Draymond Green thinks the Steve Kerr era in Golden State is over.

Green, speaking on his podcast on Monday, thinks that the longtime Warriors coach won’t be with the organization next season. Their loss to the Phoenix Suns on Friday night, which kept them out of the playoffs, felt like the end.

“I hope he’s our coach next season,” Green said. “You want my opinion? I think not. Just because it feels like that. It felt like that was it.”

Kerr first took over as the Warriors’ head coach ahead of the 2014-15 campaign. He led the franchise, which is the only one he’s ever served as a head coach for, on a dynasty-level run throughout the league right away. The Warriors won four NBA titles under his watch, and reached the NBA Finals six times in eight years. 

But the Warriors went just 37-45 this past season and are now missing the playoffs for the second time in three years. And after their loss to the Suns on Friday night, Kerr embraced both Green and Stephen Curry in an emotional moment on the court. 

“I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but I love you guys to death,” Kerr was heard telling the duo. “Thank you. Appreciate you.”

Kerr openly acknowledged on Friday night that he may not be with the Warriors next season, too. He said he was going to “take a week or two” before eventually sitting down with owner Joe Lacob and general manager Mike Dunleavy.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Kerr said. “I still love coaching, but I get it. These jobs all have an expiration date. There’s a run that happens, and sometimes it’s time for new blood and new ideas and all that.

“If that’s the case, then I will be nothing but grateful for the most amazing opportunity any person could have to coach in front of our fans in the Bay, to coach Steph Curry, to coach Dray, the whole group. It may still go on, it may not. I don’t know at this point.”

If the Warriors do in fact make a change, Yahoo Sports’ Kevin O’Connor reported on Monday that the franchise is expected to target Florida coach Todd Golden.

Kerr has apparently been conflicted about his future in recent weeks, according to ESPN, and the likelihood of his return is only about 50%. The team reportedly wants “to hear Kerr express a hunger to continue executing the nitty-gritty details of the daily job,” according to ESPN. If he does want to return, the organization wants him to sign a multi-year deal rather than just a farewell tour-type return as Curry and Green — the last remaining faces of the Warriors’ dynasty era — reach the last stages of their respective careers. 

Curry has one season left on his current deal, and just turned 38 last month. Green, 36, has one year left on his four-year, $100 million deal with a player option for next season.

Like his coach, Green is also very uncertain about what is next for him. 

“I’ve never been so uncertain since earlier in my career in what happens next,” Green said on his podcast. “But I’m truly at a loss now because you don’t know what direction will be next. … I also hope I’m on this team next season. We also don’t know that. Man, if it was, what a run.”

WASHINGTON — For the folks actually living it — players, staff, coaches — Major League Baseball is a binary endeavor.

That’s the case for all professional sports. The sun rises. A game happens. You win or lose. Either way, the sun sets. Yes, there can be silver linings in defeats or sour tastes after victories, but more often than not, one’s happiness (or lack thereof) is defined by the result.

MLB’s near-daily regular-season schedule takes that dynamic to the extreme. There are 162 opportunities to revel in the ups or wallow in the downs.

Few professions operate this way, with such constant, tangible feedback. The big-league lifestyle — opulent and lucrative as it might be — is accompanied by a never-ending shadow of judgment, both spoken and unspoken. And each night, as heads hit pillows, the joys of that day’s W or the frustrations of that day’s L can often be the last thing to pass through a coach’s or player’s weary mind.

And so, the most reasonable approach becomes to smooth it all down, to avoid getting too high or too low, to focus instead on the bigger picture. Over the years, this has turned into a well-worn, eye-roll-inducing cliché in the baseball world. But like many clichés, it is rooted in truth. Really, it’s a survival mechanism, this performative even-keeled-ness. Ride the roller coaster at your own risk; better to flush it and move on.

New Giants manager Tony Vitello is learning this very crucial lesson on the job. 

A college baseball lifer best known for turning the University of Tennessee into a Division I powerhouse, the 47-year-old is accustomed to winning at a preposterous rate. In Knoxville, Vitello went 341-131 across eight seasons at the helm. That’s a .722 clip, which, converted to a big-league campaign, would be a 117-45 season.

Vitello was even more prolific in the years preceding his surprise departure to San Francisco, running a 257-70 record over his final four seasons at Tennessee, good for a .785 winning percentage (127-35).

But things are different now. In part, that’s because his 9-13 Giants have stumbled out of the gate, but it’s mostly because MLB teams simply don’t go 127-35. Vitello has never won more than 60 games or lost more than 27 in a single season. He will, barring enormous catastrophe, surpass both those marks this season.

And sometimes, learning how to lose can be just as hard as figuring out how to win.

“It’s been very difficult,” Vitello admitted before a recent game, when asked about this aspect of his transition. “It’s something that I was warned about from some of my friends. You have to deal with it the right way. Otherwise it’ll sink you.”

For the top college programs, a typical regular season features 56 games, or about one-third of an MLB regular season. So each individual showdown quite literally means more within the context of an entire year. A single college ballgame can carry the emotion, win or loss, of a big-league sweep. Two bad weeks can torpedo a club’s playoff chances. 

