Monday, May 18

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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.

Just a few weeks ago, the Phillies were on a 10-game losing streak and had the worst record in baseball. Today, they’re back over .500 and back in playoff contention.

The Phils are on a roll. They’re 15-4 under Don Mattingly, flipping their record from 9-19 to 24-23 after this weekend’s sweep of the Pirates. Kyle Schwarber leads the Majors with 20 homers and is on a Barry Bonds-ian home run pace. Bryce Harper is having another elite season at the plate. 

But today we want to focus on the pitching. Specifically, the Phillies’ pair of aces: Cristopher Sánchez and Zack Wheeler. Because those two just might be the best 1-2 combo in the Majors right now. 

Since Wheeler made his season debut on April 25, he and Sánchez have been unstoppable. They’ve made nine starts between them, five by Wheeler and four by Sánchez. The Phillies have won all nine. 

Over that time, Sánchez and Wheeler are a combined 6-0 with a 1.30 ERA and 67 strikeouts in 62 1/3 innings. They’ve been two of the top five most valuable pitchers in baseball by Wins Above Replacement.

And this weekend, they were the two guys who pitched the Phillies to a winning record. On Saturday, Sánchez pitched one of the best games of his career: a 13-strikeout shutout of the Pirates that extended his MLB-best scoreless streak to 29 2/3 innings. And yesterday, Wheeler outdueled Paul Skeneswith seven scoreless innings to get the Phils back over .500 for the first time since they were 6-5 on April 7.  

Both Sánchez and Wheeler now have sub-2.00 ERAs for the season. Sánchez sits at 1.82, Wheeler at 1.99. 

It’s not exactly a surprise what they’re doing — Wheeler and Sánchez were two of the top National League Cy Young contenders last season until Wheeler got hurt. But this is exactly the type of Herculean effort the Phillies needed from their big dogs to turn their season around. 

The Phillies return home to face the Reds starting tonight (6:40 p.m. ET, MLB.TV).  

 

A HEAVYWEIGHT MATCHUP OUT WEST

The Dodgers and Padres’ first meeting of 2026 is going to be a big one. The two teams are separated by only half a game in the NL West standings — the Dodgers are in first at 29-18, the Padres right behind at 28-18. And both teams are on hot streaks entering the series — the Dodgers have won five games in a row, and the Padres have won three in a row.   

Ahead of tonight’s series opener at Petco Park in San Diego (9:40 p.m. ET, MLB.TV), Dodgers reporter Sonja Chen and Padres reporter AJ Cassavell preview the matchup between the two rivals. 

One of the big questions they discuss: Are the Padres a real threat to dethrone the back-to-back World Series champs for the NL West title this season?

Chen: The Dodgers may have won four straight division titles, and 12 of the last 13, but they’re not invincible. The core that won back-to-back championships is intact — and improved from last year — but the oldest position-player group in baseball has shown its age a little. To me, this is less about the Dodgers and more about what the Padres do with their opportunities to close the gap or get ahead. Last year, San Diego twice knocked L.A. out of first place in August, but not for more than a day at a time. If the Padres can apply pressure at the right times, then this will be a race.

Cassavell: Completely agree. I guess I acknowledge that there’s a chance the Dodgers could blow this race open if the Padres’ stars continue to struggle (like Fernando Tatis Jr., who still has yet to homer in 193 plate appearances) and their rotation doesn’t get healthy. But I think there’s a greater chance that this goes down to the wire. The Padres have pushed the Dodgers in each of the past two seasons, and I think they’re better equipped to do so this year, because of the depth of their roster. But, yeah, gotta get that rotation healthy. (The arrival of Lucas Giolito, who had an encouraging debut Sunday, should certainly help.) 

PLAYOFF REMATCHES START TONIGHT

There are some other big series this week, including multiple 2025 postseason rematches. 

Blue Jays at Yankees (4 games at Yankee Stadium)

Tonight’s series opener: 7:05 p.m. ET, MLB.TV 

The Jays are facing the Yankees for the first time since last year’s ALDS, when they knocked out the Bronx Bombers. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was a monster in that series, and after a slow start to this year, he’s looking to get his mojo back as the king of New York. The Yankees are coming off a frustrating road trip, but they still have the second-best record in the AL, and revenge against a division rival is a good motivator. The must-watch game here is Wednesday’s showdown of pitching phenoms: Toronto’s Trey Yesavage vs. New York’s Cam Schlittler.

Brewers at Cubs (3 games at Wrigley Field)

Tonight’s series opener: 7:40 p.m. ET, MLB.TV 

The Brewers and Cubs are squaring off for the first time since the Brew Crew’s victory over their NL Central rival in last year’s NLDS. That series went the distance, and these two teams are fighting for the division title again in 2026. The Cubs are in first place at 29-18, but the Brewers aren’t far behind at 26-18. MLB.comCubs reporter Jordan Bastian and Brewers reporter Adam McCalvy preview this week’s rematch here. Watch out for fireballer Jacob Misiorowski and his MLB-leading 80 strikeouts on the mound for Milwaukee tomorrow. 

AROUND THE LEAGUE THIS WEEKEND

Mets magic, the upstart White Sox and the pending return of an ace highlight the news and notes from the weekend.

• Is one win enough to change the course of a season? The Mets hope so, after taking the Subway Series with a stunning comeback against the Yankees in Sunday’s finale. Down to their final out in the ninth inning, the Mets got a game-tying three-run homer from Tyrone Taylor, and an inning later Carson Benge delivered a walk-off fielder’s choice. It was the type of magic that the Mets just haven’t had since their 2024 postseason run. 

• The White Sox are winning, and they’re having fun doing it. This weekend, they took two of three games from the Cubs to win the battle of Chicago. On Saturday, Munetaka Murakami led the way with his AL-leading 16th and 17th home runs, and on Sunday, Edgar Quero delivered a walk-off homer to clinch the series victory. The White Sox are now two games over .500 at 24-22 after finishing last season 42 games under .500 at 60-102.

• Roki Sasaki pitched the best game of his MLB career to send the Dodgers to a Freeway Series sweep of the Angels. The Sasaki Experience has been a true rollercoaster ride since the Japanese phenom got to the Majors, but yesterday’s outing was as encouraging as any the 24-year-old has had. Sasaki pitched a career-high seven innings, allowed just one run and had a career-high eight strikeouts.

• Colt Emerson, MLB Pipeline’s No. 6 overall prospect, was called up by the Mariners to make his Major League debut yesterday. And the 20-year-old shortstop is here to stay in Seattle. Mariners reporter Daniel Kramer explains the Mariners’ plan for Emerson, and prospect expert Jonathan Mayo breaks down what to expect from Emerson in the big leagues.

• The Yankees are on the verge of getting their Cy Young winner back. Gerrit Cole is expected to rejoin the Yanks for his 2026 debut after just one more rehab start. Cole was “not messing around” in his latest outing at Triple-A over the weekend, when the Yankees ace topped out at 99.6 mph on the mound. 

WILSONNNNN!

Wilson from “Cast Away” might be a volleyball on the silver screen … but this weekend, he was a baseball.

Mr. Met’s baseball head, to be exact. 

With Tom Hanks in the house at Citi Field for the Subway Series, Mr. Met transformed into the Wilson “character” — a white volleyball that Hanks turns into his companion on a deserted island by painting a face on it using his bloody handprint.

Mr. Met, with Wilson painted on the side of his head, visited Hanks in the stands to reunite him with his old friend … who, the last we see in the movie, is floating away in the ocean with Hanks desperately calling after him. 

 

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