Category: MLB

Hello, friends.

The Orioles just can’t let us feel good about them for long, huh? The vibes were great yesterday afternoon around the Shane Baz contract extension, with excitement for the near future of the team from the front office and from a good number of the players. If only they could have sustained those good vibes through even one more game after that. Instead, the Orioles turned in a stinker of a 4-1 loss to the Twins to fall to 1-1 on the year. Check out my recap of the game for more of the not-so-lovely totals.

Anybody who is my age or younger has been prepared for this kind of thing by a lifetime of being Orioles fans. Nothing good lasts for long and plenty of times things have come along within 24 hours to squash fun vibes. This is only the latest example. Baz has the opportunity to bring the good vibes back here this afternoon, if he can turn in a good outing in his first game in an Orioles uniform.

It’s still kind of wild for me to think about, but Baz got that contract extension before ever throwing a pitch for the team. Mike Elias really likes this guy. This is not a guarantee of success. Sometimes Elias likes guys based on thinking they’ll be better than they have been and it doesn’t work out that way. Sometimes he likes guys based on thinking they’ll be about what they have been in the past and that doesn’t work out either. The guy has a solid track record overall, but there are glaring gaps and one of those is building a quality starting rotation.

Getting Baz locked up could be the first sign of starting to bring some stability into that group. Getting way ahead of ourselves, just based on who has major league experience and will still be available to the Orioles next year, they’ve got Kyle Bradish, Baz, and Dean Kremer. That’s potentially not a bad 60% of a rotation. If one of the team’s pitching prospects can fill a spot better than the previous wave’s guys like Cade Povich and Brandon Young did, then there’s only one hole to fill. That’s a whole lot better than having to sign two guys and trade for a third guy every winter.

Of course, two games into this 2026 season, there hasn’t been too much cause for worrying about the rotation yet. It’s an offense that’s not looking like much has changed from the last season and a half worth of Orioles baseball that feels like a problem. You can make excuses for this if you want, particularly yesterday when it was the 10th-coldest game start temperature in Oriole Park at Camden Yards history. Warmer weather is coming as soon as today, so this excuse pretty much expired already. Until they do enough to change the story, it’s the same story.

Orioles stuff you might have missed

You know who wants to talk some about the Shane Baz press conference? Everybody whose job it is to cover the Orioles on a regular basis.

More extensions coming? Rubenstein says O’s are ‘open for business’ (Orioles.com)
Orioles celebrate Shane Baz extension (School of Roch)
Baz says Orioles extension was ‘no-brainer’ (Baltimore Baseball)
After Baz, Basallo, who could be next? (The Baltimore Sun)
Different days in Birdland: Baz extension followed Basallo, Alonso contracts (Steve on Baseball)
By doubling down on Shane Baz, the Orioles can turn their rotation into a long-term strength (The Baltimore Banner)

There really is a lot to digest about it. Yes, it’s a further sign that something different is happening now than we got accustomed to with contracts before Rubenstein took over. It shows that the Orioles might actually invest in their rotation. There is hope for extensions for any non-Boras client who the O’s deem worth it. It seems like there is excitement both in the Orioles clubhouse and front office for these things happening. That’s all cool. It would just be a lot more cool if they built on these good feelings with how they played on the field yesterday.

Joseph Dzierwa headlines the Orioles next wave of pitching prospects (Baseball America)
Subscription required for this one. The pitcher had a phenomenal appearance in the Spring Breakout game and if he carries that forward into the minor league season, that’s going to get mighty interesting in a hurry.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

The Orioles last won a game on this day just last year, when they beat the Blue Jays, 9-5, to improve to 2-1 for the season. Just four of the seventeen players who appeared for the Orioles that day are on the 26-man roster right now. Jordan Westburg had four hits, including a pair of homers.

One lone former Oriole was born on this day: 1989-91 infielder Juan Bell. He passed away in 2016 at the age of 48.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: 10th president John Tyler (1790), baseball Hall of Famer Cy Young (1867), actress Amy Sedaris (1961), model Elle Macpherson (1964), and actress Lucy Lawless (1968).

On this day in history…

In 1461, the two sides of England’s Wars of the Roses fought the Battle of Towton. The York contingent, led by Edward, defeated the Lancastrian force of Queen Margaret, leading to Edward being crowned as Edward IV and the wars being interrupted for nine years.

In 1847, during the Mexican-American War, American military forces captured the city of Veracruz following a siege.

In 1961, upon ratification by the state of Ohio, the Twenty-third Amendment to the Constitution, which grants electoral votes to the District of Columbia, took effect. Maryland was seventh to ratify, about two months earlier.

In 1971, Lt. William Calley was convicted of 22 counts of premeditated murder for his role in the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam three years earlier. He served three days in prison before being released to house arrest under order of President Nixon, and ultimately served three years of house arrest for these murders.

In 1984, the Mayflower vans pulled out from the Baltimore Colts facility, marking the end of the Baltimore Colts and the beginning of the Indianapolis team that bears the same name.

A random Orioles trivia question

I received a random book of Orioles trivia questions for Christmas. I’ll ask a question each time it’s my turn in this space until I run out of questions or forget. It’s probably going to be run out of questions. Since I’m skipping stupid questions, repeat questions, and questions about the St. Louis Browns (it’s not a good book of trivia), we’re already up to 77, which is this:

Who had the lowest earned run average on the 1970 Orioles staff?

