The Bounce-Back Kids

 

The thing about Ildemaro Vargas's 2026 season so far is that you would think it would be precedented. We've seen surprise breakout seasons from thirtysomething utility men before. Remember Donovan Solano's Giants run? He'd been a Marlins background guy for years, got to SF, suddenly became a multifaceted hitter who, if the 2020 season had been full, MAY have been an All-Star. Remember Marco Scutaro taking off in Toronto and becoming an all-star second baseman...with the Giants [okay I'm sensing a theme here]? Remember Mark Loretta becoming indispensable in his mid30s with Boston? Jose Valentin as a Dodger? It's happened before, in many different ways.

But...Ildemaro Vargas's work so far feels different. He was always a fun utility guy to have around before. Y'know, he'd give you 90 games, play all four infield positions, maybe crack a surprise contact hit, do something cool. Now, through 34 games, Vargas has already topped his season totals in RBIs, home runs and average, and is nearly there with hits and total bases. He's hitting .333 with 7 homers and 31 RBIs, has a .549 SLG, and is one of the most important hitters in a D-Backs lineup that also features Ketel Marte, Corbin Carroll and Geraldo Perdomo. Somehow THIS GUY is the centerpiece of this lineup. And honestly, I'm 100% here for it. Cause even as a utility guy with Washington and Chicago and Arizona and Minnesota, he was still a lot of fun. Never a starter, but always a handy guy to have around. And now...he hits homers and is a decision-maker. Not for a bottom tier D-Backs team either, this team's in third and near .500.

Inexplicable comebacks does seem to be the theme of this D-Backs team. Guys who were thought unnecessary or unneeded coming in to seriously help things out. James McCann's still getting reps as backup catcher at 36. Michael Soroka and Eduardo Rodriguez are both having serious bounce-back years following injury-plagued high ERA years. Paul Sewald, despite a 4.41 ERA, has 10 saves and seems to be keeping the job. Jonathan Loiasiga seems to have outrun the injury bug and has a 3.12 ERA in his new home. Bizarrely, rumors of Nolan Arenado's decline seem to have been incorrect, as he's hitting .273 with 6 homers and 23 RBIs, better than his Cardinals numbers around this time last year. 

And let's not forget about the fact that Corbin Carroll is delivering yet another peak season, continuing his stellar run with a .278 average, 7 homers, 24 RBIs and a league-leading 4 triples. This is the kind of damage you want Carroll doing, and he's very much normalized his brand of production. He's still looking for his first career 100+ RBI year, but even a fourth-consecutive 30+ steal year or another 30+ homer year [30/30 v2??] would suffice at this point.

The D-Backs are very much playing for the middle of the pack. They don't have the pitching to really chase the Padres or Dodgers right now, but they have the hitting to spoil them and keep in the conversation. Merrill Kelly just had a wonderful start, so if he and Gallen turn things around, and if Burnes returns at peak condition eventually, they could be a surprise wild card factor. How about that? Granted, we've said this before and it hasn't happened, but those teams didn't have the .300-hitting stylings of Ildemaro Vargas, now did they?

Coming Tomorrow- He's in his early 30s, he primarily hits home runs, and he just got a lot of money. This could be a recipe for disaster. It could also be incredible. 

The 'Starter' Division Leading Team

 

The A's are at .500...and in first place. It's already weird that the White Sox are over .500 and in second, but the A's commanding the AL West, despite the Mariners still honestly playing better baseball at times, is doubly weird. We knew it was gonna happen eventually, but...even A's fans can admit that this isn't the kind of A's team they expected to flock to first.

I mean, there's still more 'okay' than flat out 'elite' on this team, and that's still enough for first. Brent Rooker's hitting .204, and Butler and Soderstrom are still under .200. The idea was that the whole team would come together and keep down the competition, but what we have here is a streaky, inconsistent roster with the occasional lethal pops. Shea Langeliers is hitting .337, which is the highest average in the bigs. He also has 12 homers and 27 RBIs, which you could have guessed. Nick Kurtz has 29 RBIs, pivoting to all-around contact demolition rather than solely the long ball. Jeff McNeil's been very handy as an under-the-radar contact bat. And look at Carlos Cortes, former Mets farmhand now starting in the outfield and hitting .340 with 34 hits, 15 RBIs and 4 homers. Cortes is going crazy at the plate and providing that x-factor the team needs with three or four key pieces down for the count.

