Welcome to The Pregame Lineup, a weekday newsletter that will get you up to speed on everything you need to know for today’s slate of games, while catching you up on the most fun stories you might have missed. Thanks for being here.

You never forget the first teacher who made a real impact on your life. That’s as true for fans showing up to the ballpark as it is for the big league superstars who fill the seats. 

Take Elly De La Cruz’s word for it. The electric 23-year-old has taken it upon himself since last year to conduct interviews in English, and Mark Sheldon has the fascinating story of the teacher who helped him get to that point.

Meet Kaitlin Beltre, the Reds’ education coordinator, who has known De La Cruz since he was a teenager in the Dominican Republic who stood at just around 5-foot-6 (almost impossible to imagine, we know). 

“He participated. He was respectful. He was everything you could want in a student,” Beltre said. “So it’s no surprise he learned English as quickly as he did.”

You can see De La Cruz’s confidence in his English skills growing with every media spot he does. Whether that means cutting into an interview with teammate and buddy Matt McLain to make sure everyone knows exactly who is Batman and who is Robin in this relationship (take a guess). Or when he went on Chatting Practice, taking live questions from young fans for 20 minutes, all of them in a second language. 

De La Cruz says that confidence was always in him, and that shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. He carries himself with unmatched swagger on a baseball field – making plays nobody thought possible and routinely hitting glorious homers from either side of the plate – and that has translated (no pun intended) to his personality off the field as well. (Editor's note: Scott, nobody believes any of your puns are unintended.)

But to be able to showcase that signature Elly personality in English? He has a teacher to thank for that.

-- Scott Chiusano

• Orioles vs. Royals (7:40 p.m. ET, MLB.TV): Gunnar Henderson missed the Orioles’ first seven games with an intercostal strain, but he was activated from the injured list on Friday, setting the stage for a matchup between superstar shortstops, with Henderson on one side and Bobby Witt Jr. on the other. The O’s will surely be looking for a small serving of revenge in this rematch of last year’s AL Wild Card Series, when the Royals swept their way to the next round. Witt has yet to hit a homer or a triple this season, but there’s a decent chance of seeing either one of them when he’s up to the plate.

• Dodgers @ Phillies (6:45 p.m. ET, Apple TV+): This could well be a very early preview of a potential NLCS matchup. Both teams are certainly favorites to get there, especially the one that enters the series as the first defending champion to start a season 8-0. Can the Phillies and their top-flight pitching knock the Dodgers down a peg? Jesús Luzardo gets the ball after a brilliant Philly debut, but L.A. counters with Yoshinobu Yamamoto. It’s sure to be a good ol’ fashioned throwdown between two of baseball’s best teams.

• Marlins @ Braves (7:15 p.m. ET, MLB.TV): When it comes to the Braves right now, there’s a little bit of morbid fascination that makes this game intriguing. Atlanta is astoundingly 0-7 after being swept by the Dodgers, and no team that has started the season with that record has made the playoffs. Granted, their season began with back-to-back series against the two teams with the best records in baseball, though it’s hard to tell whether this is a chicken-or-egg situation. Even one win could break the dam for the Braves, but the Marlins have gotten off to a surprisingly good start and will by no means roll over. 

You might know about former All-Pro running back Marshawn Lynch's storied affinity for Skittles. But did you know Twins longtime center fielder Byron Buxton is right there with him? 

Buxton lives the Skittles life just as much as Lynch does. He's been known to barter his autograph in exchange for the candy. He used to eat 8-10 packs a day (!) and even after dramatically changing his diet, Skittles still made the cut (albeit in moderation).

Buxton felt so good physically this spring, he compared it to -- you guessed it -- being a kid in a candy store eating Skittles. So when it came to his cleats for the Twins home opener, it made perfect sense that he wore a pair of slick Skittles-themed Nike Alpha Huarache NXT customs, conceptualized by Minnesota-based chalk & sneaker artist Tara Aiken.

"Another player mentioned my work and we got connected through my brother-in-law who works for the Twins," Aiken told MLB.com. "We chatted a bit to get a sense of what he liked, but I found out later on that he likes Skittles. The design came to life from there."

Might the pair be cooking up some more sweet kicks later this season?

"Perhaps ..." Aiken said. "You'll have to catch some games and see!"

-- Bryan Horowitz

• Two days after Luis Castillo threw 92 pitches against the Tigers in a seven-inning gem for the Mariners, Luis Castillo was set to take the mound for Seattle again on Friday. Huh? Well, we should probably mention that the M’s have two pitchers named Luis Castillo. Andy Werle looked at the rarity of two pitchers with the same name starting back-to-back games.

• J.C. Escarra never gave up on his big league dream, even while driving for Uber and working as a substitute teacher to make ends meet. His perseverance paid off this spring when he earned a spot on the Yankees’ Opening Day roster. Thursday marked another milestone in his journey, as Escarra collected the first hit of his Major League career. Bryan Hoch has more on Escarra’s big moment.

The National League West is at the center of the baseball universe right now, with the Dodgers (8-0) and Padres (7-0) both entering Friday without a loss. This is only the fifth time in MLB history where multiple teams started out 7-0 or better, and the first time two teams in the same division have both been at least 7-0 since divisional play began in 1969. Meanwhile, the Giants (5-1) and D-backs (4-3) have also posted records north of .500 in the early going.

For all the stat whizzes out there, this one’s for you. See how well you can compare players and their stats before the timer runs out. Three strikes and you’re out! Play free >>

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