Tuesday, May 19

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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.

If the Nationals are involved, you can be sure of one thing: There will be runs. Lots and lots of runs. 

The Nats are having a historically double-edged season. They lead MLB in both runs scored (262) AND runs allowed (284). 

It’s not particularly close either. Washington has a cushion of 12 runs scored over the Braves (250), and a cushion of 15 runs allowed over the Astros (269). 

Just how rare is this? Only one team has led the Majors in both runs scored and runs allowed over a full season since MLB expanded to 30 teams in 1998: the 2008 Rangers.

That 2008 Rangers team hovered around .500 pretty much all year. They did have four offensive All-Stars — Josh Hamilton, Ian Kinsler, Milton Bradley and Michael Young — but finished 79-83, good for second in the AL West behind the 100-win Angels and outside of a postseason spot.

And on the flip side? Only one team since 1998, the 2003 Dodgers, has led the league in both the fewest runs scored and fewest runs allowed in the same season. Those Dodgers finished in second in the NL West at 85-77 but also missed the playoffs. 

So what does all that mean for the Nationals’ success? Well, the Nats’ impressive offense, led by young stars James Wood and CJ Abrams, hasn’t quite been able to outscore the team’s run prevention issues yet. Washington sits two games under .500 at 23-25. 

Max Ralph has more on the oddity that is the 2026 Nats.   

 

THE MEDICAL MARVEL OF THE ‘SKUBAL SCOPE’

There’s been a lot of talk lately about the cutting-edge procedure that’s massively accelerating Tarik Skubal’s return from surgery to remove a loose body from his pitching elbow.  

But what exactly is the so-called Skubal Scope, and how is it helping the Cy Young winner’s recovery?

Tigers reporter Jason Beck goes into detail here.

First of all, the “Skubal Scope” nickname refers to NanoScope surgery, which uses a smaller instrument than a traditional arthroscopic surgery in order to be less invasive, impact less tissue and induce less swelling. 

That’s why Skubal’s recovery is speedier than normal. Skubal (and presumably other pitchers who might undergo the procedure) will hopefully easily beat the typical 2-3 month return timetable for regular arthroscopic elbow surgery. 

That was all Skubal needed to hear from his surgeon, the renowned Dr. Neal ElAttrache, before he agreed to be the test case for the procedure.

“I think the first thing they said was the recovery will be faster,” Skubal said, “and then I think I stopped listening after that. I was like, ‘All right, I’m good with it if you’re good with it.'”

And the “Skubal Scope” nickname? That was actually coined by Dr. ElAttrache, before Skubal’s agent, Scott Boras, ran with it. 

GAMES OF THE NIGHT

A trio of flamethrowing strikeout artists headline tonight’s slate. For info on how to watch every game this season, go to MLB.com/Watch. 

Reds at Phillies (6:40 p.m. ET, MLB.TV)

After winning yesterday’s series opener, the Phillies are 16-4 in their first 20 games under Don Mattingly — and they now have a better record (25-23) than the Reds (24-24), who have fallen to last place in a strong NL Central. As veteran manager Terry Francona tries to guide the Reds through their rough stretch, he hands the ball to the electric Chase Burns tonight (1.87 ERA).

Blue Jays at Yankees (7:05 p.m. ET, TBS / MLB.TV) 

The Bronx Bombers are taking aim at resurgent Blue Jays ace Dylan Ceasetonight at Yankee Stadium. Cease, who leads the American League with 75 strikeouts in his first season with Toronto, is getting his first taste of this AL East rivalry.

Brewers at Cubs (7:40 p.m. ET, MLB.TV) 

Both leagues’ strikeout leaders are going tonight — Cease in the AL, and Jacob Misiorowski in the NL. The Miz leads the Majors with 80 K’s (tied with the Phillies’ Cristopher Sánchez) entering tonight’s NL Central rivalry showdown with the Cubs. And he might just be the hardest-throwing starting pitcher who ever lived. 

AROUND THE LEAGUE

We’ve got a near-no-no, extra-inning craziness and a milestone save in today’s news and notes from around the league. 

• Four minutes was all it took for A’s pitcher J.T. Ginn to go from the thrill of a no-hit bid to the agony of defeat. Ginn took a no-hitter into the ninth inning against the Angels, only for Adam Frazier to spoil the bid with a leadoff single and Zach Neto to spoil the game just three pitches later with a walk-off home run. The whole thing unfolded between 8:57 and 9:01 p.m PT.

• Ronald Acuña Jr. is back with the Braves today, but as Atlanta gets the superstar back from the injured list, it loses a different star. Drake Baldwin is headed to the IL with a right oblique strain, meaning the NL-best Braves will be without one of their top contributors for a while.

• Colt Emerson’s family couldn’t make it to Seattle in time for his MLB debut on Sunday. But they got there for something better: the Mariners top prospect’s first career home run. Emerson golfed a homer for his first big league hit in yesterday’s win over the White Sox, with 17 of his friends and family members in the stands, including both of his parents.

• The Mets erupted for a feat not seen in 43 years: a 10-run extra inning. By putting up a 10-spot in the 12th inning against the Nationals yesterday, the Mets became the first team since the 1983 Rangers — and just the seventh team in MLB history — to score double-digit runs in a single extra inning.

• Aroldis Chapman entered the top 10 on the all-time saves list yesterday, notching the 378th save of his career as the Red Sox beat the Royals. Chapman broke a tie with Joe Nathan for sole possession of 10th place on the MLB saves leaderboard (saves became an official stat in 1969), and the 400-save club is within reach. 

THE METS’ ALL-PROSPECT OUTFIELD

The Mets are calling up another young outfield prospect today, 23-year-old Nick Morabito. 

With 23-year-old Carson Benge and 21-year-old A.J. Ewing already in the big leagues, that means the Mets could run out an all-rookie outfield on days when Juan Soto is at DH.

Benge, Ewing and Morabito were all prospects who had yet to make their MLB debuts when the 2026 season began. In MLB Pipeline’s preseason Top 30 prospect rankings for the Mets, each of them ranked inside the organization’s top 15.

Benge, who was the Mets’ No. 2 prospect entering the year (he’s since graduated from prospect status), debuted on Opening Day. Ewing, who was their No. 4 prospect (he’s since moved up to No. 1, and No. 34 overallin MLB Pipeline’s Top 100), was promoted last week. 

And now Morabito, who was New York’s No. 13 prospect in the preseason and is currently No. 11, will inject even more electricity into the Mets’ lineup.

If the Mets ever use a Benge-Ewing-Morabito outfield, that’d be a fun trio to watch indeed. 

All three players are speedsters. Just look at how they steal bases. Last year in the Minors, for example, Benge, Ewing and Morabito combined for 141 stolen bases — 70 by Ewing, 49 by Morabito and 22 by Benge. They can eat up ground.  

DAILY WALKOFF

Put your baseball brain to the test with Daily Walkoff, where you can find 30 brand-new trivia puzzles every day, one for each team. Play Daily Walkoff >> 

 

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