The part that's amusing me in all of this, still, is the success of the rotation despite the lack of a homegrown ace. The closest thing to a homegrown pitching talent they have right now is Jacob Lopez, and he's got a 6 ERA through 9 starts. It's all guys like J.T. Finn, dealt for Chris Bassitt, who's got a 3.12 ERA, and the contracted guys like Sevvy and Springs, who have high ERAs but stay in for a while. The big surprise has been Aaron Civale, after his years of journeying, finally settling and returning to his Cleveland numbers. He's 5-1 right now with a 2.70 ERA and 35 Ks, keeping runs down and not overexerting himself. It's not the ideal strategy but right now it's working, which can also be said for the low-key but effective bullpen. 

The A's have somehow found a working model. I was watching them for a bit yesterday, and apart from Kurtz' continuing on-base streak, there wasn't a ton to write home about, but it just seemed like an off day for them. This is a team that can come alive out of nowhere and outhit the majority of the league. They're hitting .252 as a team, pretty much the whole lineup has over 10 RBIs right now, they've got a hits leader and a doubles leader batting in the same frame...and they haven't even truly gotten going yet.

Coming Tomorrow- One of those cases where I'm relieved the rookie novelty subsided and we just get to enjoy how good of a player this guy's become. 

Red Above Water

 

Meanwhile, in the division where every team is good, the Reds, who are just a game over .500, are a fourth place team. 24 wins may be enough for 1st place in other divisions, but in a division where the Cubs, Brewers and Pirates are also there, and the Cardinals can go on a random streak denoted by unnecessary shiftlessness, it gets the Reds to fourth and that's it.

I think the Reds honestly should be lucky they're still above .500, considering that The Thing That Always Happens to the Reds has happened again. That's right, this frigging rotation can't keep from mishaps for five seconds. Rhett Lowder and Brandon Williamson are out, despite 2026 being long-awaited returns for them both, Hunter Greene isn't back til July, Andrew Abbott technically isn't hurt but is certainly throwing like the 2025 workload's caught up to him, and once again we're resorting to failsafe measures for that fifth spot. Right now Chris Paddack has it, they snagged him from Miami after that didn't work, and he was decent enough in his first start, only allowing 2 runs in 5 innings. But...this rotation was built to not have to resort to Chris Paddack. You build a team around Greene, Lodolo, Abbott, Williamson, Lowder and Burns, and then suddenly they all keep getting hurt. It didn't happen to this extent last year, but at least last year they still had Nick Martinez as a backup. Now he's a Plan A measure in Tampa. And as a reminder, the current failsafes if THIS rotation doesn't work are either Chase Petty, who was okay in a 2026 start, and Julian Aguiar, who...apparently is healthy again. We'll see I guess. 

Luckily Burns, Abbott and Singer have been enough of a backbone so far, and the bullpen's pretty excellent all-around, save for Tony Santillan's post-2025 hangover. But then behind that, most of the lineup isn't doing anything. Sal Stewart was great in April but quiet now. Friedl's not hitting, and neither is Will Benson, meaning a surprise J.J. Bleday comeback has been lifting the outfield. Stephenson's once again struggling, and without Trevvy he's all they've got. At the very least the initial Reds backbone is re-emerging, as Spencer Steer's hitting .263 with 7 homers and 17 RBIs, and Matt McLain's suddenly taking off with 5 homers and 19 RBIs.

