a 6-0 win at Milwaukee. The Brewers’ lone hit—and baserunner—against Skenes comes with two outs in the seventh when Jake Bauer punches out a single. It’s the second longest start in which Skenes had held an opponent hitless, having taken a no-hitter into the eighth inning of a 2024 game—also against the Brewers.

Munetaka Murakami continues to ace the exam on three-outcomes hitting in America. His solo homer in the White Sox’ 5-4 home win over Washington is his 11th of the year, setting the MLB rookie mark for home runs before the end of April. While Murakami’s 11 homers are tied with Houston’s Yordan Alvarez for the most in the majors, he has yet to connect on either a double or triple; he’s also walked 22 times and struck out 36—on pace for, respectively, 137 and 224 by season’s end.

Saturday, April 25

On the day the Red Sox enjoy their most lopsided victory in two years, management cleans out the team’s coaching apparatus after an otherwise horrendous start to the 2026 season. Manager Alex Cora, who led the team to a world title over the Dodgers in 2018, is dismissed, as are five of his coaches; a sixth, former Boston catcher Jason Varitek, is “reassigned to a new role” within the organization. Replacing Cora, on an interim basis, will be Chad Tracy, a former major league infielder and skipper for the Red Sox’ Triple-A affiliate in Worcester since 2022.

Cora’s last game as manager is a decisive 17-1 rout of the Orioles at Baltimore. Ten of the runs cross the plate in the ninth inning—four of those off Baltimore outfielder/batting practice pitcher Weston Wilson. Garrett Crochet, who’s posted a 10.50 ERA over his last four starts, throws six shutout innings to gain his third victory of the year—yet he’ll be placed on the 15-day injured list with shoulder inflammation four days later.

The last time a manager was fired after winning a game by 16 or more runs was in 1887.

The Phillies end their longest losing streak in 27 years—and as the return of Juan Soto helped end the Mets’ 12-game skid earlier in the week, so it is with the Phillies and ace Zack Wheeler, returning to the mound for the first time since last August. Wheeler pitches five innings and departs with a 3-2 lead, but reliever Tanner Banks promptly allows two runs to cross the plate in the sixth, giving Atlanta a 4-3 lead. The Phillies answer back in the eighth, tying the game on Bryce Harper’s sacrifice fly against Atlanta reliever Dylan Lee—who suffers the first blown save by a Braves pitcher in this, the team’s 28th game of the year. In the 10th, the Phillies blow it open with four runs—the first two on a Harper double.

While the Phillies’ losing streak is history, so is the Cubs’ win streak, also at 10 games. In Los Angeles, the opposing Dodgers pile on a dozen runs between the third and sixth innings, leaving Chicago in the dust with a 12-4 rout. Max Muncy, starting despite battling the flu, belts the Dodgers’ lone home run and walks twice before being given the rest of the night off.

Erasing an early 4-0 deficit, the Padres score six unanswered runs and overcome the Diamondbacks in the first of a two-game series at Mexico City. Ty France smacks two solo homers for San Diego, accounting for the team’s first and last runs of their comeback; only one other homer, from the DBacks’ Alek Thomas, is produced in the 7,500-foot-high air of Mexico’s capitol city.

Mason Miller pitches a scoreless ninth—failing to strike out a batter in his second straight appearance—to record his 10th save and emerge as the undisputed record-holder of the Padres’ longest-ever streak of consecutive scoreless innings, with 34.2.

Sunday, April 26

Mike Trout’s first-inning home run at Kansas City is the 797th extra-base hit of his career, breaking the Angels’ team mark held by the recently-passed Garret Anderson. The two-run shot helps build an early 6-0 lead over the Royals—slimmed down to 7-4 with the Royals batting when the rains take over Kauffman Stadium, putting the game on ice for an hour and a half. Once the tarps are removed, the Royals continue to press; Jac Caglianone’s two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth ties the game, and in the 10th—after the Angels score to take a 9-8 lead—Lane Thomas ends it with a walk-off, three-run homer, giving the Royals an 11-9 victory.

