The Opener: Hoglund, Buehler, Cubs, Brewers

With around 20% of the MLB regular season now in the books, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on heading into the weekend:

1. Hoglund to debut:

The A’s have gotten off to a nice start this year with a 17-15 record, tying them for second place in the AL West with the Astros, just two games behind the Mariners. It’s a massive turnaround for a team that lost 205 games across the previous two seasons, but lackluster starting pitching has held them back somewhat to this point in the season. The club’s 4.88 FIP from their starters is the third-worst figure in baseball, ahead of only the Angels and Orioles.

Reinforcements will be necessary if the A’s hope to continue competing, but help could be on the way as soon as today. The Athletics are calling up prospect Gunnar Hoglund for his big league debut, and MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos specified yesterday evening that he’ll be tasked with starting tonight’s game against the Marlins. The game is scheduled for 7:10pm local time in Miami and will see Hoglund square off against an as of yet unannounced Marlins pitcher. Hoglund is already on the A’s 40-man roster, though a corresponding move will still be necessary to make room for the righty on the active roster.

2. Buehler undergoing testing:

The Red Sox rotation got healthier with the returns of Brayan Bello and Lucas Giolito, but it appears that healthy group of arms may be relatively short lived. As noted by Alex Speier of the Boston Globe, Walker Buehler was scratched from his scheduled start for today due to some “discomfort” in his shoulder.

Buehler underwent testing in Boston yesterday. The results have not yet been made clear, but manager Alex Cora told reporters (including Joe Braverman of WEEI) that team trainers believe the issue isn’t “too alarming.” Cora added that Buehler making a start this weekend remains a possibility and that any IL stint would be a relatively short one. Even so, losing Buehler for any period of time would be a frustrating turn of events, given that the right-hander has bounced back from early-season struggles to post a 2.59 ERA in his last four starts.

3. Series Preview: Cubs @ Brewers

The Cubs have raced out to a 19-13 record to this point despite a difficult schedule that included series against the Dodgers, Diamondbacks, and Padres. Chicago only just had their first series of the season against the NL Central this week, where they beat Paul Skenes to take two of three against the Pirates. Today, they’ll be faced with a tougher challenge from within their division when they head to Milwaukee to face the Brewers.

The NL Central champions in each of the past two seasons (and three of the past four), Milwaukee has opened the 2025 season with a 16-16 record. They’ve lost six of their past ten games against the Giants, Cardinals, and White Sox. Even so, a sweep of the Cubs this weekend would be enough to catapult them right back into the mix for the NL Central lead, as both teams would leave the series with identical 19-16 records. The series kicks off this evening with a pair of young righties battling it out: 25-year-old Ben Brown takes the mound for the Cubs against 24-year-old Quinn Priester, whom the Brewers just acquired from the Red Sox last month. Jameson Taillon and Jose Quintana are slated to face off tomorrow in a clash of steady veterans, and the series wraps on Sunday with a duel between each team’s top starter: lefty Shota Imanaga and right-hander Freddy Peralta.