Any weekend in Major League Baseball is special, but this one is set to enter another stratosphere. When the Pittsburgh Pirates host the Chicago Cubs on Saturday afternoon, they will hand the ball to MLB's preseason No. 3 overall prospect, Paul Skenes, for the first time on a big-league mound.
Skenes has been laughing his way through the minor leagues, posting a 0.99 ERA and 45 strikeouts in 27.1 innings, and if MLB re-did its prospect rankings, he would almost certainly be number one. His debut is set to be a true spectacle, with the chance to change the course of the entire baseball season, if not the next decade altogether.
Plus, there are a bevy of other exciting stories happening around MLB this weekend. Let's whip around the horn and talk about all the excitement on the diamond set to unfold in the great sport of baseball:
Paul Skenes takes the mound in Pittsburgh
It's become the consensus among baseball fans and prospect evaluators alike that Paul Skenes is the most highly-anticipated pitching prospect since Stephen Strasburg, who first debuted for the Washington Nationals in June 2010 with a 14-strikeout performance. It delivered hope to a Nats franchise that had rarely experienced that in their brief history and the Pirates are hoping for a similar boost to their psyche in calling up Skenes.
Skenes is unlikely to throw the innings to match Strasburg in the strikeout department, but his MLB debut has the chance to bring the sport the kind of fanfare it rarely receives on a Saturday in the middle of May. Not only will baseball fans who have ignored the Pirates for a decade be glued to their TV sets, but Skenes is a pop culture icon of sorts as well, thanks to his girlfriend, LSU gymnast Livvy Dunne, and her eight million TikTok followers.
Between the 102-mph fastballs, the explosive sliders and the interest the entire spectacle is sure to receive on social media, Skenes' debut is set to be a proper moment for the sport of baseball–especially welcome when the NBA, WNBA and NHL are all dominating the headlines. The more Cubs Skenes punches out at PNC Park, the better for baseball.
Surging Yankees face their AL East kryptonite
Fans of the other four AL East teams know the fear that comes with heading to St. Petersburg, Florida to take on the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. It feels like no matter how good your team is that season, something wonky is bound to happen during that series that works in the Rays' favor. It's no wonder the Rays are 169-97 at home since 2021, good for a .635 winning percentage.
At this moment in time, the New York Yankees are playing some of their best baseball of the past five years. They're 25-14, winners of five of their last six, with Aaron Judge and Juan Soto both heating up at the plate for the first time as teammates. But they've had a spotty history against Tampa Bay the past few seasons, not to mention a number of chippy confrontations between the two teams.
It's a classic “throw out the record books” situation when the Yanks and Rays face off and this is a meaningful MLB series to both squads. The Yankees are just a half-game behind the Baltimore Orioles for the AL East lead, while the Rays are finally back to .500 after a slow start and looking to get back into the thick of the playoff hunt. Don't be surprised if emotions get heated under the catwalks at the Trop this weekend.
New-look Padres host streaking Dodgers
The San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers have already met twice this MLB season–once in South Korea and once in Chavez Ravine. Now, it's finally the Padres' turn to host, as they welcome baseball's hottest team to Petco Park for a three-game set. And although it's going to be near-impossible to keep pace with L.A. for the division lead, the Padres can send a stern message if they're able to win the series against their arch-nemesis.
And while the Dodgers will always have the edge in star power as long as Betts, Ohtani and Freeman are the three names atop the lineup card, the addition of Luis Arraez to the San Diego lineup adds a healthy dash of intrigue to the matchup this time around. The Padres have won four of the six games they've played since the Arraez acquisition was announced and it seems to have rejuvenated an offense that was feeling stagnant.
Perhaps Arraez's arrival can spark a resurgence in Fernando Tatís Jr., Manny Machado and/or Xander Bogaerts. If that happens, the Padres will look like a much different ballclub, one the Dodgers and everyone else will come to fear by October.
Twins and Blue Jays relive their postseason chaos
No fan of either the Minnesota Twins or Toronto Blue Jays will soon forget the second game of the two teams' 2023 Wild Card showdown. Toronto manager John Schneider made the controversial decision to pull José Berríos from the game in the top of the fourth inning, despite Berríos looking borderline untouchable the first time through the lineup, only to watch it backfire instantly with a two-run fourth in a 2-0 series-ending loss.
Sadly, Berríos will not pitch for Toronto this weekend, but there are still mountains of intrigue behind each pitching matchup. Whose hot start will continue between Joe Ryan and Yusei Kikuchi? Can Simeon Woods-Richardson outduel Kevin Gausman? And how will Alek Manoah respond to his rough season debut in the Sunday finale against Bailey Ober?
Meanwhile, as Minnesota has surged back into the forefront of the AL playoff picture, the Blue Jays are in dead last in the AL East. This series means everything if Toronto wants any shot at a rematch this October, while the Twins, who have won 15 of their last 16, can put a huge dent in their hopes early on and even potentially steer the Jays towards selling at the MLB trade deadline.
Who will grab control of the MLB home run lead?
Aside from the races in the standings, one of the most intriguing contests to follow at this time of year is the various players jockeying for the MLB home run crown. This year more than most, it seems as though any number of sluggers could seize that lead and already, they've been jockeying back and forth at the top of the heap.
Mike Trout was the first to 10 dingers, but sadly, he immediately fell victim to injury. But Gunnar Henderson, Kyle Tucker, Shohei Ohtani and Marcell Ozuna have all taken brief turns at the top, with Ozuna snatching the lead back on Wednesday with his two-homer game against the Boston Red Sox. Plus, Soto and Judge are always lurking in the rearview mirror.
Of course, no one is going to clinch the title with their 13th or 14th home run at this time of year. But it will be interesting to see if anyone can separate themselves from the pack, because the race has been as tight as physically possible thus far. One of the four above names could have a three-homer weekend and instantly swing the odds towards themself to reign supreme among the top sluggers in the MLB.
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