It's a condition that Polanco has dealt with since the second game of the regular season. The Mets have tried to accommodate Polanco by having him start as the DH to get him off his feet, and it seemed to be working, but playing in Thursday's loss set the veteran infielder back.

"Better today, but after the game last night, he was sore," manager Carlos Mendoza said before Friday's game. "That’s why we decided to give him the first half of the game off. And see how he was going to feel this morning. Luckily, in a better place."

With the up-and-down nature of how Polanco has been feeling, Mendoza was asked if he's concerned, and the Mets skipper downplayed it a bit. 

"I’m not going to say concerned, it’s a day-to-day [situation]," he said. "He’s got days where he feels it more. For the past couple of days, he was in a pretty good place until last night. We’ll have to continue to monitor it. He’s getting a lot of treatment. Trainers are working really hard with it. As of right now, it’s day-to-day type deal, and we’ll go from there.

"He’s going to have some good days and out of nowhere, he’s going to start feeling it. And that’s what happened last night."

With Polanco DHing, Mark Vientos and Jared Young have started at first base. But with Polanco out of the lineup altogether, that's allowed Brett Baty to man first base with Vientos starting at DH for the second game of the team's four-game set in San Francisco. 

So far this season, Polanco is 4-for-23 across six games. 

Carlos Mendoza says that Jorge Polanco is feeling "better today" as he deals with Achilles tendonitis pic.twitter.com/d2ZP6YhmZH

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 4, 2026

First, the 2026 Yankees are good enough to win the World Series. Second, it is way too soon to say so.

Because even if their season falls apart for one reason or another, few teams can win the way the Yankees did Friday -- let alone the way they have been winning all week, against strong opponents and struggling ones alike.

Consider this: On Friday, sophomore righty Will Warren forced his Yankees to suffer through the worst start they’ve endured all season. The torture included all of two runs on four hits in 5.2 innings that required just 77 pitches. He struck out six and did not walk a batter. Their starters’ ERA bloated to an unwieldy 0.92 in seven games – four earned runs, 41 strikeouts.

“They’re just dictating the at-bat, I feel like. They’re getting ahead. They’re working all their pitches on the corners,” Yankee captain Aaron Judge said. “Those guys, if you get in good counts against hitters, it’s a tough at-bat. So them getting ahead 0-1, 0-2, just putting the pressure on guys at-bat after at-bat, it’s tough for an offense to kind of get rolling when that happens.”

According to researcher Sarah Langs, only two teams have allowed as few runs (eight) in the first seven games of their season as these Yankees: The 2002 San Francisco Giants and the 1993 Atlanta Braves. One of those teams played in the World Series. And the other was building what would become one of the best starting rotations of the modern era.

But while the sample might be small, the relevant context is immense: The rotation making that history does not include its most proven ace, Gerrit Cole, or his fellow top-of-the-rotation anchor Carlos Rodon, both of whom are working their way back from injuries. When they do, Warren -- the man who started more games as a rookie in 2025 than any Yankee pitcher had in decades – will slide into the fifth spot in their rotation.

Now, of course, no pitcher looks the same after a major injury, at least not at first. And Warren or fellow youngster Cam Schlittler could regress – their track records aren’t long enough to call either of them sure things.

Still, the thing that makes the Yankees hopeful that running things back will actually push them deeper into October is the potential for the opposite effect: With expanded pitch arsenals and jumps in velocity, respectively, both Schlittler and Warren look capable of taking steps forward in 2026.

The same could be true for first baseman Ben Rice – though again, no decisions should be made after one productive season and one solid opening week.

Rice, who struck out in his first three at-bats Friday, was so flustered by the experience that he homered in the seventh before doubling in the eighth. He is hitting .409 with a 1.364 OPS.

“I think Benny can really hit,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said when asked if Rice could be one of the best hitters in baseball this year. “I think he’s a middle-of-the-order hitter. I think he will be for a long time.”

If Rice can duplicate or improve on the 26 homers he hit last season, the Yankees will once again be the kind of power-heavy lineup it has been for several years. But between homers from Rice and Judge on Friday, they displayed another weapon they have not always had in that time: Team speed and aggressive baserunning.

Almost every Yankee who had a chance to run did so Friday, but the speedsters in the back half of the lineup never stopped. Jazz Chisholm Jr. walked, stole second, then stole third before scoring in the second inning. Jose Cabellero stole second both times he reached first. After Chisholm Jr. doubled and tagged on a routine fly ball to right field in the third inning, Caballero tried to squeeze him home with a two-out bunt. Cabellero and Chisholm Jr. combined to steal 80 bases in 2025. They have seven between them in seven games this year.

But even Yankees less known for speed pushed the limits against a Marlins battery not known for controlling the running game. Judge stole a base. Austin Wells (successful) and Trent Grisham (unsuccessful, but only because his momentum carried him off third base) attempted to tag on balls hit in front of them. Yankees runners were in motion, and they scored an extra run or two because of it.

“I think we became that in the second half of last season, where night in and night out we were rolling a good amount of speed and some athletes out there to where that slowly became a little more of our identity,” Boone said. “Obviously, having a lot of the same group now, we have a handful of guys who can really push it in the run game.”

Now, of course, in small samples like this one, winning can camouflage mediocrity. A very similar Yankees bunch was not exactly a baserunning model in 2025 (According to Baseball Savant, only two teams generated fewer runs by taking the extra base than the Yankees did in 2025, though they did create more runs via stolen base than all but four.)

“Guys laying down bunts, guys moving runners over, guys taking the extra base when they can,” Judge said. “It’s just little things like that that if we do that over 162 and into the postseason, good things are going to happen.”

Maybe this is just one of those halcyon weeks when everything is going right. Then again, few teams have the talent to make things go this right, across three cities, in less-than-ideal weather conditions, with two of their best starting pitchers injured and…

Nevermind. Best to be reasonable. It is, after all, way too soon to tell.

During Friday's WNBA expansion draft, the newly-formed Toronto Tempo selected Nyara Sabally with their second pick (fourth overall). 

The Liberty and the other organizations could only protect five players for this draft, which was one fewer than last year's. The Valkyries selected Kayla Thornton away from New York last year. 

Like Thornton before her, the loss of Sabally is significant. The 6-foot-5 center was drafted No. 5 overall in the 2022 draft and averaged 3.9 points and 3.3 rebounds across 76 games (10 starts) with the Liberty. However, her performance in Game 5 of the 2024 WNBA Finals will forever be remembered by the fanbase.

Sabally posted 13 points and seven rebounds while shooting 5-for-7 from the field. Her steal in overtime helped the Liberty secure the first championship in franchise history. 

Liberty GM Jonathan Kolb released a statement following Sabally's selection.

“Saying goodbye to Nyara is extremely difficult, especially knowing the impact she has had within our organization and the lasting legacy she leaves with this franchise," Kolb wrote. "From the moment she arrived in 2022, Nyara brought professionalism, humility, and a true team‑first mindset, quickly becoming a valued part of our locker room and Liberty family. Her performance in Game 5 of the 2024 WNBA Finals will forever be part of Liberty history and was pivotal in delivering our first championship. We are grateful for everything she gave to this team and excited to see her step into an expanded role in the next chapter of her career with Toronto.”

The Tempo's selection of Sabally makes sense considering Sandy Brondello is the head coach for the organization's inaugural season. Brondello, of course, coached the Liberty for four seasons (2022-25), including the organization's championship year. 

In addition, the Tempo also acquired the player rights to Liberty prospect Adja Kane. The center was selected by the Liberty with the No. 38 overall pick in the 2025 draft. The French native spent the 2025-26 season with Landerneau Bretagne Basket in the French LFB, averaging 6.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game in 19 regular season contests.

April, 3, 7:05 p.m.

It looked as if the Knicks were completely healthy heading into Friday's game against the Bulls, but things changed suddenly.

Karl-Anthony Towns was listed as questionable with a right elbow impingement, and shortly before tip, the team ruled him out for the game.

Mitchell Robinson will start in Towns' place.

Towns is coming off a game where he recorded his second triple-double as a Knick in the team's win over the Grizzlies on Wednesday night.

April 1, 7:01 p.m.

After initially being listed as questionable with right ankle soreness, Jalen Brunson has been ruled out by the Knicks for Wednesday's matchup with the Memphis Grizzlies.

Brunson joins Miles McBride (core muscle injury management) and Mitchell Robinson (load management) on the bench, leaving New York shorthanded and with few options to turn to for the second game of a back-to-back following Tuesday's loss to the Houston Rockets.

Jose Alvarado will likely be inserted into the starting five as the point guard, alongside Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and Karl-Anthony Towns.

March 21, 5:50 p.m.

The latest NBA injury report has Landry Shamet (knee) as out for Sunday's game against the Washington Wizards. Shamet exited Friday's win against the Nets with right knee soreness.

Josh Hart (knee), who missed Friday's game in Brooklyn, is questionable as he continues to manage his knee injury.

Shamet took Hart's place in the starting lineup against the Nets. If Hart is unable to play, Jose Alvarado could see himself inserted into the starting five. When Shamet exited the game against Brooklyn, Alvarado was the second guard on the floor with the starters. 

March 19, 5:25 p.m.

The Knicks officially ruled Josh Hart (knee) out for Friday's game against the Nets. Hart missed two games during the Knicks' West Coast road trip earlier this month with knee soreness. 

Jalen Brunson, who missed the Knicks' win against the Pacers on Tuesday with neck soreness, is off the injury report and is set to return to the lineup when they take on the cross-town rivals.

March 17, 6:05 p.m.

The Knicks ruled Jalen Brunson (ankle) out for Tuesday's game against the Pacers. Coach Mike Brown confirmed Jose Alvarado will take Brunson's place in the starting lineup. This is the first time Brunson has missed a game due to injury since Jan. 17. 

In addition, Brown said that Mitchell Robinson will play after being questionable with a back injury.

Feb. 11, 1:30 p.m.

The Knicks have ruled out OG Anunoby for Wednesday night's game at the Philadelphia 76ers.

Anunoby has been out of the lineup since playing 48 minutes in the double-OT win over the Nuggets on Feb. 4 with a toenail avulsion on his right foot.

New York will have Mitchell Robinson available for the game against the Sixers after the big man missed the first game of the Knicks back-to-back, a disappointing OT defeat to the Indiana Pacers.

Feb. 8, 11:00 a.m.

The Knicks will remain shorthanded on Sunday in Boston, but they are getting two big pieces back.

Karl-Anthony Towns (eye laceration) and Josh Hart (ankle) are set to play while OG Anunoby (toe) will remain out. 

Towns and Anunoby missed Friday's game in Detroit with their respective injuries.

Hart was forced to leave that loss early with his.

New York will also have Jose Alvarado available for the first time after he passed his physical.

Feb. 7, 5:20 p.m.

The Knicks are listing Josh Hart (ankle), Karl-Anthony Towns (eye laceration), and OG Anunoby (toe) as questionable for Sunday afternoon's game against the Boston Celtics, the team announced.

Towns and Anunoby missed Friday night's loss to the Pistons, during which Hart sustained an injury that saw him exit the game in the third quarter.

New York will have Jose Alvarado available for the first time since adding the guard in a trade before this week's deadline. 

Feb. 6, 7:02 p.m.

The Knicks will be without star Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby on Friday night in Detroit against the Pistons, per the NY Post's Stefan Bondy.

Towns was previously listed as doubtful with an eye laceration, while Anunoby was a game-time decision due to right toe soreness.

The good news for New York is that Josh Hart will be active after missing Wednesday's 2OT win over the Denver Nuggets.

Feb. 6, 1:10 p.m.

It appears the Knicks will be a bit shorthanded when they head to Detroit on Friday night. 

Karl-Anthony Towns has been downgraded to doubtful with an eye laceration suffered Wednesday, and OG Anunoby is being listed as questionable with right toe soreness. 

Additionally, Jose Alvarado is not yet with the team, as he and Dalen Terry still need to pass their physicals. 

On a more positive note, Josh Hart is now being listed as probable after missing Wednesday's game with an ankle sprain. 

Hart was originally questionable, but he's already been upgraded hours before tipoff. 

New York is looking to push its winning streak to nine games against the Eastern Conference leaders.  

Feb. 5, 4:15 p.m.

The Knicks could be a bit short-handed when they take on the Pistons on Friday night. 

The team is listing Karl-Anthony-Towns (eye laceration) and Josh Hart (left ankle) as questionable, while OG Anunoby (toe soreness) is probable to play. 

Hart did not play on Wednesday night against the Denver Nuggets, the same game in which Towns played through a cut above his eye.

