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The weather is warming up, and so are baseball’s biggest stars. The past week of baseball featured everything from electric walk-off wins to popcorn-worthy pitching duels to a budding division juggernaut. The first month of the Major League Baseball season has been quite a rollercoaster ride, and it still seems like the best is yet to come.
This year, we started a new series where we spotlight the 10 best storylines that happened in MLB each week. Here’s a look at last week’s standout stats and thrilling performances.
10. Vintage Arenado’s big weekend
For all the critics who swear Nolan Arenado’s best days are behind him, he sure looked like the Arenado of old this weekend. His heads-up play at third base on Friday could only be pulled off by a 10-time Gold Glove winner. With the tying run on third base, Arenado charged a ground ball on the grass, and even though all of his momentum was pushing him toward first base, he turned just in time to fire a perfect throw home to nab Jackson Chourio at the dish. Give Arenado extra credit for his elite baseball IQ and incredible athleticism in his 13th year in the big leagues. He followed up that web-gem with a walk-off home run the next day. After his down year last season, it’s been nice to see Arenado looking more like himself this year.
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9. Edman continues tormenting Cubs
A flip seems to switch when Tommy Edman faces the Cubs. Maybe he just can’t stand baby bears. Maybe he’s disgusted by deep-dish pizza. Whatever the reason, Edman has had it out for the Cubs dating back to his days as a St. Louis Cardinal. Even though he’s wearing a different uniform now, he continued to do damage on the Dodgers‘ visit to Wrigley Field this past week, swatting a three-run home run off Shota Imanaga on Tuesday to give Los Angeles a 3-0 lead. Edman now has an .819 OPS and 15 home runs in 73 career games against the Cubs. That’s eight more home runs than he has against any other team in his seven-year career. The Cubs should probably think about intentionally walking Edman the next time they meet.
8. Vengeful ALCS rematch
The last time the Guardians hosted the Yankees, they were eliminated from the playoffs by way of a majestic Juan Soto home run that sent New York to the World Series. This past week, though, Cleveland figured out the perfect way to forget about its bitter ALCS memories. The Guardians took two out of three from the Soto-less Yankees, winning the series and exacting revenge as a bonus. The Guardians reminded everyone through their complete-team wins against a World Series contender that they’re still a threat in the American League. After all, all five of Cleveland’s games against New York in the ALCS were close. Jose Ramirez aside, the Guardians may not have the star power that the Yankees do, but they now begin the week with the fourth-best record in the AL.
7. Buehler’s sensible staycation
Boston’s annual Patriots’ Day represents the earliest report time of the year for major-leaguers. Red Sox right-hander Walker Buehler, making his fifth start of the season on Monday, didn’t want to take the risk of being late due to all the heavy traffic, so he booked a room at a hotel near Fenway Park to have a good, anxiety-free night of sleep before his outing. It turned out to be a wise decision, not only because he avoided the Boston Marathon road closures, but also because he pitched seven innings of one-run ball against the White Sox, nailing down his third win of the young season. Buehler’s game plan limited traffic on the roads and the basepaths.
6. Braves building momentum
Don’t look now, but the Braves are slowly climbing out of the NL East basement. Atlanta has won seven of its last nine games since its 0-7 start to the season. The Braves are still searching for that .500 record, but the state of the club has looked much more Atlanta-like over this past week. The offense is starting to click, slugging 11 home runs over the course of that seven-day span — including a pair of long balls from Matt Olson, who now has four on the season. But, most encouragingly, reigning NL Cy Young winner Chris Sale earned his first win of the season on Saturday against the D-backs. The veteran allowed a season-low one run in five innings. It continues to be fascinating to see how (if?) the Braves overcome their early-season adversity.
5. Friday night lights
If you’re a baseball sicko like me, there’s no better way to end the week than by settling in to watch a pair of excellent pitching matchups. On tap for Friday night were two of the game’s newest (and best) pitchers going head-to-head, as well as a pair of veterans duking it out. The headliner was Paul Skenes vs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, where the latter was quite easily outdueled by the former. Skenes and his elite pitch mix looked absolutely unbeatable, and the Dodgers couldn’t figure him out as the Pirates cruised to a 3-0 win at Chavez Ravine. Roughly 380 miles north of Los Angeles, Nathan Eovaldi took on Justin Verlander in the Bay Area. Both vets pitched six innings, but Eovaldi took home the W in his 300th career game, outpitching a future Hall of Famer in the process. What a way to kick off the weekend, huh?
4. 365 days of Judge supremacy
Yankees slugger Aaron Judge celebrated his 33rd birthday on Saturday, so it’s as good a time as any to reflect on his last year at the plate. Since April 26, 2024, Judge has led the major leagues in home runs (62), batting average (.361), RBI (157), OPS (1.250), and fWAR (13.6) in 159 regular-season games. Really, nobody has even come close. What Judge has done at the plate in the last calendar year is nothing short of extraordinary. Judge’s 245 wRC+ over that year span would be one of the greatest offensive seasons ever recorded in MLB history, surpassing Barry Bonds’ 244 wRC+ season in 2002. On Sunday in the Bronx, Judge snapped a nine-game homerless streak with his eighth dinger of the year. Oh, and he’s casually batting .408 on the season now. Surreal.
3. Insanity at Wrigley
The Cubs and Dodgers got the week started on Tuesday by trading blows in one of the wackiest games you’ll see this year. Edman’s aforementioned three-run homer got the offense rolling, but that was just the beginning. The Cubs responded with a five-run rally in the bottom of the first inning, and the scoring went back-and-forth until the Dodgers built a 10-7 lead in the eighth. Kyle Tucker blasted a two-run homer to right to cut Chicago’s deficit in the eighth, but Los Angeles still held a 96% win probability with two outs in the ninth. Miguel Amaya warped those odds when he cranked a solo shot off Dodgers closer Tanner Scott, tying the game at 10-10 and completing the Cubs’ ridiculous comeback. Ian Happ sealed the Cubs win with a walk-off single in the 10th inning. The North Siders’ never-say-die attitude is must-watch TV right now.
2. Broomsticks in Queens
The Mets on Wednesday completed a three-game sweep of the Phillies in front of a raucous crowd that showed up in droves — for a day game, no less! The Amazins not only expanded their division lead over the rival Phils, but they also demoralized them. Before this week at Citi Field, the last time these two teams met was in the 2024 National League Division Series, when Francisco Lindor’s sixth-inning grand slam ended the Phillies season and sent the Mets to the Championship Series against the Dodgers. Six months later, the Mets were still the better team. A lot could change between now and October. But the Mets sure didn’t do the Phillies’ psyche any favors when not even ace Zack Wheeler could stop New York from breaking out the broomsticks. The Mets look like a budding juggernaut in the NL East.
1. Suarez’s four-homer game
The sold-out crowd at Chase Field was on its feet chanting Eugenio Suarez’s name when he stepped up to the plate for his fourth at-bat of the night. Suarez had slugged a home run in each of his previous three plate appearances, and the crowd was itching for one more homer for two reasons. First off, a four-homer game would be spectacular to witness. And second of all, Suarez represented the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the ninth against the Braves. Suarez came through, becoming just the 19th player in MLB history to hit four home runs in a single game. It’s a feat that’s even rarer than throwing a perfect game, which has happened 24 times in MLB history. Despite Suarez’s heroics, which forced extra innings, the D-backs lost in the 10th inning. Still, Suarez donated his game-used bat to the Hall of Fame for his Cooperstown-worthy performance.
Diamondbacks’ Eugenio Suárez crushes four home runs vs. Braves
Deesha Thosar is a MLB reporter and columnist for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets for four years as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.
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