Roto Riteup: May 28, 2026
Hey look, it’s your dad up there!
Freddie Freeman was trying to get Kyle Karros to look at his dad, Eric Karros, in the Dodgers broadcast booth.
Kyle didn’t give in 🤣 pic.twitter.com/cAW4XnHkcl
— MLB (@MLB) May 26, 2026
On the Agenda:
- Closer Chaos
- Quick Hits
- Various News and Notes
- Streaming Pitchers
Closer Chaos
There was no way that Brewers manager Pat Murphy was giving Abner “The Chopper” Uribe the save chance on Wednesday. Trevor Megill got it done in a scoreless ninth, his sixth of the season. I believe Megill will continue to earn the bulk of opportunities until he starts getting shellacked again or goes on the IL.
Tigers closer Kenley Jansen was pulled from Wednesday’s game due to a right groin injury. Jansen had missed a few games due to that same injury (as well as a minor abdomen injury) last week, and this time, he may just go on the IL. Kyle Finnegan would step up for ninth-inning duties should that happen.
Mets closer Devin Williams hasn’t been the same since his Brewers heyday. After some rough outings lately, he bounced back with a save against the Reds on Wednesday. It was no smooth sailing. Though he punched out three batters, he also issued three free passes.
Enyel De Los Santos earned his fourth save on Wednesday. Bryan King appeared in the bottom of the eighth, served up Joc Pederson’s second dinger of the evening, and was pulled for EDLS who got the five outs necessary to shut the Rangers down. None of it really matters from a chaos perspective with Josh Hader expected to return next week.
Quick Hits
Rookie slugger Munetaka Murakami is the first to reach 20 homers in the American League.
No rookie hitter has that many home runs before June 1 in MLB history.
Just stay healthy, buddy. Yordan Alvarez hit two massive bombs on Wednesday, his fifth in the last three games.
Yordan is up to 20 HR as well, tied with Murakami for the league lead. He just happened to hit his 20th about an hour after Murakami.
This Land is Yourdroth, this Land is Meidroth. Before I get to California and the New York island, I’ll keep you from additional cringeworthy Dadisms since I come up with sensical lyrics that end in froth or broth. Anyway, Chase Meidroth hit a grand slam:
The White Sox piled up 15 runs on the Twins, including six on first-year southpaw, Connor Prielipp.
So many exciting things on Wednesday, but tops among them may have been NL Cy Young favorite Cristopher Sánchez extending his scoreless streak to 41.2 innings and breaking a 115-year-old Phillies record. That record of 41 innings was held by Grover Cleveland Alexander. Sánchez pulled his ERA down to a microscopic 1.48, though his WHIP remains above 1.00 (1.12).
Various News and Notes
Otto Lopez went 4-for-4 in a “revenge game” against his old club, the Blue Jays. He remains the league leader in hits and surged his batting average up to .342.
In that same game, Marlins pitcher Eury Perez was cruising with nine punchouts in four innings, but hurt his right hamstring stretching before the fifth and was pulled from the contest. He will undergo imaging on Thursday.
Casey Mize was removed from Wednesday’s contest with the Angels five innings before their closer, Jansen. It was also related to his right groin. We will await word of his status on Thursday.
Josh Hader is getting close to making his 2026 debut for the Astros. He is expected to make appearances for Triple-A Sugar Land over the next couple of days and get the call in the beginning of June.
Perhaps, it’s the end of the road for veteran hitter Andrew McCutchen, who was designated for assignment on Wednesday. The short-side platoon DH was ironically replaced on the roster by 31-year-old infielder, Nicky Lopez.
Streaming Pitchers (Under 50% on Yahoo)
Pitchers for Today: N/A
There are only six games on Thursday and one of them (ATL vs. BOS) might be foiled by rain. Almost all of the starters are over 50% rostered. Those who aren’t, aren’t for a reason! Jack Flaherty (48%) has been an unmitigated disaster lately, unable to complete four innings in five of his last seven starts. We never know which Angels offense shows up and I’d rather err on the side of caution by not streaming Flaherty. Crazy enough, I’d go with Grayson Rodriguez against a subpar Tigers offense, even though the Tigers are home favorites and will be loaded with lefty bats.
Pitchers for Tomorrow: Stephen Kolek, KC (16%) at TEX
He will have to get by on guile, deception and sequencing mastery because Kolek doesn’t have amazing stuff. Kolek sure does know how to pitch and continues to prove it, most recently, firing a CGSO against the Mariners. The Rangers are still without their two best hitters (Corey Seager, Wyatt Langford) and are among the league’s worst in most offensive categories.
Other Pitchers: Bailey Ober, MIN (43%) at PIT
A matchup against the home Pirates isn’t what it used to be and Ober has been shaky lately, so I’m not as confident in this one as I am with Kolek.
Vlad writes for RotoGraphs and is the head of fantasy baseball content at FTN Fantasy. He is a Tout Wars Expert League champ, member of the CDM Fantasy Sports Hall of Fame and has been nominated for FSWA writing awards six times. Vlad has been playing fantasy baseball since 1995, winning 42 NFBC leagues since 2012 and ranking in the top percentile in NFBC’s Online Championship contest (33% win rate, 52% cash rate; 64 leagues). Much to the chagrin of his colleagues and most baseball aficionados, Vlad is a lifelong Dodgers fan who claims his first gut call at age 9 was Kirk Gibson’s 1988 World Series home run. You can follow him on X and BlueSky @RotoGut.
While there were some articles posted the moment the streak crosse 41.0 IP, Sanchez’s streak was up 44.2 IP by the end of the game.