Miles McBride (core muscle surgery) is also out, and likely won't be able to return until the playoffs. 

Feb. 4, 5:25 p.m.

The Knicks are once again dealing with a thin backcourt, as head coach Mike Brown revealed guards Josh Hart and Miles McBride are unavailable for Wednesday's home game against the Nuggets with ankle injuries.

Hart suffered a left ankle sprain during the third quarter of Tuesday's road win over the Wizards, as cameras caught him hobbling to the locker room. While the severity of his injury is still unknown, the veteran missed a handful of games earlier this season due to a right ankle issue.

As for McBride, who last played on Jan. 27 against the Kings, he's about to miss a fifth straight game. He's averaged 12.9 points across 35 games this season, shooting a career-best 42 percent from three.

The good news is rookie Mohamed Diawara, who also exited Tuesday's win early with an ankle injury, will be active on Wednesday. 

Feb. 2, 5:00 p.m.

The Knicks' depth will be tested against the Wizards on Tuesday night, as Miles McBride and Mitchell Robinson have already been ruled out due to left ankle injury management.

McBride, who last played on Jan. 27 against the Kings, will be unavailable for a fourth straight game. The fifth-year guard has averaged 12.9 points across 35 games this season, shooting a career-best 42 percent from three.

As for Robinson, his absence is more precautionary with a back-to-back slate ahead. He racked up seven rebounds and one block (23 minutes) in Sunday's win over the Lakers, and SNY NBA Insider Ian Begley reports he's likely to return to action on Wednesday against the Nuggets.

Jan. 31, 6:30 p.m.

New York ruled out Miles McBride (left ankle injury management) for Sunday's primetime game against the Los Angeles Lakers, per the team's Saturday injury report.

It will be the third straight game that McBride has missed, last playing on Jan. 27 against the Sacramento Kings. Over 35 games this season, McBride is averaging 12.9 points per game and shooting 42 percent from three.

Despite his absence the past two games, the Knicks have extended their winning streak to five games after a rough 2-9 stretch

Jan. 28 1:36 p.m.

The Knicks will be without Miles McBride (left ankle management) and Mitchell Robinson (left ankle management) when they take on the Raptors in Toronto on Wednesday night in the second game of a back-to-back.

McBride played 30 minutes in Tuesday's win over the Kings, scoring nine points. Robinson also played against Sacramento, scoring seven points with 13 rebounds (six offensive) over 27 minutes of action.

Additionally, Josh Hart is being listed as questionable due to right ankle soreness.

Jan. 24, 2:36 p.m.

After the Knicks designated Karl-Anthony Towns as questionable with back spasms, the team announced just before Saturday's tip with the 76ers that the big man will indeed play.

Philly upgraded Paul George (knee) and Joel Embiid (ankle) as available for Saturday's game.

Jan. 23, 6:20 p.m.

The latest NBA injury report was updated and Knicks big man Karl-Anthony Towns is listed as questionable for Saturday's game against the 76ers.

New York is citing thoracic back spasms as the reason for Towns' designation.

As for Philly, Paul George (knee) and Joel Embiid (ankle) are listed as probable for the big showdown between Eastern Conference rivals. 

Jan. 19, 3:35 p.m.

Fresh off being named an All-Star starter for the second straight year, Jalen Brunson (right ankle sprain) will be back in action on Monday when the Knicks take on the Dallas Mavericks, head coach Mike Brown said.

Brunson has missed most of New York's last three games, all losses, after spraining his ankle in the first quarter against the Sacramento Kings last Wednesday.

Josh Hart (right ankle soreness) will also return to the court on Monday after sitting out Saturday's loss to the Phoenix Suns.

Jan. 18 5:20 p.m.

Jalen Brunson (right ankle sprain) and Josh Hart (right ankle soreness) are both being listed as questionable for Monday's game against the Dallas Mavericks.

The former college teammates did not play on Saturday night in a loss to the Phoenix Suns.

Brunson has already missed 2-plus games since suffering the injury on Wednesday against the Sacramento Kings, as the Knicks have dropped their last three straight contests.

Jan. 17, 5:58 p.m.

After initially being listed as questionable, Knicks head coach Mike Brown ruled out Josh Hart (ankle) and Jalen Brunson (ankle) for Saturday's game against the Suns.

Jan. 17, 1:15 p.m.

The Knicks are listing Josh Hart as questionable for Saturday's game against the Phoenix Suns due to right ankle soreness.

Hart has played in New York's past three games after missing eight games with an ankle injury suffered on Christmas Day. The team went 3-5 in his absence.

He's averaging 12.1 points, 7.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 1.3 steals per game over 31 contests this season.

Jalen Brunson (ankle) is also questionable for Saturday night and still listed as day-to-day after suffering a right ankle sprain against the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday. He did not play in Thursday's loss to the Golden State Warriors.

Jan. 15, 8:20 p.m.

The Knicks will be without Jalen Brunson on Thursday, but they will receive reinforcement in the rotation.

Landry Shamet has officially been ruled available for the meeting with the Warriors.  

Shamet's been out since Nov. 22 with a shoulder injury, but he's been working his way back and was officially upgraded to questionable heading into the matchup. 

It's unclear whether or not he'll be on a minutes restriction, but his return is certainly a welcome sight. 

Shamet was averaging 9.3 points on 45 percent shooting from the field in 15 games prior to the injury.

Jan. 10, 5:00 p.m.

Josh Hart (ankle) has been upgraded to questionable for Sunday's game against the Portland Trail Blazers.

The wing has not played since Christmas Day, missing the past eight games.

New York has gone 3-5 without him, including dropping five of their last six games.

Jan. 6, 5:20 p.m.

The latest Knicks injury report lists Josh Hart and Landry Shamet as out for Wednesday's tip against the Clippers at MSG.

Hart (ankle) will miss his seventh consecutive game, in which the Knicks are 2-4 in his absence. SNY's Ian Begley said on The Putback that Hart is "close" to coming back. The team had said last week that they would re-evaluate Hart in a week, and it seems enough progress hasn't been made.

After Wednesday's game, the Knicks travel west to take on the Suns in Phoenix on Friday.

Jan. 3, 2026, 1:41 p.m.

The Knicks are listing Karl-Anthony Towns as questionable for Saturday night's game against the visiting Philadelphia 76ers due to illness. Towns missed Friday night's defeat to the Atlanta Hawks with the same ailment.

Mitchell Robinson (ankle injury management) is off the injury report for Saturday after not playing the previous night.

Josh Hart (shoulder) is making improvements, but remains out alongside Landry Shamet (shoulder). 

Dec. 30, 10:27 p.m.

Mitchell Robinson (ankle injury management) is out for Wednesday's game against the San Antonio Spurs.

New York's big man is one of three players who have been listed as out for the NBA Cup rematch on New Year's Eve. Robinson joins Josh Hart (right ankle sprain) and Landry Shamet (shoulder) as those unavailable for the game.

Tyler Kolek (right ankle soreness) is listed as probable, while Ariel Hukporti (lip laceration) is questionable for Wednesday's game.

Dec. 27, 6:10 p.m.

On the last injury report ahead of Saturday's tip against the Hawks, the Knicks listed Miles McBride (ankle) as out.

McBride was listed as questionable as recently as Friday, but it seems the guard will miss his eighth game.

Dec. 26, 3:42 p.m.

The Knicks will be without forward Josh Hart when they play the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday. The forward left the Christmas Day win over Cleveland in the fourth quarter and has been diagnosed with an ankle sprain. 

But there was some good news: reserve guard Miles McBride (ankle) has been upgraded to questionable. That's an indication that he is very close to making a return to the court after missing the last seven games.

Landry Shamet (shoulder) remains sidelined.

Dec. 22, 4:20 p.m.

The Knicks will be short-handed on Tuesday night in Minnesota against the Timberwolves.

Jalen Brunson (right ankle management), OG Anunoby (left ankle soreness), and Guerschon Yabusele (illness) are all listed as out.

Additionally, Miles McBride (ankle), Landry Shamet (shoulder), and Pacôme Dadiet (G-League assignment) will remain out as well.

New York has gone 2-1 since winning the NBA Cup last Tuesday and face a hot Minnesota squad, winners of four out of their last five games.

Dec. 19, 5:25 p.m.

Head coach Mike Brown confirmed that Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart will play against the 76ers on Friday, hours after they were listed as probable on the injury report.

Dec. 19, 2:00 p.m.

On the heels of a back-to-back, the Knicks will get some of their core back in the lineup on Friday night against the Philadelphia 76ers.

Karl-Anthony Towns (knee soreness) and Josh Hart (rectus abdominis strain) are listed as probable, while Mitchell Robinson and OG Anunoby aren't on the injury report and should be available. Towns, Hart, and Robinson all did not play in Thursday's win over the Indiana Pacers. 

Miles McBride (ankle) and Landry Shamet (shoulder) will remain out for New York on Friday. Additionally, Pacôme Dadiet was assigned to the Westchester Knicks.

The Sixers will be without former MVP Joel Embiid (illness, right knee injury management), who was downgraded from questionable. Embiid has played in just 11 of Philly's 25 games this season, averaging only 20.5 points and 6.6 rebounds when on the court (26.2 minutes per game). Philadelphia will also be without Kelly Oubre Jr. (left knee sprain) and Trendon Watford (left adductor strain).

Dec. 18, 5:15 p.m.

Fresh off the NBA Cup triumph, the Knicks are going to be without a host of players for Thursday night's matchup with the lowly Indiana Pacers (6-20).

Karl-Anthony Towns (knee soreness), Josh Hart (rectus abdominis strain),  and Mitchell Robinson (ankle management) will all not feature due to slight injuries. New York will already be without Miles McBride and Landry Shamet, who are on the shelf with longer-term injuries.

OG Anunoby (knee contusion) was on the injury report, but will play.

Dec. 7, 3:22 p.m.

Knicks guard Miles McBride exited Sunday's win over the Orlando Magic in the first half, and according to SNY NBA Insider Ian Begley, the guard is still in the process of being evaluated for a left ankle injury.

The Knicks say they will know more on McBride's status on Monday. 

As a starter or a bench player, McBride has been terrific this season. In 19 games (nine starts), McBride has averaged a career-best 15.8 points per games while shooting 46.2 percent from beyond the arc.

Dec. 4, 5:10 p.m.

The Knicks are seemingly close to getting OG Anunoby back. According to SNY NBA Insider Ian Begley, Anunoby (hamstring) has been upgraded to questionable for Friday's game against the Utah Jazz at MSG.

Begley noted on Thursday's episode of The Putback that this weekend's games are a target for the Knicks to get Anunoby back on the court.

Anunoby has missed every game since suffering the injury on Nov. 14 against the Miami Heat.

Head coach Mike Brown said that Anunoby has progressed to taking contact in practice and it seems as though the forward is reacting to it in a positive manner. Of course, this doesn't mean Anunoby will play on Friday, but it leaves open the possibility.

Dec. 3, 6:40 p.m.

Knicks head coach Mike Brown gave a short update on OG Anunoby (hamstring). The coach said that Anunoby has progressed to taking contact in practice.

“It’s still the same, he’s still progressing in the right direction," Brown said of Anunoby before Wednesday's game against the Hornets. "We’re not going to rush him."

Brown also confirmed that Mitchell Robinson (injury management) will miss Wednesday's game, as it's the second of a back-to-back. 

Mike Brown said that OG Anunoby has taken contact in practice but the Knicks "won't rush him" pic.twitter.com/tZLSHsXqY0

— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) December 3, 2025

Nov. 19, 9:05 p.m.

Jalen Brunson (ankle) will return to the court and start on Wednesday night in Dallas against the Mavericks, the team announced prior to tip-off.

Brunson suffered a Grade 1 right ankle sprain against the Orlando Magic on Nov. 12 and missed the team's next two games against the Miami Heat. New York split the two contests, winning at home and losing on the road. The team is still searching for its first road win of the season, dropping all four games away from the Garden.

Over 11 games this year, Brunson is averaging 28.0 points on 46.7 percent shooting and 6.5 assists per game. 

Meanwhile, the Mavs will be without rookie Cooper Flagg (illness) on Wednesday night as he'll miss the first game of his career.

Nov. 18, 6:50 p.m.

The Knicks upgraded Jalen Brunson (ankle) to questionable for their Wednesday tip against the Mavericks in Dallas. 

Brunson had missed the team's last two games since suffering a right ankle sprain back on Nov. 12 against the Orlando Magic at MSG. Already without OG Anunoby (hamstring), the Knicks could use their captain to try and get their first road win of the season. 

Oct. 28, 7:18 p.m.