I will add the hint that this is inclusive of relievers.

**

And that’s the way it is in Birdland on March 29. Have a safe Sunday. Go O’s!

Somewhere, at some point, Bob Uecker would have been proud of that game yesterday.

Except for that whole getting a second hit thing in the ninth inning. Thanks, Alec, for ruining my joke for today. And, you know, the rest of the team for making it a ballgame.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• Harry Kalas’ widow is very upset about the name change on the team’s old restaurant. She wants some money for it, too ($).
• I know you’re all very worried about it, but Garrett Stubbs is choosing to stay in Lehigh Valley. He’ll report this weekend.
• The team needed some infield depth in the minor leagues, so they signed Sergio Alcantara to help out.

MLB news:

• Nico Hoerner’s new contract extension has some details now, his deal calling for $141 million over those six new years.
• The Curtis Mead transaction train continues rolling. Now, he’s been traded to the Nationals in a small deal.
• The Dodgers’ owner Mark Walters made some comments about “parity” in MLB. With a lockout possible, those comments matter.
• Jackson Chourio had to hit the injured list with a fractured hand.

Three games, three wins! It’s hard to do much better than that, the Yankees starting off their season with a sweep for the second year in a row. The shape of the sweep was much different this time around though, as this season’s Yankees have used phenomenal pitching to quell the Giants, while the 2025 squad absolutely pummeled the Brewers into submission. The team is in a groove, but the thing about the early season is that it can take a moment for the schedule to get rolling; the Yankees have their second off-day of the year today, and they’ll have three breathers interspersed through the first six days of the season. So rest up, before we head to Seattle for a few late nights with the Mariners.

On the site today, Peter has you handled for the Rivalry Roundup, and he also has the next entry in our Yankees Birthday series, profiling pitcher Herb McQuaid. Also, in the afternoon John spins around opening week on Yankees social media.

Today’s Matchup

Off-day.

Questions/Prompts:

1. Will Ryan Weathers keep up this Yankees pitching excellence tomorrow in Seattle?

2. Anyone have their Final Four still intact in their bracket?

The Athletic | Chris Kirschner: The streak came to an end after the Giants scored in the third inning on Saturday, but the Yankees opened the season with 20 consecutive scoreless innings, including two shutouts in the first two games. Even missing some of the most important pieces through injury, Yankees’ pitching — from Max Fried and Cam Schlittler to the bullpen — made a historic start to the 2026 season.

Newsday | Erik Boland: Camilo Doval was one of a couple relievers acquired by the Yankees at the trade deadline in 2025, as they tried to remake a struggling bullpen. He was a bit of a disappointment on that front last year, but so far this year, he’s looked the pitcher the Yankees were looking to acquire.

NJ.com | Randy Miller: The Yankees’ opening series of the season against the Giants brought a reunion with the team’s former center fielder Harrison Bader. Despite a solid playoff run in 2022, Bader’s stint in the Bronx did not go as he or the team wanted, leading to them eventually waiving him in 2023. However, Bader still carries with him lessons he learned in the Bronx, specifically from captain Aaron Judge.

New York Post | Joel Sherman: Heading into the 2026 season — barring horrible injuries or unforeseen sudden dropoffs — Aaron Judge and Paul Goldschmidt seem like the only future Hall of Fame locks on the 2026 Yankees. However, Giancarlo Stanton and Gerrit Cole are knocking on the door too, and then could improve their cases with good seasons and a ring in 2026.

SAN FRANCISCO — Before the automated ball-strike system came into play in real games that counted, the Yankees spent plenty of mornings this spring talking about it.

“We had too many meetings about it, in my opinion,” Aaron Judge said with a grin.

Judge was at least partly joking — “It’s all good stuff,” he later added — but the early returns have been strong.

In their season-opening sweep of the Giants, the Yankees went 5-for-6 in ABS challenges, including 3-for-3 on Saturday, with each of them coming in key moments in a 3-1 win at Oracle Park.

The first came in Trent Grisham’s at-bat with one out in the third inning, when Tyler Mahle threw a 2-2 pitch that home plate umpire Chad Whitson called strike three.

But Grisham challenged the pitch and it proved to be high, turning into ball three on the way to a walk, allowing him to later score on Ben Rice’s two-out, two-run double.

“That sets up a lot right there,” manager Aaron Boone said.

Austin Wells was responsible for the other two, helping out his relievers. In the seventh inning of a 3-1 game, Jake Bird threw an 0-1 pitch to Casey Schmitt that Whitson called a ball. But Wells challenged it, turning it into a strike and one pitch later, Schmitt struck out.

Tim Hill then entered to face Jung Hoo Lee and threw an 0-2 pitch that Whitson deemed a ball, only for Wells to challenge it and get a called third strike that ended the frame.

“I love what I’m seeing from Austin Wells back there, overturning a couple big calls to shift the momentum onto our side,” Aaron Judge said.

Carlos Rodón is expected to make his next outing back in Tampa on Sunday or Monday, another live batting practice (or extended spring game) as he continues his buildup from October surgery to shave down a bone spur and remove loose bodies.

The left-hander threw three innings and about 40 pitches on Tuesday, so he could build to about 50 pitches in his next outing.

It seems plausible that his next start after that would be on a rehab assignment, though Boone was not yet ready to make that official on Saturday.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

Gerrit Cole is also expected to throw live back in Tampa in the coming days, though he noted after his last start on Tuesday in Arizona that he expects to go through a deload period before starting his own rehab assignment.

