Category: Baseball

We’re going straight to the heart of direct fan experience for today’s big Yankees question. The big-league club is still getting ready for the season down in Tampa, but after beginning the 2026 season with a road trip through San Francisco and Seattle, they’ll be back in the Bronx for their home opener on April 3rd against the Marlins.

Reviews on the new (now not-so-new) Yankee Stadium have been decidedly mixed at best since it replaced the beloved old ballpark across the street in 2009. For the youngest generation of fans, it’s the only Yankee Stadium they’ve ever known, but I’ve heard from kids before who remain cool on it. So it’s an odd situation.

Suppose you were made president of ballpark operations, or some other fancy title along those lines. Hal Steinbrenner has given you leeway to make one sweeping change that will begin during the 2026 season. What would it be? My only caveat is that it can’t just be “cheaper prices” because that is too obvious (and the ol’ House of Steinbrenner would never consent to parting with those dimes). I would deeply like that too! But we can think a little bigger. More time-involved projects are OK as well, as we can just imagine the request for one improvement being made earlier than a month before Opening Day.

Would you want Monument Park somewhere more prominent than stuffed below a restaurant in center field? Dramatic dimension changes? No ear-splitting noises from the PA system that play for two seconds between pitches? (That would probably be mine. It’s so bad.) A different ballpark entry system, given recent years’ frustrations? Restricting “God Bless America” to Sundays and holidays like most other MLB teams? Higher-quality food and beverages, considering they play in a city where you can get basically anything at any time? The choices are vast! Make yours and let us know.

This morning, Nick opens up the history books to spotlight Bill Holland—one of the greatest New York Black Yankees pitchers off all-time—in our Yankees Birthday Series. Madison will also answer your mailbag questions, and Matt will preview the ever-backwards Angels. Will Mike Trout ever appear in a second playoff series and first since over a decade ago? It’s exceedingly doubtful. Grim. Blame the Curse of the Rally Monkey, I have no sympathy for Arte Moreno.

Today’s Matchup

New York Yankees vs. Toronto Blue Jays

Time: 1:05 p.m. EST

Video: YES Network

Venue: George M. Steinbrenner Field, Tampa, FL

This wasn’t a matchup we hadever seen before, Auburn vs Nebraska on the diamond. In fact, going to any SEC team for a weekend series isn’t something we see very often at all. But the way the NCAA Tournament Committee has been rewarding teams that have a tough non-conference schedule, it will probably become a more common sight. And with how good of a game we saw tonight, it would be a welcome one.

For the first time this season, the game had a true Friday night feeling as the teams rolled out top flight starters to begin a series. Nebraska with Ty Horn and Auburn with Virginia Tech transfer Jake Marciano, and they were dueling early on. They combined to strike out 7 batters in the first two innings.

Auburn was the first to strike in the 3rd inning. Mason McCraine singled through the right side of the infield, and stole second base. His brother, Brandon hit a choppy grounder to Husker third baseman Josh Overbeek who was unable to come up with it. A sac fly brought 1 run home. Then Horn slipped covering a bunt, potentially another out awarded to the Tigers. a 3-2 count walk, loaded the bases for Auburn, and back to back singles made it 4-0. In the middle of all that, Horn and Worthley also got crossed up on the pitch call, despite wearing the communication devices. Just a bad half inning all around.

The Huskers would respond in the next half inning. Case Sanderson singled to lead off. Overbeek and Dylan Carey both stuck out on 3-2 pitches, including Sandy, that was 3 batters in a row that got to a full count. DH Cole Kitchens had no interest in working a full count, driving his first pitch off the War Eagle Wall (Auburn’s version of Fenway’s Green Monster) for an RBI double. Nebraska left fielder Will Jesske hammered a ball (on a full count!) to the nearly the same spot, trading places with Kitchens and cutting the lead to 4-2.

Jesske has had a lot of pop in his bat to start the season, the only issue is he has played at some of the biggest and strangest laid out outfield fences you can find. Had Nebraska played all their games in places like Haymarket Park, Jesske could very well be leading the nation in home runs. Could that be foreshadowing?!

Auburn added a run back in the 4th, ending Horn’s day at 3.2 innings pitched, with 4 earned runs allowed, on 5 strikeouts and 2 walks. Things went sideways quick on him, for the first time in quite a few outings, as he was clutch down the stretch for Nebraska last year and had been off to a good start to 2026.

