#Acuña Jr

The trend of dominant pitching and well-rounded teams in MLB continued this year as the NL East went on a great run with the Phillies, Mets, and Braves all making a long streak at the end of the season. With Sandy Alcantara pitching at the rate that he was, and Max Fried and Kyle Wright both most likely making their individual Cy Young pushes this…

Spencer Torkelson and newly signed free-agent Ronald Acuña Jr. will team up to help the Detroit Tigers break their 45-year World Series drought... in 2029. That's the fanciful prediction of MLB.com, which set out to project the next 10 World Series winners. Author Will Leitch said the Tigers are "too motivated of a franchise, with too desperate of…

Off the top of your head, see if you can name the teams that won the World Series every year of the last 10 seasons, in order. You ready? No peeking. The answers are, of course: 2013: Red Sox over Cardinals 2014: Giants over Royals 2015: Royals over Mets 2016: Cubs over Indians 2017: Astros over Dodgers 2018: Red Sox over Dodgers 2019: Nationals…

After an All-Star break festooned with nostalgia, home runs, and bullpen dominance, the MLB schedule restarts Thursday, with some 70 games remaining for each team. So before the second half begins, let's dive into the top 10 story lines to monitor between now and October-because there's a whole lot of baseball left, and just as much drama on the…

The rebuild in Baltimore has entered its fourth year under new management, although 2020 felt like a waste with the minor league season canceled due to COVID-19. The Orioles aren't any closer to contending as they wait to make the first overall selection in the amateur draft. They're undermanned in baseball's toughest division, especially in the…

Wednesday was an offday for American League Division Series action, so we only had the National League to watch. Both NLDS games at least made for compelling TV, and even better, both guaranteed at least one more playoff game in each series. The Dodgers and Phillies each had a chance to move up 2-0, but instead, the two NLDS sets are knotted up as…

This past offseason was long and arduous, and at times, it felt like the odds of getting Opening Day in April - if at all in 2022 - were approaching slim-to-none. The season got delayed by a week and rain has pushed the Yankees' scheduled opener back to Friday, but nonetheless, we are indeed going to get a 162-game season! Somehow, it's still MLB's…

That's how much money Julio Rodriguez made per home run at the 2022 Home Run Derby. The AL Rookie of the Year frontrunner showed those outside of Seattle what they're missing out on, raking 81 home runs, including 63 in the first two rounds, which netted him a runner-up finish to the Nationals' Juan Soto. More pressingly, that runner-up finish…

Major League Basebal's 2022 Home Run Derby is set for Monday night at Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium. Headlining the eight-slugger field is New York Mets star Pete Alonso, who is trying to become the first hitter ever to win three consecutive MLB Home Run Derbies (only Ken Griffey Jr. has three total Derby wins). Alonso prevailed in 2019 and last year…

Happy 2021 to all. A new year calls for a new batch of entertainingly dubious and dubiously entertaining baseball predictions. Ordinarily, the difficulty of such predictions comes down to the results. But in these unusual circumstances we find ourselves in, you'd have just as much difficulty predicting whether fans will be able to attend, the…

Though it wasn't a full month of baseball, we just witnessed the end of the first calendar month of the 2022 MLB season. The monthly benchmarks are generally a time to take stock of things in baseball circles and, I'll tell ya, the National League East is a pretty intriguing division. The Mets were expected to be good and they are playing possibly…

Over the past few seasons, MLB teams from across the league have been starting to lock up their young stars to long-term contracts earlier and earlier into their service time. In doing so, teams are avoiding going to arbitration with their top players and giving them guaranteed money through their prime years. Some players are receiving these deals…

Arguably the hottest team in baseball is looking to keep their momentum going towards making a run at the Mets in the NL East: the Atlanta Braves. The Braves continue their weekend series against the Pittsburgh Pirates with a Saturday afternoon that features Charlie Morton facing off against Zach Thompson. Ronald Acuña Jr. is hitting.341 over the…

Miami Marlins vs Atlanta Braves 5/28/2022 Picks Predictions Previews The Miami Marlins (18-25) will be hitting against the Atlanta Braves (22-24) in Game 2 of 3 of the NL East Division at Truist Park in Atlanta on Saturday, May 28, 2022, at 4:10 PM ET. Miami will try to get back in facing Atlanta on Saturday afternoon after they lost the opener at…

Welcome to playoff baseball, where the "best" team wins the championship far less often than in other sports. To wit: According to Baseball Prospectus odds, no team in the 2021 playoff field has better than a 20 percent chance to win the World Series. With eight deserving teams ready to do battle, let's dive into the reasons each particular team…