The win marked Boone’s 700th as manager, making him the seventh Yankees manager to reach that milestone, joining Joe McCarthy, Joe Torre, Casey Stengel, Miller Huggins, Ralph Houk and Joe Girardi.

The Mariners picked up their first singles of the season but couldn’t get much action until too late.

The Mariners entered the ninth inning Saturday with six hits and six walks and just two runs to show for it. They trailed the Guardians 3-2 when Cole Young leadoff the inning by plopping a a soft liner down the left field line for a double. Ryan Bliss tried to bunt him over for some reason but couldn’t get it down and struck out. Cal Raleigh struck out behind him.

That brought Julio Rodríguez to the plate. He fell behind 1-2 against dominant Guardians’ closer Cade Smith. Then he got a fastball up and in and laced his first hit of the season back up the middle to tie the game.

The Mariners would go on to lose 6-5.

Dan Wilson turned to Andrés Muñoz in the 10th to preserve the new tie. Steven Kwan laid down a sacrifice bunt up the third base line; Brendan Donovan charged, scooped, and threw the ball into right field, scoring the Manfred Man from second and allowing Kwan to replace him there. Rookie Chase DeLauter stepped to the plate and crushed his fourth homer of the year the other way, giving the Guardians a 6-3 lead.

Luke Raley answered in the bottom of the inning. With the Manfred Man on and one out, he got a fastball up and away and pulled it into the right-center stands for his third home run of the year, cutting the lead to 6-5.

Leo Rivas and Young each struck out to end the game.

The Mariners lineup entered the day having yet to hit a single — the only team in MLB history without a single through their first two games. That changed Saturday, picking up six singles, two doubles, and the Raley homer to go with seven walks. It was a solid performance overall, but they couldn’t quite string their hits together to capitalize.

In the second, Randy Arozarena struck out looking with a full count. He immediately challenged and began taking off his gear as the T-Mobile Park video board flashed the ABS decision: Ball four. Donovan quickly replaced him at first with a fielder’s choice. Victor Robles, in his first plate appearance of the season, yanked a double down the left field line, scoring Donovan all the way from first. That was all they’d get in the inning.

It was a good sign from Donovan — both beating out the fielder’s choice and coming around to score — as he’d whacked his knees against the left field stands making a spectacular over-the-shoulder catch in the first inning. He appeared to be OK. 

The Mariners picked up their first single of 2026 in the third inning. Cal Raleigh, the three true outcome king himself, dunked a soft liner up the middle. He was 0-for-8 on the season with eight strikeouts (and a walk) entering the at bat, and he flashed a big grin after getting to first base. He immediately stole second, and Julio Rodríguez walked behind him, but the Mariners couldn’t cash in.

In the fourth, Arozarena lead off with a single on a dribbler down the third base line that catcher David Fry should have let roll foul but didn’t. Donovan followed with a single to put runners on first and second. Robles advanced Arozarena to third with a fly out to deep right. Leo Rivas worked a long at bat before watching ball four sail to the backstop, allowing Arozarena to trot home. But after chasing Guardians’ starting pitcher Joey Cantillo in the fourth inning at 91 pitches, they couldn’t push across any more.

In the sixth, Donovan and Robles each picked up one-out singles and then advanced on a double steal. But Rivas grounded out to short with the infield drawn in and Donovan was nailed at the plate. In the seventh, they got two on with a pair of walks but couldn’t tie the game. They got another walk in the eighth but again couldn’t tie the game again.

Despite the bizarre sequencing to start to the season, the Mariners have a 126 wRC+ in three games — sixth best in the majors.

The Mariners were in the game to the end because Bryan Woo picked up right where he left off in his first start of 2026. He gave up two runs and four hits over six innings while striking out nine. He pumped his signature four-seam fastball over and over and over and the Guardians struggled to make solid contact, whiffing 11 times on 37 swings against the fastball. He cruised through the first five innings, as the Mariners held a 2-0 lead.

But he struggled in the sixth. His fastball velocity was down a touch, and his command was just off.  He issued a leadoff walk, then after getting two quick outs, appeared to issue another walk to José Ramírez. The Mariners, however, challenged the call. When they were proven correct, Ramírez returned to the box and laced his 400th career double to score the Guardians’ first run. Kyle Manzardo followed with a single to the tie game at two.

Eduard Bazardo allowed the Guardians to break the tie in the seventh with a pair of two-out walks and an RBI single to Kwan to make the game 3-2. Gabe Speier came in to get the final out of the inning and preserve the narrow deficit. Wilson after the game defended his decision to stick with Bazardo against the lefty Kwan even after the two walks.

“Zardo is a guy we really trust, and Kwan was just able to flip that ball into left field and get the big hit. So you’re hoping you can get him through there, and then Gabe has got the next inning. But it was just one of those tough ones tonight.”

Woo was hard on himself after the game, in a way that, if you don’t mind a bit of editorializing, wasn’t quite fair given how well he pitched most of the night.

“I think…just…undisciplined, is the best way I can put it,” he said of his mini-blowup in the sixth. “I have to be better about coming out, especially as you get later into games. You’ve got to up your focus even more, and that just can’t happen.