Marciano was able to make it only through 5 himself, as the Huskers were able to work him deep into counts often, and he chased the strikeouts, all 9 of them, but allowed zero walks. Nebraska would strike out 18 times in the 10 inning game, but despite the numerous deep counts, end up with zero walks. That shows you how ready you have to be in the batters box, but also how predictable the pitches can be when they get to a count with 3 balls.

The bullpens led by Cooper Katskee for the Huskers and Jett Johnston for the Tigers took over, tossing up zeros until Nebraska broke through in the 8th. Mac Moyer reached on an error, Case Sanderson ripped a single into center field, and Overbeek loaded the bases by taking a ball to the elbow.

The exact man Coach Will Bolt and Husker fans everywhere would want up for the situation strode to the plate, in Dylan Carey. Despite being 0-3 on the night, Carey worked it to a 3-2 count, and as stated above, got a predicable strike right over the middle of the plate and smashed the 51st double of his career to the War Eagle Wall. Two pitches later Cole Kitchens tied the game with a double into the right field corner. Overbeek scored on thr play, and Dylan Carey may have been able to score the go ahead run, but went back to tag up as the fielder seemed to get close to catching it on the fly from his perspective.

J’Shawn Unger took over on the mound in the 8th for NU, and despite a rocky inning with a walk, wild pitch, and unintentional/intentional walk, Unger was able to come up with a big strikeout to hold the tigers off the board.

After the Auburn closer struck out the side, Unger need only 7 pitches to retire the Tigers and send the game to extra innings.

The 10th started with a bang, as Sanderson collected his team leading 3rd hit of the night, a double into the left field corner. Overbeek hit a ball to the right side to move Sandy over to third and bring up that man again, Dylan Carey. Carey continued his hot streak, hitting a single to left and claiming his 3rd RBI of the night and team leading 15th RBI on the season in only 8 games. Devin Nunez added a base hit putting runners on 1st and 2nd for Jesske. This time Jesske conquered the War Eagle Wall, blasting his 3rd home run of the season and increasing his RBI total on the day to 4, putting his team up 9-5.

Nebraska would need every single one of those runs as they have struggled at the closer position to start the season. Kevin Mannell would be passed over, as the team tried other options. Unger gave up a 1 out single. The runner advanced to 2nd without a throw, then came around to score on a single. Caleb Clark came in to face a left handed batter and surrendered a 3-2 walk. Freshman Jace Ziola replaced Clark and gave up an 0-2 RBI single. A passed ball and 4 pitch walk loaded the bases.

Nebraska then turned to Pryce Bender, who was able to induce a ground ball which Carey snagged at short despite the runner and Overbeek both flashing in front of him. A run did score on the play, cutting the Husker lead down to 9-8. The best hitter for Auburn stepped to the plate with the tying run on 3rd and winning run on 2nd. Bender was able to get him to pop up on his first pitch and secure the win for Unger and a save for himself, albeit in nail-biting fashion.

This was the first Nebraska regular season win at an SEC field since 2014, and their 2nd win over a ranked team in a row. They did it by continually putting pressure on the Auburn pitchers, getting 6 lead off hitters on out of 10. Number of pitches is a big thing, but number of pitches under pressure is just an extra bit of stress on an arm. Nebraska is going to have to cut down on the strikeout numbers on offense if they want to win this series. They should go down a bit, as Auburn did use both of their closers and their top strikeout starter, but the rest of the staff is just as stingy on handing out walks, so get ready!

The Huskers go for the series win Saturday at 2pm CT.

For the third time in the last four games, a San Diego Padres Spring Training game was decided by one run. Unfortunately for the Padres, it was the Colorado Rockies who were at the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning and it was Zac Veen who hit a one-out solo home run to center field just to the right of the batters eye to give the Rockies a 3-2 walk-off win at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick in Scottsdale, Ariz. on Friday.

San Diego took the lead early in the game when Manny Machado collected his seventh RBI in to games with a bases loaded sacrifice fly to right-center field to give the Padres a 1-0 lead in the top of the third. San Diego scored its second run of the game in the top of the eighth inning when Samad Taylor hit a two-out a single through the left side of the infield that scored Tirso Ornelas to tie the game, 2-2.

