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What’s Happening in Baseball Today
The First Pitch: April 10, 2026
It takes 12 innings, but the Padres pin down the visiting Rockies, 7-3, ending Colorado’s four-game winning streak on a Xander Bogaerts (see below) grand slam—the latest hit in the majors since 2019.
Helping to keep the Padres alive is closer Mason Miller, who strikes out all three Rockies he faces in the top of the ninth. Miller’s numbers have been borderline insane to start the year; in six appearances, he has struck out 16 of the 21 batters he’s faced—otherwise allowing no runs on a hit and walk. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg to an extended streak going back to his last game allowing a run, back on August 5. Since then, Miller has the majors’ longest active streak of consecutive scoreless innings (27.2), allowing just five hits, walking 10, and striking out 58.
The average major league salary at the start of the 2026 season is up 3.4% from the same time last year, according to analysis conducted by the Associated Press. It has risen 28% since the current Basic Agreement between owners and players was agreed to in 2022; that pact expires at the end of this year.
The median salary—the point at which half the players make more money, the other half less—rises to $1.4 million, but is still lower than its peak of $1.65 million from 10 years ago.
Another alarming fact revealed by the AP’s study is that there are three more teams this season with payrolls below $100 million, reflecting a widening gap in spending among franchises. At the top, the Mets have the highest payroll at $352 million, followed by the Dodgers at $316 million. That may be surprising for those who believe that the Dodgers throw money at everyone, but remember that $76 million is being deferred to a future date.
On the flip side, the lowest season-starting payroll belongs to the Cleveland Guardians with a $62 million budget—$40 million lower than last year.
It’s not a financial cataclysm for the Angels on a par with some of their disastrous, much larger contracts of the past handed out to Anthony Rendon, Josh Hamilton and Vernon Wells, but it’s just as embarrassing. In 2024, the Angels signed reliever Robert Stephenson to a three-year, $33 million deal which many at the time (including us) considered quite an over-expenditure given Stephenson’s rather mediocre career numbers to that point. Performance is one thing, but availability is another—and Stephenson couldn’t even deliver on the latter premise, missing the entire 2024 season as he underwent elbow ligament surgery. He managed to make the mound in 2025, but only for 12 appearances as more elbow issues flared up.
Now, Stephenson is going to miss the entirety of the 2026 campaign. Reason? You guessed it—a torn ligament and flexor tendon in his pitching elbow. And so, the Angels will have paid this guy $33 million for all of 12 relief assignments.
There is a clause in the contract that allows for a fourth-year, $2.5 million team option should Stephenson miss more than 130 straight days for exactly the kind of injury he suffered.
Memo to Angels: Don’t bother.
Congrats, Your Box Score Line Was the Best (Hitters Edition)
6-2-2-4—Xander Bogaerts, San Diego
Okay, so put an asterisk on his effort because much of his damage came after the ninth inning. But on an otherwise quiet day in baseball with just four other games being played—and no one doing anything particularly impressive at the plate—Bogaerts is our guy. His two runs—one representing the dreaded gift runner—came in extras, but his big blow came at the end with his ninth career grand slam, capping a 7-3, 12-inning win over the Rockies.
Congrats, Your Box Score Line Was the Best (Pitchers Edition)
7-1-0-0-2-6—Jeffrey Springs, Athletics
It doesn’t matter if it’s Sacramento or the Bronx—the 33-year-old lefty has been a pain to opponents from the mound. He saved his best-so-far for the high-powered Yankees, keeping them hitless one out into seventh before Ben Rice finally poked out a single. Springs finished the inning and got two frames of scoreless support from the bullpen to complete the A’s first 1-0 shutout of the Yankees at New York since 1972.
It Was Whatever-Something Years Ago Today
1947: It’s official: Jackie Robinson is a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers after the team buys out his contract from top minor-league affiliate Montreal. He will still need to be approved, officially or otherwise, by his teammates, other major league owners—and more traumatically, opposing players and fans armed with vocal racist bark.
1962: Dodger Stadium hosts its first regular season game with the visiting Reds spoiling the occasion, defeating Johnny Podres and the Dodgers 6-3 before a crowd of 52,564.
1977: The Indians and Red Sox take a 3-3 tie into the eighth inning; one inning later, the Indians will be leading, 16-9—notching 13 of a modern major league-record 19 total runs in one inning. Cleveland will add three more “insurance” runs in the ninth to prevail, 19-9.
1979: Astros pitcher J.R. Richard goes the distance in defeating the Dodgers at Houston, 2-1—but in the process throws six wild pitches to set a modern (post-1900) major league record. The Braves’ Phil Niekro will tie the mark later in the year.
2003: After 820 consecutive sellouts at Fenway Park, the Red Sox fail to sell all their seats in an 8-5 loss to the Orioles. The streak remains an all-time pro sports record, having eclipsed by six the former mark held by basketball’s Portland Trail Blazers.
2023: Texas pitcher Andrew Heaney strikes out nine straight Royals during an 11-2 home win. Heaney will strike out just one other batter for a total of 10 over five innings of work. It’s the third time that an AL pitcher has racked up nine straight Ks.
You Say It’s Your Birthday
Happy birthday to:
Texas slugger Jake Burger (30)
Chris Heston (38) brief pitcher of 13 wins—one of them a 2015 no-hitter
Corey Kluber (40), two-time Cy Young Award winner; maned to three All-Star rosters; career 116-77 record
Andre Ethier (44), outfielder of 1,367 hits including 162 home runs; two-time All-Star
Ken Griffey (76), 19-year outfielder with career .296 batting average on 2,143 hits; three-time All-Star; homered in same game as his teammate and namesake son in 1990 game
Lee Lacy (78), outfielder and pinch hitter over 16 seasons, collecting 1,303 hits and 185 steals
Born on this date:
Bob Watson (1946), two-time All-Star first baseman with career .295 batting average; credited for scoring baseball’s one-millionth run in 1975 (your count may vary)
Frank Lary (1930), two-time 20-game winner for the Tigers; three-time league leader in innings thrown
Chuck Connors (1921) brief major league first baseman before embarking on much more successful career as Hollywood actor
Ross Youngs (1897), talented Giants outfielder who succumbed to Bright’s disease at age 30; career .322 batting average over 10 seasons
Shameless Link of the Day
Where does the longstanding Dodgers infield of Steve Garvey, Bill Russell, Ron Cey and the late Davey Lopes rank on our list of baseball’s 10 most inseparable pairings? Find out here.
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