“Even though a lot of things took place, I still feel like this game was on me. I feel like if I do my job and limit the damage, even if I just give up one in that inning, just to get out of it with a lead…when a team is, when you get them down like that, you’ve got to keep them down. You can’t give them anything, especially a scrappy team like that. You give them any breath of life, they’ll take it and run with it. So I’ve got to do a better job of keeping teams down when they’re down.”

The Guardians were aggressive against Woo, swinging at more than half his pitches. Woo was aggressive right back, pumping heaters in the zone all six innings. He said he doesn’t change his approach between or within games. It’s just a matter of committing to his game plan.

“Teams have come out with different strategies against me, whether it’s being patient and trying to work counts or coming out swinging, it doesn’t really change my plan of attack. I still want to get ahead, I still want to be aggressive. I’m still trying to attack the zone early and stick to my game plan. Worked out in my favor for the majority of the game, but didn’t change what I was doing.”

Woo entered the day with 392 career strikeouts. With his strikeout of DeLauter in the sixth, he picked up career K number 400.

“Hopefully I’ll find the ball somewhere, maybe put it on my wall,” he said, “and then on to 500.”

In the second game of the season, it became obvious that the Mets are starting a third baseman with virtually no experience at third base and a first baseman with virtually no experience at first base.

Bo Bichette committed an error and Jorge Polanco flirted with two (but was charged with none), the pair of projects looking raw in what became a 4-2 win in 11 innings over the Pirates at Citi Field on Saturday.

A shortstop with the Blue Jays who was generally viewed as a second baseman in free agency, Bichette signed as a third baseman with the Mets and is still mastering throwing across the diamond.

On Thursday, one of his throws pulled Polanco off the base, but Polanco adjusted and recorded the out anyway. On Saturday, another one of Bichette’s throws tailed up the line again, but this time it cost the Mets an out. Polanco came off the base, allowing Bryan Reynolds to reach safely in the fourth inning. David Peterson, who pitched into and out of trouble all day, navigated around the jam.

“We’ve just got to continue to work with him on those routine throws,” said manager Carlos Mendoza, who anticipates that further reps will help.

Polanco, an infielder who signed with the Mets with one pitch worth of big league experience at first base, did not look smooth on several ground balls.

In the seventh, Ryan O’Hearn grounded softly to Polanco, who fielded and tossed it behind Luke Weaver. The Mets only recorded the out because Weaver, displaying his athleticism, adjusted and slid to touch the base in time.

An inning prior, Nick Gonzales smashed a ground ball to Polanco, who was swallowed up by a bad hop after the ball hit the lip of the grass. Gonzales reached safely on what was ruled a hit, and Peterson and Huascar Brazobán combined to ensure that runner would not score.

“Just a hard ground ball that came up on him,” Mendoza said. “There’s only so much there that you can do.”

The Mets opened their season Thursday. It is likely that Mark Vientos will not start his first game until the following Wednesday.

Barring changes in the Pirates or Cardinals rotations, the Mets will open their season facing five straight righty starting pitchers.

They won’t see a lefty until the final game of their series in St. Louis, where Matthew Liberatore is set to pitch (and the Giants, the Mets’ following opponent, could open their series with lefty Robbie Ray).

That likely will mean Vientos — a righty bat who is expected to see most of his time against lefties — will have to wait his turn. As a pinch-hitter, Vientos’ turn arrived in Saturday’s 10th inning, when he pinch hit for Carson Benge and came through with a single.

Mendoza said he talked with Vientos and righty-hitting fourth outfielder Tyrone Taylor about the situation, and both understood.

In delivering the news to Vientos, Mendoza recalled the 2024 season — when Vientos became a late-camp cut because of the J.D. Martinez signing, was briefly called up to the majors and clubbed a walk-off home run, only to be optioned back to the minors shortly thereafter, before finally running with his chance in mid-May.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND METS STATS

The message, essentially: Vientos has to be ready for anything and can overcome frustrations.

“Look, man, two years ago you had your best year here,” Mendoza said he told Vientos. “He understands. He’ll be ready for whenever his name is called.”

Mendoza conceded that this year’s role is “completely different” for Vientos, who will play some first base and generally serve as the designated hitter against lefties. His role has been reduced after a subpar 2025 — both at third base and offensively, his OPS dropping from .837 to .702 — and the active offseason pushing Brett Baty to the team’s DH for the first two games, though the Mets plan to cycle through DHs beginning as soon as Sunday.

Mendoza said Baty — who will see time at first base this season, too, to push Polanco to DH — will see the field soon, in part because Saturday’s game began a run of nine games in nine days for the Mets.

In their season opener, the Mets used three automated ball-strike challenges: two successfully by Francisco Alvarez at catcher — including a helmet tap that turned an Oneil Cruz walk into a strikeout — and one unsuccessfully by Marcus Semien, who appealed a called third strike in the eighth inning.

Mendoza said everybody on the Mets is free to challenge.

“I would say that the situation of the game will dictate when they’re going to be able to challenge or not,” Mendoza said. “The emotions at times will take over. But that’s where you’re going to have to constantly remind those guys of the situation.”

THE GUARDIANS WIN!!! CHASE DELAUTER DID IT AGAIN!!! HOW FUN IS THIS GUYS???

The Guardians win 6-5 after a truly incredible game. Bryan Woo was shoving all game and it looked like we were never going to get to him, until we did. A key walk from Rocchio and then our GOAT José knocked him in with an RBI double. Then Manzardo came through with an RBI single right after that. The Guardians later took the lead after a Kwan RBI single in the 7th inning. The Mariners wound up getting to Cade Smith in the bottom of the 9th after a double down the left field line from Cole Young and a single from Julio Rodriguez.

