Sports
Struggling Mets look for rare series win against Angels
Apr 26, 2026; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Nolan McLean (26) walks off the field after getting taken out of the game in the sixth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images Hours after David Stearns said there were no plans to fire Carlos Mendoza, the New York Mets went out Friday night and finally authored the kind of victory necessary to ensure the heat is turned down on their manager.
The Mets will look to earn a rare series win Saturday night when they visit the Los Angeles Angels in the middle game of a three-game interleague set in Anaheim, Calif.
Right-hander Nolan McLean (1-2, 2.55 ERA) is slated to start for the Mets against Angels left-hander Reid Detmers (1-2, 4.28 ERA).
The Mets mounted their biggest comeback win of the season Friday night, when Ronny Mauricio hit the tie-breaking homer in the seventh inning and five pitchers combined to retire the final the 21 Angels batters in a 4-3 victory.
The win was just the fourth in the last 21 games for the Mets, who have the worst record in the major leagues at 11-21. The 32-game start is tied for the second-worst in franchise history behind only the 1981 team that opened 8-23-1.
The extended skid has made Mendoza’s job security a regular topic at his news conferences. Mendoza is in the final guaranteed year of his contract and surrounded by a spate of first-year coaches hired by Stearns after the president of baseball operations overhauled the staff and playing roster following last year’s second-half collapse cost the Mets a playoff berth.
But the Mets are off to their slow start in large part because many of Stearns’ off-season additions are hurt or ineffective. Jorge Polanco and Luis Robert Jr., the Mets’ Opening Day designated hitter and center fielder, are each on the injured list.
Relievers Luke Weaver and Devin Williams, expected to man the final two innings after the Mets were outbid for Edwin Diaz by the Los Angeles Dodgers, had a scoreless outing in the same game Friday for just the sixth time this season — and the first time in a win since April 7.
“We don’t view this as a manager problem and we don’t intend to make a change,” Stearns told MLB.com Friday.
The Mets looked more energized during their rally Friday, when Angels starter Walbert Urena limited them to one hit through the first five innings. He left after Bo Bichette lined a single off his right knee leading off the sixth. New York tied the game later in the inning by scoring three runs off relievers Brent Suter and Chase Silseth before Mauricio went deep off Jose Fermin with one out in the seventh.
“They fought back and they found a way,” Mendoza said. “That’s a good sign.”
Good signs have been hard to find for the Angels, who are tied for last in the AL West with the Houston Astros.
Los Angeles suffered its seventh straight loss Friday to fall to 1-11 since an 11-10 start. The Angels, whose 113 runs through Apr 17 were the second-most in baseball, have scored just 40 runs during their skid, the third-fewest in the majors ahead of only the San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers.
The bullpen has been an even bigger problem for Los Angeles. Angels relievers haven’t combined on a scoreless effort since April 19, when Sam Bachman and Suter teamed up to throw three innings behind Urena in a 2-1 loss to the San Diego Padres.
“What we can’t do is fold the tent,” Suter said. “Can’t do it. This is too hard of a league to fold the tent. We’ve got to stay the course, keep fighting, keep wanting the ball and then it’ll turn around. But it’s heavy right now, for sure.”
McLean took the defeat in his most recent start last Sunday, when he allowed two runs (one earned) over five innings as the Mets fell to the Colorado Rockies, 3-1, in the first game of a doubleheader.
Detmers didn’t factor into the decision Sunday after giving up three runs over five innings in the Angels’ 11-9, 10-inning loss to the Kansas City Royals.
McLean has never opposed the Angels. Detmers gave up one run in one inning of relief in his lone appearance against the Mets last July 21, when Los Angeles suffered a 7-5 loss.
-Field Level Media
Sports
Walt Weiss, Braves pursue more success vs. Rockies
May 1, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; Atlanta Braves manager Walt Weiss (22) before the game against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images Walt Weiss had a successful return to Coors Field on Friday, and the Atlanta manager hopes to make it two straight wins there when the Braves play the second of three games against the Colorado Rockies in Denver on Saturday night.
