Category: MLB

It’s Sunday once more, and you know what that means — it’s time for our weekly social media roundup! As of this morning, Opening Day is officially this month, and the World Baseball Classic this week. What have the Bombers been up to this week? Let’s find out!

Congratulations, CC!

This past Wednesday, the Yankees announced that CC Sabathia will be the next Yankee to be enshrined in Monument Park, as his No. 52 will be retired this September.

Get Better Soon, CC!

Of course, that wasn’t the only Sabathia-related news this week. The Hall of Fame lefty also revealed that he had knee replacement surgery last month. Fortunately, he has seven months to work back to health so he can take the mound and throw out the first pitch when his number is retired.

Out-of-this-world Pictures

Yankees outfielder and former top prospect Jasson Domínguez served as the team photographer during Thursday’s game, as the Yankees piled on the runs with their A-lineup.

Media Day Pics

We have some more photos from Media Day — this time, from minor leaguers.

Happy Birthday, Ben!

Yankees first baseman/catcher Ben Rice celebrated his 27th birthday this week. The Yankees honored his special day by giving him a gift — Ben’s Original Rice!

Celebrating Black History Month

The Yankees wrapped up Black History Month by highlighting the career of 14-time All-Star and 5-time World Series champion Reggie Jackson.

Fun with Cam

We got to see Cam Schlittler hang out with cats.

Daily Shenanigans

We wrap up this week with some more daily shenanigans from the Yankees’ social media team. This week, in honor of the US Olympic team winning the gold medal in both men’s and women’s hockey, they asked the players to take a shot on goal with some, uh, comically-sized hockey sticks.

We also got another round of Jenga.

And lastly, we got some old school photos with a Blackberry phone.

The Mets optioned RHP Alex Carrillo to Triple-A Syracuse and reassigned LHPs Anderson Severino and Matt Turner to minor league camp, New York announced after Sunday's 4-3 spring training win over the Houston Astros.

Seventy players remain in the Mets' major league camp.

Carrillo, 28, allowed one hit and one walk in one inning of work this spring. He scattered seven runs on six hits while striking out four and walking two in 4.2 innings over three games with New York last season.

Severino and Turner closed out Sunday's game against Houston.

Severino, 31, allowed one hit while striking out two and walking one in two innings over two games this spring. The 26-year-old Turner, meanwhile, yielded one hit while striking out five and walking two in three innings across three games.

The Mets walked off the Houston Astros in the ninth inning on Sunday afternoon to win 4-3.

Here are the takeaways...

-- In his second start and last appearance for New York before leaving to play for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, Clay Holmes put together a great outing in four innings of work.

The right-hander allowed a run on three hits and a walk while striking out four and throwing 63 pitches (39 strikes). He lowered his ERA to 3.52 after allowing two earned runs in 3.2 innings in his spring debut on Monday against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Despite a solid afternoon, Holmes did have some traffic on the basepaths and wasn't able to contain the running game as Jose Altuve stole second base in the first inning before Nick Allen stole third in the third inning. 

Holmes allowed a leadoff hit in the first three innings, however Joey Loperfido's infield single in the second should not have counted after the ball hit off his foot before entering the field of play which the umpires missed. Holmes got even less help on the next batter who hit a double-play ball to shortstop Vidal Brujan who struggled to get the ball out of his glove before throwing it wide of Marcus Semien at second base. Loperfido advanced to third on the error.

With runners at the corners and nobody out, Holmes swiftly struck out Joseph Sullivan and induced another ground ball, this one handled by Brujan for the inning-ending double play. 

The lone run surrendered by Holmes came on a sacrifice fly by Zach Cole in the third inning. Right before the sac fly, though, Isaac Paredes hit a ball to shallow right field that had Allen tagging up and thinking about trying to score, but Carson Benge showed off his arm and unleashed a throw home that stopped Allen in his tracks before retreating back to third base. Holmes finished his outing with a strikeout in the fourth, capping off his first 1-2-3 inning of the day. 

As for Benge, he finished the day 0-for-3.

-- The Mets got on the board in the bottom of the fourth after Tyrone Taylor cranked a solo shot over the left field wall to tie the game. It was Taylor's second home run of the spring after he hit just two homers all of last season. Taylor went 1-for-2 and is now hitting .273 with a 1.091 OPS so far in camp.

-- New York took the lead a few batters later after a two-out rally started with two walks. Cristian Pache cashed in on another opportunity, doubling home a run on a line drive up the middle to give the Mets the lead. 

Pache has been a star in camp for New York with eight hits in 11 at-bats (.727 average), including a home run and two doubles, good for a 1.932 OPS. Sunday's double was also impressive because of Pache's hustle on a ball hit up the middle. The 27-year-old is fighting for a spot in the outfield, although he's struggled throughout his young MLB career.