Veen connected on his game-winning home run when Padres reliever Sean Boyle left an 89.1 mph fastball out over the plate on a 1-0 count. Veen took his trip around the bases much to the delight of his teammates and the home field crowd and Boyle and his teammates walked off the field and made their return to Peoria, Ariz.

Jake Cronenworth, Ramon Laureano and Sung-Mun Song were the only San Diego starters to record a hit against Colorado pitching. Taylor had the only other hit for the Padres in the game with his eight-inning RBI-single.

Randy Vasquez started on the mound for San Diego and turned in another solid outing. He finished 2.2 innings and did not allow a hit. Vasquez did issue to walks, but he also recorded four strikeouts.

The Padres return to the Peoria Sports Complex to take on the Seattle Mariners on Saturday at 12:10 p.m. San Diego opened Cactus League play against Seattle on Feb. 20 last time the teams met, and the Padres took a 7-4 loss.

Observations from Yankees’ spring training Friday:

Bombs away

The Yankees crushed five home runs in a blowout of the Twins, with Jasson Domínguez, J.C. Escarra, Spencer Jones, Paul DeJong and Duke Ellis all going deep.

Challenging

The Yankees ran out of ABS challenges by the bottom of the first inning after right fielder Yanquiel Fernandez and Luis Gil were both wrong in trying to get calls overturned.

Gil later tried to challenge a ball in the second inning (that looked like a strike), but did not have one to use.

Caught my eye

Escarra launched his first homer of the spring off righty Cole Sands, a 413-footer that came off the bat at 109.6 mph — the hardest-hit ball of his career, according to Statcast.

“That means I’m eating well,” Escarra joked.

Saturday’s schedule

Paul Blackburn, who pitched in a piggyback role in his first appearance, will start against the Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon at Steinbrenner Field, the last game for all of the Yankees’ WBC participants.

NJ.com | Bob Klapisch ($): Anthony Volpe’s faced more than his fair share of detractors over the past year, and while he may not be ready to start on Opening Day the shortstop aims to regain a foothold on his starting spot once he’s fully recovered from shoulder surgery. Part of that journey rests on the 24-year-old finding his footing at the plate, and luckily there’s a host of former Yankee greats that love to swing by for the start of spring to impart some lessons onto the next generation. Bucky Dent knows a thing or two about transforming his image in a hurry, and the man whose nickname in Boston isn’t proper to publish wanted to share as much as he could with Volpe to aid in his comeback attempt.

NY Post | Greg Joyce: Barring any last-minute surprises, Randal Grichuk’s quest to make it out of Yankees camp begins today after undergoing a physical with the team on Friday. He’s now clear to begin working out with the team, and should find his way into a lineup before long as the organization envisions a bench/platoon role for the outfielder as their answer to left-handed pitching.

NY Daily News | Gary Phillips ($): Cam Schlittler had one of the few minor injuries of note when spring camp opened, as the phenom starting pitcher worked through a back/lat issue. However, Aaron Boone noted the other day that Schlittler is expected to be ready for Opening Day, and the only consequence is that he likely won’t be fully built up to a regular starter’s workload by then. Instead, Schlittler will probably be capped around 70 pitches by then, as the team aims to get him back into a five-day routine soon and make his spring debut afterwards. The early schedule will aid their attempts to build Schlittler back up to form, but they’ll take everything they can get from the young flamethrower after seeing a taste of what he could offer last year.

FanGraphs | Jay Jaffe: The curious case of Jarren Duran’s 2025 season led Jaffe down a rabbit hole of examining players who had one terrific month that carried their year, and then eventually flipped that exercise around to examining consistency overall among the game’s stars. Aaron Judge gets a feature in here as an example of sheer unbelievable consistency, as his worst month of the year in 2025 dwarfed the worst months of all the other notable superstars in his stratosphere. Give it a read, it’s an interesting dive.

It feels so good to be back to doing recaps! Was a long offseason. Today was a picture perfect spring training evening in Peoria. The Dbacks took on the Mariners for their first night game of the season under a picturesque Arizona sunset. What a night for baseball.