Before the Knicks' tip-off against the Bucks, the Knicks announced that Towns (right quad strain) will play, but Yabusele (left knee sprain) will be out, joining McBride (personal) and Robinson (ankle sprain management) as players who are unavailable for Tuesday's game.

Oct. 28, 3:35 p.m.

Miles McBride has been downgraded from questionable to out for the Knicks' game on Tuesday at the Milwaukee Bucks, the team announced. This is the second-straight game the guard missed due to personal reasons. He was out for Sunday's loss against the Miami Heat.

Oct. 27, 6:45 p.m.

Mitchell Robinson still isn't ready to make his season debut, as the Knicks have officially ruled him out again for Tuesday night's game against the Milwaukee Bucks. 

Robinson has been sidelined for the first three games due to left ankle injury management, and it's still unknown when he'll make his return to the court. 

New York has also listed Karl-Anthony Towns (right quad strain), Miles McBride (personal reasons), and Guerschon Yabusele (left knee sprain) as questionable for the contest. 

Yabusele is the only new addition to the injury report. Towns has been included heading into each of the first three games, but played in all three, and McBride missed Sunday's game against the Heat for personal reasons. 

Yabusele left Sunday's game at one point and had his knee checked, but he was able to return and saw regular time off the bench down the stretch.

Oct. 23, 6:10 p.m.

The latest NBA injury report has been released and the Knicks have designated center Mitchell Robinson (left ankle injury management) as out for Friday's home game against the Celtics.

Robinson missed Wednesday's season opener and the Knicks are being cautious with their big man this season as they want to have him at close to full strength for an anticipated long playoff run.

The Knicks have also designated both Josh Hart (lower back) and Karl-Anthony Towns (right quad strain) as questionable. 

Hart also missed the season opener but has not seen action since the first preseason game where he tweaked his back. Towns almost missed Wednesday's game but toughed out his quad strain and to help the Knicks' win against the Cavaliers.

OG Anunoby, who played Wednesday despite being questionable with an ankle sprain, is probably for Friday's game.

Oct. 22, 10:59 p.m.

Karl-Anthony Towns was questionable, then doubtful, then questionable again in the hours leading up to the Knicks' win over the Cavaliers and now we know exactly why.

The Knicks forward told reporters after Wednesday's win that he is playing through a Grade 2 quad strain. 

"I’ve been banged up and haven’t really got a chance to practice or play in the last two preseason games," Towns said. "I didn’t want to disappoint the fans, dealing with a Grade 2 quad strain. It’s not something that’s easy to do. We made it happen tonight. Glad the fans respect the effort I put in to play tonight, and my teammates, too. Shoutout to them for supporting me, knowing the situation that I was in."

“Suits tomorrow.”

So the Yankees showed up decked out in their finery, perhaps a sartorial declaration of a kind.

“That’s Cap…so everybody was fired up,” Ben Rice said.

Aaron Boone was grinning over the snazzy threads in the morning, hours before the Yankees beat the Marlins, 8-2. Seeing his players so nattily dressed, the manager said, helped show the importance of the first game of the year at Yankee Stadium.

“When they’re rolling in in suits today, I know that’s meaningful,” Boone said.

It’s been a remarkable season for the Yankees so far (caveat: it’s early). But the 6-1 Yanks ooze talent and potential. It all starts with Judge, just like, basically, their seventh game of the season did.

After the Marlins grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning on Xavier Edwards’ solo homer – the first home run allowed by a Yankee pitcher this season – Judge immediately responded. Trent Grisham led off with a walk and then Judge pounded a two-run homer for an instant lead. They never trailed again.

“They came out swinging, got a run on us,” Judge said. “Grish had a great at-bat in front of me. I'm just trying to do my job, which is to try to get him over, to get a good pitch and drive it. So, just happy to answer back.”

There is always outsized attention on Judge because he’s one of today’s great stars, probably the best hitter in baseball. It’s never too early – in some folks’ minds, anyway – to fret over his numbers if they are not Judge-ian. He entered Friday batting .125, not the sort of thing that goes unnoticed in the Yankee fishbowl, even if he had already hit two home runs so far, too.

If you are frantic over Judge’s start, maybe take a deep breath. It’ll be OK. Promise. Heck, he’s on pace for around 69 home runs right now.

Friday, his third homer put the Yankees ahead for good and was the highlight of what turned into a big game for both star and team. Judge reached base four times and was 2-for-3, scored twice, drove in three runs, walked and even stole a base. He was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded – more on that in a moment – to force in a run.

Beyond thumbing out texts to the boys, Judge has long been good at establishing something early in games. Friday’s homer was the 86th of his career in the first inning. Last year, he smacked 20 first-inning home runs, an MLB record, for a 94-win team.

Only two other Yankees had more first-inning homers in their careers – Babe Ruth (126) and Mickey Mantle (103). Those two sure played on a lot of winning teams, didn’t they? (Yes, we know they piled up championships, too, while Judge and these Yankees have not won the World Series. Yet).

It’s what they yearn to do. And their top tone-setter will surely play an enormous role in that pursuit. He authors some of the most meaningful swings among the current Yanks – since 2019, 138 of Judge’s 288 home runs have either tied the score or given the Yanks the lead, the team said.

That, in part, is why it’s “never a surprise,” Boone said, when Judge delivers like he did in the first inning. “Really good answer to them putting a run up on the board,” Boone said. “And, you know, I think it allowed Will (Warren, the starting pitcher) to get in a good rhythm, too.”

The Yanks got a jolt in the second inning when Judge was hit on the arm by an errant pitch from Marlins starter Eury Pérez with the bases full. Judge seemed fine and remained in the game, not that it wasn’t scary, too.

“Felt like he was probably OK, but I tend to jump up a little quicker when it’s him,” Boone said. “Yeah, you always hold your breath there a little bit, any time it’s running up and in there like that. I think it got him on the forearm, kind of the meaty part, so you knew in short order, we’re all right.”

Added Judge: “I've broken my wrist like that, so that's always your main concern. But once you feel like everything's intact, you should take it to first.”

The Yanks scored twice in the second inning without a hit, thanks to Pérez’s wildness and their own speed. They kept adding on, too. Rice homered in the seventh and smashed a two-run double in the eighth.

But Judge set the tone, stylistically and otherwise.

“That’s what he does best,” Rice said, referring to Judge’s vital homer.

“He’s so good at that.”

Ben Rice said that Aaron Judge texted in the Yankees group chat for everyone to wear suits for the home opener today pic.twitter.com/1fVwhlQ8tz

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 3, 2026

With none out and a 1-1 count for left-hander Ryan Yarbrough, Xavier Edwards laced an 85 mph cutter over Bellinger's shoulder and to the warning track.

Leaping near the wall, Bellinger initially missed off the heel of his glove before swiping down and snagging the ball for the catch.

Cody Bellinger HOW?! pic.twitter.com/W7GXc80f5t

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 3, 2026

"Well, I definitely thought I had it from the jump," Bellinger said. "I should've caught it the first time. I don't even know. I think I squeezed the glove too early, and it just kind of dropped in front of me and I just got lucky. I definitely got lucky. I threw my glove out there."

Upon making the play, Bellinger spun and raised his arms with a smile while Yarbrough applauded from the mound.

"I genuinely thought I caught it the first time," Bellinger said. "I feel like I had a good beat on it the whole way, and I don't know -- I think I caught it off my wrist. I don't really know exactly what happened there. So, I'm just glad I came down with it then and there."

Bellinger's afternoon at Yankee Stadium included a 1-for-4 day offensively, hitting a ground-rule double to lead off the fifth inning before working an eighth-inning walk and subsequently scoring on Ben Rice's two-out double, polishing off the 8-2 final for New York (6-1) against Miami (5-2).

"We've been doing a great job," Bellinger said. "We're playing great baseball. We love each other in here. I think we have a pretty good idea, plan of who we are and what we want to do, and it's a tough competitor on the mound -- he's got really good stuff. So, ultimately, we did a really good job of controlling the zone, doing some damage there -- Ben Rice came through with a few big hits -- and, overall, just a really good game."

The 26-year-old, who is coming off Tommy John surgery that cost him nearly two years of baseball, surrendered those seven runs (six earned) on nine hits and one hit batter before being pulled in the fourth after throwing 65 pitches. 

On the positive side of things, Scott tallied five strikeouts and was around the zone a lot, throwing 46 strikes. He posted a 37 percent called-strike plus whiff rate and his fastball velocity stayed rather consistent from inning to inning, averaging 95.7 mph, which is up 1.5 mph. 

However, he allowed a lot of really solid contact, with the visiting Toledo Mud Hens cracking five balls with an exit velocity over 102 mph. 

The first inning was the lone inning the righty didn’t allow a hard-hit ball, but he was stung for a run due to a bit of tough luck when Max Clark’s bloop down the left-field line just stayed fair and MJ Melendez’s errant throw to second base allowed Clark – who wasn’t even attempting to advance – to reach third on a two-base error. On the next pitch, Scott was called for a balk by the home plate umpire, apparently after not coming to a full set, plating the run. 

The righty rebounded with two strikeouts to end the frame, getting Trei Cruz looking at a 98 mph heater up in the zone and Jace Jung swinging through an up-and-away slider.

After Melendez atoned for his mistake with a solo shot in the home half of the first, Scott gave the runs right back, surrendering an opposite-field solo homer to right by Eduardo Valencia (103.5 mph off the bat) on a slider and Gage Workman pulling a shot to right-center (109.3 mph) on a down-and-in slider.

Scott then threw six-straight fastballs to get ex-Met Tomas Nido and Ben Malgeri swinging after the homers as he looked to settle back into things.

However, three straight singles started the third, scoring a fourth run off Scott. But that was all, as he got Jung swinging on an offspeed pitch and Valencia to line into a double-play to second on a sharply hit ball (102.7 mph) to end the frame.

After getting a flyout to start the fourth, the wheels came off. Nido got a measure of revenge, lacing a double (107.1 mph) to left on a first-pitch middle-middle fastball. Scott left another fastball middle-middle, and Malgeri got his revenge, rocketing it to the right-center gap for a double (109.1 mph).

After hitting a batter and a mound visit, Scott left another fastball in the middle of the plate, and Wenceel Perez drove it over Melendez's head for an RBI double, and that ended the right-hander’s afternoon.

The sellout crowd of 48,788 on hand for the club’s 124th home opener also enjoyed a dose of Yankee speed as the Bronx Bombers used their legs to create offense, too. 

Here are the takeaways...

- The Yankees came into the game on an impressive streak – they were the only team in baseball to have not allowed a home run this season. It was their longest streak since 1944 – a span of 83 years. It did not last long into Friday’s game, however. The second batter of the game, Marlins second baseman Xavier Edwards, smacked the first pitch from Warren over the right-field fence for a 1-0 Miami lead. In the fifth inning, Owen Caissie also homered off Warren. 

Warren is just the latest starter to thrive for the Yankees this season. Their rotation entered the game with a 0.53 ERA – the lowest over the first six games of a season since ERA was made an official stat in 1913. Following Warren’s outing, the starter ERA was 0.91. Max Fried and Cam Schlittler have been spotless. Warren allowed one run in his first start and so did Ryan Weathers. Friday, Warren got multiple early swings-and-misses and totaled seven overall in the game, per Baseball Savant. He came out of the game with two out and two on in the sixth inning, following a groundball single through the infield and an infield hit in front of the mound. Lefty Tim Hill came out of the bullpen to face the Marlins’ cleanup hitter, Liam Hicks, who entered the game with 12 RBI, the most in the majors. Hill got Hicks to top a ground ball in front of the mound for an easy third out, protecting what was then a 4-2 lead.  

Overall, Yankee pitchers have allowed just eight runs in the club’s first seven games. No wonder they are 6-1. 

- Judge, who came into the game batting a mere .125 and had been 0-for-4 in each of his previous two games, perhaps quelled some of the hand-wringing over his start by cranking a first-inning home run. His two-run shot, his third homer of the season, came after a leadoff walk by Trent Grisham and put the Yankees up, 2-1. Judge’s home run was clocked at 101.2 mph off the bat and traveled an estimated 387 feet. Judge later added another RBI when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the second.

- The Yankee offense got some help from Marlins starter Eury Pérez, who struggled with command. Pérez walked six batters in just four innings of work and his wildness was primarily responsible for the Yanks’ two-run second inning. Speed helped, too – Jazz Chisholm Jr. walked leading off and stole second and third and, one out later, José Caballero walked and stole second. Pérez walked Ryan McMahon on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases and then did the same with Grisham up, forcing in a run. Then he plunked Judge with a 99 mph fastball to plate another one, giving the Yanks a 4-1 lead. They scored two runs in the inning without getting a single hit. Overall, Pérez allowed two hits and four runs in four innings of work, adding four strikeouts. He threw 84 pitches, but only 45 strikes. 