If the Angels, who’ve been showing sparks of overdue vitality early in the season, are to make a run at their first postseason appearance in 11 seasons, they’ll need a legitimate closer. After the team designates veteran closer Jordan Romano (0-2 record, 10.13 ERA over 11 appearances) for assignment earlier in the day, both Drew Pomeranz and Joey Lucchesi suffer blown saves in the loss to the Royals. Only the Mets (two) have fewer saves than the Angels’ four among all 30 MLB teams.

An intentional pass given to the A’s Nick Kurtz in the ninth inning at Texas helps break a franchise record for the reigning AL Rookie of the Year, as he extends a streak of consecutive games with at least one walk to 16. Kurtz does not score after being given the free ticket to first, but the A’s still triumph with a 2-1 decision.

Score one for ABS. In the top of the ninth inning at St. Louis, the Mariners’ Rob Refsnyder takes a called strike three from home plate umpire John Bacon on a pitch that’s roughly half a foot outside the zone. Refsnyder quickly challenges, gets the call reversed, and four pitches later launches a go-ahead home run that will be the deciding blow in Seattle’s 3-2 victory. The reversed call is one of eight that Bacon witnesses on the day.

The Mets may have won two games earlier in the week, but they suffer embarrassment anew as they drop a pair to the visiting Rockies, culminating in a three-game sweep for Colorado. The first loss, 3-1, occurs despite another agreeable start for young Nolan McLean, who allows two runs (one earned) with seven strikeouts over five innings; in the nightcap, they’re shut down 3-0 as Chase Dollander, making his first start of the year after six long relief outings, throws seven shutout innings and reduces his season ERA to a very un-Rockies-like 2.25.

It’s only the second time over the last 27 years that the Rockies have swept a doubleheader on the road; the other time they did it, back in 2011, also came at Citi Field against the Mets. The one total run allowed by Colorado over both games is the fewest conceded over any twinbill in franchise history.

Monday, April 27

Mason Miller’s consecutive scoreless inning streak, which at 34.2 just set a Padres team record, ends in San Diego—and not without a little controversy. Entering the ninth inning with the Padres leading the Cubs, 9-5—thus, not a save situation—Miller takes the mound and watches as Matt Shaw, his first batter, sends a dribbler up the third base line. San Diego third baseman Ty France, filling in Manny Machado—who left earlier in the game with a leg issue—watches the ball, hoping it will go foul; just as it dies, he picks it up, thinking it’s finally and fully crossed into foul territory. But two umpires, right on top of the play along with France, disagree—saying that a portion of the ball is still hovering over the chalked line, and thus technically still fair. France and Padres manager Craig Stammen argue bitterly, but that’s all they can do; video replay precludes fair-foul calls on ground balls hit within the infield. Shaw’s barely-there infield safety is the first of three straight hits against Miller; two will later score on a ground out and wild pitch. Because no outs are made before the first run scores, Miller cannot add to his scoreless streak. But Miller and the Padres survive the inning with a 9-7 win, improving to 19-9 and remaining half a game behind the Dodgers (5-4 comeback victors over the visiting Marlins).

The long ball suits the Yankees, as it always seems to. All four of New York’s runs in their 4-2 win over the Rangers at Arlington come courtesy of home runs, including Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s third in five days (after bashing none in 25 previous contests to start the year), the 11th of the season for Aaron Judge, and the 10th for Ben Rice. The double-digit totals for Judge and Rice represent the first pair of Yankees to reach 10-plus after a season’s first 29 games since 1956, with Mickey Mantle (15) and Yogi Berra (12) leading the charge. The 21 combined taters for Judge and Rice add up to nearly half of the Yankee’s total of 46 thus far, a figure which tops the majors.

Tuesday, April 28

You’re definitely as good as the start to your latest season. Alex Cora found that out in Boston, and now Rob Thomson finds it out in Philadelphia as he’s the first major casualty of the team’s 9-19 start. The fifth-year manager, who’s led the Phillies to the playoffs every season—including an NL pennant in 2022—is fired after the team’s worst start since 2002. In his place, bench coach Don Mattingly—who has extensive managerial experience with the Dodgers and Marlins—promptly leads the Phillies to a 7-0 home win over San Francisco in his first game as interim manager, with Jesus Luzrado tossing seven shutout innings.