The Dbacks pitching tonight shined against the Mariners offense. Starter Ryne Nelson looked sharp tonight. His trademark 4 seamer was popping the mitt at 97 mph in his 2 innings. He was able to strike out 3 batters in the 2 innings of work and showcased an arsenal that all graded out as above average per pro stuff plus according to pitch profiler. Most notably for me, his fastball averaged 19” of IVB and his cutter had a 60% whiff rate. Certainly a welcome site after the latest injury news to the rotation and the opening day starter vacancy.

If you would have gotten up to get a beer in the top of the second inning, you would have missed the entire Dbacks offense for the night as it came on a single pitch to AJ Vukovich. Vukovich was able to take a full count sinker above the zone from Mariners regular Luis Castillo out to right center for a 3 run shot. The ball was hit hard, but was also at a 36 degree launch angle likely indicating some wind assistance. Still, what a great moment for the Dbacks minor league journeyman hitting his 2^nd homer of the young spring. The once top Dbacks prospect Vukovich enjoyed a resurgence season last year in Reno belting 22 HR and an .853 OPS. Particularly, Vukovich appeared to figure some things out towards the end of last season batting .354 with 5 HR in the final 30 games of the 2025 season. At still just 24 years old, I suppose Vukovich still has an outside chance at breaking camp as the 4^th OF, especially since Gurriel Jr is likely to begin the season on the IL. Don’t be surprised to see his name in the mix.

Groover was also able to add a pair of hits tonight. A welcomed site after the shakiness he has shown at 3^rd this spring. Ildemaro Vargas also continued to cement an opening day role with this team playing SS and adding 2 more hits of his own.

The bullpen looked especially sharp tonight with notable outings from new (but old) guy Taylor Clarke, former top pick Landon Sims, and most notably for me rising star Daniel Eagan. Eagan put together an especially strong pro debut season last year, and looked incredibly sharp in 2 scoreless innings highlighted by 5 swing and misses largely thanks to his 4 seam fast ball with 19” of IVB sitting 95 mph. That paired with a hammer curve ball was a sight to see. According to TJ Stats, Eagan’s stuff+ averaged 104 thanks to an especially filthy cutter at 110. Maybe there is some room for optimism especially given the Dbacks shift in pitching philosophy highlighted by moving on from Dan Haren and the addition of Jeremy Bleich?

Dbacks would wind up winning this one thanks to their pitching, but most importantly we are watching night baseball games again on a Friday night! Who else had fun?

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Yankees are getting the full Spencer Jones experience early on this spring. 

By and large — emphasis on the large — they will take it. 

Jones homered Friday for the third time in four games, crushing a 427-foot shot off the batter’s eye in a 17-5 win over the Twins at Hammond Stadium. 

“It’s always fun to hit ’em out of the yard,” Jones said. “But at the end of the day, as long as I’m taking swings at the pitches that I want to, as long as I’m seeing the ball well, that’s usually how I judge myself from day to day in games, being able to read pitches and make good decisions.” 

The three home runs account for Jones’ three hits this spring, going 3-for-8 with four strikeouts and two walks.

When he grounded out in the second inning Friday, it marked the first out he had made this spring that was not via the strikeout. 

The 6-foot-7, left-handed slugger has continued to tinker with his swing mechanics early in camp, trying to cut down on the strikeouts. 

“There’s been a lot of conversations behind the scenes, working on some stuff, cleaning up the [bat] path and finding some cues and working with guys to learn,” Jones said. “You don’t really know what you got until you’re out there facing an arm.”

Back in Tampa, Gerrit Cole faced hitters for the second time in his rehab from Tommy John surgery, throwing 22 pitches against Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Trent Grisham.

Stanton remains in line to make his Grapefruit League debut in the coming days.

Let’s get historical tonight!

This was a discussion we had in our SB Nation managers Slack channel today, so I’d like to pose the question to you. The Rockies are turning 33 this year, so they don’t have a long, storied history like other franchises such as the Yankees or the Cubs. But they do still have two Hall of Famers and plenty of history to choose from.

So, if you could put any Colorado baseball player from history on the 2026 Rockies, who would it be?

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

Some big lifestyle changes have Rockies prospect Zac Veen tearing it up this spring.

Veen, 24, put on more than 40 pounds, going from around 200 to a strong 245 pounds, but the biggest adjustment came outside of the weight room.

