Tarik Skubal

If you just look at his seven-day stats, Tarik Skubal had a very good, but not great week last week. He pitched 14.2 innings and had a 1.84 ERA and 0.55 WHIP.

Skubal's first outing of the week on Tuesday, May 20, was inauspicious in terms of winning the MLBoyfriend title. He pitched 5.2 innings giving up 5 hits, 1 walk and 3 earned runs for a 0.55 WHIP and 4.76 ERA.

Then, in his second start of the week on Sunday, May 25, Skubal threw a Maddux--meaning he pitched 9 full innings and shut out the other team in few than 100 pitches.

In the first complete game of his career, Skubal gave up only 2 hits and 0 walks (0.22 WHIP) while striking out 13 batters. Of course, his ERA for a shut-out was 0.00 and he definitely earned a win. To guild the lily, Skubal's final pitch was a 102.6 mph strike--which is insane (and possibly record-breaking) for so many reasons.

Check out some of the highlights of Skubal's amazing performance here:

Congratulations, Tarik Skubal! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week.

Pete Crow-Armstrong

Pete Crow-Armstrong has been having the kind of season where he's under consideration for MLBoyfriend every week. Now, his week has finally come.

Crow-Armstrong had an amazing .458 batting average and 1.379 OPS last week. He hit a double, 2 triples and 2 home runs while scoring 5 runs and batting in 10.

Congratulations, Pete Crown-Armstrong! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week.

Byron Buxton

My hometown team, The Minnesota Twins, usually dominate my MLBoyfriend picks. This year, their mediocre start has kept them out of contention. However, they have turned things on in the past week--winning 8 straight games--so, it's finally time to give one of them the honor.

Byron Buxton really shined last week and reminded me why he has wound up on this blog so often. But, before I get to him, I'd like to mention Jhoan Duran was a strong runner-up for the title. The Twins' closer pitched in 4 games last week and scored 1 win and 3 saves. He struck out 6 batters and gave up only 1 hit and 1 walk. For the week, Duran had a 0.50 WHIP and a 0.00 ERA.

As great as Duran was, I think Buck was the catalyst that really got the Twins offense going.

Last week, Buxton had .286 batting average, a 0.880 OPS. Of his 6 hits, he had 1 double, 1 triple and 2 home runs. He scored 6 runs. All very respectable, but not the usual MLBoyfriend level of hitting stats. 

The number that won Buxton the title was that he had 8 RBI. For the 2025 season, the Twins have been in the lower-middle of the rankings for runs scored (18th) and RBI (17th). Last week, they were 8th in both stats. When a team starts batting in and scoring more runs, generally, they win more.

Congratulations, Byron Buxton! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week. It's nice to see you celebrating with your teammate and runner-up MLBoyfriend, Jhoan Duran.

Riley Greene

Before I get into the stats, let me start by saying Riley Greene is one of the most handsome players in MLB today. I mean...

However, looks alone will not win the MLBoyfriend of the Week title. You've got to put up some numbers too.

Greene went 13 for 28 at the plate for a .464 average and 1.393 OPS last week. He scored 7 runs and batted in 8. 

Of the 4 home runs Greene hit during the week, 2 of them were not only in the same game, but also in the same inning! In fact, on Friday, May 2, he became the first player in MLB history to hit 2 homers in the 9th inning of a game.

Congratulations, Riley Greene! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week.