Designed to break your heart - the 2026 MLB regular season thread

Opening Day is less than a week away!

“It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall all alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops.”

Joe Castiglione reading this in 2024

https://i.postimg.cc/Gtj09X13/IMG-1317.gif

Play ball.

It is, it is, with time out now and again for some fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWQmXFMZUMc

i wonder how ball/strike challenges will impact umps calling anything near the zone a strike on 3-0 and the zone shrinking on 0-2. like i wonder if it will be an unwritten rule that you don't challenge those calls. i guess it will be situational.

like i wonder if it will be an unwritten rule that you don't challenge those calls

god, I hope not

Chris Sale already said he wouldn’t challenge anything

Tyler O’ Neill home run opening day: y/n?

Roki Sasaki 15 earned runs in 8 2/3 spring innings, 2.77 WHIP

Slotted as #3 starter, I believe

it seems weird that not every team is playing on opening day. i didn't check every team but i noticed that KC/ATL doesn't start until friday

I read six teams aren't starting until Friday. It was to give NBC an exclusive window in prime time.

that's lame

The Yankees and Giants are off on Sunday too.

i read that it used to be tradition that the reds would always play first, guess that went out the window!

Speaking of the Reds, did we all see Joey Votto’s gift to them for opening day?

https://www.mlb.com/amp/news/joey-votto-gifts-street-clock-to-reds-at-great-american-ball-park.html

https://www.bajablasthomeruns.com/

ugh Bert Kreischer this season is doomed

first walk of the season drawn by . . . luis arraez!

I can't recall a time ever when the Giants opened up the season first, and it's been probably a decade since they opened at home.

My thoughts as well.

I don’t have Netflix and thought I could piggyback on my brother's account, like I have done in the past but they locked me out. $8 wouldn't kill me but nah.

golden sombrero for Judge while every other Stankee is the reincarnation of Roberto Clemente

So, sounds like the Netflix broadcast was not popular

it made roughly $1m for each team, which is clearly all that matters

Watched I think a couple of innings and then went to sleep, opening day to forget. This is all my fault, the last time I watched the Giants open their season against the Yankees they also got shit on. Apparently I missed Bonds show up, drop a nuke that he almost signed with the Yankees, and leave again lol

https://bsky.app/profile/lukeknox.me/post/3kbnxlj5s6h2d

Ozuna loudly booed at Citi field

Nbc announcers spotlighting a betting parlay for the game feels like a new low.

yeah, i was watching a mlb highlight reel of the opening game yesterday, and it showed a ABS challenge (called strike; upheld as it just caught in the zone) and the announcer was like ".....and if you bet on the first ABS in MLB being upheld...you would be a winner" or something.

thanks

honestly would love to get a 30-second break from each game and just show me a live feed of a near-empty casino at 5 am with one dude and a bucket of tokens, just feeding the slot machine and staring at his phone

IT'S BIG BALL CHUNKY TIME

Skenes gave up 5 runs in the bottom of the first and then got pulled after the Mets batted around!

“As we go to commercial break, we’d like to congratulate those of you who took that parlay where Skenes would give up 5 runs and be taken out after two-thirds of an inning. Enjoy your payout and we’ll be right back.”

Tbf, those runs sounded like a team effort (I missed the first few runs tho)

Just saw the boxscore for Skenes...yikes--hope he's not hurt.

He looked ok. Think it was just bad luck/ one of those games

america's feelings are hurt due to the iran war fuckup and the it's affecting skenes as well

Mets lineup is very sexy

Carson Benge’s first big league hit is a home run

that's my boy!

unintentionally funny and interesting piece of cards radio commentary from ricky horton

“a bad day to be a reliever….and a bad day to be in this city"

however, we’re in the middle of cardinals devil magic comeback against the rays so all is well

jj wetherholt will be mvp by 2030, easy, i’m calling it now, no problem

this guy jj wetherholt, he can’t miss

Skubal today: 6 innings, 3 hits, 6 K, no walks, no earned runs. Without any recency bias whatsoever, I am officially declaring him the best pitcher in baseball.

Cubs extending Nico Hoerner

The dodgers still looking very dodgery

Man its good to be back

was at the game today, pretty great atmosphere, I really love going to opening day because it comes right as the weather starts getting better, it's nice to see all these people around again

did not appreciate that it was against the White Sox, aren't opening day games supposed to be divisional??? oh well, we beat the hell outta them, notched 20 strikeouts which is apparently tied for a Brewer record

15 teams in each league means at least one game has to be intraleague, I guess

A lot of solid debuts today… Wetherholt, McGonigle, Benge & DeLauter

Just watched Jeff Kent chatting it up with Kruk and Kuip in the broadcast booth, he was smiling his head off and in great form, which I gather is not vmic for him

are the giants going to score this year

Nope

Camilo Doval revenge inning was the most predictable thing I’ve ever seen

Kurtz just took a called third strike against Gausman (his 7th through 10 batters tonight); it was an almost unhittable pitch, a 3-2 sinker down and away, framed perfectly by Kirk. The announcers wondered if he'd challenge; he didn't, and the replay showed he would have won if he had.

Guaranteed new stats: which hitters have the highest success rate when challenging, and which hitters are the worst at not challenging when they should have.

And definitely a new stat for catchers--Kirk just won a big one.

these dodger blue and gold unis are awful.

