Outside The Confines: Rainouts, losing streaks, and Mother’s Day

We’ve officially hit the one-month mark of the season, something reflected in quite a few articles below, with special attention paid to certain teams. The Reds are having a historically bad start, not just for them but for baseball, and if they continue along their path they might make history this year for all the wrong reasons. Likewise, teams like the Red Sox and Tigers have managed to continue their dismal losing streaks

Then, of course, there was the annual Mother’s Day game on Sunday, which you could be forgiven for barely noticing with the hats this season, which were a grey/beige combo that had subtle pink details on it, but from a distance just looked beige. A few items were pink like stockings, batting gloves, etc, but it seemed a lot less pink than it has in previous years.

Friday also saw a weirdly historic moment for MLB as six games needed to be postponed due to rain issues, which was the most in a single day since 2018. Gotta love that spring weather. At least it wasn’t snow.

Now onto the links!

• Dan Szymborski looks at the White Sox sluggish start compared to their predicted season, and wonders how worried they need to be.
• Will Laws takes the question a bit bigger by addressing dismal season openings from the likes of the Reds and Red Sox among other teams.
• Chaim Bloom speaks to Chad Jennings about the Red Sox lousy start. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Anthony Castrovince looks at which MLB moms are making a name for themselves on social media.
• It’s not often we see an umpire leave the game with an injury, but that’s what happened to Ron Kulpa this weekend. (AP)
• Rhett Bollinger looks at some incredible walk-off wins.
• Jay Jaffe spotlights the incredible start of the year from slugger Rowdy Tellez.
• The Mets have released Robinson Cano, but that doesn’t mean they’re off the hook for his salary. (AP)
• What happens when you lose one umpire to injury and one to an ejection? For the Pirates, you need to think on your toes. Story by Mike McDaniel.

• Kansas City celebrates the 80th anniversary of the Monarchs 1942 Negro Leagues World Series win. Story by Alec Lewis. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Former All-Star Todd Frazier is lending his help to make a special needs Field of Dreams become a reality.
• Max Scherzer went nearly a year without losing a game, but this weekend that hot run ended. Story by Paul Casella.
• Eno Saris looks at some major league hitters who are doing things right, but not getting the results they want. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• David Schoenfield hands out grades to all 30 teams for the first month of the season and some of them are very, very bad.
• I would also fall over if I hit a home run.

And tomorrow will be a better day, Buster. Make it so.