Welcome to The Pregame Lineup, a weekday newsletter that gets you up to speed on everything you need to know for today’s games, while catching you up on fun and interesting stories you might have missed. Thanks for being here.

The baseball stars have aligned tonight to bring us a pitching matchup straight from Hollywood that’s as fit for the screen as Rocky vs. Creed. Paul Skenes vs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto at Dodger Stadium. Imagine those two names lighting up a marquee. They just might be the same two names atop the NL Cy Young Award vote, in some order, when all is said and done.

In one corner is Yamamoto, entering with a Senior Circuit-best 0.93 ERA. He’s carrying a 19-inning scoreless streak over his past three starts and has allowed just three earned runs total this season.

In the other corner is Skenes, who topped our most recent edition of the Starting Pitcher Power Rankings and has looked much more like the reigning Rookie of the Year we’ve come to know since allowing a career-high five earned runs to the Cardinals on April 8.

So what should we expect from these two heavyweights tonight? As David Adler explains in his breakdown of Yamamoto’s great start to 2025, don’t be surprised to see the Japanese right-hander lean heavily on his splitter, which has been veritably unhittable so far. Skenes comes armed with the quirkily named “splinker,” the best and most well-known piece of his ever-expanding arsenal that is now up to seven offerings.

This will be Yamamoto’s first time facing the Pirates, a lineup that features frequent baseball demolisher Oneil Cruz, who just hit a 463-foot moonshot on Wednesday night. Skenes has some experience against the Dodgers, though it hasn’t been pretty. In a pair of starts against them, he holds a 5.73 ERA. Take away those two outings and his career ERA (2.14, nothing to sniff at as is) drops to 1.88.

Skenes will get to reprise his clash with Shohei Ohtani from last year, when each of them had their moment to strut. The Bucs flamethrower first struck out Ohtani on three straight 100-plus mph heaters, before the Dodgers superstar got him back with a homer in his next at-bat.

Yamamoto. Ohtani. Skenes. Cruz. It’s everything you can ask for from a baseball game, especially one on April 25. So be sure to slap on your fake mustaches and tune in at 10:10 p.m. ET tonight on MLB.TV and MLB Network.

-- Scott Chiusano

Allow us to spin a yarn about Red Sox fan Anna Gailbreath, who has been crocheting in the stands at Fenway Park -- when Garrett Crochet is on the mound. Gailbreath is working on a red-and-white sweater, though it’s been a bit of a drawn-out process because she’s only stitching when Crochet’s pitching, leaving markers to keep track of his outings. She’s hoping to have the project ready for those brisk October nights, when if all goes as planned there will be playoff baseball at Fenway Park. 

While we’re on the subject, Crochet could really use a good nickname. Here are a few options, and one of them has got to stick:

1) The Greatest Sewman

2) Thread Ruffing

3) The Big U-Knit

I know my editors are going to hate this, but you reap what you sew. [Editor's note: We veritably hate this.]

• Mets @ Nationals (6:45 p.m. ET, MLB.TV): After a perfect 7-0 homestand, the Mets are probably not thrilled to be hitting the road again. Luckily they have Kodai Senga on the mound, riding an 18 2/3-innings scoreless streak, and could see the returns of both Francisco Alvarez and Jeff McNeil. The Nats counter with Jake Irvin, who last faced the Mets on Sept. 16, 2024, and allowed just a run over 7 1/3 frames. 

• Braves @ D-backs (8:05 p.m. ET, MLB.TV): The good news is the Braves have looked much better of late, winning five of their past six games. The bad news is that reigning Cy Young winner Chris Sale has still not gotten on track, with a 6.17 ERA through five starts. He’ll try to reverse course tonight against a dangerous D-backs team that has Zac Gallen on the mound. 

• Rangers @ Giants (10:15 p.m. ET, Apple TV+): Texas travels to San Francisco led by former Giants skipper Bruce Bochy, who won three World Series titles by the Bay. The series opener is a battle of veteran right-handers, with Nathan Eovaldi facing Justin Verlander, who's seeking his first win of the season.

Today is the anniversary of one of the greatest slides there has ever been in baseball history. Maybe it doesn’t exactly fall under the technical definition of a slide, but Chris Coghlan’s leap of faith over Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina on April 25, 2017, was one of Olympic gymnastics proportions. He even gets a 10-out-of-10 for the dismount that saw him touch the plate and somersault back to his feet all in one silky smooth motion.    

Can you guess today’s mystery player using clues like age, league, division, position and place of birth? You’ll have nine tries to get it right. Good luck! Play here >>

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