Phillies front office head Dave Dombrowski confirms that before he fired Thomson, he offered the position to Cora, whom Dombrowski hired in Boston and led the Red Sox to the 2018 World Series. Cora declined.

Jose Soriano shows his mortal side for the first time all year, allowing three runs over five innings and taking his first loss of the season as the Angels bow at Chicago to the White Sox, 5-2. The first of two home runs conceded by Soriano—Colson Montgomery’s solo shot to lead off the second—ends his streak of consecutive scoreless innings at 26.1.

With Soriano’s ERA rising to a still-excellent 0.84, the new leader in that category is Shohei Ohtani. Against the visiting Marlins, Ohtani throws exactly six innings for the fifth time in five starts this year, allowing two runs (one earned) with nine strikeouts; his ERA actually rises as well, but to only 0.60. However, he doesn’t bat—and that costs the Dodgers, who suffer a 2-1 loss.

The Braves now own the majors’ best record at 21-9 after topping the visiting Tigers, 5-2. Martin Perez tosses five shutout innings, as he and three relievers especially silence Detroit first baseman Spencer Torkelson, who goes hitless in four plate appearances—thus ending his team-tying, five-game streak with at least one home run.

Wednesday, April 29

At Pittsburgh, the Pirates’ Nate Gonzales represents the game-winning run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth against St. Louis’ Riley O’Brien when he launches a drive to deep left field. But the Cardinals’ Nathan Church secures a 5-4 win when he hops up to keep Gonzales’ deep fly from going over the six-foot wall at PNC Park. According to MLB, Church’s robbery is the 19th by an outfielder so far in 2026. It’s the second this year for Church, joining the A’s Denzel Clarke (two), San Diego’s Jackson Merrill (three) and the Angels’ Jo Adell (three—all in one game) with multiple home run takeaways. The record for an entire single season is 76—though last season, there were 69 by August 25, before people apparently stopped counting. (A cursory search of home run robberies for September, via available video highlights on mlb.com, reveals that there were at least 12 more, adding up to no less than 81 in 2025.)

There is no official home run database for home run robberies; maybe now is the time to start one.

Thursday, April 30

The St. Louis Cardinals continue to be Kryptonite for Paul Skenes. The reigning NL Cy Young winner is socked for two first-inning home runs, and allows five runs (four earned) overall through five innings before being plucked out of the game. The Cardinals don’t stop there, adding five more tallies in the eighth against the Pirates to pull away with a 10-5 road victory.

Skenes remains winless in seven career starts against the Cardinals, with a 0-5 record—all despite a respectable 2.95 ERA. He’s 25-10 against all other MLB teams.

The Phillies make it 3-0 in the Don Mattingly era, as the interim manager oversees two come-from-behind, walkoff victories in a single day. In the first game of a rain-created doubleheader, J.C. Crawford races to first on a ninth-inning, two-out infield single that brings home the winning run, completing a two-run rally in a 3-2 victory over the Giants. Trailing again by a run in the 10th inning of the nightcap, Alec Bohm caps another two-run uprising with a deep sac fly to center that brings home Adolis Garcia to finish a 6-5 win. By virtue of being the pitcher of record at the end of each game, reliever Chase Shugart gets the win in both for the Phillies.

It’s the first time since 2004 that a team has won each game of a doubleheader in walkoff fashion; the Giants haven’t been on the losing side of such an occurrence since 1956.

Brandon Woodruff, one of the more effective yet fragile pitchers in recent years for Milwaukee, leaves his sixth start of the year in the second inning against Arizona and tells manager Pat Murphy that his arm is “dead.” The radar seems to agree; Woodruff’s fastball averages only 85 MPH, well below his normal velocity. An MRI taken later will determine what exactly is going on. The Brewers blast away without Woodruff, pouring it on the Diamondbacks in a 13-1 rout. William Contreras leads the charge with four hits, including a home run, and four RBIs.