-- Jack Wenninger, SNY's Joe DeMayo's No. 11 Mets prospect, saw some more action this spring in relief of Holmes and after a clean fifth inning with two strikeouts, he struggled with his command and lost the strike zone, walking five straight batters to start the sixth (plus a wild pitch) and letting the Astros tie it up.

-- Houston took the lead in the seventh on another wild pitch, this one by Bryce Conley, but New York tied things up again in the bottom half of the inning on a solo homer by Chris Suero. Things stayed tied going into the bottom of the ninth inning where Austin Barnes led off with a double, followed by a walk to Suero before finally Yonatan Henriquez sealed the win with a single to right field.

-- Ronny Mauricio continued his impressive spring with a hit and a stolen base. He's hitting .286 with a .904 OPS and has two steals in two attempts.

Game MVP: Cristian Pache

Pache's torrid spring keeps helping the Mets and his hustle could be the difference between making the team when camp breaks.

Highlights

Clay Holmes works out of a jam with a strikeout followed by an inning-ending double play pic.twitter.com/4BkLmJyt0N

— SNY (@SNYtv) 

Nick Allen thinks twice about testing Carson Benge's arm in right field 😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/RxIXGcaxr7

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) 

Clay Holmes ends a 1-2-3 fourth inning with a strikeout pic.twitter.com/NXB0UPKboK

— SNY (@SNYtv) 

A rocket off the bat of Tyrone Taylor! 🚀 pic.twitter.com/J4ZLW8qFwC

— SNY (@SNYtv) 

Cristian Pache puts the Mets on top! pic.twitter.com/X2oslVBspf

— SNY (@SNYtv) 

Chris Suero ties the game up with a solo shot! pic.twitter.com/yn1M2WSrjK

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) 

What's next

The Mets will host Nicaragua in an exhibition game on Tuesday at 1:10 p.m. New York returns to Grapefruit League action on Thursday, March 5 when it takes on the Washington Nationals at 1:05 p.m.

Both the Yankees and Phillies ran out partial lineups in Sunday’s afternoon action, with many players on both sides gearing up for action in this year’s World Baseball Classic. Despite that fact, it was a relatively tight game, that moved quickly end-to-end, featuring plenty of good pitching on both sides and promise for their starters, Will Warren for the Yankees and Andrew Painter for Philadelphia. The Yanks got the better of the Phils at the end of the afternoon, 5-3.

Warren, who co-led the American League in starts last season and will almost certainly have a regular role in 2026, looked excellent in his second spring outing. The right-hander was cut off at 50 pitches on the afternoon, but he certainly made the most of them. Across 3.2 innings of work, Warren punched out three Phillies, allowed just one hit while avoiding any walks and keeping the scoreboard blank.

This was obviously a promising start for Warren and the Yankees. If the 26-year-old can take a step forward in his second full big league season, it could be a major relief to a rotation that will be missing several key pieces in the early part of the season.

The first half of this ballgame flew by, thanks in large part to Warren’s performance in tandem with an equally dominant showing from Painter. The prized Phillies pitching prospect worked two innings against the Yankees, keeping things scoreless and striking out one in his limited 20-pitch outing. The Yankees did not record a hit against the 22-year-old.

For both sides, scoring kicked off in the fifth inning, after the bullpens had gone to work. The Yankee got things rolling their half when J.C. Escarra reached with a sun-aided double deep into center field. Two batters later, former Athletic Seth Brown singled to bring him home and give New York a 1-0 lead.

The Phillies punched right back in their half, however. The Yankees had Cade Winquest on the mound, who met Bryson Stott leading off for Philadelphia. The second baseman poked an 0-2 changeup deep and out to center field for a game-tying solo shot.

Against the Phillies ‘pen in the seventh, New York once again took the lead thanks to some high-quality two-out at-bats. With Jorbit Vivas in scoring position after a walk and a stolen base with two outs, Miguel Palma kicked off scoring with an RBI knock. Yanquiel Fernández continued the rally with a run-scoring double, before Duke Ellis piled on with a triple off the wall in left-center. Ernesto Martinez Jr. put the finishing touches on the inning with an infield single toward the hole on the left side, bringing the score to 5-1 after an eventful top half of the seventh.

After Stott’s homer, the Yankees relievers continued to keep the Phillies’ bats quiet. Angel Chivilli recorded two quick outs after Winquest left the game, and Ben Hess followed with two scoreless inning, allowing just one hit in his solid effort.

The Phillies put a solid fight together in the bottom half of the ninth against Michael Arias. After a walk, Philadelphia’s Dylan Campbell plated their second run of the day with a deep triple off the wall in left-center, before being quickly scored himself thanks to a single from Felix Reyes. Suddenly, the Yanks had their backs against the wall, with the tying run at the plate, but Reyes was able to induce a flyout to the center fielder Ellis to put a cap on their 5-3 victory.