Atlanta will send left-hander Chris Sale (5-1, 2.31 ERA) to the mound, while Colorado has not named a starter.
The Braves rallied from a 6-0 deficit to win the opener 8-6 on Friday night.
Weiss, who took over as Atlanta’s manager when Brian Snitker retired in the offseason, led the Rockies for four seasons (2013-16) before the organization replaced him with Bud Black.
Weiss spent 15 years in the Colorado organization as a player (1994-97), special assistant to the GM (2002-08) and manager, compiling a 283-365 record in the latter position.
“I’ve seen a lot of games in this park, and I’m not going to sit here and say I got the secret sauce, but we all know the game is a little different here,” Weiss said before Friday’s game. “But at the same time, I don’t think you can make too much of it. You got to go out and play the game.
“But obviously, big outfield, a lot of first-to-thirds, a lot of balls drop in. And there’s a lot of traffic throughout a game on the bases. You have to take care of the ball.”
Weiss is leading the top team in the majors after a losing 2025 season. Atlanta has won 13 of its last 16 games and embarked on a tough road trip that will continue in Seattle and Los Angeles against the Dodgers.
Sale has faced Colorado five times in his career — three starts — and is 1-1 with a 1.48 ERA in those outings. His last start against the Rockies was a 2-1 loss on April 30, 2025, when he allowed just two runs and fanned 10 over seven innings.
Colorado has dropped three of its last four games after sweeping a road series from the New York Mets last weekend. Friday’s loss came when the usually reliable bullpen allowed seven runs over the last three innings to turn a 6-1 lead into a loss.
Even with the disappointment, the Rockies had more bright spots in the game. Mickey Moniak, who missed the first six games of the season, had two hits, including his ninth homer of the season, and catcher Hunter Goodman continues to be impressive.
Goodman, Colorado’s lone representative at the 2025 All-Star Game, is tied with Moniak for the team lead in home runs with nine.
Goodman was 0-for-5 in a 6-4 loss at the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday to wrap up a 4-2 road trip, which came after a two-homer performance in Wednesday night’s 13-2 victory over Cincinnati. He has worked at not chasing pitches out of the strike zone to improve his at-bats.
“It’s just some things with my approach, thinking a little bit differently and trying not to be so focused on the internal,” Goodman said. “Be more focused on the external stuff.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Roki Sasaki needs strong start for Dodgers against Cardinals
Apr 25, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki (11) walks in the dugout after the first inning against the Chicago Cubs at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images With a proven veteran ready to return to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ pitching staff, every start counts for the existing members of the rotation.
All eyes will be on right-hander Roki Sasaki when he starts for the Dodgers on Saturday in a road game against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Los Angeles left-hander Blake Snell is close to making his season debut and one of the current six starters will have to step aside. The Dodgers have remained committed to Sasaki as a starter, even as he went through a rocky spring training.
When the season started, left-hander Justin Wrobleski was a swing man until a sixth starter was needed. Now that he is in the rotation, Wrobleski has been one of the team’s steadiest pitchers.
Sasaki (1-2, 6.35 ERA), who has never faced the Cardinals, is coming off his first win of the season last Saturday against the Chicago Cubs. But he gave up four runs in the outing, his second most in a start this year, on seven hits. He did have a season-low one walk.
“I don’t think the (pitching) line does it justice,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who considered the performance Sasaki’s best outing of the season.
“I think him and (pitching coaches) Connor (McGuiness) and Mark (Prior) were working on some things and wanted to add a little bit more velocity to it. It simulates a fastball more versus some type of off-speed pitch. Good stuff to build off of.”
And yet the Dodgers’ biggest issue of late is with an offense that was not able to put up much of a fight in a 7-2 loss to the Cardinals in Friday’s series opener. Los Angeles is 5-8 in its last 13 games and has lost three in a row.
St. Louis received home runs from Nolan Gorman and Alec Burleson on Friday, while Jordan Walker had four hits and drove in a pair of runs to extend the team’s winning streak to five games.
The Cardinals delivered 12 hits in the victory after they had 14 in a win at Pittsburgh on Thursday.