Extra innings started with an absolutely beautiful bunt from Steven Kwan that led to Brendan Donovan throwing it away at 1B, which caused Rocchio to score and Kwan to advance to second. Then comes up Chase DeLauter, the man who had already done what no Cleveland player has ever done in hitting three HRs in their first two career games. He was having a rough game, Bryan Woo had his way with him as he does to most hitters. It wasn’t Woo this time, it was Andrés Muñoz, one of the best closers in the league. DeLauter then takes a 97 mph fastball up and outside the zone over the left field wall to take the lead 6-3. Absolute insanity.

What more can be said about this kid? DeLauter is by far the best hitter I have ever watched in the minor leagues, and even I could never have ever expected this. He is such a special hitter that I have learned to not put any ceiling on who he can be as a player. I’m trying not to overreact too much, but he truly is that special. This is some of the most fun I have ever had watching Baseball, and we are only three games into the season. Buckle up you guys, it is going to be a good one.

Well, that was disappointing. Not only did we lose another game to the Doyers at Uniqlo Park at Dodger Stadium at Chavez Latrine at the City of Smog and Angels, we also managed to be on the business end of our first sweep of the year. And we’re only three games in. So that sucks.

Honestly, though, it’s not all that much of a shock, at least to me. And, somewhat to my surprise, I’m not even all that upset. The Diamondbacks are a team that enters 2026 with a bit more than $133M of player contracts on the books. We’re going up against a team that, if you factor in all the deferred money and so forth that MLB has let them get away with, has more financial obligations than at least several small nation states. It was always going to be an uphill battle, especially for the first series of the regular season, when everyone’s still kind of shaking off the rust from the long off-season.

Eduardo Rodriguez, the pitching hero of the Venezuelan national team in the World Baseball Classic, took the mound for us, facing off against Tyler Glasnow, who has pitched more than 100 innings only three times in his major league career and who is earning $32.5M to pitch for Los Angeles this year. And while Glasnow did all right for the Doyers today, holding the Diamondbacks to two runs over six full innings of work, E-Rod pitched better, pitching five shutout innings, striking out five while allowing only three singles and two walks. He faced one batter to start the sixth—Kyle Tucker, who is earning $56M this year—and was pulled after Tucker reached on an infield squib shot to Carlos Santana that he bobbled a bit. E-Rod was maybe a bit late covering the bag at first, and Tucker reached, and he eventually came around to score, but the run was unearned as Santana was charged with an error.

Anyway. Let’s start from the beginning. Our Snakes got on the board in the top of the first, thanks to a one-out infield single by Corbin Carroll that was initially ruled a force-out at first, but which was overturned when video review showed that Corbin, who was busting it right out of the batter’s box, clearly beat the throw. Geraldo Perdomo then grounded to first, moving Carroll along, and then Pavin Smith singled to left to drive him in from second:

Nolan Arenado then continued his fruitless run with the bat, though at least he didn’t strike out. 1-0 D-BACKS

We did some more damage against Glasnow in the third, thanks to a leadoff Jorge Barrosa double down the left field line, followed by another productive groundout, this one by Ketel Marte, that allowed Barrosa to reach third with less than two outs. Corbin Carroll lifted a fly ball to center that turned out to be deep enough for Barrosa to tag and score. 2-0 D-BACKS

And that was your score until the Dodgers got one run back in the bottom of the sixth, thanks to the aforementioned Santana error (which is a scoring decision I’m not sure he deserved) and a subsequent Freddy Freeman double off reliever Jonathan Loaisiga that brought him home. 2-1 D-BACKS

But we still had the lead, and we held it through the bottom of the seventh, as new Diamondback and indicator of the state of our bullpen Joe Ross pitched a kind of ugly but ultimately successful 1-2-3 inning. Meanwhile, we were doing basically nothing further on offense, as Glasnow gave way to Alex Vesia, who in turn gave way to some dude named Will Klein.

Juan Morillo took the ball for us to start the bottom of the eighth, I guess because he’s the closest thing we have in terms of splits to a left-handed reliever, and sure enough he made short(ish) work of Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Tucker to record the first two outs. Then he drilled the home plate umpire right in the middle of his forehead with a high fastball on his first pitch to Mookie Betts, after which there was a brief interruption of play that seemed to leave Juan rather discombobulated. He proceeded to walk Betts on four pitches, which brought 2025 World Series hero Will Smith (earning nearly $13M to catch for the Dodgers in 2026) to the plate. Smith hung a decent at bat on Morillo, and finally drilled the seventh pitch he saw out and over the fence just left of the batter’s eye in center field. Morillo was pulled for Paul Sewald, who recorded the last out, but it was too late. The damage was done. 3-2 Los Angeles

We still has a chance, I suppose, with Pavin Smith, Nolan Arenado, and Alek Thomas coming to the plate in the top of the ninth. Of course, they were going up against new FTD closer Edwin Diaz, who is earning $18.5M this year at the back end of the Los Angeles bullpen. Ten pitches and three flyouts later, this one was in the books.