Fault of the default being too beautiful

diaz walking out to temu timmy trumpet

lol u mad?

yes :(

a rite of spring: Jake DeGrom scratched, it's not even April

His HOF odds seem tougher each year, although there is enough good sentiment towards him that they might vote him in anyway. But by that standard, David Wright should also make the Hall Of Fame.

Well as a Giants fan my heart's broken already. Can't seem to score a single run. We are cursed to hell

xp from above, Kent is so bubbly because he got in the Hall before Bonds lol

luis robert jr.

Loved that for him!

162-0

Will Smith clutch on his birthday and bobble head night

gonna be at Wrigley today for my first game of the season

Cutch is having a great day today

Tatsuya Imai's first start for the Astros - 2 2/3 innings on 74 pitches, four earned runs.

Even with the Dodgers, I honestly believe the NL West is the weakest division in baseball.

A 4-11 record supports that claim

Milwaukee already doin super cool shit

https://bsky.app/profile/brewersbot.bsky.social/post/3mia3saxgox2f

Even with the Dodgers, I honestly believe the NL West is the weakest division in baseball.

AL West on early returns looks better than expected

My mind is kinda blown that both Max Muncy’s started their first two years in the big leagues playing for the A’s.

And what the hell - they share the exact same birthday?

The birthday thing is especially fucking weird. Like the simulation housing our psyches is just out of fucking ideas

it weirds me out that the giants have a coach named Hunter Mense

hmm. how is mense pronounced?

same as their former outfielder, it's a little confusing

hunt or mince

i’d mince

wait - is hunter mense even 10% as entertaining as hunter pence?

rusty kuntz still lives

Did we ever talk about how hot Dylan Cease got over the break?

JQH: I think I am now a Nats fan.

tell me what my next step is.

― imperial frfr (Steve Shasta), Monday, March 9, 2026 12:09 AM (three weeks ago)

this is a team of destiny, the team that legends are made of... god's team.

gross

xp sell me, i'll never buy it, but sell me anyway

Not sure I could name two Marlins, but just saw a graphic that they've had the 6th best record in baseball, 57-42 (ahead of the Dodgers and Yankees), since June 13 of last year.

They’re a fun team to watch! My boy Jacob Marsee is my favourite on that team, Kyle Stowers was great last year, Sandy is obviously still going, Xavier Edwards and Otto Lopez are the other guys I like. Very fun, young, energetic.

Oh also their catchers (Agustin Ramirez and Toronto’s own Liam Hicks) are a fun tandem

…and how could I forget the team’s star Canadian, Owen “Big Red” Caissie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOUInneCtGU

they do like their canuks!

Ontario’s finest racking up the RBIs already

Friendship ended with Spencer Strider...now Drake Baldwin is my new best friend.
(not really, but I heart DB a ton)

He’s a stud

Alcantara pitched a 3-hit Maddux today and hasn't given up a run in two starts.

available today only: https://sportsreference.threadless.com/collections/the-record-book-collection

i am actually tempted to get a 'pittsburgh legend' bath mat

Bo Bichette's line (expect many Jays fans will follow this till things normalize, which I'm sure they will at some point):

29 PA, 3 singles, 1 walk, .111/.138/.111

Not sure how well he's playing in the field.

He's great as long as he doesn't have to throw to first.

he's had some great throws to first when he doesn't have time to think about it

Rookies so far: 0.845 OPS, 140 wRC+.

2 of MLB’s last four number one prospects have attended former segregation academies.

Jo Adell robbed three home runs in one game???

Although I'm still unsure of the rules on the third one (he fell into the stands while making the catch).

He sure did, wild. Yesterday's game was no score into extra innings and today's ended 1-0.

wow!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeJjnr68I5I

that last one, lol

Watching the Rays Cubs game and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen so many people in the Trop

is that because rosters are at 26 now? (i kid, i kid)

Jose Soriano’s first three starts (vs. Astros, Cubs, Braves) - 19 1/3 innings, 7 hits, 6 walks, 1 earned run, 20 Ks. The one run came on a solo home run by Drake Baldwin on a 98.3 four seamer above the zone.

https://i.postimg.cc/kXXwQN41/bafkreibkvcdibcw5c33h6rghx22or22vhjgogessu4nseonhb3yreevy5i.jpg

that’s a good graphic

I’m not a betting man, but I’d love to see the gambling trade markets prior to bizzaro Braves/Angels brawl

https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/white-sox-pope-hats-reds-game-aug-11-rate-field/

https://www.gofevo.com/Upload/dc546f9b-6fd1-4a61-994c-af73018a5717/082ec573-897d-4881-adde-7ef163b2ac77.png

I watched a White Sox game on Easter Sunday and to say I was HIGHLY disappointed that I did not see any popes in the crowd on the day is an understatement

Did you watch any Cardinals?!

Mason Miller 16 strikeouts out of 21 batters faced so far. One pitch away from an immaculate inning last night.

some good nuggets before the paywall here about what's changed for miller https://lancebroz.substack.com/p/padres-mason-miller-highlights-slider-strikeouts-orioles-kyle-bradish-fastball-pirates-mitch-keller-new-changeup-sinker-dodgers-shohei-ohtani-splitter-curveball-2026-mlb-season-breakdown-pitching-analysis

just put the whole article in the slug of the link why don’t you

it is pretty obnoxious, not sure if it's substack or lance not knowing how substack works

that, my fellow webizens, is called SEO

I never realized how arbitrary gamescore (GSc) is as a calculated stat:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_score

You start at 50, but even if you have one of the worst starts I've ever witnessed:

https://www.mlb.com/gameday/astros-vs-mariners/2026/04/10/823156/final/box

7 Batters Faced: 4 BBs, 1 HBP, 1 Hit

He still registered a 33 GSc.

