MLB Player News

Johnson fanned an impressive nine batters, and issued only two walks. Coming into this evening, his lone MLB appearance was a two-inning relief outing on July 15. A nice night, for sure, but the journeyman’s minor-league numbers offer up little reason to be excited about his long-term MLB prospects. Johnson will get the Red Sox at home on Tuesday.

Freeman doubled home Kyle Tucker to get the Dodgers on the board in the sixth inning. He was hitless over his first two games, and there should be a few more three-hit efforts from the future Hall of Famer before 2026 comes to a close.

Well, that’s one way to celebrate your 31st birthday. With the Dodgers trailing 2-1, Smith smoked a two-run homer that had an expected batting average of .900 to give Los Angeles a 3-2 lead and ultimately the victory. It’s the second homer of the season for Smith, and he should again be one of the best fantasy backstops in baseball. It wouldn’t be a massive upset if he ended up in the top spot.

Diaz needed just 10 pitches to get through the lineup, and he didn’t allow a hit, walk a batter or strike anyone out. Pretty boring, but pretty effective, too. Diaz now has saves in back-to-back outings, so he may not be available for Sunday’s finale against Arizona.

Glasnow was able to work six innings in his first start of the season; in encouraging sign for a pitcher that has at times struggled to get deep in games early in the year. He generate seven swings-and-misses while procuring six strikeouts, while issuing just one walk. Glasnow’s health is going to be something fantasy managers monitor for the rest of his career, but when he’s on the bump, there aren’t many better. He shouldn’t have any issue handling the Washington lineup next weekend.

Considering how poorly Rodriguez pitched in 2025, it was fair to be skeptical how well he’d handle this Los Angeles lineup, but he pitched well; much like he did in the championship game against Team USA in the World Baseball Classic. He generated only five swings-and-misses, but he was able to locate his arsenal and kept the hard contact to a low roar. It’s early, but this would not be the first time that Rodriguez followed a terrible season with a quality one. He’ll get a chance to show how real this is Friday against Atlanta.

Tatis was able to come up with his first RBI of the season on a run-scoring poke off Jack Flaherty in the third. He followed it with his first steal of the campaign. The 27-year-old also drew a walk to improve his slash over the first three games to .182/.250/.182.

Yelich is 34, mostly serves a DH now and has a history of back troubles, but he still likes stealing bases, having finished with 28, 21 (in 73 games) and 16 the last three years. The Brewers were 7-for-7 stealing as a team tonight. Yelich was actually the lone player with one, while Garrett Mitchell, Joey Ortiz and David Hamilton all swiped two bags apiece against Reese McGuire.

Patrick was pulled with a 4-1 lead after a one-out double in the fifth, leading to an easy win for Aaron Ashby. But he’s used to this kind of thing after going 3-8 in spite of a 3.53 ERA in 23 starts and four relief appearances for the Brewers last season. He’d have a much better chance of being a viable mixed-league starter if MLB would declare that four innings was sufficient for a starter to be credited with a win. Patrick will make his next start Friday against the Royals.

If he can stay healthy and avoid having the Brewers treat him as an opener, Ashby might be the favorite to lead the majors in relief victories this season. The left-hander had a 2.16 ERA over 66 2/3 innings in his 43 appearances last season, and the Brewers aren’t shy about employing quick hooks with their starting pitchers.