Some Reasons for Optimism

This was a disappointing result, and a disappointing series, to be sure. That said, the Diamondbacks led each game, and in the latter two we carried that lead into the late innings. We all knew our bullpen was going to be a weakness this year, like it is just about every year, and the Los Angeles Dodgers are as complete a team from top to bottom as one can imagine. And we hung tough with them, and we made them work, and despite Ryne Nelson coughing up four in that unfortunate third inning last night, we were still in line to win the last two games. Kevin Ginkel was last night’s disappointment, and tonight that “honor” fell to Juan Morillo. But we played pretty well for the most part, all the way through. Facing a less stupidly funded team, we would likely have won at least two of these games, even with the flaws the Diamondbacks have. And, as someone pointed out early in tonight’s Gameday Thread, we won’t face the Dodgers again until the beginning of June, so we will by definition be facing less stupidly funded teams for the next two months. It’s rough to start the season getting swept and going down 0-3, but this certainly isn’t a sign that the sky is falling. It’s more a confirmation that, as we might have suspected, water is wet.

• All Doyers player salary information courtesy of Spotrac.

Loss Probability Added, courtesy of FanGraphs

Robin Hood: Eduardo Rodriguez (5 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 79 pitches, +23.0% WPA)
Little John: Joe Ross (1 IP 0 H, 0 ER, +10.8% WPA)
Hapless Country Bumpkin: Juan Morillo (2/3 IP, 1 H, 1 HR, 1 BB, 2 ER, -54.1% WPA)

The Gameday Thread saw some more inevitable falloff from the first two games, in part I suspect because the University of Arizona was punching their ticket to the NCAA March Madness Final Four (BEAR DOWN!), and also because, well, it’s really not a lot of fun to watch the Billionaire Boys Club play baseball on television if you’re not particularly a fan of billionaires. That said, we racked up 182 comments at time of writing. Comment of the game goes by popular acclaim to this one from gzimmerm, who saw the meatball that Snake_Bitten left in the middle of the plate, and didn’t miss it:

Anyway, because opening weekend is often weird in terms of scheduling, we have our only scheduled Sunday off day tomorrow, so I hope you can join us for the Diamondbacks home opener at Chase Field on Monday, when we take on the Detroit Tigers. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10pm AZ time, with Justin Verlander going for the striped cats and Michael Soroka going for us. I don’t feel great about Soroka occupying a spot in our rotation, but despite that I think could be a winnable game. If nothing else, it’s always nice to see the entire team get introduced during the extended pregame festivities.

As always, thanks for reading. And as always, go Diamondbacks!

SAN FRANCISCO — So far, the bullpen help the Yankees were looking for at last year’s trade deadline has been significantly more effective this season than it was in 2025.

Not only has Camilo Doval been sharp in his first two appearances this year after a rough few months in The Bronx, but Jake Bird has also looked like a different pitcher.

The right-hander got five huge outs in Saturday’s 3-1 win to finish a sweep of the Giants at Oracle Park.

Before Saturday, Bird hadn’t pitched a scoreless inning in a victory since June 29.de

That was due in part to how bad the Rockies were when he was there, but also to how poorly he pitched over his final six weeks in Colorado and in his short time with the Yankees before he was sent down to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

“It’s good to have a fresh start,’’ Bird said.

He needed one.

Aaron Boone said throughout the spring that if Bird had his command, he would be a weapon for the Yankees.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

Against the Giants, he entered in the bottom of the sixth with the Yankees up by a pair of runs.

Brent Headrick had just allowed a leadoff double to Rafael Devers.

Bird gave up a single to Heliot Ramos to send Devers to third.

But Bird recovered to strike out Willy Adames and then got Harrison Bader to ground into an inning-ending double play to preserve the lead.

The right-hander came back out to start the seventh, getting Patrick Bailey to pop out to shortstop and striking out Casey Schmitt before Boone turned to Tim Hill to finish the inning.

Boone called Bird’s escape job “awesome.”

“He finished spring training strong and both of his outings [in the regular season] have been really sharp,’’ the manager said.

With Doval unavailable, Boone said the pen had to “piece it together” after Will Warren pitched well, but was done after 4 ¹/₃ innings.

The potential emergence of Bird in the bullpen would be huge for a team that lost Devin Williams and Luke Weaver in free agency — and is relying on Bird and Doval, among others, to pitch to their potential.

Doval clearly struggled to adjust to a new role when the closer was asked to pitch in lower-leverage innings last year.

Bird was in the midst of a horrific stretch to end his time with the Rockies when the Yankees acquired him.

He allowed 18 earned runs in 9 ²/₃ innings in his final 12 appearances and gave up six runs over two innings in three outings with the Yankees before he was optioned.

The Yankees were intrigued by Bird’s ability to strike out batters — if they could get him to reduce his walks.

His first two outings of 2026 have been promising, with three strikeouts and no walks — and with Boone not afraid to use Bird in an important spot.

“To get him going through a whole season would be electric,’’ Aaron Judge said.

The Athletics’ rough season-opening series continued this afternoon as the team’s bullpen blew a late four-run lead to the Toronto Blue Jays, who ultimately prevailed 8-7 in 11 innings.

This game started out slowly as both A’s starting pitcher Jeffrey Springs and his Blue Jays counterpart Dylan Cease pitched well in the game’s early going. The only run the Blue Jays got off of Springs came in the third inning. Outfielder Myles Straw and shortstop Andrés Giménez led off that inning with singles and then veteran designated hitter George Springer doubled to left, scoring Straw to give Toronto a 1-0 lead. Springs limited the damage, getting first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr and catcher Alejandro Kirk out to keep the A’s deficit at one.