- The Yanks added a run in the sixth, helped by their legs again. Austin Wells, who led off with a walk, scored from third on a wild pitch. He helped create the opportunity by tagging up from second to get to third on a fly to left. Caballero had another stolen base in the same frame as the Yankees kept exerting basepath stress on the Marlins. In the eighth, Judge stole a base, too, the Yanks’ fifth of the day. Stealth Bombers?

- Rice, off to a hot start, hit his second home run of the year leading off the seventh, pushing the Yanks’ advantage to 6-2. The next inning, Rice smacked a double off the top of the right-field wall to drive in two more runs. Rice has eight RBI so far this season, tops on the Yanks, and has reached base safely in 13-of-26 plate appearances while batting .409 with a 1.364 OPS.

- In the ninth, Cody Bellinger made a catch you’ll doubtless see in repeated highlights, ranging back in left field to snag a drive by Edwards. The ball initially struck the heel of Bellinger’s glove and plummeted toward the ground, but he reached down to snag it. Bellinger, delighted and amazed, thrust his hands into the air in celebration.

Game MVP: Will Warren

Warren may have given up the most runs in a single outing of any Yankee starter so far this season, but that says more about how good the team’s rotation has been than it does about Warren’s outing. He gave up two runs and four hits in 5.2 innings, striking out six and walking none. Warren has allowed three earned runs and nine hits in 10 innings over two starts, a 2.70 ERA. 

Highlights

Aaron Judge goes deep in his first Yankee Stadium at-bat of 2026! pic.twitter.com/3rexsBWGvV

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 3, 2026

Jazz Chisholm Jr. steals second and third base in the 2nd inning! pic.twitter.com/3gyCrTzdNY

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 3, 2026

Aaron Judge gets hit with the bases loaded and it’s 4-1 Yankees pic.twitter.com/bKYDINX37L

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 3, 2026

Ben Rice drills a solo shot! pic.twitter.com/KcF020jHRF

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 3, 2026

Ben Rice drives in two more! pic.twitter.com/O39Qq0C84P

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 3, 2026

Cody Bellinger HOW?! pic.twitter.com/W7GXc80f5t

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 3, 2026

What's next

The two teams are back in action on Saturday night. 

Left-hander Ryan Weathers (2.08 ERA) gets the ball against his former club with righty Max Meyer (5.40 ERA) going for the visitors for the 7:05 p.m. start in the Bronx.

Giancarlo Stanton's hot start

Everybody knows this isn’t sustainable. But the Yankee slugger starting the season with 10 hits in his first 20 at-bats with two doubles, a home run, and a 270 wRC+ is still something to take notice of, especially as Stanton has represented a key cog in the lineup the past two years when he’s healthy. 

“He’s just kinda been on everything,” Boone said of Stanton’s .500 start through his first five games. “Recognizing pitches well. He’s really good at devising a game plan that he wants to use against a particular pitcher and staying disciplined to that. 

“But I just feel like he’s been getting himself into a really good position to hit at-bat after at-bat. Really, since his first day of being in a game during spring training. I felt like the consistency of at-bats have been there.”

The production has been there for Stanton ever since he returned to the lineup last season after dealing with elbow issues, as he hit 24 home runs with 66 RBI and posted a 158 wRC+ over 77 games last season.

The skipper said a lot of that comes with the off-the-field work of a true professional.

“I have so much respect for him,” Boone said. “He’s just such a stud in our room. I just have a lot of respect for the person and the way he goes about things. The thing he’s been through that get him to different places. 

“You go back to the end of ‘24 and the playoff run… and then really last year, he mighta been as good as ever when he came back from June on, he was just such a massive presence in the middle of our order.”

Boone added that despite Stanton getting on in age, he turned 36 last November, “he’s still so good and in a lot of ways better.” What’s behind the slugger staying good?

“He’s very cerebral and very analytical about how he goes about processing and doing things and preparing,” the skipper added. “And I think he’s got really great at the preparation game. For him personally, what does he need to mentally, physically to be ready to go up and produce in a game. 

“And he is just so mentally tough and disciplined to what he has to do you really sense that and feel that being around him the last several years.”

Carlos Rodon and Gerrit Cole updates

Rodon, who suffered a setback with a hamstring issue as he rehabs from offseason elbow surgery, said he hopes to throw off the mound again on Saturday, per SNY’s MLB Insider Chelsea Janes.

The lefty would be doing so less than a week after feeling that hamstring discomfort, and he added that if that session of around 50 pitches goes well, he might be headed for a rehab assignment soon after.

Boone said that it wasn’t really much of a setback for Rodon, but it all depends on how he responds to the throwing session.

“It is just a matter of when he can run and cover and field his position and things like that,” the manager said about the next steps. “He’s able to keep his arm going through this, so [the hamstring issue] is minor enough that that’s the case, so it’s a good thing.”

On Cole, Boone said he did not know when his minor league rehab start would begin, and seemed to indicate it would not be imminent for the former Cy Young Award winner.

“He just did a one-up, live the other day, so I don’t have anything on the horizon for that,” the manager said.

When asked about his conversations with the right-hander, Boone said the reports have been positive.

“It’s going well, he looks great, every bullpen, every live, every game that I’ve seen from him has been really, really encouraging,” he said. “Now it’s just continuing to stack those days and be disciplined to the timeline, and then eventually we will start that clock of building him up.

“But I don’t have that plan in front of me right now.”

Evaluation on 5-1 start

“The execution on the mound has been phenomenal, that’s one takeaway,” Boone said when asked to assess the season’s early, early goings. “I feel like the guys are playing clean behind that, too. And I feel like if we do those couple of things, with what I think our offense will be over the long haul, then we have the chance to be really good.

“But it’s a week of games, and I’d say that if we were off to a rough start, it’s a week of games. You wanna rack up wins when you game. But it’s been really good to see the level of execution by really our entire staff.”

Anthony Volpe progressing

Volpe made it through a live batting practice ok as he continues to rehab in Florida from offseason shoulder surgery.

Boone said that the shortstop is on track to return to New York in the middle of April and begin a minor-league rehab assignment around then, but he did not have a date for a potential return.

The veteran is coming off back-to-back down offensive years with the Rangers, but the Mets landed him this offseason with the hope that he had a little something left in the tank. 

He showed signs of life with four extra-base hits over his 15 spring appearances, but hasn’t quite been able to carry that production over to the early part of the regular season. 

Semien has recorded just three hits through the Mets’ first seven games.

His first two knocks were a sun-aided, Oneil Cruz botched hustle double and a single off the pitcher’s glove on Opening Day, then he picked up another infield single on Thursday. 

His latest hit snapped a dreadful 0-for-20 skid at the plate. 

Semien’s also drawn just three walks, and he’s struck out eight times over his first 28 plate appearances. 

Certainly not the start the Mets or the 36-year-old were hoping for, but neither side is growing concerned yet.

“It’s taking some time, but definitely no panic in me,” Semien told Mike Puma of the NY Post. 

“It's just [six games], I am not worried about him,” Carlos Mendoza added. “I feel like [pitchers] are attacking him, they are getting ahead of him and then they are making him chase, but I feel good with him at the plate."

After all, it hasn’t just been Semien stuck in this early-season funk.

The Mets as a team have yet to find their footing offensively, averaging just 2.0 runs per game and hitting .107 with runners in scoring position since scoring 11 times on Opening Day. 

While it’s been hard of late, the skipper has been encouraged by his team's at-bats. 

“We’re creating traffic,” Mendoza said. “That’s the one thing with our offense because we’re deep and we’ve got guys who are going to get on and we’re going to create opportunities -- more times than not those guys will come through.”

Semien and the Mets will look to get going Friday night against the Giants. 

Peña enjoyed a strong spring after his stellar debut in the Dominican Summer League, and now he’s one of the youngest players at his new level at just 18. 

That proved to be no problem on Thursday, as he started the season on a high note. 

The young slugger was thrown right into the fire, batting leadoff for St. Lucie on Opening Day, and he made the most of the opportunity by reaching base three different times. 

Peña showed off his patience, leading off the game with a four-pitch walk. 

He lined out to left in his second at-bat but was able to do some damage his next time up, lacing a double that short hopped the wall in right for his first hit of the season. 

The young slugger then ended his night with a single in the top of the ninth, giving him two hits and a walk in St. Lucie’s 6-3 season-opening loss. 

The Mets certainly hope this is a sign of things to come from Peña this season. 

As SNY’s Joe DeMayo pointed out in his recent mailbag, it wouldn’t be a shock to see him on top 100 prospects lists and competing for the system’s top spot by the end of the season. 

Peña, the No. 7 prospect on DeMayo's Top 30, had 24 XBH's and a .949 OPS in 55 DSL games last season. 

Elian Peña’s first hit of the season for Low-A St. Lucie is a double that short hopped the wall in right pic.twitter.com/Tg4lCgPL6Y

— Joe DeMayo (@PSLToFlushing) April 2, 2026

• The Mets' sluggish start continued with a series-opening loss to the Giants, 7-2
• David Peterson was roughed up, allowing six runs on nine hits in just 4.1 innings of work
• Sean Manaea did a good job saving the Mets' bullpen, though, throwing 3.2 innings behind Peterson
• Carlos Mendoza spoke pregame about wanting to find the right spot for Manaea, and he delivered in this one
• On a positive note, Bo Bichette looked more like himself at the plate, despite running into some tough luck
• Francisco Lindor squashed any rumors of potential beef with Brandon Nimmo 
• Jose Reyes offered support for Lindor after his tough day at the park in Wednesday's series finale
• SNY MLB Insider Chelsea Janes answers fan questions in the latest edition of Mets Mailbag
• Down on the farm, Jonah Tong struggled in his second Triple-A start of the season
• Young Elian Peña enjoyed a strong stateside debut, reaching three times out of the leadoff spot for St. Lucie

Bichette's box score shows he went 1-for-4, but he could've easily had three hits and driven in a lot more runs. 

It started in the first, when he lined a double to left field to score the game's first run. He then took Robbie Ray very deep in the third inning, launching a slider 390 feet for straightaway center. Unfortunately for Bichette and the Mets, it needed to go 391 feet, as Harrison Bader leapt and caught it at the top of the wall. 

"I don't know, I thought I hit it OK," Bichette said after the game of the near-homerun. "I mean, if I thought I got it, I would've came out of the box a little different."

After a strikeout in the fifth, Bichette's night ended similarly to the robbed home run. He hit a liner that first baseman Casey Schmitt jumped and snagged on a line, before stepping on first base to complete the double play that ended the eighth. 

"Bo had some really good at-bats today," manager Carlos Mendoza said. "That first inning, that double. The one he drove to centerfield. I thought the at-bats from him today looked like Bo Bichette."

Bo Bichette's first extra base hit as a Met is a double to drive in Juan Soto for the game's first run! pic.twitter.com/O17d90QVoI

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 3, 2026

The high-profile free agent signing hasn't lived up to his billing in the early going. Entering Thursday's game, Bichette was just 3-for-27 with no extra-base hits. Bichette even admitted that he didn't feel like himself in the first series against the Pirates, but it seems the infielder has found his stroke, especially over the last couple of games.

Although the hits haven't been there, the at-bats look better. He struck out eight times in the first three games, he's struck out just once since and that includes Thursday. 

"Other than the first three games at home, he’s settling in nicely," Mendoza said. "Not trying to do too much. When he does that, he’s a pretty good player."

But Bichette's re-emergence has not translated to much offense for the team overall. After going 0-for-11 with RISP in Wednesday's series finale against the Cardinals, they were 0-for-3 on Thursday. 

"I mean, we've faced some pretty good pitchers recently. Or pitchers that have pitched well, that's part of it," Bichette said of the team's struggles. "I think for the most part, guys are having good at-bats. Maybe the contact is just not where we need it... This is baseball, so things go up and down, not that you're OK with it. You need to figure out a way to be better, but this is baseball. We'll show up tomorrow and do it again."

Bichette was asked about his two hard outs -- the near-homerun and the linedrive double play had xBAs of .680 and .520, respectively -- and whether the team is just a bit unlucky to start the season.

"Maybe, but that's not something to fall on. Should always be looking to do better, be better," Bichette said. "So that's what we'll do. Good thing about baseball, we get to do it tomorrow.