With the win, the Yankees improve to 8-2 in Grapefruit League play, and will next take on Panama’s WBC team this Tuesday in a tune-up game for the national team.

Box Score

Sure, there is another loss in the ledger for the Phillies, one that will likely be forgotten in due time. We’re still gettin the good Bryson Stott right now, something to keep an eye on once the games actually begin to mean something. But today, this was the day to talk about Andrew Painter.

This was his 2026 spring debut, his first spring start since 2023. That meant that we were finally going to see how he looked three years later. How did it go?

His two innings of work really couldn’t have gone much better. He was getting whiffs, throwing all of his stuff for strikes and generally looking like he belonged. That last part may not seem like a big deal, but it’s no secret he wasn’t up to snuff last year in the minor leagues after we heard all spring how he was a part of their July plans.

His stuff?

The fastball is still a little meh, but the velocity of it today was such that he was able to get some late swings of hitters still getting their sea legs under them. The secondary pitches all looked quite good, that slider to Jasson Dominguez particularly drool worthy.

Painter has a decent amount of expectations on his shoulders this year, so starts like this do have value. It’s nice to see him get off to a good start to his spring.

Game Summary

The Pirates come to town for their first visit to RDS ever and leave with a 28-year streak of never having lost a game in Jupiter. The Pirates broke on top early with a 2-run HR by phenom Konnor Griffin, added a 2 spot in the second inning and single tallies in the fourth and seventh. Offensively, the Cardinals mustered by one hit and scored a lone run a rally killing GIDP in the fifth.

Pre-Game Notes

The venue remains unchanged. Roger Dean Stadium. Pittsburgh is in.

• Barco pitches for the Pirates. Leahy for the Cardinals.
• Mautz, Rincon, Romero, Roycroft, Moreno to follow Leahy, not necessarily in that order.
• Herrera at lead-off today. Followed by Urias, Gorman, Walker, Fermin, Pozo, Church, Davis, Rivas
• Looking forward to seeing K. Griffin.
• The big news is Oli’s extension gets rolled out today. Have you heard?
• Otherwise, a quiet day at camp. MiLBers have the day off.

The Manager’s Corner (pre-game)

• Oli came into the media room shortly after the press conference.
• Noted Herrera at lead-off is a way to get him ABs early in the game and still get him some time behind the plate. Still in build up mode, but they like what they see.
• Does not think WBC attendance by the 9 players listed will be nearly as disruptive as last time. Sounds like it can be hit-and-miss on what information they get back from WBC teams on how their players are progressing. Some orgs are better at that than others. Isn’t it that way with everything?
• Seems he might know the Team USA manager.
• Urias has been a topic of Q&A each day. I will explore that more in-depth in an article later in camp.
• First trip ever into RDS for the Pirates. Cardinals return the favor this upcoming Thursday.

Game Observations

• A double and a Griffin HR put a quick 2-spot on the board for the Bucs. Griffin launched a center-cut sweeper that swept into the hitting sweet spot instead of out of it.
• Another 2-spot in the second inning, featuring more bloops and bleeders than anything.
• Bedell into take the last batter of the third inning, with Leahy’s pitch count in the 50’s.
• Through three innings, the Cardinals are hitless (been a bit of that at the start of this camp) and find themselves down 4-0.
• Jhostynxon Garcia greets Romero in the 4th with a solo shot, otherwise a quiet inning.
• Cardinals load the bases in fifth to make some noise. Davis GDP plates a run but ends the noise.
• Mautz pitches 2.2 with 3 Ks, complicated by 3 walks, ultimately giving up a run. Nunez finishes the inning with a K after giving up a run scoring single to right. He is high octane.
• Roycroft pitches a scoreless 8th w 2Ks.
• The bottom of the eighth produces a Tai Peete sighting. He K’s looking. He loses the challenge and the Cardinals are out of challenges.
• Rincon in to cap off the ninth. 11 pitches. 4-seamer tops at 97, avg closer to 95. Slider got outs.

The Manager’s Corner (post-game)

• Leahy wasn’t as sharp as he’d want to be today. Got back in the 1st after the HR and got out in 11 pitches.
• Herrera and Leahy seemed to be on the same page, Ivan managed the game well
• Roycroft was sharp!
• Mautz let some counts get away.

Final notes

• Will work the back fields tomorrow in the AM and then begin to long trek home, so this is the last game recap.
• Will recap the back field experience for my Friday article. It may take that long to re-surface and process all the impressions I’ve gotten. Some may marinate all summer.

