Inner Half

The third installment of Baseball, Right Now is here. Lots of fun stuff to talk about, so let’s get to it.

Where things stand

2026 MLB Standings after April 19, 2026 games.

Team | Record | Games Back in Division | Run Differential (Runs Scored – Runs Allowed)

AL East:

1. New York Yankees | 13-9 | +28
2. Tampa Bay Rays | 12-9 | -6
3. Baltimore Orioles | 10-12 | -7
4. Toronto Blue Jays | 8-13 | -26
5. Boston Red Sox | 8-13 | -15

AL Central:

1. Cleveland Guardians | 13-10 | 0
2. Detroit Tigers | 12-10 | +19
3. Minnesota Twins | 11-11 | +12
4. Chicago White Sox | 8-14 | -31
5. Kansas City Royals | 7-15 | -32

AL West:

1. Texas Rangers | 11-11 | +10
2. Athletics | 11-11 | -19
3. Los Angeles Angels | 11-12 | +11
4. Seattle Mariners | 10-13 | +6
5. Houston Astros | 8-15 | -19

NL East:

1. Atlanta Braves | 15-7 | +57
2. Miami Marlins | 10-12 | -1
3. Washington Nationals | 10-12 | -13
4. Philadelphia Phillies | 8-13 | -38
5. New York Mets | 7-15 | -25

NL Central:

1. Cincinnati Reds | 14-8 | -8
2. St. Louis Cardinals | 13-8 | -8
3. Pittsburgh Pirates | 13-9 | +25
4. Chicago Cubs | 12-9 | +30
5. Milwaukee Brewers | 12-9 | +19

NL West:

1. Los Angeles Dodgers | 15-6 | +48
2. San Diego Padres | 15-7 | +17
3. Arizona Diamondbacks | 13-9 | -3
4. San Francisco Giants | 9-13 | -21
5. Colorado Rockies | 9-13 | -10

Storylines to know about after a week of baseball

The Mets are in the middle of a historically poor stretch

You never want to write a headline like this about your favorite team, but here we are. It all started when Juan Soto was put on the injured list (IL) on April 6 with a calf strain. Since April 8, two days after the Soto news, the Mets have lost 11 games in a row. Almost immediately, the lineup’s entire dynamic changed.

From Opening Day, March 26, to the Mets’ most recent win, April 7, the Mets conveniently played 11 games to a 7-4 record. The lineup had some promise:

• .249 batting average (AVG) – tied for 8th in MLB
• .330 on-base percentage (OBP) – tied for 9th in MLB
• .380 slugging percentage (SLG) – 11th in MLB
• .711 OPS (OBP + SLG) – 10th in MLB

Since then? It’s not pretty. During their 11-game losing streak, they’ve managed:

• .200 AVG – 27th in MLB
• .239 OBP – Last in MLB
• .289 SLG – Last in MLB
• .528 OPS – Last in MLB

Surely the pitching hasn’t 180’d as bad as the lineup, right? Let’s look. From Opening Day to the team’s most recent win, the pitching staff looked like this:

• 2.54 earned run average (ERA) – 2nd in MLB
  • 3.34 starters’ ERA – 12th in MLB
  • 1.45 bullpen ERA – 2nd in MLB
• 3.17 fielding independent pitching (FIP) – 5th in MLB
  • 3.11 starters’ FIP – 6th in MLB
  • 3.24 bullpen FIP – 7th in MLB
• 1.16 walks + hits per inning pitched (WHIP) – tied for 6th in MLB

During their 11-game losing streak:

• 5.70 ERA – 29th in MLB
  • 5.43 starters’ ERA – 24th in MLB
  • 6.05 bullpen ERA – 27th in MLB
• 4.52 FIP – tied for 18th in MLB
  • 4.68 starters’ FIP – 18th in MLB
  • 4.33 bullpen FIP – 20th in MLB
• 1.42 WHIP – tied for 23rd in MLB

To answer the question: wrong. The pitching staff’s results have flipped as quick as the lineup’s. 

It’s only April, and disciplined fans understand that the MLB season is a rollercoaster that won’t come to a stop until the fall. Teams will get hot, teams will go cold. But should a team that loses 11 in a row feel comfort in the fact that there are plenty of more games to play? That is where this gets sticky. The Mets’ longest losing streak since 2004 tanks them to last place in their NL East division. At 7-15 on the season, 8 games behind the leader, Atlanta, the team should not be in panic mode. 

If you remember from my lessons in sabermetrics, if a player’s (or a team’s, in this case) FIP is better than their ERA, there could be a path towards positive regression. Despite a 5.70 ERA as a pitching staff, the Mets’ expected ERA (xERA takes into account batted ball data like how hard a ball is hit) sits at 4.89. The expected FIP (xFIP normalizes the HR piece of FIP to league average HR rate) of 3.95 is good for 10th in baseball and over half a run better than their true number. The pitching staff could improve.

Offensively, the team’s BABIP sits at .243, third-lowest in baseball. When they do make contact, their hard-hit rate ranks 10th. They can reasonably expect their 7.2% home run-to-fly ball ratio (HR/FB%) that ranks 4th-lowest will normalize, and they’ll hit more home runs. 

