By NOAH TRISTER AP Baseball Writer
The Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees are off to good starts — and their MVPs are finally starting to hit.
Shohei Ohtani hadn’t driven in a run until Friday, then homered in that game and again Sunday. He and Aaron Judge each have three straight multihit games.
Judge hasn’t needed to carry the Yankees, who are 7-2. They had allowed a paltry 15 runs on the season before a 7-6 loss to Miami on Sunday. Cam Schlittler has made two scoreless starts and New York ran wild against the Marlins — with even Giancarlo Stanton stealing a base.
It wasn’t a great first week for the Dodgers’ quartet of sluggers — Ohtani, Kyle Tucker, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman — but then they broke out in a big way as Los Angeles posted 31 runs in three games at Washington. The Dodgers are 7-2 with Andy Pages off to a 16-for-34 start at the plate, so they can afford to be patient with their stars.
That includes Betts, who went on the injured list with an oblique strain.
Los Angeles now heads to Toronto for a three-game series — the first meeting between the teams since the Dodgers beat the Blue Jays in Game 7 of the World Series in Canada last year.
Battling Bucs
On the topic of teams succeeding while waiting for stars to get untracked, Pittsburgh swept three straight from Baltimore to improve to 6-3. The Pirates have won five straight, although Paul Skenes has allowed six runs in 5 2/3 innings through his first two starts.
They haven’t needed much from top prospect Konnor Griffin either. The infielder is 1 for 9 since being called up, but he has yet to play in a loss. The Pirates have 10 of their next 13 games at home, with Skenes expected to take the mound Tuesday when they host San Diego.
Trivia time
When is the last time the NCAA men’s basketball champion and baseball’s World Series champion came from the same state in a given year?
Performance of the week
Jo Adell went 1 for 3 at the plate Saturday, but it’s what he did defensively that made a real impact. The Angels’ outfielder made three home run-robbing catches to help Los Angeles to a 1-0 win over Seattle.
Adell made spectacular catch while crashing into the seats when J.P. Crawford led off the ninth with a drive to right. Adell also denied Cal Raleigh what would have been the catcher’s first homer of the season.
Comeback of the week
Arizona trailed Detroit by four Tuesday night before scoring six times in the bottom of the eighth to win 7-5. The Tigers had a win probability of 96.4% after seven, according to Baseball Savant.
Corbin Carroll hit a bases-loaded double that scored two runs, and Jose Fernandez added a three-run homer. It was the second home run of the game for Fernandez, who was making his major league debut.
Trivia answer
In 1973, UCLA won the national title and the Oakland Athletics won the World Series. That pairing also won in 1972.
There was a recent near-miss in 2021 when Baylor won the NCAA Tournament and the Houston Astros lost to the Atlanta Braves in the World Series. The only way this double can happen this year is if Michigan wins in basketball and the Tigers prevail in baseball.
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