MLB Player News

The moves leave Kody Clemens and Buddy Kennedy fighting for the final spot on Philadelphia’s season-opening bench. There are some notable names here, but Stevenson, Arroyo and Mercado are merely emergency depth at this stage of their respective careers.

Ohtani has his first stolen base of the 2025 season. After swiping 59 last year, we’re going to guess he probably picks up a couple more; although he may not run as often this year with his return to the mound likely coming over the summer. Still, the power/speed combination remains elite. Elite is an understatement.

Smith took Brant Hurter deep for his first homer of the 2025 season. The 30-year-old is coming off a lackluster — at least by his standards — 2024 campaign, but he’s now hitting .417/.588/.750 over the first five games. A small sample to be sure, but nice to see regardless.

Edman already has three homers on the season with his solo shot in the Dodgers’ fifth-straight win to open 2025. The 29-year-old looked fantastic to end the 2024 campaign for Los Angeles, and he’s obviously off to a nice start to this campaign.

Freeman tied the game at 2-2 with a two-run blast in the first, and it was all Dodgers from that point on. The 35-year-old has already gone deep twice, and the Los Angeles lineup is going to give him plenty of chances to drive in runs. Freeman remains an elite option at the first base position.

Olson was handed a two-run cushion in the first inning, but immediately gave it up on a two-run shot in the first. He was solid over the next three innings, but a two-run double by Teoscar Hernandez turned a decent outing into a mediocre one. The Dodgers are hard to pitch to. Olson should have more success next week against the White Sox.

Sasaki just couldn’t find the strike zone Saturday, and needed 41 pitches to get through the first inning. He walked two in that frame, and two more free passes saw him pulled for Jack Dreyer. The good news — outside of it being incredibly early in the season — is that Sasaki did generate six swings and misses, and the stuff continues to look promising. He just clearly needs to make an adjustment to find the strike zone more consistently. His next chance will likely come over the weekend against the Phillies.

Thankfully for the Cubs and fantasy managers, Pressly was given a three-run lead. He needed all of them, as he gave up a two-run homer to Eugenio Suárez with no one out. He gave up another hit later in the frame, but he was able to escape with the save. Pressly has not looked good early on, but he should continue to see the save chances for Chicago.

Imanaga allowed two walks and struck out four. It was another impressive outing for the southpaw, and he’s allowed just a run over his first 11 innings to begin the 2025 campaign. The second-year starter isn’t going to pile up the strikeouts, but he’s a very difficult hitter to square up, and hitters have had fits picking up the baseball to start back-to-back season. He’s scheduled to face the Padres on Sunday.

Pfaadt struck out five and walked just one. Two of those runs allowed came on the first ever Cubs homer for Kyle Tucker, but outside of that the right-hander pitched well. He just didn’t get much run support with Shota Imanaga pitching sensationally over seven innings. Pfaadt will get the Nationals on Friday if the D-Backs stick with their current rotation order.

What a start to the season it’s been for Suárez. That makes homers in three-straight games, and he’s now up to four with a two-homer outburst Friday. There have been very few better power sources at third base than he has, and he’s off to a special start to the 2025 campaign.