"I think people are looking at everything, every day throughout the whole season. Some years you get off to good starts, some years you don't. Just part of it."

In relief of David Peterson, who allowed six runs over 4.1 innings, Manaea gave the team and their bullpen some much-needed rest by finishing the game.

Manaea wasn't perfect; he allowed a run on four hits and two walks in his 3.2 innings against his former team, but what he showed on the mound was enough for manager Carlos Mendoza to be impressed.

"It was a positive step there. He was aggressive, fastball had life. Got some swings and misses and for him to finish that game and save the bullpen, it's huge," Mendoza said after the game. "Talking about Manaea, personally, can build on this one. There were a lot of good signs out of this one today."

"Felt really, really good," Manaea said of his outing. "Was kinda grindy there in the seventh. Lost a little, but locked it in, and the eighth inning felt really, really good."

That seventh is where Manaea pitched into trouble. After getting the first two outs, the Giants hit back-to-back singles and Manaea walked the bases loaded. He got out of it by getting Rafael Devers -- who homered off of him in the sixth -- to ground out to end the threat. 

With the Mets playing their sixth straight game, with the next day off not arriving until Monday, it was important for Manaea to give the team the length that he did.

"Meant everything [to get out of the seventh]. Where the game was at, there was no reason to use anyone else," Manaea said. "I was going to be down regardless; might as well use me for the rest of the game....This is a family, this is a team. Everyone has work to do. I was happy I was able to help out the boys today."

Manaea said he felt "free and easy" throwing his pitches on Thursday, and with confidence. He boasted about getting to throw some left-on-left changeups and his sinker was working well for him. 

But the velocity continues to be a topic for Manaea. It's well-documented that the velocity dipped from last season, and while it was a tick up on Thursday, his fastball is still averaging in the high 80s. Manaea said that the small tick in velocity is a result of changes that he's made since spring.

"Just working on some things. It’s small incremental changes," Manaea explained. "Today was the first day that felt synced up and connected. Felt great."

Before the game, Mendoza said that if Manaea were to get into a game, he'd want his southpaw to throw 50-60 pitches to keep stretching him out. On Thursday, Manaea tossed 74 and he'll be down for a few days. 

The Mets skipper was asked about the possibility of Manaea returning to the rotation soon, but Mendoza maintains that the situation remains fluid.

"The fact there’s a lot of positive from his outing today is good for us," Mendoza said. " It was important for him to throw that many pitches, continue to have him stretch out in case we make the decision when we have to. There was a lot of positive from him today. Not only from a workload standpoint, but from the way he threw the ball."

Manaea was asked his thoughts on the rotation situation and whether it's his desire to be a starter again. The veteran, who has been a starter and a reliever in different parts of his career, gave a selfless response. 

"All I’m worried about is pitching and helping out this team. Whether I’m in the starting rotation or not, that’s all that I care about," he answered. " We’ve got five extremely talented starters and my role right now is to help this team in the capacity that I’m doing, and I’m very excited to do that."

It's New York's third straight loss as they fell to 3-4 on the season.

Here are the key takeaways…

-- Bo Bichette got the Mets going in the first inning against LHP Robbie Ray, driving in Juan Soto from first base with an RBI double to make it 1-0. It's Bichette's first extra-base hit with New York after having 63 last season with Toronto.

However, the lead didn't last long, as David Peterson had a first inning he'd like to forget. The lefty let up a one-out single to Rafael Devers, a two-out RBI triple to Luis Arraez, and a go-ahead, RBI double to Matt Chapman. Looking to get out of the inning, Peterson forced a grounder to first, but dropped the ball covering the base, allowing Chapman to score from second and push the Giants' lead to 3-1.

-- Mark Vientos, in the starting lineup for the third straight game, blasted his first home run of the season to lead off the second inning. The solo HR cut San Fran's lead to 3-2 and traveled an estimated 406 feet (108.6 mph exit velocity).

In the bottom of the second, Marcus Semien was unable to make a catch in shallow center field, calling off Luis Robert Jr., giving the Giants two on with no outs. Luckily, Peterson forced a 6-4-3 double play and struck out Devers to prevent further damage. Despite throwing just 24 pitches, Peterson had already faced 11 batters through two frames.

-- Peterson found himself in a bases-loaded jam in the third inning after allowing three straight singles. The Giants capitalized, tacking on two more runs on two sacrifice flies to make it a 5-2 game. The left-hander escaped with runners on second and third base, striking out Willy Adames on his 47th pitch of the night.

He finally had a quick inning in the fourth, sending the Giants down in order with two strikeouts. Peterson got Chapman to ground out in the fifth inning and then walked Jung Hoo Lee, ending his day after 4.1 IP. The LHP allowed five earned runs on nine hits with five strikeouts and two walks over 68 pitches.

-- Sean Manaea entered in the bottom of the fifth inning with Lee on first base and couldn't keep the score intact. He let up a walk and an RBI single to Casey Schmitt that put SF up 6-2 before striking out Adames to end the frame. Manaea then allowed a solo homer to Devers in the sixth as the Giants went up 7-2.

Manaea got two quick outs to open the seventh inning before back-to-back singles and a walk loaded the bases. The lefty avoided trouble thanks to an inning-ending groundout. He stayed in to pitch a 1-2-3 eighth inning, ending the night after 74 pitches in 3.2 innings of relief.

-- Ray held New York to just three hits through 5.1 IP. He retired the last five Mets hitters he faced after allowing a Francisco Alvarez single in the third inning. 

Semien broke the team's hitless streak in the seventh with a single, but Alvarez grounded into a double play and Tyrone Taylor grounded out to end any scoring chance. New York recorded just one more hit, a Soto single in the eighth, ending the night with five total. They went 0-for-3 with RISP and left four on base.

-- Former Met Blade Tidwell made his Giants debut in the seventh, recording two strikeouts and getting the three-inning save.

GAME MVP

Ray, who was locked in after allowing two runs through two innings. He struck out seven with just three walks over 96 pitches.

Highlights

Bo Bichette's first extra base hit as a Met is a double to drive in Juan Soto for the game's first run! pic.twitter.com/O17d90QVoI

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 3, 2026

Mark Vientos drives his first homer of the year! pic.twitter.com/RosbrUPW40

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 3, 2026

Mark Vientos sticks with it and snags the grounder pic.twitter.com/UWfCLkNqas

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 3, 2026

Marcus Semien snaps his 0-for-20 skid pic.twitter.com/sOZzfXkQIJ

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 3, 2026

Juan Soto has hit safely in each of the Mets' first seven games this season pic.twitter.com/RESqCl5Jn3

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 3, 2026

Upcoming Schedule

The Mets continue their series against the San Francisco Giants on Friday night at 10:15 p.m.

Nolan McLean will make his second start of the year and face RHP Tyler Mahle.

Hughes scored his first goal for the Devils 9:10 into the second period on a wrist shot, assisted by Jesper Bratt and Johnathan Kovacevic. He tacked on a wrist shot 8:10 into the third, assisted by Bratt and Connor Brown. Hughes has 24 goals and 44 assists this season.

Bratt, Dougie Hamilton and Cody Glass also scored for the Devils.

Tom Wilson, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Cole Hutson scored for the Capitals.

Jake Allen made 29 saves in the win for the Devils. Logan Thompson had 23 saves for the Capitals.

Up next

Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.

Capitals: Host the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night.

Caufield’s second was his NHL-best 12th winning goal, putting the Canadiens ahead 47 seconds after Will Cuylle tied it. He moved one back of Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon for the league lead in goals and in the process extended his career high with 83 points.

This winning streak is the storied organization’s longest in nearly a decade, dating to an eight-game unbeaten run from Oct. 18-Nov. 2, 2016. Montreal has separated itself from the pack in the Eastern Conference and kept pace with Buffalo and Tampa Bay in a hot Atlantic Division race.

Alex Newhook scored the Canadiens’ first goal 4 1/2 minutes into the second period on their 12th shot against Igor Shesterkin, who was the only reason they hadn’t taken a lead earlier.

Jakub Fowler made 21 saves, the biggest on a penalty kill late in the second when he turned aside Alexis Lafrenière at the side of the net. Helped by his teammates controlling the puck for much of the night, the 21-year-old from South Florida improved to 8-5-2 in his first 15 NHL starts since getting called up in December.

Despite 22 saves from Shesterkin and the goals by Cuylle and Adam Fox, New York lost for a 26th time in 38 home games. Captain J.T. Miller was honored with an award named for Hall of Famer Rod Gilbert, who played his entire 18-season professional career with the Rangers.

Up next

Canadiens: Visit the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night to wrap up their five-game trip.

Rangers: Host the in-the-hunt Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.

When to deploy Sean Manaea

Manaea's role on the 2026 Mets is still in flux. He broke camp with the team, but as a part of the bullpen as a piggyback for the other starters. After six games, he's appeared just once and Mendoza was asked about when the right time is for him to deploy the southpaw.

"Ideally, I would like to find a spot for him where we could use a lot of his pitches," Mendoza said. "Especially with a lot of the extra-inning games we’ve played here…we’ve asked the bullpen to get an extra 15 outs. That’s a lot. With Sean, the perfect scenario would be to use all of his pitches when we need to."

The Mets have played three extra-inning games already and with their next off day not until Monday, it's probably safe to say we'll see Manaea some time in this four-game set with the Giants.

Mendoza and the Mets have said that they want to keep Manaea stretched out while in the bullpen if they need him to make a start, and the Mets skipper gave the parameters on how he ideally wants that to look. 

In order for Manaea to use all of this pitches, as Mendoza prefers, he needs to have the southpaw throw 50-60 pitches, but admits that it's hard to cut out time for that in the midst of game action.

"You go in, have a gameplan…you still got to make adjustments," Mendoza said. "We just got to wait and let it play out."

In Manaea's only appearance this season (March 29 vs. Pirates), he tossed 29 pitches across 1.1 innings, allowing one hit while walking two batters. 

Mets' DH situation

Jorge Polanco is starting again as the team's DH. This is the fourth game in a row that Polanco will not play the field due to a sore Achilles. 

Mendoza said that Polanco is close to playing first base again, but acknowledges that the DH spot is important to his team's composition, especially getting other players regular chances at the plate.

"Wanted to give [Polanco] an extra day. Continues to feel better, continues to progress," Mendoza said. "I might need the DH spot in the upcoming days for some of the other guys. That’s why I’m taking advantage of an extra day here to DH."

One of those guys is Mark Vientos. While Vientos is playing first base for the second consecutive game, the right-handed slugger has had little at-bats in the early part of the season.

Entering Thursday, Vientos is 2-for-5 on the season with a double. Although the opportunities haven't been there in the first week of the season, Mendoza says that Vientos has adjusted well to his role and continues to stay ready just like the other bench players who find themselves in the same position.

"He knows there’s going to be opportunities there even when he's not playing," Mendoza said. "Perfect examples is the past couple of days when Brett Baty hasn't been in the lineup in a game, like Yesterday he ended up getting three at-bats. The night before, he gets two, so it could happen to Mark even though their name is not on the starting lineup, that doesn't mean they're not going to impact the game. ..there's a lot of different things that could continue to help us win baseball game and that's part of the role, and they all understand that."

Carson Benge so far

Benge made his MLB debut a week ago and after the high of homering in his first game with the Mets, the young outfielder has had his ups and downs in the early going.

He's played in six games, started five, for the Mets so far and is 3-for-19 on the season. Mendoza was asked what he's seen out of Benge at the plate so far.

"He’s adjusting, learning. He’s learning as he goes, and that’s part of the development," Mendoza said. "He’s going to get some at-bats where there’s going to be traffic. Yesterday, I decided to go with the left-on-left instead of the left-on-right. It’s part of the process. We gotta continue to support him, be right there with him and give him opportunities."

 With the left-hander Robbie Ray starting on Thursday, Benge is on the bench for the series-opener.

The right-hander got into some early trouble as MLB.com's No. 8 overall prospect Max Clark doubled and the next two batters walked to load the bases. After getting a strikeout for the second out, Tong gave up a three-run double to MLB vet Corey Julks.

Things didn't get better in the second inning. Following a fielding error by 3B Jackson Cluff, Tong let up a two-run HR to Wenceel Pérez to make it a 5-0 game. Clark reached safely on an error by Ronny Mauricio, and then, after a force-out, Tong walked Jace Jung and allowed a two-run double to Eduardo Valencia as Syracuse went down 7-0.

Tong's day came to an end after just 1.2 IP as he allowed four earned runs on four hits with three walks and two strikeouts. The 22-year-old threw 60 pitches (34 strikes) in the brief outing.