This was all amplified in the highly competitive Southeastern Conference, where Vitello spent nearly his entire coaching tenure. If MLB’s regular season is about quality emerging over a large sample, SEC ball is about complete and total domination. Blink, and you’ve lost.

That means Vitello is used to acting aggressively and weaponizing his unshakable enthusiasm to animate his ballclub. But while that strategy worked wonders, won championships and turned him into a coaching icon, it’s not easily replicable at the big-league ball.

“You want to make adjustments that are needed,” he explained of whether he has had to be more patient in his new role. “The games technically mean a little less. So to make a drastic move, in college, when there’s fewer games, might make sense. With this, it’s not necessarily do or die. We can maybe make this change, but let’s not go crazy with this or that.

“It damn sure is a challenge.”

Amid the shorter college campaign, there’s an urge to search for meaning under every stone. But these days, Vitello is learning that not every MLB result comes with a larger lesson attached. After San Francisco was carved apart by Yankees pitching in the season’s opening series, Vitello pondered about his lineup being tight. The explanation for the Giants’ lackluster performance is likely much simpler: Sometimes Max Fried and Cam Schlittler shove, and there’s not much the opposing offense can do.

Vitello was similarly assertive after San Francisco’s loss on Sunday, one that wrapped up a road trip with a 4-5 record. “And it’s a long season, and blah, blah, blah, sample size, all that crap,” he said before insisting: “4-5 and 5-4 is a massive, massive difference.”

During media sessions, Vitello is blunt, long-winded, refreshingly philosophical and occasionally combative in a way that college head coaches often are but MLB managers usually are not. Freely referencing soft factors such as energy and clubhouse chemistry, emotion and culture, it’s clear that San Francisco’s skipper views the sport through a different lens.

That is why, despite Vitello’s unfamiliarity with MLB, Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey plucked him from the college ranks. He offers something different; he is a legitimate zag. Few question Vitello’s work ethic, baseball knowledge or people skills. And his high-energy behavior has the potential to be infectious and invigorating over a long season. Before Saturday’s game against the Nationals, Vitello shadowboxed in the dugout with outfielder Drew Gilbert, whom he also coached at Tennessee. Other Giants players, many of whom did not play college ball, are beginning to adapt to their new normal.

Vitello will have to do the same, meeting his players somewhere in the middle.

“[The players] love baseball,” he told Yahoo Sports’ Jordan Shusterman during spring training. “They like the camaraderie factor. They want to have success. They want to be helped. So, you know, as everyone harps on all these differences for my job or what’s going on, or people ask me, ‘What’s the biggest difference?’ … There’s a lot of similarities.

“And I kind of take comfort in that.”

We’ve officially made it through the opening game of each NBA playoff series. It’s important not to overreact to these things, but there’s always information to glean. We’re going to take a look at a key number that emerged from each game, one that could serve as a solve-or-sink point as we get deeper into the series.

Let’s dig in, shall we?

Cavaliers-Raptors

Key number to watch: 28

I was excited about the unknown of this series: all three of the regular-season matchups, all won by the Raptors, happened before Thanksgiving. There were key figures missing in each matchup, and because of the early nature of the meetings, we had no film of James Harden as a Cavalier to gather clues from. 

Harden promptly ripped the Raptors, and virtually every defensive coverage they deployed, to shreds in the Cavs’ 126-113 victory on Saturday. A 22-point, 10-assist performance is relatively straightforward; the pick-and-roll dominance — 36 on-ball picks received, an absurd 1.28 points per possession on those trips — was the real story.

What stood out to me, aside from Harden having answers to the schematic test, was how high up the floor a lot of those ball screens happened. It’s one thing to have to deal with talented ball-screen partnerships — it’s another when you have to do so while being stretched thin from a spacing perspective.

More broadly, it felt like the Cavs were consistently intentional about maximizing their space — Spacemaxxing? Can we say that? — with their ball screens in real time. In addition to running them high on the floor, they often paired those actions with their weakside spacer lifting from the corner to the wing to put a help defender in peril. 

Help on the roll, and a shooter’s open; stay attached to the shooter, and you have Jarrett Allen or Evan Mobley rolling free to the basket.

To that end: per Second Spectrum, the Cavs ran 28ball screens 30+ feet from the basket, their fifth-highest total in a game this season. 

(If you extend it to 35 feet or more, the number is still 10 — their highest clip in a game, only trailing the Phoenix Suns, who had 12 on Feb. 3 against the Trail Blazers, for the most by anyone in a game this season.)

When operating 30+ feet from the basket, they were just as lethal: 1.21 points per possession on those trips, with the Raptors getting progressively more frustrated as the game went on. Toronto’s screen navigation, drive containment, and help discipline must all be better moving forward, or this series won’t last very long.

Nuggets-Timberwolves

Key number to watch: 1.64

You can’t talk about the Denver Nuggets without talking about the dominant pairing of Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray. In Jokić, you have an all-time great who can knock down shots from anywhere and make every pass in the book. In Murray, you have a true three-level scorer who can exhaust you with his on-and-off-ball blend of usage and his overall aggression. 

Together, you have a two-man game that nobody really has an answer for. 

