NFL

• Cardinals release WR DeAndre Hopkins
  • Hopkins isn’t quite on the level of the league’s top receivers anymore, but he may still be a tier two guy, so he’s a sure bet to make a strong impact wherever he lands. The Cardinals had a great month of April with their draft maneuvering, but it’s less than ideal that the club was unable to land a draft selection for Hopkins. Smartly, though, the rebuilding Cardinals chose not to designate the star receiver as a post-June 1 release, thus freeing their books from Hopkins’ salary following this season. I’ll have more thoughts on this matter once Hopkins signs with a new team.

MLB

• Reds 9, Cubs 0
  • Hunter Greene’s talent is undeniable. Cincinnati’s young starter pitched six innings of no-hit ball in this game, showcasing his power fastball along the way. Greene still has a ways to go, but his ascent times quite well with the Reds’ rebuild.
  • The Cubs started the season with quite a bit of bad luck, as the club built up a strong, positive run differential, but a below average record. Unfortunately, the team has continued to lose games, but Chicago’s record (22-28) feels more reflective of how the Cubs are playing lately. The trade deadline will be interesting on the north side of Chicago, as Marcus Stroman and Cody Bellinger are key pieces that could be made available.
• White Sox 12, Tigers 3
  • Miguel Cabrera is a legend and will surely be headed to Cooperstown five years after he retires, but the Tigers are in a tough spot with him this season. Cabrera is essentially unplayable — a designated hitter with a .460 OPS following yesterday’s 0 for 3 performance, so Detroit will either have to ride it out and hope for improvement or do the unthinkable and cut bait with the 40-year-old.
• Rays 9, Dodgers 3
  • Yandy Diaz is very underrated. After a 3 for 4 day at the plate with a home run, Diaz is slashing .333/.435/.635. The Rays are relentless.
  • Los Angeles’ investment in Noah Syndergaard looks less than spectacular at the moment. After allowing six runs in this outing, Syndergaard’s ERA ballooned to 6.27.
• Padres 5, Yankees 1
  • Matt Carpenter’s 2022 season with the Yankees felt a bit fluky, and that’s proving to be true in 2023. Carpenter slugged .727 last season. This year? .358. Padres fans are surely hoping that two consecutive wins can catapult San Diego into a hot streak.
• Rangers 12, Orioles 2
  • The Rangers are electric. Three hits for Josh Jung! Two hits and a home run for Leody Taveras! Texas sports a deep lineup and maybe this is the year Rangers fans finally get over 2011. We’ll see.
  • Grayson Rodriguez hasn’t been as advertised since reaching the big leagues. It’s been one bad start followed by one good start followed by another bad start and so on for the prized prospect. In this particular start? 3.1 innings and eight earned runs, leading to a 7.35 ERA. Baltimore is doing well in the AL East race and may not have much more patience with the 23-year-old.
• Guardians 4, Cardinals 3
  • The Guardians may only have 22 wins, but Emmanuel Clase already has 17 saves, closing out a whopping 77 percent of Cleveland’s victories. If you couldn’t tell, the Guardians play a lot of close games.
• Phillies 6, Braves 4
  • Craig Kimbrel recorded the 400th save of his career last night. The accomplished reliever’s Hall of Fame came is pretty interesting. Kimbrel is just 34, so he has time to compile more saves, but his performance is diminishing, which may complicate matters. Francisco Rodriguez, John Franco, and Billy Wagner are the three pitchers ahead of Kimbrel in saves that aren’t in the Hall, so Kimbrel may need to successfully close out 50 or so more games to feel better about his chances of reaching Cooperstown.
  • Marcell Ozuna deserves a ton of credit for turning his season around. Ozuna hit just .091 across 55 April at-bats, but he’s raised his OPS to .850, thanks in part to a 3 for 4 and one home run showing yesterday.
• Giants 15, Brewers 1