His season ERA now sits at 6.35 through 5.2 total innings on the mound.

But Lindor recently told Jon Heyman of the New York Post that there is no truth to that allegation.

“Nimmo and I are brothers. I love him. I love him," Lindor told the Post. "He’s a great guy. He’s missed around here — good teammate, good person, good family man.”

The Mets' clubhouse chemistry last season became a talking point in the offseason, with manager Carlos Mendoza telling Heyman and Joel Sherman in a podcast interview that the Mets had a "corporate" clubhouse culture.

"We had a professional clubhouse," he said. "When you're winning, everything is fun. Then you go through stretches where it's hard, and you're not winning as many games. And I take responsibility for it, because it became, like, a corporate clubhouse, you know, where guys respected each other, but I don't think we celebrated each other enough."

Nimmo, of course, was traded to the Rangers this offseason in the deal that brought Marcus Semien to the Mets. Nimmo is hitting .360 with a home run and five RBI to begin his career in Texas. 

Lindor, who had a day to forget on Wednesday against the Cardinals, is off to a bit of a slow start, hitting .143 as he recovers from surgery to repair the hamate bone in his left hand.

The Mets’ usually fundamentally sound veteran shortstop committed not one, but two costly mental mistakes in what ended as a frustrating walk-off loss to the Cardinals. 

First Lindor forgot how many outs there were, calmly jogging to second for the force and turning to the dugout on what should’ve been a routine inning-ending double play in the first.

Freddy Peralta easily escaped after, but it cost the starter five more pitches. 

Lindor would hurt the Mets a bit more a few innings later, though, as he was picked off first a few pitches before Juan Soto broke a scoreless tie with a solo homer in the sixth. 

New York, of course, ended up losing the game 2-1 in extras. 

Lindor did draw a walk for the fourth consecutive game, but he went hitless on the afternoon, leaving him with just one knock in 10 at-bats during the series in St. Louis. 

Despite the tough day, former Mets shortstop Jose Reyes says fans need to relax about the five-time All-Star. 

Relax everybody… my guy Francisco Lindor gonna be good. Bad days happen — that’s baseball. Could happen to anyone. He’s human just like all of us. Watch how he responds… this gonna be good for him and for the organization 🧡💙

— Jose Reyes (@lamelaza_7) April 2, 2026

Lindor’s first opportunity to respond will come in Thursday’s series opener against the Giants.

After allowing just one hit in his season debut last week in San Francisco, the young right-hander was nearly unhittable again as he continued the Yankees' dominant stretch of pitching.

Schlittler found himself in trouble from the first pitch he threw, as Brendan Donovan led off the game with a double, but he was quickly able to escape the threat with help from two strikeouts.

He allowed a one-out knock to Luke Raley in the bottom of the second, but that also proved to be no bother, as he set down the next two he faced on just seven pitches. 

The righty was in complete control from there, going on a stretch of 15 straight retired before Aaron Boone came to pull him with one out in the bottom of the seventh. 

“It was exciting to see just how dominant his stuff is,” the skipper said, via YES Network. “He was ahead in counts, got early outs which allowed him to get deep in the game with a pitch count -- he’s just throwing the ball incredibly well.”

Schlittler finished the day with just the two hits while striking out seven on an efficient 79 pitches over 6.1 innings. 

He’s the first pitcher in Yankee history with zero walks, zero runs, and 15+ K's in any two-game span. 

“It was just like last start,” Schlittler said. “Just being in the zone making good pitches, defense was great behind me, so just having the confidence to go out there attack and do what I can to get as far as I can with a limited amount of pitches.”

Seattle struck three times over the last two innings against the Yankees’ bullpen, but they were able to hang on to close the season-opening road trip 5-1. 

Schlittler wasn't the only arm to deliver for New York on the road trip, as their starters have the lowest ERA in MLB history through six games (0.53) and they've allowed the third-fewest runs as a team over that span (six). 

“I think the staff is dominant, the bullpen has been great, as well,” the young righty said. “The team as a whole we’re just feeding off of each other and just taking it each game and each start and just keep rolling with it.”

With the series on the line, the right-hander delivered the performance the team was looking for, but his offense couldn’t pick him up and they ended up being walked off by the Cardinals in extras. 

Still, it was an encouraging performance from the Mets’ new ace. 

Peralta picked up Francisco Lindor after he forgot how many outs there were in the bottom of the first, quickly striking out the next batter to end the inning with just five extra pitches thrown.

He then settled into a groove and retired the next nine batters he faced, picking up three more strikeouts along the way, before allowing the first two to reach with a walk and single in the bottom of the fifth. 

The righty was able to work his way out of danger, though, rolling a pair of groundouts and picking up a big strikeout with some help from an ABS challenge. 

He put the first two on again in the sixth, but this time recorded just one out before being pulled from the ballgame.

Peralta was visibly frustrated as he wanted to continue on as Carlos Mendoza walked out and signaled toward the bullpen, but after taking some time, he agreed with the decision afterward.

“I like to compete and I always want to stay in the game,” he said. “I knew that part of the situation I wasn’t able to finish was because I gave up a base hit to the leadoff guy -- at the end of the day, I think it was smart by Mendy.”

Huascar Brazoban entered and allowed a two-out RBI knock to Nolan Gorman, but limited the damage to just that to keep the game evened at one heading to the top of the seventh. 

New York, of course, ended up falling in the 11th but it was a strong effort put forward by Peralta with just the one run allowed on three hits and two walks while striking out seven in 5.1 innings. 

"He was really good," Mendoza said. "The changeup usage was pretty impressive, a pitch that he didn’t use until like the fourth in his first outing, but today we went right to it especially with the lefties they had in the lineup.

"There was also life on the fastball, the way he mixed -- he wasn’t afraid to double-up on the changeup and triple-up when he needed to, he got swing-and-misses which made the fastball play a lot more, overall he was just really solid.”

Peralta is lined up to toe the rubber again in Tuesday’s series opener with the Diamondbacks.

5 things to watch

Will Nolan McLean hit the ground running?

McLean didn't have a great feel for his pitches at the outset of his first start of the season last Sunday against the Pirates, walking the first two batters he faced. The young right-hander was searching a bit over the first three innings, with manager Carlos Mendoza saying McLean didn't really find it until the fourth inning.

Even without his best stuff, McLean performed well, allowing just two runs on four hits while walking two and striking out eight in five innings.

As the game went on, McLean got more comfortable and his stuff started to overwhelm Pittsburgh. 

Five of the last seven outs McLean recorded came via the strikeout -- four swinging and one looking.

On the day, McLean threw 84 pitches (generating 12 swings and misses) while mixing in his full six-itch arsenal. 

Power outage

With Pete Alonso departing for the Orioles, it felt likely that the Mets might not hit as many homers in 2026 as they did in 2025, when they smacked 224 -- good for fifth-most in the majors.

It should also be noted that aside from Opening Day, when the temperature was in the low-70s, the Mets have not played in weather that is optimal for the ball carrying.

Still, they entered play on Wednesday having hit just three home runs in their first five games -- one each by Carson Benge, Francisco Alvarez, and Luis Robert Jr.

It hasn't just been the Mets when it comes to low home run totals in the early going.

Fifteen teams (exactly half the league) entered play on Wednesday with five home runs or fewer, including the Tigers, Yankees Red Sox, and Phillies. 

Is there a bullpen conundrum?

Of the eight pitchers in New York's bullpen, one of them (Sean Manaea) is a starting pitcher whose usage won't be regular, while another (Tobias Myers) is a multi-inning weapon who will often need multiple days off between appearances.

Myers, who has been terrific in his role, is obviously going nowhere.

But it's been a bit of a challenge early on for Mendoza while trying to juggle the rest of the bullpen. 

Add to the above the fact that Brooks Raley is not yet being used on back-to-back days, and the struggles of Richard Lovelady, and you get a bit of a conundrum.

If the Mets' starting pitchers don't regularly start giving the team six or seven innings, it feels like there will have to soon be another arm added to the mix who can pitch far more often than Manaea or Myers are able to, or be a lot more effective than Lovelady.

The Giants' offense has been anemic

San Francisco mustered just 13 runs over the first five games of the season, better than only the Padres, Royals, and Twins.

That included only four runs total in their first four games before erupting for nine runs against the Padres on Tuesday.

The Giants were especially hapless against the Yankees, scoring one run in three games as they were swept in the season-opening series in San Francisco.

Against the Yanks, San Francisco was shut down by Max Fried, Cam Schlittler, and Will Warren. Fried and Schlittler both have great stuff. Warren, not so much. 

Can the Mets get to Logan Webb?

Webb was tagged by the Yankees on Opening Night, allowing seven runs (six earned) on nine hits in five innings.

He was better his second time out, allowing three runs in six innings against the Padres, but struggled with his command as he issued four walks.

Webb had a 3.22 ERA (2.60 FIP) and 1.23 WHIP while tossing an MLB-high 207.0 innings in 2025, finishing fourth in NL Cy Young award voting. 

He has been one of the best pitchers in baseball since 2021, and has had his way with the Mets -- with a 3.21 career ERA in 42.0 innings over seven starts. However, he'll obviously be facing a version of the Mets that is much different than the one he went up against over the last five years. 

Predictions

Who will the MVP of the series be?

Juan Soto

Soto has been locked in at the plate early.

Which Mets pitcher will have the best start?

Kodai Senga

Senga's fastball was explosive during his first start of the year on Tuesday against the Cardinals.

Which Giants player will be a thorn in the Mets' side?

Luis Arraez

Arraez's elite contact rate means his ability to be a pest in any given series is high. 

• The Mets squandered numerous opportunities, as they were defeated by the Cardinals in extra innings
•  After going 0-for-11 with RISP, New York finds themselves in the midst of a familiar slump despite running out a completely different lineup than last season 
• Francisco Lindor owned his mental mistakes in the field and on the bases, saying he "should have been better"
• WATCH: Lindor, Carlos Mendoza, and Freddy Peralta discuss the loss
• Down in Syracuse, Jack Wenninger enjoyed a strong start to the season, throwing 4.2 scoreless innings 

Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu have verbally committed to returning to the Liberty for the upcoming season. 

Stewart revealed on the Game Recognizes Game podcast, which she co-hosts with Pacers star Myles Turner, that she doesn't plan to leave the Liberty even though she's a free agent. 

"I will be staying in New York. I’m not planning on taking any free agency meetings. Even though I am an unrestricted free agent," Stewart said. "My family is set up here, we’re solid here. I’m going to be back in New York and that’s all there is to it. Good luck to everyone else in free agency, but I’m not a part of that."

After six seasons with the Seattle Storm, where she won an MVP and two championships, she came over to the Liberty and delivered the franchise's first title in 2024 in her second season with the team -- a year after winning her second WNBA MVP. 

Stewart and the Liberty couldn't repeat that success in 2025, as they were eliminated from the playoffs by the Mercury in three games. While dealing with injuries, Stewart was still productive in New York last season. In 31 games, she averaged 18.3 points and 6.5 rebounds. 

STEWIE DROPPIN’ BIG NEWS❗️

New episode of Game Recognize Game with Stewie & Myles is out now! Watch on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts.@breannastewart @Original_Turner

Watch on YouTube👇🏼https://t.co/DIxERmAkGY pic.twitter.com/OERv3Zyqd8

— Game Recognize Game (@gamerecgamepod) April 1, 2026

For Ionescu, she made her intentions known on Wednesday at USA Basketball training camp.

“Obviously, I'm where I'm supposed to be," she said. "Never thought anything different. And so, I’m excited to kind of be able to sign and get started. It's coming up really quickly,” Ionescu told reporters Wednesday in Phoenix. “So, excited to get all this behind us and just be able to start our season and get going in New York.”

The Liberty drafted Ionescu No. 1 overall in 2020 and has become the face of the franchise. She averaged 18.2 points, 5.7 assists and 4.9 rebounds for the Liberty last season while being named to her fourth All-Star Game. 

With Stewart and Ionescu committed, the Liberty still have decisions to make on a few free agents. Jonquel Jones, the WNBA Finals MVP for the Liberty, is the biggest free agent from the team's roster last year. Natasha Cloud, Emma Meessemann and Kennedy Burke are other key free agents. 

When Stewart and Ionescu can sign new contracts with the Liberty is still unknown. After the lengthy CBA negotiations came to an end in March, the only date set for this offseason is the expansion draft for the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo on April 19. 

He even called the game against Memphis "must-win."

So it's a good thing the Knicks put together a wire-to-wire win against the Grizzlies. Although it wasn't necessarily easy.