James first introduced game score in the 1988 edition of his Baseball Abstract. He called it "a kind of garbage stat that I present not because it helps us understand anything in particular but because it is fun to play around with."

Bill James OTM

(...except for the fun part)

N. Marte singled to right center

C. Silseth relieved R. Zeferjahn

N. Marte to third on wild pitch

T. Friedl walked

T. Friedl to second on fielder's indifference

N. Marte scored on wild pitch
T. Friedl to third on wild pitch

M. McLain walked

M. McLain stole second

E. De La Cruz walked. M. McLain to third on wild pitch. T. Friedl scored on wild pitch

E. De La Cruz stole second

S. Stewart walked

So you're using a GS where a pitcher ended up with less than he what he started with--in a negative range, like a negative WAR--and this is your evidence that it's a stat without value? Compelling argument.

It's so bad, Baseball Reference includes it as a standard part of a pitcher's game log.

Two disgruntled Yankees-related posts on my FB wall this morning--is there a fanbase in the A.L. East that isn't miserable right now? Maybe the Rays.

try the red sox

oh sorry misread you lol

fucking hell, Bob Costas is still alive...

do we really know that though

fair point

still, I happened to be getting into baseball right when he started working the NBC game of the week (b-team after Joe and Tony) and I was freaking out about puberty, and now I'm fuckin' 62 years old... this is NOT RIGHT, that guy needs to get off my tv.

Making me the last Costas fan standing, I suppose...didn't realize that NBC was back in the baseball business.

Jose Soriano update - 27IP, 9H, 9BB, 1R, 1ER, 31K, 0.33ERA, 0.67WHIP, 4-0 record

Against Astros/Cubs/Braves/Reds

xxp Costas seems to be trying to be more "Vin Scully" like and instead sounding tedious these days. Being an older dude doesn't necessarily mean they should be put to pasture as an announcer imho. Scully and Hubie Brown both were amazing to the day they retired, and both worked until past 90.

Costas just seems to be getting worse at his job, like Marv Albert, but in different ways (overcompensating vs dementia). And he's got the connections and credentials to probably work as long as he wants to.

Here's hoping dudes like Mike Breen and Kevin Harlan maintain their mojo (and in the baseball world my guys Kruk & Kuip, Jon Miller, etc) and can keep it going as long as they can.

seems extremely unfair if andy pages is able to sustain this

What an Angels-Yankees game: 2 HR each from Judge and Trout, 11-10 come-from-behind walk-off.

XP don't forget Wrobo

Should have let him try for the Maddux! 8ip 90 pitches

I announced it on another thread but this season I'm a Nats fan and they are amazing to watch, being one of the top teams in runs scored... unfortunately, they are also one of the top teams in runs allowed, which can wear down your pitching staff over the slog of 162.

Mason Miller 2026:

9.1 IP
O.00 ERA
0.21 WHIP
23K:1BB

O_0

that’s pretty good

you better be ahead in the 9th

happened in the NPB, but that ump getting hit in the head by a bat looks really bad. was dudes first ever game umpiring in the lague.

1 year ago Felix Reyes was in high-A extended spring training trying to get a minor league deal.

He made his MLB debut today for the Phillies and just took Chris Sale oppo taco in his first at bat.

Edwin Diaz to IL with “right elbow loose bodies.”

He hasn’t really looked right this year has he

Dalton Rushing is swiftly campaigning to be asshole of the year, based on his comments after last night's game.

Edwin Diaz to IL with “right elbow loose bodies.”

better than lewy bodies : /

yet more on mike clevinger:

https://www.readeyeblack.com/p/your-life-is-over-bitch

That 2016 ALCS where Cleveland beat Toronto, you had Bauer, Clevinger, and Roberto Osuna.

What is up with Rushing? Dude just couldnt conceive of losing to a bad team and had to run his mouth off?

It's a very bad look. Hope Roberts sets him straight

what did bad guy dalton rushing say

you know what? i’m not even going to wait. he ran his mouth off and he’s on a campaign to be asshole of the yaer? i know this guy deserves it badly

fuck dalton rushing. he should apologize

Look I can think of a few more players ahead of Rushing in AOTY contention, but yes, he should apologise

what did he do

i looked him up on duck duck go but all i got was rushing career leader walter payton ai suggested results

we’re in the post-knowledge/“facts”/search era, now you just have to tell me what’s going on

then i’ll be like holy shit!

He said the Rockies were fishy

Might have just got them confused with the rays/marlins/mariners

but undeniably the rockies are fishy

no one wants to talk about the rockfish connection

i imagine roberts kicking ass in the clubhouse

he may seem nice on tv. but behind the scenes, no tv cameras, it’s pandemonium, he’s throwing aquariums

drake baldwin/sean murphy could possibly be the most deadly catcher/dh combo in baseball, assuming rehab assignments for murphy go well.

I hear you but contending AOTY Dalton Rushing in 8 games has an equal fWAR to Baldwin in 23 games.

shouldn’t that be aWAR when measuring AOTY

I haven't been to a game in forever, but I'm planning on being at ATL @ MIL on August 22. What's the best way to get tickets, the team website or something else?

I bought mine through the mlb app when I went to Red Sox in Pittsburgh, couldn’t have been easier.

https://i.imgur.com/YS2XCsh.png

that content isn't viewable in my region, steve shasta

Alas Request: Please stop using imgur

I haven't been to a game in forever, but I'm planning on being at ATL @ MIL on August 22. What's the best way to get tickets, the team website or something else?

