The 2026 MLB season has been incredibly entertaining thus far. The first two weeks of the campaign have delivered some of the most bizarre and interesting storylines that the baseball world has ever seen. Teams that were supposed to be good are on the struggle bus, the new ABS system has put umpires under even more of a microscope and some pitchers are proving that Father Time may be a fraud.
What better time to overreact to baseball than during the first couple of weeks of the MLB season? After all, this is when the league is at its most unpredictable state. Let’s look at what has been happening around the league as of late March and early April.
The Red Sox and their not-so-hot start
Heading into the year, journalists and analysts alike predicted that the Boston Red Sox would be one of the best teams in the American League and potentially win the American League East. Last season turned a lot of heads among fans around the world, as the Red Sox turned their season completely around and made the playoffs amid one of the most competitive division races the league has seen in a while.
In terms of player progression, Roman Anthony became an overnight sensation on the biggest stage at the World Baseball Classic, showing why he’s one of the most appealing young players in the entire sport at only 21 years of age.
On the mound, Garret Crochet remains one of the best pitchers in the game and showed no signs of slowing down after another dominant season last year. With loads of all-around talent laced throughout their lineup, it was assumed that they would build from last year’s success and take off to new heights in 2026.
It is still less than 12 games in, but the team hasn’t clicked at all.
After defeating the Cincinnati Reds in their season opener, the team went on to lose eight out of 11 games, giving up a combined 53 runs in that span. The two losses to the Reds weren’t terrible, but the following series in Houston was one that Red Sox fans and players want to forget. Ranger Suarez was brought in as a veteran with a reliable arm behind Crochet, but his first outing consisted of a four-inning, four-run beatdown at the hands of the Astros’ offence. The very next game, Brayan Bello pitched just 4.2 innings and gave up five earned runs of his own.
It’s not just the pitching that’s struggled for Boston; the offence has too. In that two-game span of horrendous pitching, the team only put up three runs to show for it. Wilyer Abreu has been one of the only bright spots for the bats of the Red Sox, with 18 hits and three home runs in 47 at-bats. Anthony thought that, despite not having the start Boston fans had hoped for, he had been the team’s second-best player so far. Outside of those two, it’s been quite bleak for a team that was supposed to be competing with the Yankees and Blue Jays for a division title.
There’s still more than enough time for the offence to get things in order and the pitching to become consistent. In the meantime, it looks as though the Red Sox might not be all that they were hyped up to be.
ABS drama
For years, MLB has teased an automated umpire, much to fans’ excitement. It’s no secret that viewers and players have been fed up with lacklustre umpiring for a number of years, but nobody would have thought how much discussion only a couple of weeks of the ABS system would create.
It all started in a Reds vs Red Sox game when long-time umpire CB Buckner had a total of six calls overturned, some of which weren’t even close.
In defence of the umpires, they’re human. However, in this specific case, some of these calls were back-to-back and in clutch scenarios. One call against Eugenio Suárez was blatantly off the plate, yet it was still called a strike. With a few taps on the helmet, Suárez was able to overturn the call thanks to the ABS system and regain another challenge. Buckner looked visibly frustrated after several of his calls were overturned.
Not to pick on Buckner specifically, but it seems as though he’s doing it to himself. In a Rays vs Brewers game, the umpire missed what may have been the most obvious call in history, except this time it wasn’t even behind the plate.
These headlining moments have led fans to express their opinions in all directions. Some say the league should either abandon ABS completely or use it for every pitch, essentially erasing umpires’ role.
Overall, the eye test has shown that most umpires have done a solid job so far this season in terms of call accuracy. They just face the unfortunate fate of potentially being proven wrong during a player challenge, which is right most of the time. The decision to eliminate umpiring entirely will almost certainly spark uproar and undermine the authenticity of a game with such a rich history.
It will be interesting to see how the league progresses with the system going forward. These decisions will almost certainly rely on umpire performance during the remainder of the season.
The Marlins are winning with no fans
It’s no secret that the Marlins are one of the worst-run franchises in all of baseball, but what they’ve managed to do to open the season has turned many heads.
In their first 13 games, the team has not only shown how exciting they are, but they’ve done so in front of almost nobody. After a win over the White Sox at home, Marlins pitcher Sandy Alcantara playfully joked with a reporter about the lack of fans in their building.
“Fans not here, but we still love them,” said Alcantara.
These wins have come against a mixed bag of opponents. First, the Rockies and the White Sox, but then they picked up some nice wins over the Reds and Yankees. For a franchise as irrelevant as the Marlins, it’s hard not to root for them during such a depressing period. It hasn’t been since the Giancarlo Stanton era when the team was actually talked about. Even when they had an up-and-coming Jazz Chizolm Jr. on the team, he packed his bags to go to the Bronx with fear that the team wasn’t going to be able to build anything sustainable around him.
The current Marlins are hitting the ball at a very consistent rate, something they’ve struggled with heavily in recent years. Liam Hicks has three home runs already, while six other players have amassed 11 hits or more in 13 games.
Things may very well come crashing down on them in the coming weeks, but as for now, it’s always fun to see projected bad teams go on a run.