The Nuggets often exacerbate the problem by mixing in different spacing looks for the two to operate within. My favorite is the “flat spacing” alignment: it’s when there’s a player spaced in each corner, and a third player stashed in the dunker spot (low block area). 

Here’s an example of what it looks like. Cam Johnson and Tim Hardaway Jr. are in the corners, while Spencer Jones is in the dunker spot. This gives Murray and Jokić a ton of space to work with since both the left and right wing are empty.

There’s already little you can do to contain these two; the inherent nature of this spacing alignment makes it tough to send help without potentially giving up something even more fruitful. In Denver’s Game 1 victory, the Wolves found that out the hard way — over, and over, and over again.

Going back through Denver’s offensive possessions, there were 11 instances — 10 if you don’t count the Chicago action rep at the very end of the video above — where those two were in action together with a flat spacing alignment. The Nuggets scored 18 points on those trips — 1.64 (or 1.8) points per possession.

There isn’t an easy answer to this particular problem, but the Wolves have to find something that’ll bring that number down.

Knicks-Hawks

Key number to watch: 1.15

One of my pressing questions heading into this series was how the Hawks would go about defending Karl-Anthony Towns. Would they defend him straight-up positionally with Onyeka Okongwu, or would they pull the increasingly popular gambit of stashing a wing or forward on Towns while allowing Okongwu to “guard” Josh Hart, ultimately acting as a roamer?

On April 6, their final regular-season matchup but their first with the current iteration of these teams, the Hawks opted for the former. The two-man game between Jalen Brunson and Towns largely destroyed them from the opening tip.

In Game 1, the Hawks stuck with the same plan. The Brunson-Towns pairing once again got busy in ball screens (15 picks, 1.46 PPP) while sprinkling in some pass-and-cut actions. Zooming out, I was more enamored by the touches that Towns received above the break — with some of those approaching the logo.

Between pick-and-pops and genuine passing hub work, Towns is able to stress defenses twofold. He’s obviously good enough to make shots and reads; but because he’s being defended by the best rim protector on the floor, the Hawks’ backline is extremely exposed with Towns being that high on the floor.

The play below is a transition scramble, but you can see the amount of strain a Towns pop can have:

Towns logged 29 above-the-break touches in the Knicks’ Game 1 victory, his sixth highest total in a game this season. The Knicks generated 1.15 points per possession on those trips, an elite figure that represents an increase from the regular season (1.12 PPP).

In fact, among 117 players to log at least 1,000 above-the-break touches during the regular season, Towns ranked fifth in the NBA — behind four guards at that. He narrowly edged out Nikola Jokić (1.11 PPP, 6th) for the best mark among bigs within that same pool.

The Hawks did experiment with some cross-matching in the fourth quarter of Game 1, but the game was firmly in the Knicks’ control at that point. We’ll see if the Hawks want to “blink” and cross-match at the start of Game 2.

Lakers-Rockets

Key number to watch: 111.6

If I told you the Lakers, down Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves, were going to have a solid offensive performance against the Houston Rockets in a convincing win, your mind probably would’ve went to LeBron James having some sort of turn-the-clock-back scoring binge with timely shotmaking from others.

What we got was a high dosage of LePlaymaker, logging a career-high eight assists in the first quarter before ultimately finishing with 19-8-13 and three stocks.

Now, if I told you the Lakers were not only going to light up the Rockets in the half-court, that you’d have to go back at least three years to find a comparable outing — and even longer to find a winning one — your brow might’ve raised smooth off your forehead. I know mine nearly did.

Sure enough, the Lakers logged a 111.6 offensive rating in the half-court on Saturday, their highest half-court offensive rating in a playoff game since Game 1 of the Western Conference finals against the Denver Nuggets (115.3) in 2023. 

It’s their highest in a playoff win since their Game 5 Western Conference finals matchup with the Nuggets (114.5) … in the 2020 Bubble.

There were plenty of goodies in this one. They moved LeBron around the board as an initiator, screener, and post (or elbow) threat. The back-’em-down touches (8 total, 1.33 PPP) were insanely fruitful, with some fun shotmaking (a lefty hook, anyone?) in his film. 

Luke Kennard lost his mind from deep (5-of-5), but the off-ball work to get him curling inside the arc for midrange bucket-getting was a pleasant surprise. As with any LeBron-led playoff offense, there was also a healthy dose of matchup-hunting.

They went after Reed Sheppard, getting him involved to navigate screens, goading him into unfavorable switches, forcing him to defend Marcus Smart post-ups, and even a transition seal from Smart for good measure.

Obviously, the health of Kevin Durant looms large over this series. But Houston’s defense can’t break down the way it did in Game 1. The Lakers deserve a ton of credit for their offensive purpose, variety, and incredible shotmaking. The Rockets simply have to tighten the screws — some of their breakdowns were incredibly loud — regardless of if Durant returns or not.

Celtics-76ers

Key number to watch: 43.8%

With Joel Embiid out for Game 1, and potentially the first round entirely, attention rightfully shifted to Tyrese Maxey. He’s played at an All-NBA level all season, and they’d need that version of him (if not more) to hang with this Celtics team.

They didn’t get that from Maxey in Game 1’s loss — or anyone, really.

