BASEBALL MLB ARTICLES

The Texas Rangers have lost four games in a row and go into Houston to take on the Houston Astros over the weekend, capped off by ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball matchup on Sunday night. The battle for the state of Texas used to favor the Rangers not too long ago, but you need look no further than the pitching matchup which features Bartolo Colon and Justin Verlander to see just how much the tides have changed.
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The New York Yankees have lacked consistency and look largely overrated after two weeks, but a series against the Detroit Tigers may be just what the Bombers need to get back on track. In Sunday’s series finale, the Yankees will turn to their ace to close out a series win and—ideally—a sweep to pad the early standings as Luis Severino takes the mound opposite a southpaw still trying to solidify his place in the majors in Matthew Boyd. ... 

In all the Shohei Ohtani mania, Mike Trout has somehow become a second thought on this team. He’s had a slow start by his standards, but still leads the surprising Los Angeles Angels in home runs and RBIs. The Halos will try and continue their excellent start over the weekend as they take on the Kansas City Royals. In Saturday’s game, they look to Garrett Richards on the mound against Jakob Junis. ... 

In what is a Boston tradition, the Boston Red Sow will host an early morning game with a 11:05 a.m. ET first pitch on Patriots’ Day. The Baltimore Orioles are the opponent this season. The last time these two teams met on Patriots’ Day, the Red Sox won 7-1 in 2015. This time around, the Orioles will look for different results as the Birds send Andrew Cashner to the hill against what will likely be David Price making the start for the Sox. ... 

Monday marks the first of 19 meetings between the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals, two of the sport’s biggest rivals. Both teams are off to slower than expected starts. A win in the series opener could set the tone for the already important three-game set. Both teams have veteran arms toeing the rubber in the contest with Adam Wainwright and Jon Lester set to take the hill, giving fans two gritty veterans to watch.... 

Friday night, the Chicago Cubs kick off their second home series of the young season, playing host to the Atlanta Braves. Chicago has gotten off to an inconsistent start to the year with injuries, weather and rocky performances intertwined with a few glimpses into just how good this team could be. On the other side, the Braves have shown some early progress. Can they sustain it against Yu Darvish and the Cubs on Friday afternoon? ... 

After a strong 8-1 start, the Boston Red Sox will get to defend their early season record against their most likely competitors in the New York Yankees. This newest installment of the storied rivalry between these two legendary teams boasts an excellent pitching matchup and plenty of storylines. Chris Sale and Luis Severino are scheduled to toe the rubber with each team looking to establish a dominance over the other to carry them throughout the season. ... 

Nearly two weeks into the regular season and we finally have our first series of the vaunted New York Yankees versus Boston Red Sox rivalry. The gold mine of the national baseball coverage, all three games of this series will be broadcast nationally with the fans getting its first real look at what many believe to be the most hotly contested divisional race. The series, of course, brings excellent pitching matchups with Chris Sales and David Price both on the docket for Boston and Luis Severino and Masahiro Tanaka on deck for the Yanks.... 

This game kicks off the seasons’ second full week and will already mark the start of the second series of the year between the Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals. St. Louis took the first series in Milwaukee and now get a chance to stick it to the Brew Crew again at home, but to do so, Miles Mikolas will need a better start than he had the first time around. Of course, for Milwaukee to get revenge, they’ll need a better showing from Jhoulys Chacin than they got in his Brewers’ debut.... 

The New York Mets and Washington Nationals close out their three-game weekend series in primetime on Sunday night as part of ESPN’s Sunday Night Game of the Week. This is the National’s home opening series bringing an extra bit of excitement to an already excellent matchup between divisional rivals. Wrapping up a series of fun pitching matchups, Matt Harvey and Tanner Roark take the mound, each coming off strong season debuts on the heels of disappointing 2017 campaigns. ... 

The Los Angeles Dodgers earned a series split against the San Francisco Giants at home to kick off the 2018 season after dropping the first two games, each by a final of 1-0. The Dodgers’ offense took a while to get cranking, but picked it up as the series progressed. Now, with a three-game series on tap between these teams in the second weekend of the season, there’s a chance for one of the clubs to break the tie in the season series.... 

After an opening series against the Padres, the Milwaukee Brewers find themselves in a difficult part of their schedule here in the early going. After a tough three-game set against the Cardinals, the Brew Crew will face the Chicago Cubs in a tough four-game series with a late afternoon start time scheduled for Game 3 on Saturday. After a rough start against the Cardinals, Zach Davies will be given a chance at redemption against the Cubs while Yu Darvish will be given a chance to justify his large contract in his second start of the year.... 

Wrapping up a three game series at Miller Park, the Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals finish an important, early three-game series as both clubs expect to compete with the Cubs for the NL Central title.These two teams are often lumped together in conversation as part of a deep Wild Card field, but both teams have their sights set higher, at least for now. While Milwaukee had the upper hand at home earlier in this series, the pitching matchup favors the Cards with Carlos Martinez making his second start of the season opposite Jhoulys Chacin.... 