And then there's Elly de la Cruz, still one of the most exciting players in the game. He's flirting with .300, got 10 homers and 30 RBIs, already stole 9 bases, has as many as 15 hits more than any other Red, and lives for every moment in the spotlight. Elly is like what would happen if Jazz Chisholm could back up his swagger with results. I knew the team would ultimately be built around this guy, and he's very much worth it, with an .884 OPS already. He looks like he's on track for another strong season, and hopefully this can lift the Reds.

As flawed as the Reds are right now, the injury overhead gives them the potential to bounce back eventually. The division's designed for these sorts of ebbs and flows, and the Reds have too much strength to really stay a lower-level competitor this year. I look forward to seeing what this team looks like in another few weeks, and how that compares to the rest of the division. 

Coming Tomorrow- A guy who's pitched everywhere since leaving Cleveland, and now finally seems to have regained his mojo. 

Dignity Returns to the South Side

 

Part of me doesn't understand, and part of me...sort of does? The White Sox have been cannon fodder for the past few years. So many pieces that don't work, so many under thought ideas, so many guys that just needed a place to play. And now, the White Sox are a game over .500, in second place in the AL Central, and have the fifth best record in the AL. AND they have a ton of pieces that fit perfectly, suddenly. I knew it was possible, but this soon??

Like, the lineup's just really come around, and within an instant. Sam Antonacci's hitting .274 and is playing left field pretty much everyday. Tristan Peters has settled in as a strong centerfield option. Drew Romo is filling in nicely as backup catcher and suddenly knows how to hit home runs. Miguel Vargas, who I feared was a placeholder guy, has 10 homers and 24 RBIs. Randal Grichuk is hitting like hell, which I think he could have done at any time in New York. And Munetaka Murakami...like...oh my god. Dude can't stop. He's got 17 home runs right now, which is exactly the kind of stuff everyone figured he'd be bringing to the States, but the White Sox were the only team that wanted him. Last night he, and the rest of the Sox, truly put on a show against their crosstown rivals, and made even the Cubs, an actual good team, look pedestrian. Colson Montgomery's heating up too, that's always a good thing.

EVEN ANDREW BENINTENDI HIT A HOMER. Do you have any idea how hard it is for this man to look good in these colors? The man fell off as soon as he hit town. Last two years it's like they were holding him hostage! 

The main reason this team has found success is a working rotation model. Y'see, the thing that happens when you form a rotation of a bunch of young, inexperienced guys is that they find experience and they get good. Davis Martin, despite the fact that he's 29 and has far too few MLB seasons under his belt to be 29, is giving an ace performance, going 6-1 with 59 Ks and a 1.61 ERA. Not a lot of AL pitchers have numbers that terrific right now, and he's making it look simple. Sea Burke, Erick Fedde and Noah Schultz are having strong performances behind him as well, and Anthony Kay's slowly getting the hang of things again. I do think Shane Smith's struggles have been the result of a full 2025 season coming back to haunt him, but he'll find his way back into the mix eventually. And look at Seranthony Dominguez remembering how to close. How he didn't do that in Philly is beyond me.

Obviously the other shoe has bound to drop eventually, and the Tigers will probably come back around the second they have a healthy rotation, but I'm just enjoying this moment where the White Sox actually look commanding and promising again. I feared it'd take decades. But for the moment, here we are.

Coming Tonight: The face of an organization that's once again having the same problems while he steals all of the bases.

If It Ain't One Thing...

 

The Marlins are having a hell of a time right now getting everything straight. So many pieces have been moved around only for something else to completely nullify the thought behind the move. There's so much to explain that it's hard to do so without coming off deranged.

So here's what I can gather immediately. 

The Marlins began the season with an outfield consisting of Owen Caissie, Jakob Marsee and Heriberto Hernandez. None of them are hitting. Caissie had a great first week, not much since then. They had Griffin Conine, who was hitting, but as it tends to happen, Griffin Conine got injured immediately. Heriberto's been moved to DH, Stowers is back...he's only hitting .200. The depth OF, Esteury Ruiz, despite having 7 steals, isn't hitting. 