Maxey led the team with 21 points, but went 7-of-16 (43.8%) on shots inside the arc, continuing his season-wide struggles against them despite his career-season (52.5%) overall. He also went 1-of-4 from deep; considering how far back the Celtics’ bigs were dropping in pick-and-roll, I don’t know if I’m more bothered by the singular make or the four attempts. 

The inside the arc bit is really what I want to focus on, because I think it represents a clear-but-attainable growth-area for Maxey. He’s an absolute speed demon with awkward-foot gathers and growing foul-drawing craft. He’s growing more comfortable as a floater artist and pull-up middy threat. 

But he’s not completely there yet, and the Celtics know it.

Maxey saw at least one help defender on 90% of his drives, leading to inconsistent process from him. On the high end, he was able to get into the teeth of the defense for fouls or finishes, or beat some of the funky rotations the Celtics were sprinkling in by advancing the ball to the wing and letting that person make a play against tilted defenses.

On the low end, his pacing felt a smidge too fast. That, combined with early pickups for foul-drawing attempts, were understandable from a process standpoint, but also put him (and the Sixers’ transition defense) in trouble at times. 

I ultimately think he’s going to be fine, and surely the Sixers will make more open shots than they did on Sunday. But it is worth noting they need Maxey to hit all the notes to compensate for the overall talent edge.

Thunder-Suns

Key number to watch: 0.61

I’m running out of things to say about the Thunder defense.

They were the league’s stingiest unit this year; with Cleaning The Glass’ garbage time-removed tracking, they were one of the best defenses in modern history relative to league average. They have dawgs everywhere; when they’re humming, they can choke the life out of offenses in a way that’s mildly uncomfortable.

(THIS IS NOT THE SPACE TO FILE YOUR REF COMPLAINTS. DO THAT ELSEWHERE.)

It’s safe to say they were humming on Sunday, holding the Phoenix Suns to 84 points in a dominant Game 1 victory. The Suns could only muster an 89.7 offensive rating before garbage time kicked in; their 62.0 offensive rating in the half-court reads like a typo.

You should be familiar with the Thunder ethos by now; insane ball pressure that can extend, never-ending physicality off the ball, coverage versatility with their bigs, and a willingness to switch (and scram switch) whenever they feel the need to. We gotta talk about the way they swarm and recover, though.

Like, what is this?

It felt like any time a Suns player — Devin Booker, Jalen Green, and Dillon Brooks logged double digit attacks — attempted to get downhill, they were thwarted by pristine screen navigation, slowed by a Thunder big creeping up to give their navigator time to recover, or a third Thunder player was nearby to make them think twice (or thrice) about what they were doing.

Overall, the Suns logged 40 drives with at least one Thunder help defender present, just the 16th time they’ve seen help that often this season. This was easily their worst performance among those games, generating [checks notes]0.61 points per possession on those trips.

Their pathway to finding more success involves finding more room to breathe; a daunting task against this unit, but, as the regular-season matchups showed, not an impossible one. 

Pistons-Magic

Key number to watch: 0

Whew, buddy, what a game from the Orlando Magic.

Their offense was likely the story for a lot of people, and rightfully so. It would appear #PlayoffPaolo is a real thing after putting Detroit in the blender with the kind of driving oomph, jumper efficiency and overall processing speed that makes you wonder, aloud, “Why the heck can he not do this all the time?!”

Attached to that was the decisiveness and timely contributions of the others. Jalen Suggs’ hot start; the second half exploits of Franz Wagner and Desmond Bane; the consistently good decision-making in the short-roll from Wendell Carter Jr. It was there, and it was impressive.

I’d like to shift to the defense, in which the Magic were also excellent. One of the things that popped early was their willingness to mix coverages against Cade Cunningham in ball screens — sometimes it’s a switch, sometimes it’s a drop, sometimes it’s ICE coverage and you don’t know how high (or not) the big will be.

It’s easy to see what kind of impact that can have on Cade, though he wound up having a phenomenal game as he got increasingly more comfortable. The real story is what that mixture did to take away Jalen Duren. 

The Magic’s help defense — and the timeliness of that help — shined throughout the game. The switching naturally took away some of the easy pockets on Duren’s rolls to the basket. When dealing with more traditional coverages, the Magic were dutiful in their tags — and occasionally audacious with their rotations.

The example below isn’t a ball screen, but the same principle applies. Duren gets a favorable matchup to seal, but he’s getting nothing easy.

That brings me to this: Sunday’s Game 1 was the second time all season that the Cade-Duren pairing ran at least 20 pick-and-rolls with Duren logging zero shot attempts or drawing a shooting foul. You’d have to go back to Nov. 10 — the 45-shot, “I’m not bleepin’ losing” effort from Cade in the shorthanded Pistons’ overtime win over the Wizards — to find the other one.

Place this in the “duh” box, but that simply can’t happen moving forward. Duren has to be more involved in ball screens — maybe we see an uptick in empty side actions in Game 2. Outside of the ball screen context, he just needs to be more assertive, period. We know he has it in him.

