MLB Week in Review (April 20–26, 2026): Cubs Win 10 Straight, Dodgers Halt the Streak
The Cubs ripped off a 10-game winning streak before the Dodgers ended it 12-4 on April 26, the Yankees lost an 8-game streak to Houston the same day, Mason Miller pushed his scoreless run to 34 2/3 innings, and Boston fired manager Alex Cora at 10-17 in MLB's wildest week of April 2026.
The Week at a Glance in MLB
The week of April 20–26, 2026 closed with two double-digit win streaks dying inside 24 hours. The Chicago Cubs took an MLB-best 10-game winning streak — their longest April run since 1970 — into Dodger Stadium and lost 12-4 on April 26 as Los Angeles posted a six-run fourth inning. The New York Yankees took an 8-game streak into Houston the same day and lost 7-4 to the Astros despite Aaron Judge's 10th home run (109.3 mph exit velocity, 401 feet) on his 34th birthday. The dominant storyline of the week: April's best teams finally hit each other, and the standings tightened.
The hottest team of the week was the Chicago Cubs, who went 6-1 and pushed their winning streak to 10 before the Saturday loss in Los Angeles. The coldest was the Boston Red Sox, who fired manager Alex Cora and five coaches after a 10-17 start despite a 17-1 demolition of Baltimore on April 25. The Minnesota Twins also collapsed, losing 9 of 10. The Atlanta Braves (20-9) own MLB's best record and a +65 run differential; the Los Angeles Dodgers (19-9) are right behind at +67.
AL Division Standings Snapshot (Through April 26, 2026)
AL East Standings
| Team | W-L | GB | Trend (Week) |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York Yankees | 18-10 | — | ↑ 5 |
| Tampa Bay Rays | 16-13 | 2.5 | ↓ 2 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 13-14 | 4.5 | — |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 13-15 | 5.0 | ↑ 1 |
| Boston Red Sox | 10-17 | 7.5 | ↓ 3 |
AL Central Standings
| Team | W-L | GB | Trend (Week) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cleveland Guardians | 15-14 | — | — |
| Detroit Tigers | 15-14 | — | — |
| Chicago White Sox | 11-16 | 4.0 | ↑ 1 |
| Kansas City Royals | 11-17 | 4.5 | ↓ 1 |
| Minnesota Twins | 12-18 | 4.5 | ↓ 5 |
AL West Standings
| Team | W-L | GB | Trend (Week) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Athletics | 15-13 | — | ↑ 3 |
| Houston Astros | 14-14 | 1.0 | ↑ 1 |
| Seattle Mariners | 14-15 | 1.5 | ↑ 5 |
| Texas Rangers | 13-15 | 2.0 | — |
| Los Angeles Angels | 13-16 | 2.5 | ↓ 1 |
NL Division Standings Snapshot (Through April 26, 2026)
NL East Standings
| Team | W-L | GB | Trend (Week) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta Braves | 20-9 | — | ↑ 1 |
| Miami Marlins | 14-15 | 5.5 | ↑ 1 |
| Washington Nationals | 12-16 | 7.0 | — |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 9-19 | 10.5 | ↓ 1 |
| New York Mets | 9-19 | 10.5 | — |
NL Central Standings
| Team | W-L | GB | Trend (Week) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago Cubs | 21-10 | — | ↑ 8 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 18-10 | 1.5 | — |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 18-11 | 2.0 | ↑ 1 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 16-13 | 4.0 | — |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 14-15 | 6.0 | ↓ 2 |
NL West Standings
| Team | W-L | GB | Trend (Week) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 19-9 | — | — |
| San Diego Padres | 19-10 | 0.5 | — |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 15-14 | 4.5 | ↓ 1 |
| Colorado Rockies | 12-17 | 7.5 | — |
| San Francisco Giants | 12-17 | 7.5 | — |
The NL Wild Card field is stacked: the Padres (19-10), Reds (18-10), and Cardinals (18-11) all sit within 1.5 games of each other behind two division leaders with 19-plus wins. The AL Wild Card middle is tighter, with the Rays (16-13), Athletics (15-13), Astros (14-14), Mariners (14-15), and Tigers (15-14) separated by 1.5 games.
Biggest MLB Stories This Week
Cubs ripped off 10 in a row before the Dodgers ended it 12-4
Chicago entered the week 12-9 and won six games in seven days, capped by Dansby Swanson's tie-breaking two-run homer in the ninth at Dodger Stadium on April 24 to push the streak to 10. The Dodgers responded Saturday with a 12-4 beating, fueled by Max Muncy's two-run shot and Andy Pages' three-RBI night. The streak was the Cubs' longest April run since 1970 and lifted them to 21-10 and a 1.5-game NL Central lead over Cincinnati.
Yankees' 8-game streak ended on Aaron Judge's birthday
Aaron Judge crushed his 10th home run of the season — a 401-foot solo shot at 109.3 mph exit velocity — in the sixth inning at Daikin Park on April 26, his 34th birthday. The Astros still won 7-4 behind Spencer Arrighetti and Christian Walker, snapping New York's 8-game streak. Judge now has 10 HR in 28 games and three career birthday home runs, tying him with Yogi Berra and Graig Nettles for second-most among Yankees behind Lou Gehrig (4).