“Definitely one of the bigger, main things was sobering up,” Veen recently told MLB.com. “I had a pretty big substance abuse problem for a few years. But I’m completely clean and sober.

“There were times last year where it was out of hand. Coming home in the offseason, I had to look in the mirror and make some adjustments. And I definitely got closer to God, and it made me want to be the best version of myself in every aspect.”

Veen, the ninth overall pick by Colorado in 2020 and No. 11 prospect in the Rockies’ farm system, per MLB Pipeline, has not lived up to expectations during his five seasons in professional baseball. 

After a long slog through the minors, Veen hit just .118/.189/.235 during a brief, 37-plate-appearance MLB debut last season, and he was later sent to the Arizona Complex League. 

Looking back, he said, it was all about what was going on off the field.

.A lot of my meals were smoke — and things that shouldn’t have been,” Veen added. “I was smoking weed every day. If I couldn’t find any weed, I was drinking every single day. I’d say ever since I got home in 2021 after my first season, it was a consecutive streak of not being sober. Being able to cut that out of my lifestyle and replace that with protein is very beneficial to the genes God gave me.”

Now, Veen’s hard work and discipline is starting to show. 

ZAC VEEN MIGHT BE A PROBLEM pic.twitter.com/dFobz8Js26

— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) February 27, 2026

He is 3-for-11 early on this spring with two home runs, both coming in dramatic fashion. 

On Monday, Veen blasted a 113 mph, 468-foot home run to center field to give the Rockies the walk-off win. 

He did it again on Friday, crushing a 447-foot bomb for a second walk-off home run in February. 

Veen credited his high school coach, Johnny Goodrich, and Rockies development player development director Chris Forbes for getting him back on track. 

“It was a collaborative thing – I can’t thank them enough,” Veen said. “I participated in an 11-week program with substance abusers and alcoholics – people wanting to better themselves. I started going to church. I got baptized, went to Bible study every Wednesday.”

Veen is facing an uphill battle if he wants to make the Rockies’ Opening Day roster, but it’ll be hard to keep him off if he keeps hitting the way he is.

Earlier today, the Colorado Rockies walked off the San Diego Padres in a 3-2 win.

For game highlights, click here.

First, here’s manager Warren Schaeffer’s thoughts on the day’s performances:

Here’s the man of the hour, Zac Veen:

Starting pitcher Tanner Gordon weighed in:

Finally, please enjoy some game highlights, including that Veen bomb:

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Some pitchers, like Luis Gil, build their velocity up incrementally over the course of the spring.

Others, like Carlos Lagrange, come out firing and do not let up — at least not yet for the Yankees’ top pitching prospect.

Lagrange continued to dazzle in his second Grapefruit League outing Friday, piggybacking Gil and tossing three shutout innings against a Twins lineup filled with mostly regulars while averaging 100.1 mph on his fastball.

The 22-year-old generated some ugly looking swings (or check swings) from the Twins, racking up nine whiffs and four strikeouts on 41 pitches before having to go to the bullpen to throw more because he was so efficient.

“The thing I’ve been pleased with with Carlos is, obviously, the stuff jumps out at you, the big fastball and the slider/changeup are really good pitches for him, but the strike throwing’s been there,” manager Aaron Boone said after a 17-5 win at Hammond Stadium. 

“If he’s doing that, it gets exciting.”

The biggest knock on Lagrange during his rise through the minors has been a lack of command, which is why some scouts believe he will end up in the bullpen. But the Yankees can also dream about what his high-level stuff — he topped out at 102.1 mph Friday and has thrown the three hardest pitches of any pitcher this spring — might look like over longer outings as a starter if he is able to pound the strike zone more consistently, as he did Friday.

Also encouraging is how Lagrange has maintained his velocity through outings.

His fastball averaged 100.2 mph in his first inning, 99.3 in the second and 100.8 in the third.

Gil, meanwhile, had more of a grind, throwing 52 pitches across 2 ¹/₃ innings.

He got stuck in some long at-bats that drove up his pitch count —four that lasted seven pitches or longer — that forced him to exit with two outs in the second before he re-entered to get two quick outs on two pitches in the third inning.