― the long version with the trombone solo (WmC), Tuesday, April 21, 2026 6:00 PM (yesterday)

IME buying from the team directly is usually the cheapest, although should compare against stubhub/seatgeek. although it seems a lot of teams (such as the mets) have been doing 'dynamic pricing' where the tickets might not end up being cheaper than the platforms

like anything there are deals to be had on seatgeek/stubhub esp day of the game but ime you have to spend a lot of time refreshing and being ready to pounce when you see someone list below market price, feel like it's not worth it if you have other things you could be doing

If you're going alone you can usually just rock up to the box office on the day of the game for a face-price ticket. (That said I have not seen a game at AFF)

for cubs games i tend to go stubhub to avoid giving the ricketts my money directly (i know they already have the money and it makes no difference)

reposting for our global partners:
https://i.postimg.cc/vTbtVS91/image.png

Oh no

of rookies (or recent rookies) who's got the more punchable face, him or chase meidroth?

meidroth imo

A’s get a base hit on a line drive into the pitcher’s jersey: https://mlb-cuts-diamond.mlb.com/FORGE/2026/2026-04/22/ba2b74c7-22b12f8c-8bb0daee-csvm-diamondgcp-asset_1280x720_59_4000K.mp4

that's a catch

Mariners walk it off

16-7 Padres got Giolito

The ball on that Gilbert play was considered out of play, btw. They gave him a single but kept the runner on third.

https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/article/shohei-ohtanis-on-base-streak-ends-at-53-games-5-short-of-dodgers-record-035730470.html

For the first time since Aug. 23, 2025, Shohei Ohtani didn’t reach base in a regular-season game on Wednesday.

The Los Angeles Dodgers star went 0-for-4 with no walks in a 3-0 loss to the San Francisco Giants, ending his on-base streak at 53 games. He entered Wednesday tied with Shawn Green for the second-longest streak by a Dodger in the modern era (since 1900)...

On the bright side for Ohtani, he was once again terrific on the mound, striking out seven, allowing five hits and walking none across six scoreless innings. His ERA is now 0.38 through four starts.

We could put this another way. Ohtani now has as many earned runs allowed this season as games in which he has failed to reach base: one.

Another fun fact: Ohtani has reached base every game this season, and yet is on pace to post his worst OPS (.854) since 2020, the year before his first MVP campaign.

what can you even say. we are not worthy

Maybe he'll win the Cy Young this year -- his "down" year.

Pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase Ohtani-san

if only the dodgers could give ohtani some run support

taijuan walker released... wonder if he's fixable

DRushing got a little 93mph to the ribs... karma bro.

Jose Soriano update - his ERA+ is currently 1,826. Seth Lugo is second in all mlb with 369.

xp I saw this and assumed it was unintentional until a clip started circulating of him sliding roughly into 2B at Adames?!

first konnor griffin homer

also skenes is perfect through five but at 67 pitches, so

I love that 50% of the divisions are currently led by teams with negative DIFF. What a game!

topper out

didn’t realize they are paying $34M for Walker and Castellanos to not play

If Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing is making a bid to be the most hated MLB player by the end of April, then he’s doing a pretty good job of it. After accusing the Colorado Rockies of cheating and saying something obscene when SF Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee was injured he has now angered yet another fanbase.

Fans on social media read Rushing’s lips again on Sunday in a game between the Dodgers and Chicago Cubs in Los Angeles and he appeared to say something vulgar and disparaging about the body shape of Cubs catcher Miguel Amaya after Amaya stole second base.

My chance to say fuck the Dodgers!

Haven't been following, but: in Ball Four, Bouton said you're only as smart as your batting average. So when his slash line is .385/.467/.974, the club probably looks the other way. When he comes down to earth, they probably won't.

if you're going to disparage the body shape of a cubs catcher, the better pick would be moises ballesteros (who is awesome and whose nickname is "mo bomber")

i know pete crow-armstrong is having bad season offensively so far but i can't believe it makes sense to bat him (and dansby swanson) behind michael conforto in a batting lineup in 2026

I will let this go after this:

https://dodgersway.com/cubs-player-just-confirmed-dalton-rushing-said-what-dodgers-fans-were-hoping-he-didn-t

Dodgers fans were hoping, probably against hope, that the latest viral incident with Dalton Rushing had been misconstrued.

Facing the Cubs over the weekend, Rushing recovered a wild pitch from Roki Sasaki, but didn't get it to second fast enough to catch Miguel Amaya, who had been on first with a walk. The broadcast cut back to the plate and caught Rushing mouthing what appeared to be the words "fat f—," which earned a sidelong glance from Nico Hoerner.

Maybe it was just baseball fans trying to play detective and doing a poor job of it. Surely, Rushing would've learned his lesson after getting caught saying things Giants fans didn't like about Jung Hoo Lee.

But Hoerner, during an appearance on the Spiegel & Holmes Show, confirmed what fans online had alleged. "We were able to read Dalton Rushing's lips. You heard it out loud, what he seemed to say about Miguel Amaya? Did we read his lips right?" one of the hosts asked.

"Yeah," Hoerner replied. "I wish that I had confronted him a little more directly, to be honest. I was pretty taken aback. It was just kind of a strange thing to experience, so yeah, I felt a little weird about that. [...] I'm not saying I should've tackled the guy or anything, but still. At the end of the day, you just wanna have your teammates' backs."