Cease showed why Toronto shelled out over $200 million to sign him as he struck out 12 A’s batters over 5 1/3 innings, a record breaking performance for a pitcher making his Blue Jays debut. He was especially dominant in the fourth and fifth innings during which he struck out six straight hitters.

The A’s finally got to Cease in the sixth inning. First baseman Nick Kurtz walked to leadoff the inning, stole second and then scored the game-tying run on left fielder Tyler Soderstrom’s opposite-field double down the left field line.

The visitors had a chance to take the lead as shortstop Jacob Wilson came to the plate with runners on third base and first base and only one out. However, Wilson grounded sharply to Giménez, who made a nice stop and then turned the inning-ending double play.

The hosts promptly regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning. In relief of Springs, who was pulled with his pitch count at 83 with one out in the sixth inning, A’s pitcher Mark Leiter Jr allowed Blue Jays center fielder Daulton Varsho to hit an RBI single to put his team up 2-1. Their lead would only last a few minutes as the A’s immediatelyanswered back. Second baseman Jeff McNeil and third baseman Max Muncy led off the seventh inning with back-t0-back infield singles that bounced off Blue Jays reliever Mason Fluharty, Muncy’s hit forcing the left-hander to leave the game injured.

Fellow left-hander Brendon Little entered the game and the A’s took advantage. With one out, center fielder Denzel Clarke’s slow dribbler scored McNeil to tie the game. A few minutes later, catcher Shea Langeliers bashed a grand slam to center field, his third home run in two games.

Up 6-2 entering the bottom of the seventh, the A’s had a strong chance to win if they could hold the lead, something their makeshift bullpen failed to achieve. Several A’s relievers combined to allow six runs in the final five innings. Thanks to several walks and base hits, the Blue Jays scored at least once every inning from the sixth to the 11th frame. Meanwhile, their bullpen held the A’s to only one additional run, Brent Rooker’s go-ahead RBI single with two outs in the tenth inning.

Guerrero Jr singled in a run in the seventh. The next inning he came up with the bases loaded and his team down one following back-to-back RBI singles, the latter one of Giménez’s four hits in this game. That time, A’s reliever Michael Kelly got him to line out to second to keep his team up one after eight innings. Unfortunately for the A’s, Kirk rocketed Kelly’s hanging sweeper over the left field fence in the bottom of the ninth for a game-tying home run.

Each team scored once in the tenth. After the A’s failed to score in the 11th inning, it seemed like only a matter of time until the Blue Jays would walk it off for the second straight day. Sure enough it did not take long. Making his first MLB appearance post Tommy John surgery, right hander Luis Medina was thrown into a tough situation. In the wake of striking out Kirk, A’s manager Mark Kotsay had Varsho intentionally walked to set up the double play. That proved meaningless as former Athletic Ernie Clement was today’s hero for Toronto, lining a walk-off single to left to finally end this game.

With better bullpen decisions like putting in someone new for the eighth inning rather than having Alvarado go back out there, the A’s might have prevailed. Another concern is the A’s hitters 19 strike outs today, which combined with their 16 strikeouts yesterday set a new franchise record. On the other hand, the A’s defense was better today, aside from Muncy missing a catchable pop-up in foul territory.

Through two games, the A’s have more than held their own against the defending American League champions and arguably could have two wins for their efforts. Entering the season, the team’s bullpen looked to be its biggest weakness and while it is still early, little has been done to qualm those concerns. It feels like the team should have done more to add an accomplished reliever or two to its roster, but at this stage there are few notable names available for the team to sign.

The A’s will try to avoid the sweep tomorrow. Luis Morales will make his first start of the season as he looks to translate potential into results and cement himself as one of the team’s longterm rotation pieces. The Blue Jays will counter with left-hander Eric Lauer, who went 9-2 with a 3.18 ERA in 28 games, 15 starts last year.

It should be another good game. Hopefully the A’s can get out of Canada with at least one win before flying to Atlanta!

Guardians 6, Mariners 5

Good: Julio Rodríguez, +0.40 WPA
Bad: Andrés Muñoz, -0.47 WPA

Game Thread Comment of the Day

LOS ANGELES — After catching the first two games of the opening series, Will Smith wasn’t even supposed to be in the lineup on Saturday, which was his 31st birthday and his bobblehead giveaway at Dodger Stadium.

“I didn’t have him in there tonight. He really wanted to be in there on his bobblehead night, and said he felt good,” manager Dave Roberts said. “It proved to be the right decision.”

“He’s always really good about letting us talk about stuff,” Smith said of Roberts. “I just kind of dropped the bobblehead card on him.”

Trailing by a run late, Smith fell behind 0-2 to Juan Morillo, but on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, the man born on 3/28 put the Dodgers up 3-2 in the 8th inning, in what proved to be the winning margin for the Dodgers, who are now 3-0 to open the season.

“We talked about a lot of our guys, but man, when you’re talking about big hits, clutch, Will is right at the top of the list as well,” Roberts said. “There’s just no panic in his at-bat.”

“I was sitting in here watching. Just came up clutch. His birthday and his bobblehead day” said starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow, who completed six innings Saturday. “What a magical night.”

