Monday, May 04
Welcome to The Pregame Lineup, a weekday newsletter that gets you up to speed on everything you need to know for today’s games, while catching you up on fun and interesting stories you might have missed. Today’s edition is brought to you by David Adler.
Huge news out of Detroit this afternoon: Tarik Skubal will undergo arthroscopic surgery to remove loose bodies from his pitching elbow.
The back-to-back reigning American League Cy Young Award winner does not yet have a timetable for his return. But typically this type of injury can require two to three months for recovery.
Skubal was scratched from his scheduled start today against the Red Sox at Comerica Park, five days after an injury scare in his last outing against the Braves.
During the seventh inning of that game, Skubal shook out his left arm, grabbed his forearm and summoned catcher Dillon Dingler to the mound after throwing a 96 mph sinker to Matt Olson. But he stayed in the game and completed the inning.
Skubal had a flareup of symptoms last night, though, which prompted the Tigers ace to undergo tests on his left elbow that revealed the loose bodies.
Skubal is 3-2 with a 2.70 ERA and 45 strikeouts in 43 1/3 innings in seven starts this year. The 29-year-old is set to become a free agent after the season.
His injury could have a huge impact on the AL Central race. The Tigers entered play today tied for first place with the Guardians at 18-17.
Read the latest on Skubal’s injury here >>
WHO IS LEADING THE NL IN OPS?
Today, we had what we thought was a pretty simple question: Who are the best hitters in the National League right now?
So we took a quick gander at the OPS leaderboard. And … wait, what the heck is going on???
Highest OPS in the NL, 2026
Min. 100 plate appearances
- Mickey Moniak, Rockies: 1.098
- Ildemaro Vargas, D-backs: 1.063
This is the craziest leaderboard you’ll see today. We’re over a month into the season, and Mickey Moniak and Ildemaro Vargas are the best hitters in their league?
Where’s Shohei Ohtani? Where’s Kyle Schwarber? Where’s Juan Soto?
The answer is: “Not No. 1 or 2 in OPS.” Those spots are taken.
But that’s the beauty of baseball. Two journeymen can come out of nowhere to take the league by storm.
Moniak, at least, was the No. 1 overall Draft pick back in 2016. But that was a decade ago, and he’s just now hitting his stride with Colorado after being traded away by the Phillies, the team that drafted him, and released by the Angels.
And Vargas? He spent a decade in the Minors — including a brief stint in independent ball with the Bridgeport Bluefish — and he has an absurdly long MLB transaction log. Look at this career timeline:
• June 2008: Signed with Cardinals as international amateur free agent
• November 2014: Granted free agency
• January 2015: Signed Minor League deal with Cardinals
• March 2015: Released by Cardinals
• May 2015: Signed Minor League deal with D-backs
• August 2020: Traded from D-backs to Twins for cash
• September 2020: Claimed off waivers by Cubs
• May 2021: Claimed off waivers by Pirates
• June 2021: Traded from Pirates to D-backs for cash
• October 2021: Elected free agency after being outrighted by D-backs
• December 2021: Signed Minor League deal with Cubs
• May 2022: Elected free agency after being outrighted by Cubs
• May 2022: Signed Minor League deal with Nationals
• November 2024: Granted free agency
• January 2025: Signed Minor League deal with D-backs
• May 2025: Released by D-backs
• May 2025: Signed Minor League deal with D-backs
• November 2025: Granted free agency
• January 2026: Signed Minor League deal with D-backs
Thomas Harrigan has more on how Moniak and Vargas became two of the leading hitters in the league.
NO ONE SHOULD BE THIS GOOD AT EVERYTHING
On the other hand, we have the AL OPS leaderboard, which is, well, a lot more normal.
Maybe Ben Rice at No. 1 is a little surprising, but he was a breakout star last season, so it’s not too crazy. And then we have two of the usual suspects: Yordan Alvarez and Aaron Judge.
All three of those guys have an OPS over 1.000 right now. But we want to take a second to appreciate Alvarez in particular, especially with the Astros headed into a marquee showdown with the Dodgers starting tonight (8:10 p.m. ET, MLB.TV).
See, Alvarez isn’t just one of the most fearsome sluggers in baseball. He’s the total package. When it comes to hitting, there’s literally nothing he’s not good at.
This is what Alvarez’s Baseball Savant pagelooks like today:
The very obvious thing you will notice is: All of Alvarez’s hitting stats are deep in the red.
You don’t even need to know what all those stats mean. All you really need to know is: Red is good. A lot of red is great. ALL red is … only Alvarez.
We show 14 Statcast hitting stats front and center on our player pages. Alvarez is good at all 14 of them. He’s the only player who ranks so highly in every hitting metric this season.
That got us thinking: How rare is it for a hitter to be as good as Yordan at every single thing?
It turns out, very rare. Last season, there was only one hitter who ranked in the 60th percentile of MLB or better in all 14 of those hitting categories. The year before that, same thing.
In 2025, that one hitter was Rice. That’s the more surprising name. But seeing what Rice is doing for the Yankees right now … maybe it’s not such a surprise after all.
In 2024, the hitter was Soto (that was his one year in the Bronx). He’s the entirely unsurprising name.
This year we have Alvarez. This is a guy who has a chance to win the first hitting Triple Crown since Miguel Cabrera in 2012.
Here’s more on how Alvarez is uniquely good at everything as a hitter.
ICONIC YANKEES RADIO VOICE PASSES AWAY
Longtime Yankees radio broadcaster John Sterling, who was famous for his booming baritone, sing-song inflections and signature home run calls, has died at 87.
Sterling called 5,426 regular-season Yankees games and 225 more in the postseason from 1989 until his retirement in 2024. After initially stepping away from the microphone in April of that year, Sterling returned to call selected games late in the ’24 season, including each contest of the World Series.
Sterling called 5,060 consecutive games from September 1989 to July 2019 — including every at-bat of Derek Jeter’s career, every inning of Mariano Rivera’s and many more.
He was known in particular for his gyrating “Sterling Shake” victory call (“Yankees win … theeeeee Yankees win!”) and his personalized home run calls (“Bern, baby, Bern!” for Bernie Williams, for example).
Bryan Hoch remembers the life of the Yankees’ beloved radio voice.
GET MLB.TV SEASONAL FOR NEW LOW PRICE
You can now follow your favorite players and teams on MLB.TV for a new low price.
Starting today, fans can purchase an MLB.TV Seasonal package for just $139.99 to watch every out-of-market game live or on demand. Single-team packages also have a price drop, starting at $119.99 (varies by team).
Subscribe now through ESPN – the new home of MLB.TV – to take advantage of the new low price.
The MLB.TV Seasonal package includes a free one-month trial of ESPN Unlimited, as well as access to MLB Network 24/7 (US only), live audio for all MLB teams, live Minor League games and MLB Big Inning.
See more details here.
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RJ Hamster 