St. Louis will send right-hander Michael McGreevy (1-2, 2.97) to the mound Saturday. In a no-decision against the Seattle Mariners on Sunday, McGreevy allowed just one run on five hits over six innings with no walks and six strikeouts.
McGreevy matched his season high in innings on a day when the bullpen had been taxed from prior usage.
“It’s that extra thing where you get to think about helping the team even more than just performing well,” McGreevy said. “You don’t go into it thinking, ‘I need to go deep here,’ because you don’t want to make the game bigger than it is. But to be able to do that with the bullpen being short-handed is awesome.”
McGreevy’s lone start against the Dodgers came June 8, 2025, when he gave up four runs over six innings, while taking the loss in a 7-3 game. The outing was just his fourth career start and his first one of 2025. He has three starts of one run or less this season.
With 11 wins in their past 16 games, the Cardinals have distanced themselves from an 8-8 start to the season.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Cavaliers Facing Defining Playoff Moment Against Raptors in Game 7
A clean slate awaits the Cleveland Cavaliers no matter the outcome of Sunday’s Game 7 against the Toronto Raptors.
Beat the visiting Raps to escape the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs and it’s on to the East semis against a fellow tired foe coming off an improbable deciding game, Detroit or Orlando.
Lose and it’s a date with the drawing board. Cavs owner Dan Gilbert surely couldn’t run it back with the same core after another early postseason exit, right?
How this series got pushed to the brink is the stuff of facepalms in Northeast Ohio and of fist bumps in “We the North” Country.
Even with everything that went south for Cleveland during Friday’s Game 6, a surge that forced overtime and provided a late lead in the extra session still had the Cavs in position to advance.
Instead, a head-shaking turnover gave host Toronto new life, and the guard playing before his hometown crowd capitalized. RJ Barrett’s game-winning 3-pointer hit the back of the rim and bounced high above the backboard before dropping through the basket with 1.2 seconds left.
Moments later, Cleveland settled for an Evan Mobley 3-point attempt at the other end. The shot harmlessly caromed off the front of the rim, preserving a 112-110 Raptors victory.
“Sometimes, the basketball gods aren’t with you,” Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson said.
Atkinson likely wouldn’t have delivered that lament if Donovan Mitchell and James Harden had performed up to par.
With respect to Mobley, who scored a game-high 26 points, how did either of the Cavaliers’ two leading scorers not take the last shot? Atkinson said Cleveland was looking for Mitchell to come off a curl screen, a sequence that obviously didn’t materialize. Harden similarly seemed to be stuck in quicksand.
Outscoring Toronto 23-12 in the fourth quarter aside, the Cavaliers succumbed to too many stagnant possessions down the stretch. Can they bank on an overdue star turn to move on?
While building balance is important, a heroic effort from Mitchell on Sunday would go a long way toward a positive outcome. After contributing 32 points to begin the series — his league-record ninth straight effort of at least 30 in a postseason Game 1 — Mitchell has been uneven at best since another 30-burger in Game 2.
Mitchell is shooting 24-for-67 (35.8 percent) in the past three games, but he’s ostensibly the same guy who was a combined 55.8 percent in the first two games.
As with their counterparts, the Raptors also envision an open canvas as Game 7 looms. Things are arguably less precarious for Toronto, however, as Scottie Barnes and Barrett have stabilized a team that’s without point guard Immanuel Quickley and is uncertain about the status of forward Brandon Ingram (sore right heel).
“Forget everything that’s happened so far,” Barrett said. “We’ve got one game to decide it all. This group has been tough and resilient, and we’ve fought through the toughest of tasks all year long. Going to Cleveland, Game 7, is going to be a tough task, but that’s what we’re built for.”
The Cavs would like to think the same. So far, history agrees.
The home team has won each game in the series, while the Raptors are 0-10 all-time in playoff games in Cleveland.
“Protect home court,” Mitchell said. “It doesn’t matter if we lost by 30 or two, protect home court. That’s all you can do.”
Walt Weiss, Braves pursue more success vs. Rockies
Roki Sasaki needs strong start for Dodgers against Cardinals
