The bizarro battle upending the NL East

Plus: Switch-pitcher takes the mound

Wednesday, April 22 View Online 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.   This isn't the type of rivalry the Mets and Phillies had in mind.   They started the season as postseason favorites in the NL East. But as of today, they're the two worst teams in the National League and mired in disastrous losing streaks.    The Mets have lost 12 games in a row -- and no team has ever come back from a 12-game losing streak to make the playoffs. They have the worst record in the Majors at 7-16.   And the Phillies? They've lost seven in a row -- and they're only one game better than the Mets at 8-15.     The Mets' playoff odds have dropped from 87% on Opening Day to 39% entering play today. The Phillies' have dropped from 76% to 41%.  But can they still turn things around? Will Juan Soto return to be the savior for New York? Will Zack Wheeler do the same for Philadelphia? Can either one of these teams become the playoff contender we thought they would be?     We asked the experts.    We had a panel of MLB.com analysts debate the topic: Which team is more likely to bounce back from its early season slump, the Mets or the Phillies?    Here are the results.  The Mets try to snap their losing streak tonight against the Twins at Citi Field (7:10 p.m., MLB.TV), and the Phillies do the same against the Cubs at Wrigley Field (7:40 p.m. ET, MLB.TV).  GAMES OF THE NIGHT Besides Mets-Twins and Phillies-Cubs, here are three more games to watch tonight. For info on how to watch every game this season, go to MLB.com/Watch.    Braves at Nationals (6:45 p.m. ET, MLB.TV)   You know who's not struggling in the NL East? The Braves, who are 16-8 and tied for the most wins in the Majors. And they're calling up one of their top pitching prospects, the electric Didier Fuentes, to make his first start of the season.    Yankees at Red Sox (6:45 p.m. ET, MLB Network Showcase/MLB.TV)    The Yanks took the first game of this rivalry series yesterday behind a moonshot home run over the Green Monster by Giancarlo Stanton. Tonight they send ace Max Fried to the mound against Red Sox marquee free-agent addition Ranger Suarez, who's thrown 14 scoreless innings over his last two starts.    Dodgers at Giants (9:45 p.m. ET, MLB.TV)   It's Shohei Day on the mound, as Ohtani makes his fourth pitching start of the season. Ohtani just allowed his first earned run of the year his last time out, bringing his ERA entering tonight all the way up to … 0.50. Can the two-way star have literally the greatest season of all time? THE SWITCH-PITCHER WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR Move over, Ohtani. The other baseball unicorn is coming.    That would be Cardinals No. 5 prospect Jurrangelo Cijntje, who is a switch-pitcher.   Yes, Cijntje can pitch with both hands, something that MLB has seen only once in the modern era. The only full-time switch-pitcher in the last 125 years was Pat Venditte, who last pitched in 2020.    Cijntje was focusing on pitching right-handed for a while after the Cards got him in the Brendan Donovan trade with the Mariners in February. But yesterday, the 22-year-old recorded outs as both a righty and lefty in the same game for the first time with his new organization.    The highlight of yesterday's game at Double-A Springfield was Cijntje starting one inning with a strikeout as a right-hander ... then switching sides and inducing a groundout as a left-hander ... then switching back to righty to finish off the frame.  He also induced swinging strikes from both sides of the mound.    We really want to see another switch-pitcher in the Major Leagues, so here's hoping Cijntje keeps it up.  AROUND THE LEAGUE Here are some of the biggest things happening in baseball right now.    • Murakami unstoppable    Munetaka Murakami homered in his fourth straight game yesterday -- tied with Ohtani and Seiya Suzuki for the longest home run streak ever by a Japanese-born player. If Murakami homers again today vs. the D-backs (9:40 p.m. ET, MLB.TV), he'll also tie the MLB rookie record of five straight games with a home run (done 12 times). But he needs a couple more to get into all-time territory.   Murakami's nine homers this season are tied with Aaron Judge for second-most in the Majors, behind only Yordan Alvarez's 11.   • The weirdest first career home run ever?    Staying with the White Sox … you have to see how Sam Antonacci got his first career home run last night. First of all, it was an inside-the-park home run -- the first one in MLB this season. But that's not the weirdest part. The weirdest part is, Antonacci ended up with that inside-the-parker because his line drive down the left-field line was touched by the D-backs ball boy, leading left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to stop chasing the ball as Antonacci circled the bases. But no interference was called on the play, so it wasn't reviewable.   • Cubbies on a roll    Moving to the other side of Chicago … the Cubs have MLB's longest winning streak at seven games after Shota Imanaga dominated the Phillies for a second straight outing. It's been a great bounceback season so far for Imanaga, who has a 2.17 ERA in five starts.   • Back-to-back Big Dumper blasts    Cal Raleigh has now homered in back-to-back games for the Mariners -- one from each side of the plate -- an encouraging sign for MLB's reigning home run king, who's been off to a slow start in 2026. Raleigh hadn't homered in consecutive games since last Sept. 20-21.    "I know the swing is good," Raleigh said yesterday. "It’s the same swing I've had since I was 9 years old."   • Strider looks nasty, and his rehab start was crazy    Braves starter Spencer Strider looked like his old dominant self in a rehab start for Triple-A Gwinnett last night. Strider struck out eight in 4 1/3 scoreless innings while averaging 95.9 mph and touching 98.1 mph with his fastball, which had its best "rising" movement in a long time.    Strider's outing was also just one part of a crazy game: The opposing starter, Braxton Garrett, pitched a no-hitter … or did he? Actually, Garrett threw a complete game and allowed no hits -- but lost, because he allowed two runs on a wild pitch and sac fly.   • Yesavage looming   Blue Jays rookie sensation Trey Yesavage looks like he's almost ready to return after his latest rehab outing at Triple-A. The AL pennant winners can't wait to get Yesavage back from his right shoulder impingement after the 22-year-old right-hander stole the show last October. STREAK TRACKER There are two big streaks going around the Majors right now. We're keeping track of them here.    Shohei Ohtani's on-base streak  Currently at: 53 games  AL/NL record: Ted Williams, 84 games (1949)   Ohtani beat out an infield single in the seventh inning yesterday to extend his on-base streak to 53 consecutive games, tied with Shawn Green in 2000 for the longest by a Dodger since the team moved to Los Angeles. Up next: Duke Snider's franchise record of 58 games set in 1954, when the team was still in Brooklyn.   Mason Miller's scoreless innings streak Currently at: 32 2/3 innings  AL/NL record: Orel Hershiser, 59 innings (1988) Reliever record (Expansion Era): Gregg Olson, 41 innings (1989-90) Miller didn't pitch yesterday, so his streak is still one inning shy of Cla Meredith's franchise record. NOW BATTING, NO. 2 Want a behind-the-scenes look at how Derek Jeter took over New York and became the face of the Yankees and Major League Baseball? Then you have to watch this (mini) movie.    MLB just released "Derek Jeter: The Making of an Icon" on its YouTube channel, a half-hour film looking back at the career of No. 2.    Watch "Derek Jeter: The Making of an Icon" here. © 2026 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. MLB trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of Major League Baseball. Visit MLB.com. Any other marks used herein are trademarks of their respective owners. Please review our Privacy Policy. You (geoffgould.gr8iphone@blogger.com) received this message because you registered to receive commercial email messages from MLB.com. Please add info@marketing.mlbemail.com to your address book to ensure our messages reach your inbox. If you no longer wish to receive commercial email messages from MLB.com, please unsubscribe  or log in and manage your email subscriptions. Postal Address: MLB.com, c/o MLB Advanced Media, L.P., 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.