At the end of the day, though, Juan Soto’s absence is more than just his bat. Soto adds value in the order and offers protection for hitters like Francisco Lindor. Without Soto looming on deck, pitchers feel more comfortable with the hitter at-bat. 

For the Mets to improve, they need Soto back, they need to be disciplined at the plate, they need their hitters to hit like they have in the past, and they need their pitchers to trust the process. The season just started and there are 140 games remaining. Patience will be key in Queens.

Shohei Ohtani continues doing unbelievable things 

I refuse to downplay the magic of Shohei Ohtani. 

On Sunday, Ohtani reached base safely for the 51st straight game. The last time he didn’t get on base in a baseball game he was in the lineup for was August 23. It’s one more entry in the ever-expanding legend of Shohei Ohtani.

He’s already shattered the previous on-base streak record for Japanese players when he passed Ichiro Suzuki, who had a streak of 42 games in 2009. For good measure, Ohtani broke that record on his bobblehead night. He’s now surpassed Willie Keeler for the third-longest on-base streak in Dodgers’ franchise history, and trails only Shawn Green’s 53-game streak in 2000 and Duke Snider’s 58-game streak in 1954. For context, Snider’s 58-game streak ranks eighth all-time in MLB history. Ted Williams has the record: 84 straight games getting on base in 1949.

The storyline here is the pure consistency and discipline required to achieve such a streak. He’s not just getting lucky, either. The guy is head and shoulders better than everyone else. In addition to getting on base at a .399 clip during the streak, he’s got the 5th-best slugging percentage (.597) among qualified hitters, and the 6th-best OPS (.996). When he hits the ball, he hits the ball. When he makes contact, it’s hard contact or medium contact 92% of the time. 

The moral of the story? Give Shohei his flowers. The most talented baseball player ever just keeps making headlines. Did I mention he had also had a 32.2 inning scoreless streak going as a pitcher until the other day? Yeah…

Mike Trout is must-watch TV again, and it feels good

A 4-game series at Yankee Stadium was the cherry on top to the first few weeks of 2026 for a once-in-a-generation player seemingly lost to the depths of injury-riddled hell. 6 hits, including 5 home runs, off the bat of 34-year-old Mike Trout reminded baseball fans everywhere of the talent that touted him as one of the greatest baseball players ever early on in his career.

Trout became the first visiting player to homer in 4 straight games at Yankee Stadium (opened 2009), tied the all-time record for home runs in a series versus the Yankees, and became the first player to do so on the road, as Jimmie Foxx (1933), Darrell Evans (1985) and George Bell (1990) did it at their home ballparks.

Why is it so sweet to watch Trout turn back the clock? The 3-time MVP hasn’t played more than 130 games in a season since 2019. He’s battled injury after injury, while not seeing on-field success as an organization with the Angels. Yet, he’s persisted and moved forward all the more. Playing for a team that hasn’t reached the playoffs since 2014 (despite having Shohei Ohtani for 6 seasons), Trout has re-ignited a franchise that has its sights on turning their fortunes around.

With a .980 OPS through 22 games and playing the most difficult outfield position in center field, Trout has shown that he never truly lost the talent we used to all marvel at. Misfortune and injuries have just attempted to knock him off his path. What’s really interesting is that Trout is still tinkering with his mechanics at the plate, despite his already long and proven career in the majors. He’s stepping back and straight into his load-up to eventually swing, a change that’s helped him raise his average exit velocity up 2 miles per hour this year versus last. Already a disciplined hitter that rarely chases and totals an elite number of walks per year, Trout has lowered his 2025 strikeout rate (32.0%) to just 18.6%, and raised his elite 15.8% barrel rate to a 99th-percentile 25.9%. Silly stuff from the Kid.

Father Time is undefeated, as we know. Whether Trout can stay healthy is the key here. That, and whether the Angels can put a team around their Hall of Famer that sees on-field success.

3 things to watch for in the next 2 weeks

NL Central quality: In a surprise development, the NL Central is the best division in baseball… so far. The only division with all of its teams over .500, the NL Central has an overall record of 64-43, good for a .598 winning percentage. 3-time defending division champs, the Milwaukee Brewers, are currently in last place at 12-9. Some great stories are forming from this division already, including the young Pirates team gunning for postseason experience and the St. Louis Cardinals, who are surprisingly competing so far for a number of reasons including the potential breakout from former top prospect Jordan Walker. For the next two weeks, I urge you to throw on a game or two featuring an NL Central team because the truth is, they all have energy and are all fun to watch.

Juan Soto’s return: If you read my analysis on the Mets above, you know that Juan Soto is a major missing piece of a struggling lineup. As a Mets fan, I’ll be watching as always, but if you are interested in tracking the Mets’ performance with and without Soto (and want to be convinced of the extra value he adds just being in the lineup), keep an eye out for news of his return, which could come as soon as the Mets homestand this week (beginning Tuesday, 4/21) against the Twins. 

Ohtani’s record chase: I’ll be keeping a close eye on this. Ohtani’s on-base streak sits at 51 games, meaning he needs 8 more games in a row of reaching base safely to break Duke Snider’s franchise record. If he’s in the lineup for the next 8 games, the record-breaking night could be scheduled for May 1 vs St. Louis.