Those two pitches were Gil’s hardest of the day, at 96.5 mph and 96.7 mph, though his four-seamer averaged 94.7 — a slight tick up from his spring debut (94.5) but still below his 2025 average (95.3) and the 96.6 he averaged as the AL Rookie of the Year in 2024.

In the first inning, he left a 94.5 mph fastball down the middle to Trevor Larnach, who drilled it for a home run.

“I think it’s the building process of spring training,” Gil said through an interpreter. “The training has been very good. We’re building on every single outing. I think we’ve had a consistent climb to get to the velo I’m used to. I think maybe by the third or fourth start, it might be more consistent to what I’m used to.”

Boone believes that if Gil — who only induced four swing-and-misses and one strikeout Friday — keeps building with each outing, he will ultimately get to where he needs to be.

“Part of that is just being really comfortable with his mechanics and his throwing motion to where he’s behind the ball and driving it,” Boone said. “We’ve seen when that velocity starts to climb, coupled with the secondary, then the swing-and-miss comes right back.”

SCOTTSDALE, AZ - Yoshinobu Yamamoto insists he has no concerns.

The Los Angeles Dodgers tell you, well, at least publicly, they have no worries.

And Dodgers fans will be at home watching with a knot in their stomachs, no sure how much success they want their ace to have in the World Baseball Classic, only that he returns fully healthy for the regular season.

Yoshinobu, after giving up five hits and two runs in three innings Friday against the San Franciso Giants in a 12-4 loss, is leaving for Tokyo where he will meet up with Shohei Ohtani and the rest of his teammates as Team Japan defends its WBC title.

“We’re going to miss him certainly when he’s away with Team Japan,’’ Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “but we absolutely got what we needed.’’

Yamamoto, who threw 37 of his 52 pitches for strikes, with four strikeouts, is tentatively scheduled to pitch against Chinese Taipei on March 6 in his WBC opener, where he will be limited to 65 pitches.

“I’m looking forward to that game against Taiwan,’’ he said. “I understand the passion of Taiwanese fans and baseball fans. So I think it’s special.’’

Last time I was at Peoria Sports Complex, I was getting a COVID shot. Wasn’t yesterday either. Weird what sticks in your mind. Anyway, tonight sees the D-backs heading over for a potential get-together with Josh Naylor, who signed a long-term contract – 5 year, $92,500,000 – with Seattle. Though it’ll be a little odd not seeing Eugenio Suarez, who is now a memebr of the Reds. It does feel like the Mariners and D-backs have been frequent fliers as trade partners over the past few years, and it has usually worked out quite well for both. But tonight, they face off against each other.

After Ryne Nelson’s start, it’ll be RHP Taylor Clarke, RHP Juan Morillo, RHP Juan Burgos, RHP Joe Ross, RHP Taylor Rashi and RHP Daniel Eagen. I wonder if there’s a chance he will be the Opening Day starter for the D-backs, now that Merrill Kelly is out? After last season’s performance, it would seem like he deserves it, but there may be other factors at play. He’s younger and less experienced than everyone else bar Brandon Pfaadt, and while it doesn’t “matter”, there’s something to be said for Zac Gallen as well. Hopefully, we won’t see the same issues as last year with Corbin Burnes.

A few options to watch this one tonight. It will be the Mariners’ broadcast, but will be available on dbacks.tv, and is also scheduled to be broadcast on the MLB Network. They’ve additionally added the March 10th game at Camelback Ranch against the Dodgers to their schedule (subject to change), so that’s nice.

As Spring Training hits its stride and the Mariners move past their first week of games, Luis Castillo — La Piedra — takes the rock for the first time in 2026. Castillo, despite an up-and-down regular season, was an absolute hero during the postseason and we are all looking forward to seeing what he has in store in 2026!

It’s an interesting-look starting lineup for the M’s tonight, with the only real MLB players being Victor Robles in center, Josh Naylor at first, Miles Mastrobuoni at third, and Leo Rivas at short. This writer is especially excited to see how Cole Young performs under the lights tonight at second base.

Likely pitchers to follow Luis on the mound include Casey Lawrence, Carlos Vargas, José Ferrer, Tyler Cleveland, and Josh Simpson.

The Snakes are sending out Ryne Nelson (first Stanek now this guy? Someone has to teach pitchers how to spell “Ryan”) to the mound first tonight. Nelson has been a fixture for Arizona over the past three years, and set a career best ERA of 3.39 in 2025. It is also Nelson’s first start of the spring.