Spurs-Trail Blazers

Key number to watch: 107.1

Similar to the Cavs-Raptors matchup, I was excited to see this one largely because we didn’t have a reliable regular-season sample to take info from. Multiple key Blazers were missing during the meetings and, most notably, Victor Wembanyama didn’t appear in any of the matchups.

Question No. 1 for me was a simple one: Who were they going to give the Wemby assignment to?

To my cross-matching delight, the Blazers gave the keys to Toumani Camara (and Jerami Grant when he subbed in), with Donovan Clingan (and Robert Williams when he subbed in) roaming off Stephon Castle or whichever wing the Blazers dubbed as the least threatening shooter.

The opening possession of the game highlighted the theory behind the matchups. You can, ideally, mute some of the impact of the perimeter-based actions with Wemby. You can turn ball screens featuring him and De’Aaron Fox into switches. With Clingan staying near the paint, you can maintain a rim protecting and rebounding presence.

You can see it here, too:

The box score will say it didn’t work — Wemby dropped 35 in his playoff debut, and the Spurs ultimately snagged a 111-98 victory — but I’d push back a bit. I’d argue it didn’t ultimately matter because of the game result, but the gambit largely did what it was supposed to.

Second Spectrum tracks who’s guarding who in half-court settings, and the who’s-guarding-Wemby split, positionally, was probably louder than it felt in real time.

• Guarded by Clingan or Williams: 15 points on 14 matchups (107.1 points per 100 half-court matchups)

• Guarded by Camara or Grant: 9 points on 28 matchups (32.1 points per 100 half-court matchups)

To be clear, that wing-based number is still good, but the Blazers obviously felt (and likely still feel) that this sort of cross-matching is more tenable for their defense. 

Zoom out, and the Spurs only had a 90.5 offensive rating in the half-court — that’s well below their regular-season average (102.4, 4th). You could argue the Blazers did their job on that front; they just can’t afford to have an even lower offensive rating in the half-court (87.5) like they did in Game 1.

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The Atlanta Hawks and New York Knicks meet in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series. The Knicks won Game 1 113-102 with Jalen Brunson scoring 28 points and Karl-Anthony Towns adding 25. The Knicks are favored in Game 2 by 5.5 points with an over/under of 217.5.

How to watch Atlanta Hawks vs. New York Knicks

• Date: Monday, April 20

• Time: 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT

• Where: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York

• TV Channels: NBC, Peacock

• Live Stream:NBA League Pass | Follow on Yahoo Sports

Odds

• Spread: New York Knicks -5.5

• Moneyline: New York Knicks -235 (67.0%) / Atlanta Hawks +190 (33.0%)

• Over/Under: 217.5

Series results, schedule

Game 1:Knicks 113, Hawks 102
Game 2: Mon., April 20, at New York (8 p.m., NBC)
Game 3: Thu., April 23, at Atlanta (7 p.m., Prime)
Game 4: Sat., April 25, at Atlanta (6 p.m., NBC)
*Game 5: Tue., April 28,at New York (TBD)
*Game 6: Thu., April 30, at Atlanta (TBD)
*Game 7: Sat., May 2, at New York (TBD)

*if necessary

The Brooklyn Nets have signed head coach Jordi Fernández and his coaching staff to multi-year contract extensions, the franchise announced on Monday.

The Nets have gone 46-118 through Fernández’s first two seasons as head coach, coming off a 20-62 campaign in the 2025-26 season that ranked 13th in the Eastern Conference. That finish puts the Nets in line for a top-seven pick in this year’s NBA Draft, at worst, tied with the Washington Wizards (17-65) and Indiana Pacers (19-63) for the top chance at the No. 1 overall pick at 14% odds.

Now, Fernández and his staff will be given the opportunity to bring the rebuild full circle.

“Jordi is a tremendous leader who, along with his coaching staff, put his stamp on this franchise from the moment he arrived in Brooklyn,” Nets general manager Sean Marks said in a statement.

“Over his first two seasons, Jordi has built a strong foundation rooted in player development, a competitive spirit and honest communication, all of which have been embraced throughout our roster,” he added.

Marks referencing player development is notable with the Nets having the youngest team in the NBA. No player on the current roster is older than 29 years old. Two of the top players in Brooklyn’s rotation — Noah Clowney, 21, and Egor Dёmin, 19 — are under 25.

The Nets also have 13 first-round picks available to them over the next seven years, along with 19 second-round selections. Nine of those first-rounders can be traded. Brooklyn had five first-round picks in the 2025 draft, topped by Dëmin, who was the No. 8 overall selection.

The Nets hired Fernández back in 2024 after he spent two years as the associate head coach of the Sacramento Kings. He spent the six seasons before that as an assistant with the Denver Nuggets.

In addition to his NBA experience, Fernández has also coached internationally, working as an assistant for Spain’s national team and the head coach for Team Canada at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup and 2024 Paris Olympics.

Fernández’s coaching staff includes veterans Steve Hetzel, Juwan Howard and Jay Hernandez among nine assistants.

Every Monday, I audit my rest-of-season fantasy baseball rankings. Use the top 250 however you like: to evaluate your own roster, monitor pickups, consider trades. Below is a list of players moving up and down the rankings, with reasoning attached.