The Safest Pick | Caleb Downs | The Players' Tribune

Cubs player just confirmed Dalton Rushing said what Dodgers fans were hoping he didn't
Come on, man.
By
Katrina Stebbins
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9 hours ago

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Feb 20, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing against the Chicago Cubs during a spring training game at Camelback Ranch-Glendale. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Feb 20, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing against the Chicago Cubs during a spring training game at Camelback Ranch-Glendale. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Dodgers fans were hoping, probably against hope, that the latest viral incident with Dalton Rushing had been misconstrued.

Facing the Cubs over the weekend, Rushing recovered a wild pitch from Roki Sasaki, but didn't get it to second fast enough to catch Miguel Amaya, who had been on first with a walk. The broadcast cut back to the plate and caught Rushing mouthing what appeared to be the words "fat f—," which earned a sidelong glance from Nico Hoerner.

Maybe it was just baseball fans trying to play detective and doing a poor job of it. Surely, Rushing would've learned his lesson after getting caught saying things Giants fans didn't like about Jung Hoo Lee.

But Hoerner, during an appearance on the Spiegel & Holmes Show, confirmed what fans online had alleged. "We were able to read Dalton Rushing's lips. You heard it out loud, what he seemed to say about Miguel Amaya? Did we read his lips right?" one of the hosts asked.

"Yeah," Hoerner replied. "I wish that I had confronted him a little more directly, to be honest. I was pretty taken aback. It was just kind of a strange thing to experience, so yeah, I felt a little weird about that. [...] I'm not saying I should've tackled the guy or anything, but still. At the end of the day, you just wanna have your teammates' backs."

Nico Hoerner confirms Dalton Rushing directed an insult toward Miguel Amaya in Cubs-Dodgers matchup
Just, like ... come on, dude. Seriously?

In the replies of the initial viral posts, some Dodgers fans were heralding Rushing for bringing an unintimidated, competitive spirit to the game. But what if we didn't actually hype up a player for actively insulting another? Just think about it.

For all of the "back in my day" types, this isn't about being too sensitive or being unable to take an insult; it's about professionalism. The Dodgers tend to be world-class professionals, even in the face of very real hatred from other owners and fans. Rushing saying that about an opposing player is simply beneath the organization.

Sure, he's hitting really well right now. He's actually managing to impress people as the least likely candidate to do so on a roster filled with impressive players. That doesn't give him an excuse to go on this absolutely ridiculous spree he's been on over the last few weeks.

Sorry for my poor c+p skills

Fuck the Dodgers.

i'm not one to bemoan the vanishing of the baseball ways of old... but dude needs to get drilled like we're back in the 70s.

Do we have an ILB Why Is He Still Playing? thread? Just saw a list of active players who've reached base 3000+ times and Carlos Santana was on it. Didn't realize he was still active...His combined line for 2025/26:

500 PA, .300/.314/.614, 73 OPS+

Turned 40 a couple of weeks ago.

lol i thought that line looked rather better than a 73 OPS+

you went a column over: he's actually hitting .212/.300/.314 and the .614 is his OPS : /

tbf he put up 1.1 bWAR last year and is making $2m, so not a terrible gamble

he's disintegrating before our eyes, but 38.8 bWAR is a nice career

yeah, very nice! he’s always managed to be an average or above player with his amazing walk rate/obp, but i think in the last couple years his power collapsed so pitchers can challenge him more

also early in his career he had a thing about homering on his birthday (april 8) and i can remember him being called up and shit that was a long time ago

Honestly it’s an achievement to be a baseball player named Carlos Santana and I don’t even think of the musician, the legendary Carlos Santana. I wonder if they’ve ever met and talked about how music and baseball are very similar in certain ways

Gah--screwed up on the slash stats...Good career, great name, just wonder what Arizona expects to get out of him (especially now that April 8 has come and gone). Possible bookend thread to "Why Did They Retire?": "Why Don't They Retire?" Hello, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander.

7 walks in a row for CIN pitchers against the *checks notes* Pittsburgh Pirates.

reds threw 211 pitches (111 strikes) in eight innings

pirates threw 129 pitches (89 strikes) in nine innings

every pirate in the starting lineup had an RBI by the fourth inning

Btw everyone,the dodgers suck now

ban H.P

(not really, but maybe brag less?)

Can win when your winning, can't lose when your losing :/

*can't. Yeah, ban me

ok I take back whatever complaints I made about the cubs playing michael conforto

MLB players from Japan, 2026 HR totals:

Munetaka Murakami: 14 (MLB leader)
Kazuma Okamoto: 9
Seiya Suzuki: 6
Shohei Ohtani: 6

also TIL that Shohei is no longer DHing on his pitching days, that was pretty novel while it lasted!

xp MM’s pace has dropped off a bit as his k rate continues to rise

Ohtani not DHing on his pitching days was strange to me, what do you do if you need his bat in the lineup?

Weirdly, Murakami just got his first double yesterday

Searched "wisdom" (as in "conventional"), "truisms," and "myths," came up empty for ILB...Just saw a 10-pitch Brandon Valenzuela AB that ended in a walk. I've always assumed--and I think conventional wisdom agrees--that when you get really deep into an AB, 10 or more pitches, the upper-hand has switched over to the batter. Clearly, the pitcher's not getting anything past him.