“Everyone on our team I feel like could hit third in the lineup. It’s just All-Stars up and down,” said Freddie Freeman, who doubled home the Dodgers’ first run in the sixth inning, cutting the deficit to 2-1 at the time. “I think everybody wants that at-bat, and that’s the key to our lineup.”

“I don’t know [about being a clutch player], but I can definitely stay calm in those situations, not try to do too much, and stick to my approach that I’m looking for,” Smith said. “And whatever happens, happens.”

The bobblehead giveaway on Saturday night at Dodger Stadium commemorated Smith’s 11th-inning home run in Game 7 of the 2025 World Series, the first extra-inning home run in Game 7 of a Fall Classic that proved to be the game-winner.

Along with the bobblehead, Smith’s wife Cara and his two young daughters Charlotte and Layton were part of pregame festivities. His two daughters adorably delivered ceremonial first pitches to Dalton Rushing (since Smith was warming up starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow). Then Cara said “It’s time for Dodger baseball,” followed by Charlotte saying the same.

“I thought Char crushed ‘It’s Time For Dodger Baseball.’ A little late, but she did really well,” Smith quipped.

After Smith started all three games against the Diamondbacks, the plan is for him to sit in Monday’s series opener against the Cleveland Guardians. Coupled with Sunday’s schedule off day, that’s potentially two full days off in a row for Smith before catching the final two games against Cleveland. The Dodgers are off on Thursday as well, when they will travel to Washington D.C. to play the Nationals.

The Yankees pitching has been impressive through the first three games of the 2026 season, allowing just one run in their sweep of the San Francisco Giants.

In fact, New York started the year on a 20-inning scoreless streak, the longest in franchise history, per YES Network. 

The first and only run allowed this season came in the bottom of the third inning of Saturday's 3-1 win. Overall, it's the fewest amount of runs the Yanks have ever allowed through three games.

On Saturday, Will Warren allowed one run on five hits and walked two over 4.1 IP (83 pitches), and then four relievers held the Giants scoreless to lock up the victory. After the game, manager Aaron Boone was honest about what he saw from Warren, but said he was still pleased with the end result.

"Just not as sharp with his command, thought the stuff was really good," Boone said. "They pressured him, especially in some two-strike situations where he had a chance to put them away... Just not as sharp with his command. And as a result, they drove his count up pretty good.

"But overall, still, got big outs when he needed to. One run into the fifth inning, set us up for a victory."

Warren agreed with Boone that his command was "a little wonky," blaming it on over excitement, but said he was proud of being able to fight through it.

"There was a lot of chaos there. I think the fact that I had a slow heartbeat early there in the first and minimized the damage there in whatever inning they scored was good," Warren said. "A lot of fight, a lot of grit. Overall attacking and getting outs any way we can."

After Warren's day was done, RHP Jake Bird came up big for the bullpen by tossing 1.2 scoreless innings to get through the sixth inning and record the first two outs of the seventh. Boone said  he was impressed with the righty's two appearances in the series, especially coming in on Saturday after Rafael Devers led off the inning with a double. 

"It was awesome," Boone said. "Again, I thought he finished spring training strong. Both outings here he's been really sharp. And today was huge, to roll through that part of the lineup. Not having Camilo [Doval] today, so you know you got to piece it together a little more. To get five big outs for us there and get the ball to Timmy [Hill] and let him do his thing, that was big."

Boone added that he "has a lot of faith" in David Bednar, who closed things down after issuing a leadoff walk and letting up a single in the bottom of the ninth inning. The veteran was able to strike out Harrison Bader and then force a game-ending double play. Warren was also impressed with both Bird and Bednar, expressing the team's trust in their bullpen early in the season.

"Yeah, I mean Jake Bird, that was huge right there," Warren said. "First-and-third no outs, you get the strikeout and then the double play, that was monster. Then you got Bednar to go shut the door. They've done a great job. We have a lot of trust in handing them the ball."

When asked about how an opening series like this helps the bullpen, Bird said it's great for the group's confidence.

"It's great," Bird said. "Anytime you throw up zeroes as a bullpen it's awesome. Everybody did a great job. It was really fun to watch from a spectators perspective too."

New York will look to continue its early pitching success when they take on the Mariners in Seattle on Monday for the first game of a three-game series.

Well the Braves are 2-0, on a breezy complete victory on Opening Day and an epic walk-off grand-slam on Saturday. Before the walk-off, it was reassuring to see Reynaldo Lopez’ velocity back up in the mid-90s and his stuff generally looking good. I remain highly skeptical of his durability, but he looked the part of a solid starter on Saturday. On the offensive side, the bats were a little quieter on Saturday than on Friday, but they got some key contributions from new members of the team, such as Mike Yastrzemski and, of course, Dominic Smith, while also getting production from their incumbent contributors. This has been about everything you could ask for from two games for the Braves.

Braves News

A few Braves achieved some various historical feats on Opening Day, including Ozzie Albies, Chris Sale, and Austin Riley.

Sean Murphy is participating in all baseball activities and may start his rehap assignment soon, per Mark Bowman.

Dominic Smith walked things off in game #2 on Saturday with an epic grand-slam, completing a comeback from a 2-0 deficit in the ninth inning.

MLB News

The Brewers called up top catching prospect Jeferson Quero to make his MLB debut, sending Andrew Vaughn to the IL.

The White Sox and Nationals made a minor depth trade.

The Marlins are placing Christopher Morel on the IL and are expecting him to miss over a month with an oblique strain.