Aaron Judge is staying put, Trea Turner is headed back to the National League East, Jacob deGrom and Justin Verlander are switching state income taxes and Willson Contreras is changing sides in a heated National League Central rivalry... that's just a taste of the flurry of moves. MLB's first in-person Winter Meetings in three years was a veritable…

For the ninth time, and first since 2019, Major League Baseball, all 30 MLB Clubs, Minor League Clubs and other partners have organized a charity auction during Baseball's Annual Winter Meetings to benefit a special cause close to the game. The auction this year, which was spearheaded by the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros, will support the…

The Braves quest at repeating as world champions received a significant boost on Thursday with the return of Ronald Acuña Jr. Six months ago, the Atlanta Braves stood on the field in Houston an out away from the franchise's first World Series title in 27 years. For players like Freddie Freeman, Ozzie Albies, and Dansby Swanson, it was the…

Being a good manager is more than just knowing when to go to your bullpen in a tight spot or when to put on that hit-and-run play in the seventh inning. That is certainly part of the job, but it's also about building and maintaining relationships. It's about pulling the right strings when injuries inevitably strike. It's having the skills to take…

Heading into the 2022 season, bettors in Las Vegas and beyond are looking at Charlie Blackmon as the best candidate from the Colorado Rockies to win the National League Most Valuable Player honor. However, while he is on the leaderboard, Blackmon is still quite the long shot according to MLB preseason betting odds. According to the National League…

The 2022 Major League Baseball season is about to get underway with Spring Training looming now that the 99-day lockout is over. Spring Training camps officially opened March 13, and the first slate of games will commence on March 17. Opening Day for the regular season is April 7. With new baseball games around the corner, these are the odds for…

The Atlanta Braves will visit the Miami Marlins in the first game of their series in the National League West versus National League East matchup from loanDepot Park on Sunday Afternoon. The weather is expected to be very humid with a 0% chance of rain and 15.7 miles per hour winds. The Atlanta Braves are coming off of a 1 run win against the Miami…

It's a doom and gloom forecast, but let's assume the Atlanta Braves will watch all eight of their free-agents-to-be move on. They'll waive goodbye to Dansby Swanson, Kenley Jansen and Adam Duvall. Robbie Grossman will sign elsewhere, Luke Jackson too, along with Jesse Chavez - actually, we'll see you back in a Braves uniform after next season's…

Playoff baseball is living up to the hype so far. Players such as Julio Rodriguez, Yordan Álvarez, Ronald Acuña Jr., Trea Turner and Bryce Harper are among the stars leaving an impression. We've watched former Cy Young Award winners such as Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander and Robbie Ray struggle on the mound (just two pitches for Ray on Tuesday…

SI's MLB staff takes a stab at picking the team that will win it all. The regular season is over and the expanded postseason begins Friday afternoon, so that means it's once again time for us to make some World Series picks. Sure, some of us (read: Martell) whiffed horribly on our preseason World Series predictions, but that's part of the fun!…

One of the recurring themes on the Cuppa Cubbie Blue podcast this season has been the emergence of super-teams in MLB. There are a handful of teams that spend money, extend talented players and seem to have no end of talent in their farm systems. The rest of the league just has to scrap and hope they catch those super teams on a bad day to have a…

Which two teams from each league will be advancing to the Championship Series? Our MLB writers make their picks. After an absolutely thrilling wild-card weekend, four teams are moving on to the Division Series, where they will face one of the four teams that received first-round byes. Three of the four matchups are between teams from the same…

We are back with an NLDS edition of the Phillies mailbag. All season long we take your Phillies questions and answer them on The Sports Bash with Mike Gill. Tune in Tuesday afternoons to hear your questions live on the air. So what is the future of Zach Eflin? Keep closing in post season? Closing in 2023? Phillies pick up 15 Million Dollar option…

After an absolutely thrilling wild-card weekend, four teams are moving on to the Division Series, where they will face one of the four teams that received first-round byes. Three of the four matchups are between teams from the same division (Dodgers-Padres, Braves-Phillies and Astros-Mariners), while the other one (Yankees-Guardians) features two…

With the Wild Card Series over, the playoffs now kick into an even higher gear: The Division Series features eight teams that have what it takes to win it all. There are some surprises, some underdogs, some fascinating subplots … and surely much wildness to come. All four Division Series kick off Tuesday. Here's a look at the primary storyline to…

We always knew the Nationals weren't going to be good this season. We just had no idea how bad it would get, not only in terms of their 55-107 record, but the fact they traded Juan Soto in early August in an attempt to completely revamp their farm system. Sometimes, it's tougher to predict how a bad season will play out than a good one. That…