Have a difference of opinion? That’s good. Catch me on social media with your respectful disagreement: X/Twitter and Bluesky.

Upgrades

Yordan Alvarez, OF, Astros: He leads the majors in home runs and BB/K rate, reminding us that there’s no good way to pitch the Houston slugger. If he makes it through even 130 games, he likely smashes his March ADP (low 40s).

Mason Miller, SP, Padres: I can’t remember a closer ever being must-see TV quite like Miller is right now. He’s allowed just two hits and he’s struck out 27 of the 38 batters he’s faced. He’s currently on pace to strike out 199 men, for crying out loud.

I think relief pitchers rarely deserve Cy Young consideration, but Miller — who was also unhittable after joining the Padres last summer — could be a rare exception.

Kevin McGonigle, SS/3B, Tigers: Maybe the category juice will take a while, but a .312/.411/.481 start has quickly pushed McGonigle to the top of Detroit’s batting order. He has more walks than strikeouts and doesn’t seem bothered by left-handed pitching, either. Note that he quickly picked up third-base eligibility for Yahoo leagues as well. The big extension was a win-win for both player and organization.

Nolan McLean, SP, Mets: New York is in a tailspin but McLean isn’t at fault, with a tidy 2.28 ERA and a league-best 0.761 WHIP. McLean sits in the mid-90s and is getting positive results with four different pitches; good luck against this guy.

Dillon Dingler, C, Tigers: His contact profile is excellent and his hard-hit sliders are gloriously pinned to the right, the good side. Dingler also marks his territory with Gold Glove defense. He’ll stay in the middle of Detroit’s lineup all year, and probably make his All-Star debut in July.

Dalton Rushing, C, Dodgers: He’s the Isaiah Likely of MLB, a ready-to-explode talent who’s blocked by other stars: in this case, catcher Will Smith and the incomparable Shohei Ohtani. I’ve seen some shrewd managers stash Rushing in deeper leagues, noting his five homers and absurd .455/.478/1.227 slash in 22 at-bats. It’s also possible Rushing could be a trade candidate if the Dodgers come into other needs. I’m curious to see more.

Downgrades

Garrett Crochet, SP, Red Sox: He’s had one great start, one good one and three bad ones. It doesn’t have to mean the sky is falling, but Crochet deserves a ding from his lofty spring draft slot. We need to remember he only has one elite season in the bank, and Fenway Park is never an easy place to pitch.

Aaron Nola, SP, Phillies: Since the beginning of the 2023 season, he’s carried a 4.38 ERA and a 1.213 WHIP. Never forget our game is about numbers, not names. Nola’s Cy Young contention days are likely done for good.

Roki Sasaki, SP, Dodgers: I’m not sure how much longer the Dodgers can roll out Sasaki, who’s been roughed up by the Rockies, Rangers and Nationals in his last three turns. I suspect we’ll see him in a non-leverage relief role soon enough, which will make him irrelevant for fantasy leagues. Perhaps all of this feels obvious, but he’s still somehow rostered in about a third of Yahoo leagues.

Holding Steady

Spencer Arrighetti, SP, Astros: He dominated the visiting Rockies as expected, and the 10-strikeout rule made him a mandatory add in several leagues. We’ll learn a lot more this week, up against the Guardians and Yankees. Boston comes calling after that. Plausible upside is at play here, but Arrighetti doesn’t offer any floor yet. 

Ceddanne Rafaela, 2B/OF, Red Sox: The steals haven’t popped, though he has been caught twice. But it’s encouraging that he’s chasing less and walking a little more — still below code in both of those columns, but on the improve. I still see a player who could be at least neutral in batting average while flirting with 15-20 homers and 15-20 steals.

Scott Pianowski’s updated rest-of-season fantasy baseball rankings (as of April 20):

Last week, we talked about how Pirates’ hitters were going to face juicy matchups. Brandon Lowe (2 HR, .346 BA), Spencer Horwitz (2 HR, .333 BA), Oneil Cruz (1 HR, .200) and Konnor Griffin (3 SB, .308) were the top performers, among others, in Week 4. There won’t always be hits like these, but it’s nice when they do hit, especially when poor-pitching teams align with offensive surges. 

We’ll examine the notable schedule notes in the week ahead, including the teams with seven games and some with only five. Then we’ll discuss some shallow- and medium-sized leagues, plus deep league waiver wire hitters to consider. 

Schedule Notes

The toughest pitcher matchups heading into Week 5 include the Rangers, Dodgers, Mariners, Padres, Phillies, Yankees, Cubs, Brewers, Rays, Tigers, Guardians and Blue Jays. Kumar Rocker projects to have a two-start week for the Rangers, but his profile is volatile, so the Yankees and Tigers could take advantage in Week 5.

Like Rocker, the Dodgers have a risky starting pitcher in Justin Wrobleski projected for a two-start week, pitching in Colorado and against the Cubs. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays have Patrick Corbin and Eric Lauer pitching earlier in the week against the Angels; there might be some offensive explosions there. 