Christopher Morel, who was supposed to be the starting 1st baseman this year, isn't hitting. He got the job because the Marlins didn't keep Eric Wagaman, who sort of was hitting. He was gonna take the majority of the reps and be backed up by Connor Norby, who lost the 3rd base job to Graham Pauley. Pauley isn't hitting, got demoted, and Morel, as established, isn't hitting. So Norby got the 1st base spot. He's...hitting well enough I guess. .726 OPS, 13 RBIs, he's fine. Javier Sanoja was promoted from utility guy to semi-regular 3rd baseman, he's hitting .250 without much pop at all. If it weren't for Edwards and Lopez, both hitting .300, they'd really be screwed.

The biggest twist has been Liam Hicks behind the plate. Last year he was brought in to replace an injured Nick Fortes as catcher, then Hicks got the majority of the reps when Fortes stopped hitting. Fortes gets traded, Hicks and Agustin Ramirez hold the catcher position, great success. This year...Agustin Ramirez has stopped hitting. In 2025, this was the only thing Agustin Ramirez could do properly. Now he's a .230 hitter with barely any power. Back to the minors with him. I'd suggest keeping Deyvvison de los Santos up long-term but apparently nobody wants to actually keep him in the majors. Hicks this season, though, has been wonderful, hitting .287 with 9 homers and a league leading 38 RBIs. I did not think, this time last year, that Liam Hicks could be an RBI leader, or even a borderline All-Star pick. But here we are. Unfortunately, to remind you, Hicks, Edwards and Lopez are the only people on this team who are actually hitting. 

I also think it's very funny that the Marlins cut Chris Paddack to make room for Robby Snelling, only for Robby Snelling to immediately get hurt in his first start. But that's more tangential than anything here.

Today, somehow, the Marlins upset the Rays in extras by scoring EIGHT RUNS in the 10th. They couldn't do that in regulation but the Rays' bullpen is so bad that they can do it in extras. The run scoring was thanks to people like Hicks, Lopez, Norby, Sanoja and Esteury Ruiz. It's as close as we're gonna get to a full team effort without Stowers as a locked-in central force. This team can still win games, and in the NL East that's a relief, but compared to the competition there's just not a ton that's working right now. There's the occasional bolt of lighting but through regulation the offense was limited to a Sanoja RBI and a Heriberto Hernandez homer. 

There's gotta be more than this. Cause as it it's just a lot of frantic chaos. Typically that leads to something. 

Coming Tomorrow- He's shifted into ace mode, his team's upsetting giants, and the guy playing me in fantasy this week started him. God help us all. 

Japanese Corner Infielders Hitting Homers

 

I have no idea what data the Blue Jays' GM saw that drew him towards Kazuma Okamoto and away from Munetaka Murakami, but regardless they seem to have found a good piece. It's wild to me. What the hell sets one apart from the other. They both hit home runs, one's just a bit more forthcoming about it than the other. It's like picking the Japanese Matt Chapman over the Japanese Adam Dunn, like...either way you're getting runs scored. 

Kazuma Okamoto has given the Blue Jays a solid everyday third base option who's strong at the corner and can hit for power. He's already hit 10 homers and 27 RBIs, even if he's only hitting .239. Because this team is resuming their ragtag hitting mentality, someone like Okamoto can fit right in with this team, who also has room for defense-friendly contact guys like Jimenez and Straw, hitting machines like Vladdie and Ernie Clement, and powerful secret weapons like Daulton Varsho. I do like that the Blue Jays can still find ways to evolve, even after perfecting a working model last year. I honestly don't feel Bo Bichette's absence. Ernie Clement can play second, Gimenez can play short, it all works out. I think the lack of George Springer's better numbers is a bit more concerning, but he is, to be fair, 36. 