Mason Miller set the Padres' scoreless-innings record at 34 2/3
Mason Miller worked a clean ninth in San Diego's 6-4 win over Arizona in Mexico City on April 25, pushing his scoreless streak to 34 2/3 innings — a Padres franchise record that surpassed Cla Meredith's 33 2/3 from 2006. Miller is now seven outs from Gregg Olson's 41-inning MLB reliever record (1989-90). The streak dates back to August 2025.
Spencer Torkelson tied a Tigers record with HR in 5 straight games
Spencer Torkelson, batting under .200 without a homer entering April 20, hit a home run in five consecutive games to tie the Detroit franchise record shared by Hank Greenberg, Rudy York, Vic Wertz, Willie Horton, and Marcus Thames. He carries the streak into Atlanta on April 28; a sixth straight HR would be the longest such run in MLB since Rafael Devers in 2024.
Red Sox fired Alex Cora at 10-17
Boston dismissed Cora and five coaches on Saturday night, hours after a 17-1 win in Baltimore that featured Andruw Monasterio's grand slam and a 10-run ninth inning. Triple-A Worcester manager Chad Tracy took over as interim. It's the first in-season Red Sox firing since Jimy Williams in August 2001. Boston followed up with a 5-3 Sunday win behind Willson Contreras' sixth home run.
Munetaka Murakami tied for the MLB home-run lead at 11
White Sox rookie Munetaka Murakami homered in five straight games and reached 11 on the season Friday night, tying Houston's Yordan Álvarez for the MLB lead. He joined just 13 rookies in major-league history with a 5-game home run streak.
Skenes turned in MLB's 12th quality start as Pirates split with Tigers
Paul Skenes struck out 9 and pushed his MLB-leading total to 12 quality starts as Pittsburgh rallied past Detroit 8-4 in 10 innings on April 23. Tarik Skubal had won the day game 9-2 the same afternoon — only the second time in MLB history a team faced reigning Cy Young winners on the same day.
Statcast Standouts of the Week
- Fastest pitch (record): Jacob Misiorowski (Brewers) struck out Oneil Cruz with a 102.7 mph four-seamer on April 25 at American Family Field — the fastest strikeout pitch by a starter since pitch tracking began in 2008, surpassing Tarik Skubal's 102.6 mph mark from May 2025. Misiorowski threw five additional pitches at 102+ mph in the first inning alone.
- Hardest-hit ball (season leader, carryover): Oneil Cruz, 119.0 mph double on April 16 vs. Washington — still the hardest-tracked ball of 2026.
- Notable exit velocity (week): Aaron Judge's 401-foot birthday home run on April 26 left the bat at 109.3 mph.
- Dominant relief inning total: Mason Miller's 34 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings now rank as the longest active reliever streak in MLB and 7 innings shy of the all-time reliever record of 41 (Gregg Olson, 1989-90).
Trades, Transactions, and Fantasy-Relevant Moves
- 10-day IL placements: Eugenio Suárez (Reds, low-grade oblique strain, retro to April 23 — earliest return May 3); RHP Sonny Gray (Red Sox, right hamstring strain, 15-day IL April 21 — early-to-mid May target).
- 60-day IL transfer: 1B Triston Casas (Red Sox, ruptured left patellar tendon and left abdominal strain — earliest return June or July).
- Activations: OF Roman Anthony (Red Sox, back tightness) returned April 25; OF JJ Bleday (Reds) recalled from Triple-A Louisville on April 24 after batting .345 with 6 HR in 23 games.
- Coaching change: Boston fired manager Alex Cora, hitting coach Peter Fatse, assistant hitting coach Dillon Lawson, bench coach Ramón Vázquez, and third-base coach Kyle Hudson on April 25.
Week Ahead in MLB (April 27 – May 3, 2026)
- Cubs at Padres, April 27-29: Two NL contenders meet at Petco with Mason Miller chasing the all-time reliever scoreless-innings record and Chicago coming off its first loss in 11 days.
- Tigers at Braves, April 28-30: Spencer Torkelson opens the series with a chance to extend his home-run streak to 6 straight games — the first such run in MLB since Rafael Devers (2024) — against MLB's winningest team (20-9).
- Yankees finish in Houston, April 27: New York wraps the series after losing the streak; Luis Gil follows up his rough Sunday outing.
- Returns to monitor: Gerrit Cole (Yankees, elbow rehab) is targeting a late-April or early-May return; Roman Anthony already back for Boston; Triston Casas not expected until summer.
- Favorable slate: The Mets and Phillies (both 9-19) play each other in a four-game set, guaranteeing at least one team gets out of last place in the NL East.
- Unfavorable slate: The Twins (12-18) host Cleveland and visit the Dodgers — a brutal seven-game stretch against two teams sitting in the top tier of their leagues.