Furthermore, starting pitchers for Detroit and Tampa Bay have been more hitter-friendly from a K-BB% standpoint in 2026. The Rays play all six games at home, and their home park tends to be more pitcher-friendly, even with Jesse Scholtens, Steven Matz and Nick Martinez being wildcards. However, the Tigers’ starting rotation has several skilled players (Jack Flaherty, Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal and Framber Valdez), so we could see those numbers regress. It’s helpful to see the team-level pitcher skills and who projects to pitch for them. 

It’s easy to examine the weakest pitcher matchups and see why they make sense as we head into Week 5. Besides José Soriano, Reid Detmers and Noah Schultz (potentially), the Angels and White Sox pitchers can be favorable for opposing hitters. Pitchers for the Red Sox and Twins feel like the Tigers, where it’s a mixed bag of solid pitchers and volatile ones.

The rest of these rotations have one or two productive and skilled starting pitchers, including Jeffrey Springs, Kyle Bradish, Trevor Rogers, Mick Abel, Joe Ryan, Eury Pérez, Logan Webb and Landon Roupp. No shade to any pitchers not listed, but more so pointing out that opposing hitters should be able to find success against most of their starting rotations. 

Teams Playing Seven Games in Week 5

• Braves (4 at WSH, 3 vs. PHI)

  • Atlanta faces six of seven right-handed pitchers in Week 5. This benefits Mike Yastrzemski and Dominic Smith. Smith has been on fire with 3 home runs and a .395 batting average (more on him later). Yastrzemski hasn’t been performing well early in 2026, but he has a career 10.1% barrel rate, so there could be some cheap home runs in Week 5.

• Red Sox (1 vs. DET, 3 vs. NYY, 3 at BAL)

  • Boston faces five right-handed pitchers in Week 5. Interestingly, the Red Sox have only faced a couple of left-handed starting pitchers, with Marcelo Mayer sitting against both. Jarren Duran projects as a strong-side platoon option, though he played against one of the lefties early in 2026. 

• Cubs (4 vs. PHI, 3 at LAD)

  • It’s probably risky to stream Moisés Ballesteros in a weekly league since the Cubs project to face right-handed pitchers in four out of seven games in Week 5. Ballesteros is the only Cubs’ hitter to sit against all six left-handed starting pitchers early in 2026. 

• Rockies (1 vs. LAD, 3 vs. SD, 3 at NYM)

  • The Rockies project to face five out of seven right-handed starting pitchers, including four total games at home in Colorado. It’s a small sample of two games against left-handed starters, but Mickey Moniak sat against both, and Troy Johnston sat in one. 

• Tigers (1 at BOS, 3 vs. MIL, 3 at CIN)

  • The Tigers will face five right-handed starting pitchers in Week 5. In the only game when the Tigers faced a left-handed starter, Colt Keith and Kerry Carpenter sat.

• Dodgers (1 at COL, 3 at SF, 3 vs. CHC)

  • This looks like a juicy week for Dodgers’ hitters, facing José Quintana in Colorado, Tyler Mahle, Landon Roup and a struggling Logan Webb (5.25 ERA, 3.83 SIERA) in San Francisco. Then the Dodgers face Colin Rea, Matthew Boyd and Shota Imanaga. That’s five right-handed starting pitchers projected against the Dodgers’ hitters. Besides Hyeseong Kim and Alex Freeland, the Dodgers don’t seem to platoon often early in 2026.

• Phillies (4 at CHC, 3 at ATL)

  • The Phillies face five out of seven right-handed starting pitchers in Week 5, with the only two lefties being Boyd and Imanaga earlier in the week. Philadelphia faced seven left-handed starting pitchers in 2026, and Bryson Stott sat in four of them. Justin Crawford sat in two of the contests against left-handed starting pitchers. Stott and Crawford were the only platoon bats against lefties so far. 

• Nationals (4 vs. ATL, 3 at CWS)

  • The Nationals will face a right-handed starting pitcher in four out of seven games in Week 5. Maybe they’re able to take advantage of Reynaldo López, Bryce Elder, Erick Fedde and Sean Burke. Nationals’ hitters have sneakily been the fourth-best in wRC+ (117) behind the Dodgers, Astros and Braves. 

Teams Playing Five Games in Week 5

• Diamondbacks (3 vs. CWS, 2 vs. SD)

  • The Diamondbacks’ hitters will face four out of five right-handed starting pitchers in Week 5. Arizona faced a left-handed starting pitcher in five games, Alek Thomas sat in four of them. Since Adrian Del Castillo came up in early April, he sat in three of four games against left-handed starting pitchers. However, with Gabriel Moreno hitting the injured list, maybe Del Castillo plays more often. 

• Padres (3 at COL, 2 at ARI)

  • Like the Diamondbacks, the Padres’ hitters project to face four out of five right-handed starting pitchers in Week 5. Besides San Diego’s Opening Day game, Gavin Sheets sat in four out of the five games they faced a left-handed starting pitcher. Be cautious when streaming Sheets in Week 5.