Has there ever been actual research on this?

having a pitcher throwing 10+ pitches is providing many things such as decreasing the probability that pitcher will spend more time in the game as a result of that particular at-bat, giving the guys in the on-deck-circle/hole a chance to see all the pitches and sequences, defense will be more fatigued if there are runners on-base, etc.

not sure how to GLORP-orize the above...

I was thinking more specifically about the one individual AB, the idea that the batter has figured out enough to either foul the pitch off (no matter fastball, slider, whtever), take it for a ball, or make solid contact when he sees the pitch he wants. All of that makes sense intuitively, but is it in fact true? I'd be interested in seeing the slash line for all batters who work the pitcher into double-digits in one AB.

found this: https://medium.com/sabr-tooth-tigers/seeing-more-pitches-rarely-improves-batter-performance-95b3d43e220e

Thanks--will look that over and hopefully be able to make sense of it. I should have realized that of course OBP goes up because ball/strike is now a 50/50 proposition--that extra ball a pitcher gets on a 2-2 count has now been used up.

weirdly, at pitch 10 OBP takes a small dip – looks like it's due to AVG; but SLG somehow ticks up at the same time.

cubs walked off the reds for the second day in a row, this time on a groundball badly misplayed by elly

framber valdez being petulant yet again

Framber pretending he’s shocked to get thrown out when that was the most obvious intentional hit of all time is very, very funny

Tuesday evening, after most of the Tigers’ players had vacated the clubhouse, catcher Dillon Dingler emerged from the training room. Speaking with two reporters, he said he called for a fastball.

Did he think Valdez intended to hit Story?

Dingler tilted his head.

“I think it got away from him,” he said.

Carlos Correa tore a tendon in his left ankle and will miss the rest of the season. Fucking sucks, I’ve really liked Astros retread Correa.

damn...and obv there were long-term concerns about his *right* ankle several years ago, leading to the cancellation of his contract with SF.

5.9 bWAR/162 games; if he'd averaged 140 games a year, he'd be at 61 for his career; 150 games per year, 66. (The COVID year would be in there, though.)

always a knack for the dramatic hit. u hate 2 luv him & luv 2 hate him.

framber valdez being petulant yet again

lol that was (according to statcast) the only four-seam fastball he's thrown this season

May 7, exactly two teams in the entire American League above .500--that has to be a first.

cubs walked off the reds for the third straight game (this time on an extra-innings bases-loaded walk)

looking at the standings, it looks like there are only 5 teams above .500 outside of the NL Central, that's kind of crazy

May 7, exactly two teams in the entire American League above .500--that has to be a first.

i'm curious when that would have even been mathematically possible. not until fairly recently, when the schedule and the divisions require an interleague game every day

i guess it technically would have always been possible, if most of the teams in a league hovered at or just below .500, and a couple dominant teams were way above
....

eh, i don't even have the energy or focus to complete the sentence, sorry

The A.L. is 21 games under .500 right now in interleague play, so obviously a big factor.

cubs walked off the reds for the third straight game (this time on an extra-innings bases-loaded walk)

― na (NA)

the Cubs are fun. if Swanson, Bregman, and Busch can get going a little more, and Steele comes back as a solid SP, they could make some noise. also, Ian Happ has to be the most quietstorm legit allstar caliber guy in MLB. nothing flashy, just always good.

pity about boyd tho?

their SP situation in general is not great, everyone is hurt. i have to imagine they'll be looking to trade for pitching unless they fall off a cliff before the deadline. they're mostly thriving just on hitting and defense (and beating a lot of bad teams).

busch has looked a little better recently, swanson has always been a streaky hitter. idk what's going on with bregman.

cedric mullins is hitting .143/.198/.232 for a wRC+ of . . . 17

he's getting babipped, but still

;_;

idg why cleveland would trade a first-round pick and a prospect for patrick bailey

they already have austin hedges; how many good defensive catchers who can't hit does one team need

Well they optioned Bo Naylor

i guess you have to option the mediocre defensive catcher with the 23 OPS+ (career 81)

but i'm not sure you have to trade a first-round pick for a good defensive catcher with a 16 OPS+ (career 74)

Skenes' 9 starts (overall ERA, 1.98):

Worst two: 5.2 IP, 8 ER, 12.71 ERA
Other seven: 44.1 IP, 3 ER, 0.61 ERA

That’s Soriano, too. In fact, he’s only given up two runs total in his seven.

Shouldn’t the Dodgers bat Muncy and Pages higher in the order?

Is Soriano a fluke? Can anyone here say they saw this performance coming?! His dominance seems so random!

He's gotten to face the Jays a couple of times, so that helps.

he was a 3 WAR pitcher last year who underperformed his peripherals but projection systems like zips were flagging him as a highly undervalued starter, so i think it depended on where you looked. obv nobody thought he'd have a 1.70 ERA and be one the best pitchers in baseball but i don't think it was completely out of nowhere either

also worth noting that fangraphs, which takes a more forward looking approach at pitcher WAR, has his as the 14th best SP this season, where as BR, which takes a more backwards looking approach, has him no 1

About half of his starts last year were pretty dominant.

yeah his issue was more consistency than it was displaying that he had the ability to be a frontline starter.

it seems like he has found a pitch mix that works for him -- last year he was basically a 2 pitch pitcher, throwing a sinker 49% of the time and a curve 27% of the time. this year he's more like a 4 pitch pitcher, the sinker is down to 28% of the time and w/ in place of that he is throwing a 4 seam 26% of the time (8.6% last year), a splitter 18% of the time (9% last year(, while his curveball percentage has mostly remained the same (25% of the time this year). you can only really get away w/ being a 2 pitch starter if your stuff is like legendarily good, so this varied approach prob makes way more sense and the numbers seem to be bearing that out

Cristopher Sanchez leads the NL in both bWAR and fWAR. What am I missing?