  • Look out for the Giants. Suddenly, San Francisco is above .500 after winning eight of 10. Mitch Haniger needed this game, as the struggling outfielder went 3 for 5 with a home run and four RBIs.
  • Jesse Winker’s fall from grace has been maddening. Winker started in the All-Star Game in 2021, but has fallen off since then. The 29-year-old’s OPS in 2023 is just .566 after a 0 for 2 night in this tilt.
• Blue Jays 3, Twins 1
  • There are plenty of talented shortstops, as usual, in MLB, but I wouldn’t argue with anyone that claimed Bo Bichette was the best of them all. Bichette is hitting a glistening .329 after going 2 for 4 with a home run in this tilt.
  • Speaking of talented shortstops, Carlos Correa belongs in the conversation. With that said, Minnesota’s return on investment on Correa’s six-year, $200 million contract hasn’t been good thus far, as Correa’s OPS is below league-average at .705.
• Nationals 12, Royals 10
  • 6 for 6! Luis Garcia has never had an above average OPS in his four seasons as a major leaguer, but that’s what makes baseball fun — unheralded players doing special things.
  • Not to be done by Garcia, the talented Bobby Witt Jr. exploded with a 4 for 5, two home run, and five RBI line in this game. The development of Witt Jr. is crucial to Kansas City’s rebuild.
• Mets 5, Rockies 2
  • In terms of the bigger picture, hasn’t Kris Bryant’s career been a disappointment since winning the NL MVP and World Series in 2016? Bryant was excellent in 2017, albeit without many accolades, but his power started to tail off a bit in 2018 when he hit just 13 home runs. The well-rounded Bryant put together a nice 2019, but has hit just 39 home runs since then. Let’s be honest, following the 2016 season, wouldn’t 39 home runs be the expectation for Bryant for a single season, not over a period of three and a half years? Hopefully Colorado’s right fielder can rediscover his early career form again, as it’s not too late — Bryant is only 31.
• Astros 5, Athletics 2
  • Hunter Brown, at 5-1 with a 3.12 ERA, has done a nice job for Houston this season, but it was possible to see this coming based on Brown’s exploits a year ago, when he posted a 0.89 ERA across seven appearances. As if the defending champions need another young, cost-controlled piece.
  • Including Oakland’s starter, James Kaprielian, the Athletics started seven players in this game that are 28 or older. Shouldn’t the 10-43 A’s be putting forth a youth movement?
• Marlins 6, Angels 2
  • There’s been a number of reasons, most notably injuries, why Jorge Soler hasn’t been able to replicate his 2019 campaign in which he mashed 48 homers. This year, Soler may touch that mark again. After hitting home run No. 16 last night, the Marlins’ slugger is on pace for nearly 50.
  • The Angels recently called up the No. 9 pick from 2021, Sam Bachman, and it’ll be interesting to see how effective the fast-tracked pitcher will be as a rookie. In this affair, Bachman pitched to uneven results, striking out four Marlins, but also allowing four hits. The four strikeouts likely weren’t a fluke, as the Miami (Ohio) product’s fastball touched the upper-90s, leading to plenty of swing and misses.
• Red Sox 7, Diamondbacks 2
  • The day of the road team. Yesterday, 13 of 15 road teams won, which has to be the first time that’s happened in a long time. Boston was one of those road teams, as it was led by yet another nice start from Chris Sale. The seven-time All-Star threw just 73 pitches in this battle, but his performance continues to trend up for the Red Sox.
• Pirates 11, Mariners 6
  • Pittsburgh finally got a bad start out of Mitch Keller, but it didn’t matter, thanks to the Pirates tying a franchise record with seven home runs. The 2023 Pirates have proven to be good at finding ways to win, quite reminiscent of the 2013-2015 iterations of the club.
  • Seattle needs more from Eugenio Suarez. The third baseman hit 31 home runs a year ago, but he has just five this season, along with a .647 OPS.