Shallow- to Medium-League Hitter Waiver Wire (Around 50% or Below)

Jeremiah Jackson, Orioles (57% Rostered)

With Jackson’s hot start, his rostered percentage exploded over the past week, so we wanted to include him even though he’s at 57%. After debuting briefly in the majors in 2025, Jackson was likely an afterthought with several hitters to fit into Baltimore’s lineup. Life comes at you fast with Ryan Mountcastle, Adley Rustchman and Tyler O’Neill injured in April. Jackson has matched his five home runs from 2025 across 183 plate appearances in under 75 plate appearances in 2026. The .341 BABIP fuels his .303 batting average, but he has shown high BABIPs throughout the minors.

Jackson increased his bat speed by over 1 mph (73.2 mph) with an attempt to pull the ball often (53.1%) in 2026. Unfortunately, Jackson has been hitting the ball on the ground 51% of the time in 2026, though he somehow already hit six barrels. Meanwhile, we’ve seen Jackson’s pulled air rate jump to 24.4% in 2026 compared to 10% (2025). It looks like a concerted effort to hit the ball harder in the air in 2026, so scoop him up to stream in Week 5 if available.

There’s a chance Jackson loses playing time once other players return healthy, but he should still have another productive week or two before then.

Xander Bogaerts, Padres (39% Rostered)

From unknown to known, Bogaerts has been sneakily productive early in 2026. Over the past two seasons, Bogaerts tapped into his pull-side power by pulling the ball over 45% of the time, aligning with an 18-20% pulled air rate. He still shows strong plate discipline with an elite 83.4% contact rate and low 7.3% swinging-strike rate. It’s only a five-game week for the Padres, but it should be a productive one since they face three against the Rockies in Colorado and two versus the Diamondbacks, who have one of the worst pitching teams from a skills standpoint. 

Angel Martinez, Guardians (34% Rostered)

Chase DeLauter has been rightfully stealing the airtime for the Guardians, but Martinez has been playing more consistently without platoons. Martinez boasts better plate discipline with a career-best 86% contact rate while pulling the ball more with a 24.1% pulled air rate over the past two seasons. Though Martinez’s average bat speed, around 70-71 mph, hasn’t shifted significantly, his fast swing rate (15.2%) increased by 4-5 points, hinting at attempts to swing faster. It’s also worth highlighting Martinez’s 30% stolen base opportunity rate in 2026, up from a career average at 12%. Martinez will be a sneaky source of power and speed.

Deep-League Hitter Waiver Wire

Dominic Smith, Braves (13% Rostered)

Talk about a repeated post-hype sleeper in Smith after his years with the Mets. The Braves have been using Smith as a strong-side platoon option at DH. Smith’s .341 BABIP has been fueling his .353 batting average, significantly higher than his career BABIP (.299) and batting average (.252). Thankfully, Smith boasts a strong contact rate (83.5%), over five points above his career average, which supports the expected batting averages.

This might be noisy, but the Braves project to face the Philles, who have been allowing high BABIPs over the past two seasons. Furthermore, we highlighted that the Braves will face six out of seven right-handed starting pitchers in Week 5, making Smith a sneaky deep-league option for batting average and counting stats. 

Sam Antonacci, White Sox (8% Rostered)

After the White Sox traded Lenyn Sosa and designated Dustin Harris for assignment, they called up Antonacci after bringing up Noah Schultz. On the surface, Antonacci’s minor league track record looks like a light version of Nico Hoerner, with solid batting average and stolen bases. Throughout the minors, Antonacci showed near-elite contact rates at 86-88%, suggesting a strong hit tool to build upon. He projects to play every day as the White Sox will face the Diamondbacks and Nationals, two of the worst pitching teams heading into Week 5. Theoretically, this could be similar to production via teammate Chase Meidroth, but unlike Meidroth, Antonacci provides speed. 

Mickey Moniak, Rockies (25% Rostered)

The Rockies play four games at home and project to face five out of seven left-handed starting pitchers in Week 5. Moniak has been hitting home runs and remains one of their top strong-slide platoon options. It’s a wild early sample, with Moniak pulling the ball 52.4% of the time and a ridiculously high 61.9% flyball rate in 2026. For context, Moniak’s pull and flyball rates hovered around 45-47% throughout his career. 

The pull rates in 2026 aren’t the outlier, but expect his flyballs to regress to his career norm, as there are diminishing returns when hitters hit too many balls in the air.

Moniak continues to flash above-average bat speed (74.0 mph), aligning with his ability to barrel the ball (career 7.5% barrel rate per plate appearance). Interestingly, Moniak’s contact rates have improved from 72-73% in 2024 and 2025 to 78.4% in 2026, compared to a career average of 70%. Typically, hitters hovering near the 70% contact rate profile tend to be quite risky for strikeouts and whiffs. However, Moniak is making slightly more contact while hitting the ball hard. That’s an optimal combination. 

Brandon Marsh (10% Rostered)

Marsh used to be a strong-side platoon option, but he only sat against three left-handed starting pitchers out of the seven the Phillies faced. The Phillies have a full week of seven games, so volume should be in Marsh’s favor. Marsh typically rocked higher BABIPs, with a .320 BABIP in 2026 compared to a .369 career BABIP. He has been pulling the ball more (40.4%) in 2026, five points above his career norm. Most of Marsh’s skills for plate discipline, power and speed look the same to the career averages. That said, Marsh’s additional playing time opens up a path for counting stats, power, speed and batting average into Week 5.