A young, depleted Grizzlies team fought hard against the Knicks. They beat the Knicks in the second and third quarters, almost taking their first lead of the game in the third.

However, the combination of Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby didn't let that happen. Without Jalen Brunson (ankle soreness) in the lineup, the two forwards combined to score 45 points. Towns dished 11 assists and came down with 11 rebounds to pick up a triple-double, his second as a Knick. Anunoby added 13 rebounds to his scoring to finish with a double-double. 

"A game like that, it's always tough if you play against a group that's free and can attack and has nothing to lose," head coach Mike Brown said after the win. "But our guys at the end of the day, we were good in a lot of areas."

Brown said that the team's turnovers, which they had 19, and fouling -- sending Memphis to the line 30 times --  made the game tougher than it needed to be, but applauded how his players responded, especially Anunoby and Towns down the stretch when the Grizzlies were hanging around.

"A lot of good performances from our guys, we were able to make it up in terms of the times that they went to the free throw line and our turnovers by offensive rebounding," Brown explained. "OG had three offensive rebounds, KAT had six offensive rebounds. KAT had a triple-double tonight, which was great. And especially in 30 minutes of action, and then OG, for him to get 13 rebounds. A big, big night to get a double-double. We needed every single one of those rebounds."

"I thought we did a good job moving the ball," Towns said of the win. "I thought we did a good job of playing with a point-five mentality and doing everything we needed to do to beat a good team, and a hungry team with a lot of guys trying to prove themselves in this league. I thought we did a good job of weathering the storm. We understood they’re going to play hard. They’re going to play well, and we found a way to win."

For Towns, the key to his performance on Wednesday was the faith he had in his teammates. Memphis constantly double and sometimes triple-teamed the big man, but he would find the open player. It was a trend for the entire Knicks team. New York had 36 assists on the 48 shots made.

"When they're double and triple teaming, I understand that one of my teammates is open," Towns said. "Just staying patient, staying relaxed and trying to make the right play. I was disappointed with the turnovers I had today, but I’m glad that I was able to find my teammates more than not and we were able to come out with a win."

The win allowed the Knicks to hold on to their spot as the three-seed in the Eastern Conference (1.5 games ahead of Cleveland). They'll look to keep that momentum and try to get closer to the Celtics and the two-seed when they host the Bulls on Friday.

That's what happened to Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor on Wednesday. In an afternoon bereft of offense and timely hitting, Lindor's mental lapses stood out. 

In the first, Lindor handled a groundball that was perfect to turn an inning-ending double play. However, Lindor calmly jogged to second base for the out and turned to the dugout. Lindor forgot how many outs there were, pushing starter Freddy Peralta to throw five more pitches.

"The groundball is the one that’s no excuses," manager Carlos Mendoza said of the mistake. "He’ll be the first one that tells you that."

And Lindor did, telling the media after the 2-1 extra-innings loss that he simply forgot how many outs there were.

"I made a mistake that probably cost Peralta to go an extra inning because he had to throw more pitches after that," Lindor said. "Inexcusable. He probably could have gone six, maybe seven. I just forgot the outs."

The mistake didn't cost the Mets any runs. Peralta finished the inning, striking out the next batter en route to throwing 92 pitches across 5.1 innings. The ace of the Mets staff allowed just one run, but it wasn't enough as the Mets offense pushed across just one run, but it potentially could have been more.

In the sixth, and the game scoreless, Lindor reached on an error with one out. With Juan Soto at the plate, Lindor was picked off without even a slide from the Mets shortstop. 

Soto would homer three pitches later to give the Mets the lead. Unfortunately, it would not hold up as the Cardinals tied it in the bottom half of the inning and eventually won in the 11th.

"The pickoff, they got us there. [Lindor] was going to go, we thought we had a tip there and they got us with a quick, step-off move there," Mendoza said. "I wouldn’t consider that one as a mental mistake. He was trying to get some momentum there and be aggressive."

"I should have been better," Lindor said of the play. "That’s all I got."

If the Mets win on Wednesday, the mistakes are glossed over, but the loss puts a magnifying glass over a team that has struggled offensively. After scoring 11 runs in their Opening Day win against the Pirates, the Mets have pushed across just 12 runs over their next five games. On Wednesday, the Mets were 0-for-11 with RISP and left 11 runners on base.

Lindor is not too concerned with the offense's early-season struggles. The Mets (3-3) still have 156 games to go in the season.

"Our pitchers have done a tremendous job. We gotta score runs for them," Lindor said. "It’s one of those that you hope to put it together as many times as you can during the year. We have put it together, just not every day. Gotta go out there, continue to believe in each other, pass the baton. I trust the guy behind me more than I trust myself. It’s that type of mentality. We’re going to be on top more times than not."

The Mets will hope to turn their struggles around when they open a four-game series against the Giants in San Francisco starting Thursday. 

The Yankees (5-1) have now won both series to start the season. Yankees starters have also allowed just one run in the team's first six games. 

Here are the takeaways...

-Yankees starters entered Wednesday's game allowing just one run through the first five games, but the Mariners lineup threatened Schlittler in the first. Brendan Donovan hit a leadoff double, but the young right-hander struck out Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez before getting Josh Naylor to fly out to end the threat. 

After allowing a one-out hit in the second, Schlittler retired 11 straight batters and was through five innings, throwing just 55 pitches. He'd extend that streak to 14 batters through six innings. The only thing that could get to Schlittler was his pitch count, which was limited considering he is still being built up.

Schlittler tossed 6.1 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits, no walks and striking out seven batters. He threw 79 pitches (58 strikes). 

In his first two starts, Schlittler has thrown 11.2 scoreless innings with 15 strikeouts, and has allowed only three baserunners (all hits). 

-With a varied lineup, the Yankees got to George Kirby early. Cody Bellinger worked a two-out walk and stole second, and Ben Rice -- starting as the DH -- lined a double down the right field line to give the Yankees an early 1-0 lead. 

Goldschmidt, starting at first base, broke the game open in the sixth with a two-out, three-run bomb off of Kirby. 

-In relief of Schlittler, the Yankees bullpen did its job. Fernando Cruz got the two outs to finish the seventh for Schlittler before Camilo Doval -- who has dominated early on -- pitched into trouble. He allowed back-to-back one-out singles to put runners on the corners. Doval struck out Leo Rivas but walked Donovan to load the bases for Raleigh. 

Manager Aaron Boone pulled Doval for David Bednar, but the Yankees closer couldn't get the MVP runner-up, as the Mariners backstop dumped a two-run single to cut their lead to 4-2. Bednar would get Rodriguez to strike out on a 2-2 splitter to preserve the lead. It was a seven-pitch AB for Rodriguez that Bednar won.

Bednar would allow a run in the ninth on two hits, but eventually locked down his third save of the season after tossing 40 pitches (27 strikes).

-Rice would get one of those runs back in the ninth with a leadoff solo shot, his first of the season. 

Game MVP: Cam Schlittler

It took a bit for the Yankees offense to get going, but Schlittler held down the Mariners long enough for that Goldschmidt bomb. 

Highlights

Ben Rice opens the scoring as Cody Bellinger scores! pic.twitter.com/W9qkalcB99

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 1, 2026

A 3-run homer for Paul Goldschmidt! pic.twitter.com/b2k6KezRJc

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 1, 2026

Cam Schlittler is DEALING pic.twitter.com/6tgDriRhWP

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 1, 2026

What's next

The Yankees are off Thursday before heading back to the Bronx for their home opener. They'll take on the upstart Miami Marlins for a three-game series starting Friday at 1:35 p.m.

Will Warren will take the mound for his second start this season and will be up against Eury Perez. 

One of the most glaring issues for New York's offense last year was its inability to capitalize on chances with runners in scoring position. In fact, not only did the Mets overhaul their lineup, but they also retooled their hitting department by bringing in new hitting coaches in hopes that they could correct the RISP problem that plagued them so often last year.

But just six games into the season, that problem is rearing its ugly head. 

One day after being shut out and held to three hits, New York went 0-for-11 with RISP and left 11 men on base in a 2-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. The worst of it came in the top of the 11th inning when the Mets loaded the bases with one out, a golden opportunity to push across at least one run, but came up empty.

Before that, New York was unable to drive in the free runner in the 10th inning and couldn't get pinch-runner Jared Young home in the ninth after Jorge Polanco's leadoff double. 

Even in their series-opening win on Monday, the Mets finished 1-for-14 with RISP. In Sunday's loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, they went 2-for-10 with RISP and on Saturday, a win, 3-for-14. Aside from Opening Day's 11-run outburst, New York is averaging 2.4 runs per game.

"I feel like with runners in scoring position, there’s a few things there," said manager Carlos Mendoza. "Ultra aggressive at times, expanding [the strike zone] at times, as well, with some of the guys. We just gotta get back to what we do well, which is controlling the strike zone, getting good pitches to hit and doing damage. Good hitters that right now for a couple of games they’re not getting it done."

Following a season filled with this familiar phenomenon and the upheaval that took place to try and rectify it, seeing it happening again so soon (and after the offense teased its potential on Opening Day) is certainly disheartening.

Still, the season isn't even a week old yet and Mendoza believes things will change and doesn't see a through line between last year's offense and this year's offense, saying it's "completely different guys, different lineups."

"It’s two games," the skipper said. "Yes, we gotta make some adjustments, but they’re good hitters and right now for the last couple of games we haven’t gotten the job done."

While it's still early and a relatively small sample size, things need to change soon so that a fan base who went through it last season and might still hold some emotional scars doesn't completely come down on the team.

Here are the key takeaways…

-- With the game tied at 1-1, this one went to extra innings, the Mets' third such game in their first six contests. In the top of the 11th, the Mets loaded the bases with one out, but Brett Baty grounded into a force-out at the plate, and Marcus Semien flew out to end the threat. In the bottom half, with two outs and a runner on third, Masyn Winn blooped a single to right just in front of a diving attempt from Carson Benge, giving the Cardinals the win.

-- It was a pitchers’ duel through the early innings, as both Freddy Peralta and Matthew Liberatore were on point early. Peralta allowed just one hit the first time through the order, striking out five. Liberatore, meanwhile, started by retiring the Mets nine-up, nine-down, inducing six ground balls. 

Mark Vientos finally notched the Mets’ first hit of the afternoon with a line drive double down the third base line with two outs in the fifth. Dating back to Tuesday night’s loss, the Mets had gone 0-for-22 before Vientos’ hit. He’d be left stranded there, though, as Francisco Alvarez went down swinging to end the inning. 

-- Just when the Mets looked like they caught a break in the sixth inning, as Francisco Lindor reached on an error by Nolan Gorman, Lindor was immediately caught sleeping and picked off at first base. It was the second mental error of the game for Lindor, who also forgot how many outs there were defensively earlier in the game. 

But Juan Soto picked Lindor up, blasting a high, towering solo home run to right, which hung in the air forever before glancing off the foul pole. Soto’s first home run of the season put the Mets up 1-0, and snapped a 17-inning scoreless streak.

-- Peralta ran into some trouble in the fifth, starting the inning by allowing a walk and a single. But he got out of a second-and-third, one-out jam without allowing a run.

Peralta pitched into the sixth inning, when he was pulled with a couple runners on base. Unfortunately for the Mets, Huascar Brazoban allowed one of the inherited runners to score on a Gorman RBI single, tying the game.

Peralta went 5.1 innings, allowing one earned run on three hits. He struck out seven and walked two.

-- As a team, the Mets went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base.

GAME MVP

Liberatore, who allowed just one earned run in 6.0 innings.

Highlights

Five strikeouts over three scoreless innings so far for Freddy Peralta pic.twitter.com/6f0u6Qf6NA

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 1, 2026

Freddy Peralta works through a jam to keep the Cardinals scoreless through 5 pic.twitter.com/q5X1bTKD1E

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 1, 2026

A TOWERING SHOT!

Juan Soto hits his first home run of the year! pic.twitter.com/nqZJStvwgG

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 1, 2026

The Mets head to extra innings for the third time this season pic.twitter.com/u0H6kRb8Uo

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 1, 2026

Upcoming Schedule

The Mets head out to San Francisco for a four-game series with the Giants, starting on Thursday night at 9:45 p.m. on SNY. 

David Peterson will face Robbie Ray in a battle of lefties.

Here are the takeaways...

-- Without top scoring threat Jalen Brunson in the game due to right ankle soreness, New York needed its other players to step up and make some shots and make shots they did. It was an all-out team effort in the first quarter with the Knicks putting up 48 points in the opening 12 minutes of the game, the most points they've scored in any quarter this season. 

