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'. 

Jung, Older

 

This is now the third season that's elapsed since the Texas Rangers won the World Series. Mind you, they won it with a young team of a ton of rookies and budding young stalemates. Josh Jung, Evan Carter, Jonah Heim, Wyatt Langford, Cody Bradford, Josh Smith to a degree, and eventually Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter. This would be their core going forward.

It's been three years. They have been to the playoffs zero years since. They've lost multiple big pieces, and others have spent time on the IL. Jacob deGrom, Corey Seager, Nate Eovaldi, and ultimately Langford, Carter and Jung, have lost time to injuries. And so here we are, 2026, the Rangers attempting to resume progress and fight the fact that time has passed. With the exception of Carter and Langford, this isn't an especially young team anymore, and people can see this.

Josh Jung, thought of as one of the first big pieces of the next dynasty upon his call-up in late 2022, is now 28 years old. Since his all-star 2023, he's spent one season nursing an injury, and the next season playing very okay, fine-but-unspectacular baseball. And now here he is again, hitting .300 and excelling once again. He's got 5 homers and 20 RBIs already, and is tied with Evan Carter for WAR lead of the lineup. Especially in a year where Corey Seager's gone deathly cold, a healthy, powerful Josh Jung [and Evan Carter honestly] s a very good thing. Behind him follow another great power-friendly Jake Burger performance, Brandon Nimmo making the Mets regret another one of their choices, Ezequiel Duran hitting .300 as a fill-in for Josh Smith, and Alejandro Osuna quietly drawing eyes while filling in for Langford. 

It's not the ideal incarnation of this team, but it's getting the job done to a degree. They're in 2nd place, behind Sacramento, and are hoping to fend off the Mariners as they continue to ascend to their promised spot in the standings. The A's and Mariners have their strengths and their lifelines, but they're both without a key player right now. The Mariners just lost Cal Raleigh to an injury, and the A's are now without Jacob Wilson for a bit. The Rangers' biggest omission right now is Langford, and they have Eovaldi and deGrom healthy and working. deGrom's certainly looking like his old self, with a 2.62 ERA and 57 Ks. 

So honestly, even given the Rangers' faults, I can't exactly count them out of a year like this. They're good enough to not go quietly, and have a different kind of fuel behind them than the Bochy-tradition-backed 2020s teams. So we'll see how this goes. 

Coming Tonight: One of two ex-Yankee starters finding success in San Diego right now.

Sho Stopper

 

Bit of a topsy-turvy NL Central year so far. We had the Brewers on the bottom for a bit, the Pirates in last for a moment, and now the Reds are down there after a rough week. But leading ever since that fateful game in Philly I went to is the Chicago Cubs. I'm once again choosing to take credit for this.

Could the Cubs simply have the most effective lineup in baseball? With the exception of Dansby Swanson, who's a .194 hitter with 25 RBIs, everybody's hitting. Moises Ballesteros is an everyday DH at the MLB level now, that's pretty damn cool. Dude's built like a lunchroom trashcan and he makes contact like crazy. Alex Bregman's having a slower start to the season than usual but he's still a good option at third. Happ, Hoerner, PCA, Suzuki and Kelly are all off to fantastic starts. PCA in particular is doing his usual multifaceted thing, with 10 steals and a ton of robberies to distract from his fairly pedestrian hitting. 

I think the biggest sign of this team's success has been the eventual blossoming of those Japanese contracts. Seiya Suzuki took a few years to really adjust to a 162 game season, and he's looking very confident now, hitting .274 with 7 homers and 16 RBIs. Dude's just a ferocious hitter and it doesn't surprise me that Chicago's taken to him. Same with Shota Imanaga, who's just a reliable, consistent hurler who doesn't need to be too flashy, a lot like a Masahiro Tanaka type. Imanaga's 4-3 with a 2.32 ERA and 59 Ks, the best line in the rotation thanks to some mixed bag starts from Edward Cabrera and Jameson Taillon and injuries to Matt Boyd and Cade Horton. Already this team has needed to resort to Colin Rea and Javier Assad for rotation spots, and aside from Imanaga it's honestly not pretty. But again, having Imanaga there gives them a leg up.

And also, just to be clear...the Cubs are still a winning team even with this rough rotation. Cabrera and Taillon still have ERAs under 4. They can still get you through a game without too much bleeding. Compared to 2025, Taillon looks way more trustworthy, despite those 11 home runs thus far. I don't know who the 'break in case of emergency' starter is from here on out, or if there's a rookie on the horizon, but I think they're closer to a decent rotation as they are than if they try an overhaul. Fundamentally, Cabrera, Taillon and Rea are good pitchers, they've just had some rough patches. 

The Cubs have lost 4 straight, need to upset the Braves tonight and then look to recoup momentum with a hometown brawl at Comiskey. There's a reason they're still in first, and there's a reason barring those weak patches this team hasn't been knocked off for long.

Coming Tomorrow- He won a World Series in his first full year in the bigs. Been a rough go of things since then though.