The season is now one series in and some teams are left licking their wounds while others have made an early statement. The Los Angeles Angels and Cleveland Indians fit into opposite groups with the Angels topping the Oakland Athletics in three of four games while the Tribe dropped two of three against the Seattle Mariners. The sole loss for the Angels came on Opening Day with Garrett Richards on the mound. He’ll get another shot on Tuesday against Josh Tomlin and the Indians. Cleveland is looking to make good on their preseason projections after a rough first series.... 

The Los Angeles Angels get to ease into the season, but after four games against Oakland, the Halos will get their first real test of the season on Monday, kicking off a three-game series against the Cleveland Indians before circling back for another series against the A’s. Shohei Ohtani pitches on Sunday so that’s when all the press will be out for the Angels, but a Monday’s pitching matchup of J.C. Ramirez against Mike Clevinger may be the better matchup, at least until Ohtani gets his footing in the states.... 

After an opening series against the Twins in Baltimore, the Baltimore Orioles’ difficult schedule goes up a notch with a series against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park beginning on Monday. The second series of the season for the O’s features a mismatch on the mound with Chris Tillman and Charlie Morton slated to get their first starts of the season after very different results in 2017. Can Baltimore make some early noise against the reigning World Series champions or will Houston use this series to get out to an early lead in the AL West? ... 

Despite finishing second to the Red Sox in 2017, most pundits have the New York Yankees winning the AL East in 2018. In fact, the Baby Bombers as they’ve been called are amongst the favorites—alongside Houston—to represent the AL in the World Series. Meanwhile, their opponent in Monday’s series opener are the likely cellar dwellers in the same division. Can the Tampa Bay Rays hobble together enough quality arms to get them through a game against a prolific offense like the Yankees? And, can they plate enough runs against the team’s weakest arm in Jordan Montgomery before the vaunted bullpen takes over?
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The third game of the season opening series between the Milwaukee Brewers and San Diego Padres will feature a pair of pitchers on the mound needing to make strong impressions. For the Brewers, it’s Brent Suter who is getting a chance as a set part of the rotation after sitting on the Triple-A shuttle last year. For the Padres, its Luis Perdomo who is full of promise, but has yet to really establish himself in his first two big league season. ... 

This Easter Sunday meeting in New York marks the finale of a season opening series between two likely NL Wild Card contenders: the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets. Both teams missed out on postseason play a season ago, but come into the new season having added some offensive firepower, but still have significant questions to address around the pitching staff. Sunday’s pitching matchup features Luke Weaver and Steven Matz. Weaver was the better arm last year, but Matz—if healthy—still has a ton of potential.
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ESPN’s first Sunday Night Baseball showcase game will feature division rivals as the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers square off in a series finale southern California. This nationally broadcast game is an excellent forum for the Giants to show they’re a vastly improved team over the 2017 version, but the injury-plagued roster will have its work cut out for it against the NL pennant winning Dodgers who, after a taste of the Fall Classic, have some unfinished business. Rich Hill gets his first start in this one while the Giants rotation remains in flux.
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After an All-Star bid last season and some postseason heroics in the rotation and out of the pen, Lance McCullers Jr. enters the 2018 season as the Houston Astros’ No.3 starter, getting the nod on Saturday against the Texas Rangers. Texas hasn’t officially tabbed the next one off the starter carrousel after their first two starters, but it figures to be Matt Moore who desperately needs a good outing to put his horrible 2017 season behind him. In any case, the interdivisional battle between these in-state rivals continues Saturday.... 

The new-look, Derek Jeter-led Miami Marlins start their new era in South Florida, hosting the Chicago Cubs on Thursday afternoon. A year after he was an out-of-options fringe player, Jose Urena will lead the charge on the mound for the Fish opposite of veteran southpaw Jon Lester, making his seventh career Opening Day start. It’s been two very different stories heading into this Opening Day matchup for these two franchise and two pitchers. ... 

From their histories in the Big Apple, the rivalry between the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers is one of the game’s oldest and most storied battles. The latest iteration of the rivalry is set for Thursday evening and will be the first of 19 meetings in 2018 as the two teams meet head-to-head on Opening Day. The Dodgers holding a distinct advantage in the season opener, coming off a 104-win season and sending Clayton Kershaw to the bump opposite Ty Blach for the Giants.
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With the second-best record in the Cactus League, the Cleveland Indians appear ready for Opening Day on Thursday. ESPN has a full slate of games for the should-be national holiday including the matchup between the Tribe and Seattle Mariners. This game will pin two Cy Young Award winners against each other with Corey Kluber and Felix Hernandez each toeing the rubber in this night-time showdown. Who will come out ahead? Cleveland looks primed to take its first step toward a third straight AL Central title though Seattle—with the help of a bounce back season by King Felix—could be a sleeper squad in the AL. ... 

The Houston Astros had all off season to bask in the glory of their first ever World Series title. Now, the title defense begins. Houston kicks off its title defense with an in-state trip to Globe Life Park to take on the Texas Rangers. The Astros owned the Rangers last year and were a better road team than home team, both good signs for those looking for Houston—who sends Justin Verlander to the hill—to get off to a hot start against a Rangers’ team that’s lacking a clear sense of direction and headed by a declining Cole Hamels on the bump. ...