MLB Player News

Cole secured the coveted hardware for the first time in his career, receiving all 30 first-place votes, after finishing as the runner-up in Cy Young Award balloting back in 2019 and 2021 as a member of the Astros and Yankees, respectively. The 33-year-old fantasy ace, who capped off the 2023 campaign with a two-hit shutout in his final outing against the division-rival Blue Jays, led the junior circuit in both ERA and WHIP this past season, finishing with a stellar 2.63 ERA, 0.98 WHIP and 222/48 K/BB ratio across 209 innings (33 starts). He wound up edging out Twins right-hander Sonny Gray and Blue Jays right-hander Kevin Gausman to become the first Yankee to take home the honor since Roger Clemens back in 2001. He’ll be a borderline first-round selection in all fantasy drafts next spring.

Pages extended the Dodgers’ lead to 4-1 with a solo homer off Antonio Senzatela. That makes back-to-back games with a roundtripper for Pages, and he’s already up to 13 on the campaign. On a team that is overloaded with superstars and future Hall of Famers, Pages has been as good as anyone for the Dodgers over the first two months of 2026.

Freeman doubled the Dodgers’ lead to 2-0 with a solo homer off Tomoyuki Sugano in the first inning; one batter after Shohei Ohtani clobbered a solo shot to begin the game. He also singled to bump his slash to .271/.368/.462. That’s far from an unplayable slash, but a smidgen disappointing just because Freeman has been so much better than that line over his career.

It’s Hurt’s first MLB save, and the way he’s pitched, it may not be his last. The 27-year-old struck out Willi Castro to end the game, and he didn’t allow a hit or a walk while lowering his ERA to an exceptional 1.06 in the process. It’s far from a guarantee Hurt will get the ninth inning on a consistent basis, but he’s certainly shown the ability to be an effective bullpen option that is deserving of consideration.

Sugano gave up two runs in the first, both on solo homers by Shohei Ohtani by Freddie Freeman. From that point on he was solid, but the damage was done with Ohtani throwing six no-hit innings and allowing just a run. Sugano doesn’t miss enough bats to truly trust as a fantasy streamer, but the results — especially considering who he’s pitching for — have been better than expected. He’ll try and keep the ball in the park against the Angels next week.

Ohtani was hit in the hand during Tuesday’s game, and while he did issue four walks, he appeared to be just fine while striking out seven. Amazingly, six innings of one-run baseball caused his ERA to increase all the way up to 0.82. Meanwhile, the homer was his ninth of the season and was a leadoff shot against Tomoyuki Sugano. Ohtani should be hitting leadoff again Friday against the Phillies — the Dodgers have a day off Thursday — and he’ll be back on the mound against the Diamondbacks on Wednesday.

The expectation is that Hader will be ready to make his season debut at some point early next week. The 32-year-old lefty closer has made a handful of rehab appearances over the last few weeks and should make it back to stabilize Houston’s soon.

Murakami homered for the third consecutive contest to reach the 20-homer plateau in just 55 games. He also chipped in his first career stolen base in this one, just for good measure. The 26-year-old rookie slugger’s elite power production doesn’t come as a total surprise, but the fact that he’s succeeding despite nearly 33 percent strikeout rate feels a bit unprecedented. The over-the-fence power is undeniable and he’s on pace to eclipse the 40-homer threshold in his first taste of the majors, which is pretty remarkable.

It seems like a possibility that Hernández will require a trip to the injured list, depending on the severity. The 33-year-old veteran slugger suffered the injury while attempting to beat out attempting to beat out a second-inning grounder. He was replaced in left field by Hyeseong Kim. There should be some additional clarity on his status prior to Friday’s series opener against the Phillies. There’s no shortage of options for the Dodgers in the upper minors with Ryan Ward and Alek Thomas representing in-house options already on the 40-man roster while prospect James Tibbs III might be a consideration as a potential solution. Tommy Edman (ankle) is at least another week or two away from returning from the injured list.

De Los Santos continues to rack up saves that require him to put in more than one inning of work. The righty came in the game with two outs in the eighth inning and struck out three of the five batters he faced. With Josh Hader scheduled to begin making rehab starts soon and set to resume his role as closer, it’s safe to assume De Los Santos isn’t worth adding ahead of next week.

Alvarez hit his 19th and 20th homers of the season in this one, with his first coming in the third inning off Jacob deGrom to tie the game at 2-2. Alvarez would later hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning off of reliever Tyler Alexander to put the Astros up 3-2. The 28-year-old lefty has been on a tear this month despite slashing just .250/.366/.560. His eight homers being tied for the second-most of any player in May.