-- Nine players saw the court in the first quarter and all nine made at least one field goal, including Ariel Hukporti, who saw extended minutes for the first time since March 13 against the Indiana Pacers. 

 Mikal Bridges led the way by going 3-for-3 from the field and drilling his only three-point attempt. But it wasn't just Bridges as New York shot 81 percent from the field in the first and 100 percent from downtown (5-for-5). They also didn't miss from the free-throw line, going 9-for-9.

-- Overall, the Knicks missed just four shots in the opening frame and were getting anything they wanted offensively. Still, it wasn’t their best defensive effort as they allowed the Grizzlies to score 30 points.

-- The second quarter saw more of the same as Bridges continued his scoring barrage with Karl-Anthony Towns also heavily involved. New York wasn't able to keep up its first-quarter field-goal percentage in the second, but it still shot 71 percent from the field (70 percent from three) going into halftime and still didn't miss from the charity stripe (14-for-14). Along with the starters, it also got some nice contributions from Tyler Kolek and Landry Shamet.

-- Given their ridiculous offensive production, the Knicks outrebounded Memphis 21-6 at the break and had more offensive rebounds (eight) than the Grizzlies had total rebounds. Regardless, Memphis shot a more than respectable 56 percent from the field in the first half and had 62 points at halftime, even outscoring New York 32-31 in the second quarter. Of course, it was outshone by the Knicks' 79 points and 17-point lead at the half.

-- What felt like a clear and obvious win for New York for the entirety of the first half came crashing back down to Earth in the third quarter when the Grizzlies just kept chipping away and made it a game, relying on players like GG Jackson II, who led his team with 20 points, and Javon Small. 

After an Adama Bal three-pointer with 2:48 left in the quarter made it 90-87, what was once a Knicks lead as large as 22 points was shriveled to three points. 

-- The near total collapse by New York came from turnovers, continued bad defense and not having a player to defer to to put an end to a run. That changed in the fourth quarter when OG Anunoby put the team on his back and killed any thought the Grizzlies may have had to come back and win the game.

-- Entering the fourth quarter with just eight points, Anunoby scored 17 in the final frame, in which the Knicks needed every bit of it as Memphis continued to apply pressure. Anunoby finished with a game-high 25 points and led everybody with 13 rebounds.

-- Meanwhile, Towns had a triple-double (20-11-11) and Bridges finished with 24 points in Brunson's absence. New York's bench had a good game, scoring 41 points and dishing out 11 assists (seven via Kolek). 

Game MVP: OG Anunoby

Even though KAT finished with a triple-double, Anunoby made some big shots when it looked like the Knicks might blow their massive lead and had a double-double in his own right.

Highlights

Mikal 👌 pic.twitter.com/oMqKRVZbH4

— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) April 2, 2026

48 points in the first quarter for the Knicks! pic.twitter.com/GUCVVuGfep

— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) April 2, 2026

KAT finds Bridges! pic.twitter.com/k4Q9Y7Ikys

— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) April 2, 2026

Landry and-one from the corner! pic.twitter.com/CtGEGaHaVe

— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) April 2, 2026

KAT whips it in to OG and then he throws it down! pic.twitter.com/mBozYuzVun

— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) April 2, 2026

What's next

The Knicks return home for a Friday night showdown with the Chicago Bulls starting at 7:30 p.m.

Earlier this week at the owners’ meetings in Arizona, Glenn made his first public comments about his system and appeared to confirm that the Jets are seeking to change the system to become more flexible.

This overhaul began last season when defensive coordinator Steve Wilks was fired after less than a full season in the role, shortly after the team had opted to trade away Pro-Bowlers Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams. Wilks’ replacement is former Miami Dolphins secondary coach Brian Duker, but Glenn will be more proactively involved in play calling.

The makeover continued into the offseason with the Jets bringing several new faces aboard, with starters such as Jermaine Johnson, Quincy Williams, and Tony Adams departing. Some of these moves led to speculation that the Jets would be converting to a 3-4 system, but the reality is more nuanced than that.

Glenn said on Tuesday that the Jets will operate with multiple configurations, using three and even five-man defensive fronts in addition to the four-man fronts they used the majority of the time last year, and before that in Robert Saleh’s scheme.

Almost every NFL defense operates some kind of flexible hybrid system these days, and that seems to be the direction the Jets are headed. What this should mean is that the personnel groupings don’t change much, with two interior linemen, two edges and two off-ball linebackers in the game the majority of the time. Glenn can just be more flexible about how the edges are employed in terms of whether one or both of them has their hand in the dirt or is aligned close to the tackle.

T'Vondre Sweat’s acquisition, in a trade for Johnson, fed into speculation that the Jets might overhaul their system so that they have three interior linemen on the field with Sweat two-gapping as a nose tackle. This would entail Sweat lining up across from the center and occupying his block so that he is responsible for both A-gaps, either side of the center.

At over 360 pounds, Sweat is one of the few NFL players equipped to do this and it will probably be something the Jets do more of in 2026 than in the past. However, 3-4 systems that operate in this way are increasingly rare. Instead, most teams -- including Tennessee, where Sweat spent his first two seasons -- prefer to operate with an attacking front that would have a player like Sweat trying to penetrate gaps and force opponents to double team them.

Last season, Sweat was primarily used as a conventional 4-3 defensive tackle, as he lined up in the A-gap less than 20 percent of the time. While this was an increase from the previous season, it shows that Sweat can be effective in an attacking front rather than a read-react role.

The other major personnel decision that could be impacted by any scheme change is how the Jets decide to use the second overall pick in the upcoming draft. Right now, it looks most likely they will use that pick on an edge defender, with Ohio State’s Arvell Reese linked to them.

Reese has played as an off-ball linebacker as well as an edge rusher, so he would in theory be comfortable as an outside linebacker in a conventional 3-4 system. However, that flexibility would probably make him even more effective in multiple fronts where he could be deployed in a variety of ways.

Another offseason acquisition, Joseph Ossai, will be in the edge rotation as well, having signed a three-year deal. He has experience as an off-ball linebacker, too. However, ever since he moved to more of a permanent edge role, he’s started to flourish -- so it seems unlikely that he was acquired with a significant role change in mind.

In the secondary, the addition of Minkah Fitzpatrick gives the Jets additional flexibility to operate out of different personnel groupings, but it seems likely they will mostly operate out of sub-packages, as most teams these days tend to.

When they do revert to base defenses, the Jets will probably only have three interior linemen on the field in obvious running situations.  In fact, New York already started using such packages down the stretch last season after Quinnen Williams' departure, typically at times when opposing teams were having success with their running game.

The defense is unlikely to change all that much from what the Jets did last season, and what Glenn previously ran in Detroit. Players like Jamien Sherwood and Will McDonald might not see their roles change much at all, and the introduction of players like Sweat, Fitzpatrick, and perhaps Reese is going to add to the number of things the Jets can do with their existing system and personnel. It should be a smooth installation process, since it shouldn’t require a total overhaul.

Tuesday's 5-0 win over the Mariners capped off a five-game stretch where Yankees pitching was the most dominant in baseball. And it even made history.

Across the first five games of the season, Yankees pitching has allowed just three earned runs. According to Katie Sharp, that's tied with the 1943 Cardinals for the fewest in MLB history since 1900.

Digging a little deeper, Yankees starters have allowed just one run across those first five games, and the team as a whole has already thrown three shutouts. When asked if he anticipated his staff pitching this well, manager Aaron Boone admitted he didn't.

"We definitely like our pitching. I don't know if you draw up this many shutouts and all that early on, I don't care how good your pitching is. It doesn't usually work that seamlessly," he said. "It's a great start for those guys in there. They're pitching with a lot of confidence. They're executing. Austin [Wells] and JC [Escarra] are doing a great job back there with them. And then playing well behind them with our defense, and add it all up, and there's been a lot of zeros."

“We have a lot of really talented guys that are really motivated, and we've been waiting for this opportunity to have the season start and go and compete," Max Fried said. "We want to go in, and we're leaving everything out there, so we got a lot of, like I said, really good arms, and we’re throwing the ball really well right now. So we're just trying to keep it rolling.”

Fried is a big part of the early success. After grinding through 6.1 scoreless innings on Opening Day in San Francisco, the southpaw looked more like his dominant self from a season ago, tossing seven scoreless against the high-powered Mariners lineup.

The 32-year-old said his success on Tuesday was due to being able to throw his various pitches for strikes and working well with Escarra to keep changing speeds.

"There were times where I was just fighting to throw strikes [in my last start]," Fried explained. "I felt like I was actually able to locate today, which made things a lot easier. But you got to go out there and really execute against a team like that. That's a really good club up there."

"He was terrific tonight," Boone said. "He was on point from the start, just in total control of the game. Had everything kind of going for him, different ways to get you out. I thought he changed speeds really, really well, had good life to his fastball just back and forth. Used all his secondary. Until a couple guys got on there in that final inning in the seventh there, felt like he was cruising."

Fried has pitched at least six scoreless innings in both of his outings to start the season, which has earned the southpaw a spot in Yankees history. He's now tied with five others with two such starts. The record holder is three by Ray Caldwell in 1914. Fried will get his chance to match that franchise record next week.

As for the team as a whole, the Yankees have now started the season 4-1 heading into their rubber game against the Mariners on Wednesday afternoon. Cam Schlittler, who pitched 5.1 scoreless innings in his first start, will look to continue this string of dominance for Yankees pitching.

Yankees (4-1) pitching has dominated so far this season. Starters have allowed just one run in the first five games, and the team as a whole has allowed just two runs this season.

Here are the takeaways...

-Fried was dealing. He didn't allow a hit until two outs in the fourth inning, and even then, he coasted into the seventh inning. But the Mariners would get to the southpaw a bit in that inning.

Fried would erase an infield single by Julio Rodriguez by getting Josh Naylor to hit into a double play. But after hitting Randy Arozarena with a pitch, Brendan Donovan looped a single to give Seattle their best chance to score a run off the lefty. However, Fried hunkered down and got Victor Robles to line out to the outfield to end the threat.

Fried was done after that, allowing just three hits and one walk across seven scoreless innings (90 pitches/60 strikes). He also struck out six batters. Fried has now pitched 13.1 scoreless innings across his first two starts of the season.

-The Yankees scored one run on Mariners pitching on Monday, they would double that in the first inning off of Logan Gilbert. After Gilbert disposed of Trent Grisham and Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger worked the count and eventually picked up a single. Ben Rice then lined a double just fair down the right field line that kicked off the jutting wall. Bellinger scored from first on the double before Stanton's bloop single pushed Rice across for the first two runs of the game. 

The Yankees' bats would be quieted by Gilbert after the first, but would break through again in the sixth. After a leadoff double by Grisham, Bellinger hit a one-out single to put runners on the corners. Bellinger stole second, but Cal Raleigh -- who got Bellinger stealing earlier in the game -- threw the ball into the outfield, allowing Grisham to score and Bellinger to get to third. 

After a Rice walk, Stanton lined a double to put the Yankees up 4-0. Jazz Chisholm Jr. got into the fun with an RBI single

-Stanton finished 2-for-4 and has now had multiple hits in all five games this season. That's the fourth-longest streak to start a season in Yankees history. Rice was perfect at the plate, finishing 2-for-2 with two walks. 

Judge went hitless (0-for-4) with two strikeouts. He did run into a bit of bad luck in the seventh when he hit a liner (107 mph) back to the pitcher. The ball hit Cole Wilcox's glove and right to second baseman Cole Young on a line for the out. It likely would have been a single if Wilcox hadn't slowed it down. 

Judge has now started the season 3 of 20 with two home runs and 10 strikeouts.

-JC Escarra made his first start of the season and went hitless (0-4) with a strikeout. 

Game MVP: Fried

Did everything that you want an ace to do.

Highlights

A double for Ben Rice and Cody Bellinger scores all the way from first! pic.twitter.com/on1oUqsWdw

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 1, 2026

Giancarlo Stanton drops one in and Ben Rice comes around to score! pic.twitter.com/awt8aR3g8E

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 1, 2026

Trent Grisham comes in to score after Cal Raleigh throws it away! pic.twitter.com/C192CteEjl

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 1, 2026

An RBI double for Giancarlo Stanton! pic.twitter.com/JUD1eABYtX

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 1, 2026

An RBI for Jazz Chisholm Jr. makes it 5-0 Yankees! pic.twitter.com/bEiyQBzLtF

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 1, 2026

What's next

The Yankees wrap up their series in Seattle with a Wednesday afternoon game. First pitch is set for 4:10 p.m.

Cam Schlittler will take the mound for the second time this season and will go up against George Kirby.