Brice Turang's homer in the ninth inning gave Milwaukee a three-game sweep of the New Yankees and was the latest example of an early-season trend.
The American League has been taking it on the chin.
By the end of the night Sunday, only three AL teams had a winning record, and one of them was the Athletics, who were only two games above .500. The Rays (26-13) and Yankees (26-15) are the only junior circuit teams that have been really impressive, and the latter ran into quite a roadblock against the NL Central's Brewers.
If the season ended now, the last two AL wild cards would be the White Sox and Rangers, who are both 19-21.
Eleven AL teams are under .500. That's the most through May 10 of any league in the divisional play era, according to Sportradar. The 2019 AL and the 2012 and 2010 NL each had nine teams under .500 at this point in the year.
Part of what makes this scenario possible is the proliferation of interleague play. The NL is 107-82 against the AL this season for a .566 winning percentage. The best interleague season was when the AL had a .611 winning percentage against the NL in 2006. But there were only 252 interleague games that whole year. There have already been 189 this season.
The more interleague games, the further one league can move ahead of the other. And even at the top of the AL East, the Rays are 8-10 against the NL and 18-3 against the AL.
Despite the soft AL playoff race, Orioles fans have become increasingly ornery as their team sputters at the start of a second straight season. Baltimore is 18-23, just 1 1/2 games out of a postseason spot, but May has already included a four-game sweep in the Bronx in which the Orioles were outscored 39-10.
Now the Yankees come to Baltimore for a three-game set, and the Orioles host the Rays in a series that starts Memorial Day. The big question in Baltimore is whether the Orioles can simply stay afloat for the rest of the month and avoid digging too big a hole.
It was a rough week for the starting rotation that was supposed to be such a strength in Detroit. Tarik Skubal was scratched from his start Monday and could be out a while because of loose bodies in his elbow. Then Framber Valdez was shelled by Boston on Tuesday and hit Trevor Story with a pitch, drawing a five-game suspension.
Jack Flaherty hasn't been good either and Justin Verlander has made only one start.
The Tigers are 19-22, although that means they're only a half-game out of a wild card and 1 1/2 out of first place in the AL Central.
Milwaukee's Aaron Ashby is already 7-0 in relief this season. Pittsburgh's Roy Face holds the modern single-season record for relief wins with 18 in 1959. But who has the career mark?
Andy Pages had three homers and six RBIs for the Los Angeles Dodgers in a 12-2 win over Houston on Wednesday. It's been Pages — not Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman or Kyle Tucker — making an outsized offensive contribution early this season for the two-time defending champs. Pages is hitting .333 with nine home runs and 35 RBIs.
Down to their last out Sunday, the San Diego Padres tied the game against St. Louis on Nick Castellanos' two-run homer. Then they won 3-2 in 10 innings on Manny Machado's walk-off sacrifice fly.
The Cardinals had a win probability of 95.4% in the bottom of the ninth, a ccording to Baseball Savant.
San Diego already has four walk-off victories this season, second to the Chicago Cubs' six. Neither has a walk-off defeat.
Hall of Fame knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm earned 124 of his 143 wins in relief.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB
Detroit Tigers second baseman Hao-Yu Lee (50) and shortstop Zach Short, left, cannot make a play on a single hit by Kansas City Royals' Bobby Witt Jr. during the third inning of a baseball game in Kansas City, Mo., Sunday, May 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Reed Hoffmann)
Baltimore Orioles' infield coach Miguel Cairo, center, argues after being ejected from a baseball game against the Athletics, Sunday, May 10, 2026, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)
LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged Monday to prove the “doubters” in his own party and among the electorate as a whole wrong as he tries to fight off demands to step down after devastating local election results for his Labour Party.
Starmer argued that he will “face up to the big challenges” and restore “hope” to the country. That includes getting closer to the European Union and “putting Britain at the heart of Europe,” a decade after the U.K. voted to leave the EU.
“I know I have my doubters and I know I need to prove them wrong, and I will," Starmer said during a speech in London. He vowed to prove to millions of people “tired of a status quo that has failed them” that the government is on their side.
He said Labour is in “a battle for the soul of our nation,” and the U.K. will go down “a dark path” if Reform UK, the anti-immigration party led by Nigel Farage, comes to power.
But Starmer's position is fragile, with dozens of lawmakers calling for him to announce a date for his departure.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, a powerful lawmaker often seen as a potential challenger, said “what we are doing isn’t working, and it needs to change."
Rayner did not explicitly call for Starmer to quit, but accused him of presiding over “a toxic culture of cronyism" and said the government must “stay true to labor and social democratic values” and ease the cost of living for working people.
“This may be our last chance,” Rayner said in a statement on Sunday.
Labour has been plunged into gloom by heavy losses last week in local elections across England and legislative votes in Scotland and Wales. The elections have been interpreted as an unofficial referendum on Starmer, whose popularity has plummeted since he swept to power in a landslide less than two years ago.
His government has struggled to deliver promised economic growth, repair tattered public services and ease the cost of living, and been hamstrung by repeated missteps and policy U-turns on issues including welfare reform. He has been further hurt by his disastrous decision to appoint Peter Mandelson, a scandal-tarnished friend of Jeffrey Epstein, as Britain’s ambassador to Washington.
Last week’s elections saw Labour squeezed from both right and left, losing votes to both Reform UK and the “eco-populist” Green Party. It reflects the increasing fragmentation of British politics, long dominated by Labour and the Conservatives.
Starmer hopes to regain momentum with Monday’s speech and an ambitious set of legislative plans to be set out in a speech Wednesday by King Charles III at the State Opening of Parliament.
He told an audience of party lawmakers and activists in his speech that the government will take control of Britain's energy, economic and defense security and make the country fairer.
A key policy is closer ties with the EU, which the United Kingdom left in 2020, four years after the “leave” side narrowly won a membership referendum. Starmer’s government has already moved to ease some of the trade restrictions that have burdened British businesses since Brexit, and he says he will secure a youth mobility deal so young people can spend a few years working across the continent.
Starmer said the government would be “defined by rebuilding our relationship with Europe.”
Labour campaigned to stay in the EU during the 2016 referendum campaign, but has been reluctant to reopen a debate that bitterly divided the country. Starmer has ruled out seeking to reenter the EU, or to rejoin the bloc's customs union or single market, things that would make a big difference to British businesses.
None of the high-profile Labour politicians considered potential challengers to Starmer — including Rayner, Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham — has yet called for him to resign.
But a growing number of Labour lawmakers urged the prime minister to set a timetable for his departure. British politics allows parties to change leader midterm without the need for a new election.
Josh Simons, a formerly loyal Labour lawmaker, wrote in the Times of London that Starmer “has lost the country” and “should take control of the situation by overseeing an orderly transition to a new prime minister.”
Catherine West, a former junior minister, says she will try to trigger a leadership contest unless Starmer delivers a barnstorming speech on Monday. West acknowledged she does not have the support of 81 colleagues, needed to force a contest, and her move appeared to be an attempt to force more high-profile contenders to make a move.
“Working people sent us a message,” West said. “We have to listen to that, and we have to change and we have to do it quickly.”
Britain's Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaks to Labour Party members at Kingsdown Methodist Church Hall, in Ealing, west London, Friday May 8, 2026, a day after the local elections. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)