First Pitch: 5:10pm PT

Watch: Mariners.TV, Mariners.com, and (if you’re outside the PNW like our esteemed Kate Preusser) MLB Network

Listen: Seattle Sports 710AM

As a reminder, we’re hoping to build our community before Opening Day for what promises to be an exciting 2026 season and we’d love to have you with us. If you haven’t yet, sign up (it makes the site function much better for you, as a bonus) and jump on in to the conversation! This is especially helpful on radio-only games to keep the conversation flowing. And don’t worry about making a mistake – it’s spring training for all of us.

The A’s can’t seem to get many wins this spring but luckily these games don’t count just yet. Still would be nice to see another win sometime soon as the Athletics dropped another game on Friday afternoon, losing to the Royals 7-6 and dropping their meaningless record to 1-5.

The A’s jumped out to an early lead this afternoon. A pair of walks put two runners on for Max Muncy. Looking to put some distance between himself and Darell Hernaiz for the starting third base job, Muncy took a fastball down the middle and drove it into center field for a double and bringing in both runs, giving the A’s the first lead.

Left-hander Jeffrey Springs got his first action today, taking the ball to start against KC today. While the stats don’t matter today still wasn’t a great first outing for the 33-year-old considering his early-game struggles last year. Springs had an easy first inning but got hit hard in the second, allowing four runs to score capped by a Bobby Witt Jr. three-run home run that wiped away the A’s early lead. That would chase him from this game after getting up to 39 pitches, which is probably around where the coaching staff wanted him as they slowly ramp the veteran lefty up for the long season ahead.

The A’s got one of those runs back in the next frame thanks to a Carlos Cortes double and a pair of productive groundouts to bring him in. Then the A’s got the big hit they were looking for in the fourth. Shortstop Jacob Wilson came to the plate with a runner on first and blasted a 429-foot home run to left field, his first long ball of spring and one that tied this game up a 5 apiece. The A’s would then take the lead the very next inning, courtesy of Muncy’s first home run of the spring.

The Royals would battle back late however. Lefty Brady Basso began the seventh and didn’t have his best stuff today. A double and a pair of walks loaded the bases and while he was just one strike away from getting out of the jam, a two-run double bit him and gave KC back the lead.

The A’s put together a scoring threat in the eighth thanks to a couple hits from some prospects (including Leo De Vries!), but couldn’t manage to knot this game up, falling 7-6 to finish the afternoon off.

Not great but the offense has really picked it up after a slow start to spring. We do this all again tomorrow, with the San Francisco Giants coming to Hohokam Stadium for another afternoon matchup with our A’s. Right-hander Luis Morales is set to get the ball for his second appearance this spring. He allowed a run on a couple hits in a couple innings of work earlier this week but will be getting his first starting nod. The Giants will go with veteran righty Tyler Mahle for his first appearance of camp. Hopefully the A’s can get another one of those currently-meaningless wins.

Notes:

• Muncy finished the day 2-for-3 with three RBI’s. It’s a super small sample but he’s 4-for-10 so far with one walk and one strikeout.
• Hernaiz isn’t making the coaching staff’s job easy though. He went 0-for-1 today but also drew a pair of walks. He’s 5-for-11 this spring. Does a big showing in the upcoming WBC do him any favors with the coaching staff?
• Jamie Arnold sighting! The A’s most recent first-round pick made it into his first game action for the A’s. He pitched a scoreless inning, allowing a hit and a walk while also collecting two punchouts. A nice little spring debut for the left-hander.
• Center fielder Denzel Clarke has had a rough go of it at the plate to start camp, but he finally collected his first hit this spring today. He doesn’t need to do much offensively to have value for the A’s this coming season but he also can’t be a complete black hole in the lineup.
• Top prospect Leo De Vries went 2-for-2 today, a positive showing for the young shortstop who is nearly in the big leagues. He won’t be breaking camp with the club but a strong showing in front of the coaches during camp doesn’t hurt.
• Righty reliever Elvis Alvarado had a second scoreless appearance this afternoon, while fellow relief pitcher Michael Kelly gave up a run in his inning of work. These two could be closer options for Mark Kotsay this coming year.