Sanchez - 55.1 IP, 2.11 ERA, 2.20 FIP, 1.283 WHIP, 4.79 K/BB
Skenes - 50.0 IP, 1.98 ERA, 2.51 FIP, 0.640 WHIP, 8.00 K/BB
Ohtani - 44.0 IP, 0.82 ERA, 2.38 FIP, 0.818 WHIP, 4.55 K/BB

I can maybe see him being ahead of Ohtani because of the 11 extra innings. I can't see him being ahead of Skenes. He has a slight advantage in IP and in FIP, a stat that measures what should have happened; Skenes has a huge advantage in WHIP (literally half as many baserunners) and in K/BB.

park factors, strength of opponent, things of that nature?

Park factors I knew, but I didn't know opposition would figure in.

I can't see him being ahead of Skenes. He has a slight advantage in IP and in FIP, a stat that measures what should have happened;

there's your answer i think. fWAR heavily leans on FIP. 2.20 FIP vs Skenes' 2.51 FIP is a decent difference, esp when there are more innings behind it

I know this point has been made before, but I'll make it again. I would pay very close attention to FIP and BABIP if I were a GM looking for hidden value (and avoiding inflated value). But with awards voting, I'd only factor them in in extreme cases, where a guy clearly wasn't as good as his ERA or BA. In this case, I'd vote for Skenes without a second's hesitation.

(Which is beside the point, I know--I didn't even mention awards when I posed the question.)

i noticed that skenes is behind several other pitchers in bWAR too:

NL pitching leaders, bWAR:

2.5 Sánchez
2.1 Burns
1.9 Ohtani
1.8 Holmes
1.7 Skenes

and yeah, i'm surprised to see skenes that low on bWAR, too! beats me

I guess his four HR is more than everyone else on that list; can't be BB or K, both of which are stellar.

Can we stop right now and give Skenes the first-ever Khris Davis award, though? His ERA by year:

2024: 1.96
2025: 1.97
2026: 1.98

https://tippingpitch.es/quiz

i got the cubs : /

white sox

Athletics

It’s the only team i own a shirt of!

Seattle Mariners
Nicely played, my friend. You got the team that everyone seems to think is super cool and almost no one hates. Does that make you better than everyone else? Well, no, not really. You missed the playoffs for like two straight decades. Nice job pandering! Look where that's gotten you!

blue jays (to the envy of like 2/3 of this board)

Reds. Weirdly they were my team for a couple of months after first learning about professional baseball from a library book (I’m British). Then they went and won the World Series and I’m no bandwagon jumper so I picked the Pirates to replace them so no one could accuse me of following a team for the glory

Proud to have gotten the Phillies

lol

st louis cardinals
I'm feeling two ways about this answer for you, my friend. On the one hand, I definitely biased this quiz to have many of the worst or most evil answers be associated with the Cardinals. On the other hand, Bob Gibson's staring you in the face right now. Seems like a wash. At least you get some good uniforms!

i think it got mad at me because i didn’t want to pick any celebrities

I got the Montreal Expos.

It’s a lot of loaded questions that presume I:
- Know anything about the Gilmore girls
- Enjoyed any subjects at all in school
- wear pants when I fly

i'm seeing some stories about Edwin Diaz being linked to illegal cockfighting tournaments?

the la times story on that really went out of its way to not name him in the headline

"loose bodies"

Dodgers megacontract curse strikes again?

wait, who is Edwin's translator?

“Loose Bodies” always sounds like a 90s hip hop group to me

how about these cherries!

HRs since March 25, 2026 (52 days):

Ohtani 7

HRs since May 7, 2026 (8 days):

Schwarbz 9

(could have more but he's getting the Bonds treatment: BB with bases loaded)

Los Angeles Dodgers
It's not enough for you to play in Baseball Nirvana, have the greatest player who ever lived on your team, enjoy classic and iconic uniforms, win 3 of the last five World Series, and be stewarded by one of the world's biggest private equity funds. You had to also make us hang out with Jason Bateman?

Literally cannot help who you are

steve shasta would you rather have ohtani or schwarbz on your team

have the greatest player who ever lived on your team

the ultimate question is which one people in california would take, ohtani or judge

it's pretty insane that the padres are almost in 1st place (tied with the best team in the history of baseball!) with their atrocious ice cold offense.

the ultimate question is which one people in california would take, ohtani or judge

it’s a tough one, ohtani’s dog looks a lot like my dog but judge’s dogs are seriously insanely cute

https://i.postimg.cc/MHnC9rJN/decohtani.webp

https://bsky.app/profile/gummyarts.bsky.social/post/3mlrn4gvo5225

Just how bad are the Rockies?