The reigning champs enter this year's postseason with an improved and deeper squad than the one that won it all in 2021. Needing all of their 101 wins to run down the Mets in the race for the NL East crown and a first-round bye, the Braves enter October as one of the favorites to win it all. Unlike in the championship 2021, Ronald Acuña Jr. is…

The regular season is over and the expanded postseason begins Friday afternoon, so that means it's once again time for us to make some World Series picks. Sure, some of us (read: Martell) whiffed horribly on our preseason World Series predictions, but that's part of the fun! Everyone else's first World Series winner is still alive. The Yankees led…

Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images. Pictured: Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Spencer Strider (65). Shayne Trail breaks down his favorite NRFI/YRFI bet of the day below, but you can follow all of his bets in the Action Network app. On Monday, we head to the Bay Area to find value in a NRFI between two National League teams the San…

The baseball playoffs are about to begin. Time to be enthralled! Time to be entertained! Time to be... asking some reasonable questions. Yep, there are bound to be some fans -- especially those who don't live and die with their team every day -- who have some questions about certain aspects of the postseason and might be afraid to ask their friends…

It's a big number. Yet we're going to lay it with the red-hot ATLANTA BRAVES (-160) at PointsBet Sportsbook. Saturday in MLB features the second of a three-game 2021 World Series rematch with the Braves (74-47) hosting the division-leading Houston Astros (77-44) at Truist Park. Atlanta beat Houston 6-2 in the series opener Friday. Braves 3B Austin…

SEATTLE -- Jerry Dipoto was in the thick of meetings ahead of the MLB Draft in early July, huddling with right-hand man Justin Hollander, when their focus shifted momentarily and they asked an even bigger-picture question: What would an extension for Julio Rodríguez look like? Rather than dilly-dally or daydream, the Mariners president of baseball…

Atlanta Braves vs Philadelphia Phillies Date: Saturday September 24th, 04:05 ET Location: Citizens Bank Park TV: Bally Sports South Money Line: Braves -135/ Phillies+115 Total Line: 8 Atlanta: Kyle Wright (19-5, 3.18) Philadelphia: Bailey Falter (5-3, 3.68) Vaughn Grissom 2B Michael Harris II CF Travis d'Arnaud C Ronald Acuña Jr. RF William…

Don't worry about trying to slug through the final couple of weeks of the MLB regular season. Playoffs are around the corner, and we should have a good feel for who the top contenders will be in October. The NL East race is still compelling, with the New York Mets clinging to a narrow lead over Atlanta. The wild-card races are not quite as…

Wednesday night's game set up exactly like we planned. Zack Wheeler was brilliant, and the Philadelphia Phillies got a few chances to get a run and take a lead on Kevin Gausman and the Toronto Blue Jays, even putting a runner at third with less than two outs in the fifth. Our first-half Phillies result (+120) was in sight. Alas, it faded away. But…

Who will win MLB MVP in 2022? Los Angeles Angels two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani won AL MVP and Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Bryce Harper took home his second NL MVP honor in 2021. Major League Baseball is the only American professional sport that wards two MVP awards, one to each conference. It allows two players to take home a prestigious honor,…

Washington Nationals vs Atlanta Braves Date: Monday September 19th, 07:20 ET Location: Truist Park TV: Bally Sports South Money Line: Nationals+270 / Braves -345 Total Line: 8.5 Washington: Cory Abbott (0-2, 4.37) Atlanta: Kyle Wright (18-5, 3.18) Alex Call LF Ildemaro Vargas 3B Luis Garcia 2B Joey Meneses 1B C.J. Abrams SS Riley Adams C Luke Voit…

Who: Philadelphia Phillies at Atlanta Braves When: Friday, Sept. 16 Time: 7:20 p.m. EDT Where: Truist Park (Atlanta, Georgia) Betting Odds Summary Moneyline: Phillies+160, Braves -190 Runline: Phillies -1.5 (+112), Braves+1.5 (-134) Total: Over/Under 7.5 Runs (-114/-106) The Braves and Phillies are on a possible collision course to meet in the…

The Atlanta Braves are the defending World Series Champions, gearing up for another post-season run. The Colorado Rockies are last in the National League West division. Thursday's game is the final game of a three-game series for the 2022 regular season between the Braves and the Rockies. In this Rockies vs. Braves Betting Prediction, we'll break…

Because "know thyself" is an important maxim in life, I have no trouble admitting that predictions are, um, not exactly my strong suit. So with this final monthly predictions piece of the season for September/early October, I have little choice but to change course and to follow the wisdom of the great 20th century philosopher George Costanza by…