I think the lack of the full-team unity thing that was present last fall has made things a little tougher for the Jays so far, they're in fourth and under .500 at the moment. Guerrero, Clement and Varsho are having good-but-not-great seasons. Not having Kirk, Barger or Lukes pares back the depth a tad. Crucially, the rotation needed to prove it was more than just its postseason three, and that's...not been verified. Berrios is out, Scherzer's out, Bieber's out. That alone is pretty striking. Cease, Gausman and Yesavage do make up a pretty sturdy top of the rotation, and Cease in particular has been lights-out so far, but beyond that? Patrick Corbin has been picking up more slack than he honestly should be. He's been fine, a 3.93 ERA in 7 starts, but we really shouldn't be here. The Cody Ponce experiment didn't seem to work, nor did the Lauer experiment. I'm not even sure who their fifth option is right now. If I had half a mind I'd give Ricky Tiedemann a shot but I imagine they're making sure he won't burst into flames the second he throws a pitch [much like Cody Ponce did]. 

It's clearly not the ferocious, unstoppable force that the 2025 Jays were, but I still won't count them out. There's enough people on this team that can surprise you, Okamoto being chief among them, and despite a messier start there's always room for yet another big June where they can jump right ahead. We'll just have to see how this year's iteration compares to previous ones.

Coming Tonight: He's not a very good catcher, but he was so good at hitting that he got the primary catcher traded last year, and the other option demoted this year. So he's gotta be doing something right.

Driving on Fumes

 

There've been some teams that have gone on insane runs that make absolutely no sense to me in a way where I need them to stop at once. The Padres are not in that category. I honestly wanna see how far they can take this. Their core's been vivisected and they're still chasing down the Dodgers. Bravo I guess.

Like, this is where I remind myself that baseball doesn't always work logically, because the Padres have their most anonymous rotation in some time, their top two hitters are playing horribly, the young outfielder that was supposed to carry onto the next decade isn't doing great, and they're honestly closer to a rebuild than competition honestly. And yet...they're 7 games over .500, a half-game behind the Dodgers and playing...yes, GOOD baseball. I just don't understand it. On paper it's not a good team, especially without Machado and Tatis's better numbers. You look at Fernando Tatis now and something is just plain broken. He hasn't hit any home runs, or really anything at all, and he's trying to get by on speed and that's not enough right now. We all saw this guy hit all those home runs, even off the HGHs. And then he gets hurt and...that's really it? 

I dunno, the Seidlers selling this team to a modern ownership group makes me think all hope isn't lost after this year, but if Tatis is gonna be doing that, Machado's gonna be hitting .190 and Jackson Merrill's gonna be plainly mediocre, you can't expect to stuff this team with contracts and see it rise up. The Mets are proving why this doesn't work, and they're proving it for like the third time. Build a team, don't plant it in the ground and watch as it grows backwards. Yeesh.

I think the reason the Padres are still surging right now is the understated strength of the rotation. Yes, even without Joe Musgrove or Nick Pivetta. You have Michael King once again proving the Yankees did a disservice making him a swingman, with a 2.63 ERA and 50 Ks in 9 starts. Randy Vasquez once again has a terrific record simply because he stays in long enough to recoup the win, he's already 4-1 despite a 3.05 ERA and some messier starts. The bullpen is along the same lines as last year's, though noticeably thinner and without a truly healthy Adrian Morejon. Mason Miller's dominance more than makes up for it though. Nice to see he's muzzled Jason Adam, now caught in a thankless setup role, though extremely well at that. Jalen Beeks ain't closing either, so he can't exactly cry favoritism. I am worried about the viability of the carousel of fading starters they have behind the two that work. Griffin Canning's clearly still in disrepair from last year, Walker Buehler's lost his bounce, Marquez didn't work and Waldron's struggling again, then you remember that J.P. Sears and Lucas Giolito are also waiting for their shot. Hopefully they have a better go of things. 

The Padres, even with everything that's misfired, are still a satisfying underdog coming right up against the Dodgers. If a Padres fan that WAS good enough couldn't unseat them last year, maybe a Padres team that isn't will get to do so in 2026. Don't ask me to make it make sense, though.

Coming Tomorrow- It only took a couple weeks for Jays fans to go from 'why did we sign this guy again?' to 'okay, never mind, that's friggin great'.