Trevor Bauer’s Suspension, Anthony Rizzo’s Hot Start and a Brawl: Inside MLB’s Eventful Week

Plus, we look at the increase in shifts and ponder the meaning of April baseball.

MLB announced this afternoon that it has suspended Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer 324 games, or the length of two full regular seasons, for violating its domestic violence policy.

This is the biggest story in baseball today, so I’ll use the beginning of this newsletter to share Stephanie Apstein’s report of the suspension. The five tools will follow below, as usual.

Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports

1. THE OPENER

“As Anthony Rizzo’s free agency stretched into its fifth month, he realized two things: After a disappointing 2020 and ’21, ‘the deal that I once envisioned wasn’t gonna be there,’ he says. And if he couldn’t get five years, he didn’t want three. He wanted one.”

That’s how Apstein begins her story from this morning on the Yankees’ first baseman, who has reemerged as one of the best players in baseball after a few down years. Entering play Friday, he leads the majors with eight home runs and ranks fourth with a 1.098 OPS.

This week, Steph spoke with Rizzo about his early-season success and his re-signing with the Yankees after the Cubs traded him there last July. You can find her entire story at the link below:

Inside Anthony Rizzo’s Resurgence With the Yankees by Stephanie Apstein
The longtime Cubs first baseman never thought he would leave Chicago. But he’s loving it (and slugging it!) in New York.

2. ICYMI

Let’s run through some of our other great SI baseball stories from this week.

There’s No Grand Conspiracy Behind the Mets’ Getting Hit by Pitches by Tom Verducci
It’s been a great month for conspiracy theorists but a lousy month for hitters. Let’s run through the facts behind all of the game’s gripes so far this season.

Six Chaotic Blunders Lead to a Bonkers Twins Walk-Off Win by Will Laws
Three Twins baserunning mistakes bookend the most chaotic final play of the MLB season. And they still won. Here’s your guide to the most boneheaded ending to a game so far this season.

Infield Shifts Are Increasing in the Final Season Before MLB Restricts Them by Emma Baccellieri
If this is their last hurrah, they’re going out with a bang … or, at least with the gentle thwack of a ball into the glove of a perfectly positioned fielder.

The King of Spin: Yu Darvish Epitomizes Pitching in 2022 by Tom Verducci
MLB looks like nothing we’ve seen before because teams are throwing secondary stuff more than ever.

3. WORTH NOTING from Stephanie Apstein

Perhaps my favorite of the dozens of ways to look at MLB standings at this point in the year is on FanGraphs’ Playoff Odds Changes page. It can be hard to tell after a month’s worth of games which of the things that are happening are real and which aren’t. “I wish I had a nickel,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said a few days ago, “for every time I said, ‘Understanding that we’ve only had two weeks … ’” 

Most of what is happening at this point isn’t real. Blue Jays catcher Danny Jansen, who is on pace to be worth 21.5 WAR, will probably not produce the greatest season in the history of the sport. But everything that is happening does count, and that's what the playoff odds changes page reminds us. The Mets may not end the season in first place, where they sit now after a 14–6 start. But they've banked those 14 wins, and correspondingly, their playoff odds are up 16 percentage points from the start of the season, to 83.6%. April doesn't matter—but it matters.

4. W2W4 from Nick Selbe

I’m a sucker for good pitching matchups, and Friday night’s showdown between the Phillies righthander Aaron Nola and Tylor Megill of the Mets is a great way to get the weekend started. Nola was dominant in a tough-luck loss against the Brewers his last time out, allowing just one hit in seven shutout innings with nine punchouts. Megill has finally surrendered some runs, but remains unbeaten and pitched into the seventh inning for the first time in his last start.

At the same time as these two square off, Noah Syndergaard and the Angels will take a five-game winning streak to Chicago against Lucas Giolito and the White Sox. Giolito was excellent in his first start off the injured list after missing time with an abdominal strain, while Syndergaard has yet to allow more than two runs in any of his first three starts with his new team.

5. THE CLOSER from Emma Baccellieri

Perhaps my favorite baseball moment from this week? The return of Ronald Acuña Jr. Ten months after undergoing knee surgery, he’s finally back in the lineup for Atlanta. That’s a huge jolt for the team, of course—but it’s just about as big for MLB. Baseball is simply better when a player this young, electric and talented is on the field.

That’s all from us today. We’ll be back in your inbox next Friday. In the meantime, share this newsletter with your friends and family, and tell them to sign up at SI.com/newsletters. If you have any questions or comments, shoot us an email at mlb@si.com.