Merrill Kelly threw a 100 pitch 4-hit 0-walk CG in Denver.

there are the seeds of a very embarrassing “shirts off” movement in stl

it seems to be tied to a specific group of people, who i think are part of a traveling team? won their game in alton earlier today? and then when they arrive they get really rowdy. they do soccer chants. they also do the white stripes song. they sat in the upper outfield seats yesterday and all took their shirts off, until it started a movement and there were like 4 or 5 sections getting rowdy. the cardinals loved it. they won the game in extra innings. pozo lost his voice from shouting. oli marmol bought the entire rowdy boys free tickets for today’s game. they had some game in alton and won, and they showed up to the stadium mid-game and you can hear the difference. they’re doing ole right now. they chanted “thank you oli!” when they arrived and marmol acknowledged them.

ricky horton, who is my barometer for this kind of thing, absolutely loves it. which means i’m already starting to hate it. however, i am not a person who takes off my shirt and yells woo and gets wasted. i do some of those things, sometimes, but all at once, nah. so this isn’t for me. but damn if i buy a ticket to a game i’m gonna stay away from these dudes because at least one of them will get too drunk and think they need to make fun of me a lot

ricky says “i just can’t take my eyes off…the energy…that is coming from that part of the ballpark”

what’s unsettling is when it cuts from the game and then goes to radio commercial and it’s ricky horton doing an ad vor an anti-abortion organization, and the spot is all about “reclaiming masculinity"

the cardinal way is to tuck your shirts in and wear a belt, young men. listen to your elders, and understand that one of the times a runner on second can safely move to third on an infield hit is when the third basemen has to backhand it.

tag yourself!

https://i.ibb.co/bMFYNT46/Screenshot-2026-05-16-at-5-15-27-PM.png

will america finally start an oendan tradition? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%8Cendan

I say let the dudes hang

Let’s not escalate things

So, the Ohtani hit last night. Fielders have to play balls off of nets, who knew.

Eury Perez has to basically stoop to talk to his catcher lol. Watching a bit of Rays-Marlins before subway series is on TV. The commentary team were talking approvingly about the Rays small ball ways.

“He and Chandler Simpson can deaden a bunt, according to Kevin Cash. They’re old school like those 1980s Cardinals teams…and Junior (Caminero) is the Jack Clark driving them all in.”

This commentary is great. “I think pitchers nowadays have too many pitches. They say, he’s got a seven pitch arsenal. Why? What are you going to do with it?”

https://i.postimg.cc/jjKDvMLQ/IMG-4548.jpg

Mets booth is genuinely great. They’re talking about hitters swing paths and attack angles and showing pitchers arm slots etc. You never see that on NESN.

Mets walking off the Yankees…unreal end to that game

signs of life from the Mets this month

fantastic

next spring training: if we're playing five infielders, here's who gets precedence . . .

https://i.postimg.cc/RV98DTC3/IMG-4570.jpg

I’ve Had The Time of My Life plays at Citi

usually when a player blows up at a fan the fan deserves it but man, PCA lost his goddamn mind

https://heavy.com/sports/mlb/chicago-cubs/cubs-pca-vulgar-white-sox-fan/

Aoty has a new contender

She was just doing the standard 2 thumbs down “you suck” thing and he got so tilted

Yeah it’s an awful look and his non apology also sucked

saw someone say about his non apology “eat crow-armstrong”

not to excuse PCA, or expect anything at all from heavy dot com, but this is garbage

MLB World Reacts to Pete Crow-Armstrong Incident With White Sox Fan

Here’s what people are saying on social media:

@Jandystl: This is actually insane he said this. Not cool. What a loser. Do you guys remember when he forgot how many outs there were?

lol I didn't want to link heavy.com but it appeared to be the only site that actually quoted what PCA said. the rest just say "vulgar tirade"

Rays are now on a 21-4 run.

ok make that 5 inside the park "homeruns" in 5 days... what is going on in the world of OF defense?

skenes outdueled by . . . patrick corbin

Not for nothing, but but Corbin has been decent for the jays. First time he’s had an ERA+ above 100 since 2019

https://i.postimg.cc/7hgpJ3nc/ladmil.jpg

Watching Guardians Phillies and stream has defaulted to the Phillies home broadcast. Cole Hamels in the booth, they get Mike Schmidt in for an inning. Schmidt barely says like ten words while Hamels and whoever else is in the booth try to get him to talk. He briefly shows signs of life when Hamels tells him “You should have come with us to eat omakase in Fishtown.”

Schmidt: What’s omakase
Hamels: Oh! Uh, it’s Japanese, ten courses…(rambles on the worst explanation of omakase I’ve ever heard in my life)
Schmidt: 😐

Later in this same inning it emerged that Schmidt is there to talk about skin cancer

Schmidt (to Hamels) when did you start using sunscreen?
Hamels: oh uh pro ball, I grew up in San Diego, and you would just…burn
Schmidt: so they left it around the clubhouse for you

(The inning ends and the broadcasters thank Schmidt for joining even though he got about ten seconds to talk about skin cancer)

that he didn't say anything racist counts as a win for all involved

fishtown was kind of a rough neighborhood when i was growing up, crazy (and fitting, huh) they got omakase now

some dudes having unexpectedly decent seasons!

patrick corbin: 2-1 (3.86) in nine starts for a 113 ERA+ and 0.9 bWAR

not killer, but over his past five seasons he was 38-74 (5.47) for a 73 ERA+ and -4.3 bWAR (tbf i would not call his 2026 peripherals great although he did get 15 swing-and-misses against the pirates yesterday)

michael conforto: .302/.408/.571 (184 OPS+) with 0.5 bWAR in limited action against almost entirely RHP

last year he hit .199/.305/.333 (80 OPS+) with -0.7 bWAR for the World Champion Dodgers

dominic smith: .327/.350/.518 (147 OPS+) with 0.7 bWAR

dude is .250/.315/.404 (98 OPS+) with 1.3 bWAR in nine previous seasons, from which essentially all the good came in the shortened 2020 season (1.9 bWAR in 50 games)