The single most important number walking into Monday's MLB slate isn't on any board yet. It's 12. The Boston Red Sox have won twelve straight games, and the overnight wire confirmed the latest: a 7-6 rally over Tampa Bay on Saturday, capped by Wilyer Abreu's go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh. Four homers in two games for Abreu. The Red Sox host the Rays again tonight, and that streak is the loudest thing in baseball right now.
Before we get to today's slate, let's close the book on Sunday properly.
Yankees-Dodgers Doubleheader: Best Story of the Weekend
Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw a complete-game four-hitter in the opener. His first regular-season complete game in 66 major league starts. The Dodgers won 8-2, Shohei Ohtani led the offense, and it looked like Los Angeles was going to take the series going away. Then the night game happened.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning, five Yankees pitchers combined on a four-hitter of their own, and New York edged the Dodgers 2-1 to split the twin bill. Two four-hitters, one doubleheader, combined score of 10-3. That's a pitching-forward weekend in a ballpark that doesn't always cooperate. The Dodgers (63-37, first in the NL West) now open a three-game series at Philadelphia tonight against the Phillies (55-45). A team that just went the distance in a complete game yesterday is now on the road in a tough environment. That's not a fatigue narrative, it's a roster mechanics question. Worth tracking when the Dodgers' probable starter gets confirmed.
Paul Skenes Is Doing What We Thought He Would
Seven innings, one run, eight strikeouts. Paul Skenes pitched the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 7-1 win over the Cleveland Guardians on Sunday. The Pirates (who carry that line into a Monday visit to Yankee Stadium) also have a rookie outfielder named Esmerlyn Valdez who is now the fourth player in major league history with at least 12 home runs and 31 RBI in his first 31 career games. I'll say that again slowly: fourth in history. Pittsburgh is bringing genuine top-of-rotation pitching and a historically hot rookie bat to the Bronx. The Yankees will be a number there, but the Pirates aren't a team you wave off.
The Rest of Sunday's Overnight
A quick scan of what else came in:
| Game | Result | Notable |
|---|---|---|
| Arizona D-backs 8, St. Louis Cardinals 7 | Walk-off, 10th inn. | D-backs rallied from a seven-run deficit; Max Kepler walk-off double |
| San Diego Padres 19, Kansas City Royals 2 | Blowout | Ty France: grand slam + solo HR; Jackson Merrill: 2 HR |
| Cincinnati Reds 9, Colorado Rockies 6 | Reds win | Tyler Stephenson: 2 HR; Hunter Goodman: 3 HR (still lost) |
| Chicago Cubs 10, Minnesota Twins 1 | Cubs win | Shota Imanaga: 7 shutout innings; Nico Hoerner: bases-loaded triple, 4 RBI |
| Seattle Mariners 6, San Francisco Giants 3 | Mariners win | Logan Gilbert: 10 K in 6 innings |
| Atlanta Braves 8, Texas Rangers 5 | Braves win | Drake Baldwin: 5-for-5, 2 HR in return from oblique injury |
The Cardinals dropped a seven-run lead and lost on a walk-off. They now play at Los Angeles against the Angels tonight. That's a brutal 24-hour window emotionally, and the Angels (39-61) are one of the worst teams in baseball. The Cardinals should win that game, but a team that just blew a seven-spot deserves a second look at the number before you lay it.
Hunter Goodman hit three home runs for Colorado and still lost. checked the almanac on that one: a player homering three times in a losing effort is a real and somewhat humbling entry in any season log. Goodman is now the first Rockies player in franchise history with two three-homer games in the same season. The Nationals visit Coors Field tonight, and Goodman is worth watching in the over conversation when the altitude and the lineup align.
What Big Mike Is Watching Tonight
No qualifying picks have cleared my number this morning. The board is full, 15 games, and several of these lines will move before first pitch. Here is where my attention is parked:
Boston (12-game win streak) vs. Tampa Bay: The Rays are the team that just gave up that Abreu homer to fall to 0-and-now in this series. Streaks end, but they end when the math says so, not when we get tired of watching them. The number on this one matters a lot. If Boston is chalk that prices the streak in full, I'm looking elsewhere. If the line respects the Rays' talent and offers a fair price on the Red Sox, that's a different conversation.
Dodgers at Phillies: Top-of-the-table matchup, Yamamoto just threw 9 innings yesterday, Citizens Bank Park is not a pitcher's haven. The series opener line will tell you what the market thinks about Yamamoto's roster day and who LA counters with. That's a tell.
Pittsburgh at New York: Skenes is presumably not pitching on one day's rest, but the Pirates lineup with Valdez at the core is real. The Yankees are coming off a split in a grind of a doubleheader. Mind the gap between the name-brand team and the actual current state of both rosters.
Minnesota at Cleveland: Guardians (52-48) host a four-game series opener against the Twins (49-51) in a tight AL Central race. Imanaga just carved up Minnesota's lineup yesterday. The Twins' offense is coming in with some noise. This series matters in the standings more than the market might price it.
Nothing cleared my number this morning. That's the honest answer, and it's the only one I've got. When the starters and the moves confirm, you know where to find me.
BOL.