Next up would be Anthony Santander, but he’ll be going on the 60-day IL Let’s skip to Davis Schneider.

Davis Schneider is a 27-year-old, right-handed hitting, left fielder/second baseman. Last year he played 59 games in left and 24 games at second. He was drafted in the 28th round of the 2017. He’s the only player from that round of that year to make the majors.

He has two option years left.

Davis is entering his fourth season with the Blue Jays, taking it for granted he’ll made the team.

You’ll remember, he started his major league career like a house on fire, with 9 hits in his first 3 games, then a 9-game hitting streak. 2024 didn’t go as well, he hit .191/.282/.343, and had the same bWAR as you and I, 0.0.

I really didn’t think he would make the active roster in 2025, but he had an excellent spring training. Then he started the season without getting a hit in his first 10 games, and he was sent off to Buffalo.

He was recalled June 1st and things went much better from then on. On the season he hit .234/.361/.436 with 11 home runs and a 1.3 bWAR.

Davis does a lot of things well. He barrels up the ball well, he doesn’t chase out of the zone, walks a lot and hits home runs.

And, just by watching, I thought he was robbed on more strike calls than anyone on the team. He’s going to be helped by challenge system. There is a report that he and Alejandro Kirk (more on the defensive side) are going to be the two who will be allowed to challenge whenever they want, other guys not so much.

Defensively? Well, he’s average ish at second and in the outfield. He was a 0 in outs above average at second and -1 in left last year. And he’s average as a runner. He’s never going to get any awards for his glove.

Steamer figures he’ll play 74 games, with 11 home runs, and a .217/.325/.394 and a 0.9 fWAR.

We were treated to a split-squad day on Sunday, with Reynaldo Lopez starting at home against the Rays, backed by most of the regular bats remaining in camp after a few WBC departures and Grant Holmes starting on the road at the Twins’ facility, backed by mostly quad-A players and a few prospects.

At home, Reynaldo Lopez sat around 92 MPH with his fastball, a few ticks down from his 95.5 and 95.7 MPH averages in 2024 and 2025. He allowed a few hard-hit balls, but struck out three and walked one through three innings. He generated 6 whiffs and kept Tampa scoreless in what was overall a nice outing for Reynaldo, even if the velo remained down in the lower 90s. Tyler Kinley followed Reynaldo and allowed a solo homer but got a strikeout and three whiffs in his one inning. Dylan Lee followed with a 1-2-3 inning of contact outs and 3 whiffs. Bullpen candidate Dylan Dodd got the sixth and immediately allowed two monster homers, hurting his chances of making the Opening Day roster over a guy like James Karinchak. Dodd ended up with 2.0 innings of work, allowing two homers, two singles, and two strikeouts.

The offense was pretty quiet to start the game, but scored one on an error after a Yastrzemski walk and two on a 111 MPH Michael Harris single. Austin Riley crushed a homer in the sixth, for his second ball hit over 106 MPH of the day, a promising sign. Toolsy prospect Diego Tornes made an appearance in the seventh inning, pinch-hitting for Michael Harris and worked a nice walk, still at only 17 years old.

On the road, Holmes gave up some hard contact, but struck out two and walked one through 2.2 innings of scoreless ball, sitting around 93-94 with his fastball. Garrett Baumann started the fourth inning and struck out the side on only one whiff, going on to collect another strikeout but only 3 whiffs total on 2+ innings of work, as he got unlucky on some soft contact to start his third inning. Hayden Harris continued his strong spring with three strikeouts and one walk in his 1.0 inning outing.

On offense, John Gil struck out and walked once each before scorching a 109.7 MPH line drive homer in the eighth inning, as he continues to have a really strong spring showing. Jorge Mateo struck out twice and had a sharp groundout in his three plate appearances.

Overall, it was a very promising split-squad day for most of the major league regulars and key prospects. John Gil has the looks of a guy who could break out and be a top 100 prospect this year, Grant Holmes and Reynaldo Lopez looked generally effective, although with diminished velocity, and Austin Riley and Michael Harris made hard contact. Dylan Dodd’s rough outing was a rough moment for him, as he seems more likely to be optioned rather than make the Opening Day roster, but there is time yet for him.

We’ll be back tomorrow as the Braves host the Twins and the WBC gets underway.

Jays 4 Tigers 4

I know it is spring and all, but I’d like a win again, one day.

But we were able to watch a bunch of minor league types (some of whom I had never heard of)

Pitchers:

• Grant Rogers: 3 innings, no hits, no walks and 3 strikeouts. He was impressive.
• Tommy Nance: 1 inning, 4 hits, 2 earned, 1 strikeout. He wasn’t impressive.
• Chase Lee: 1 inning, 1 hit, 2 strikeouts.
• Javen Coleman: 1 inning, 1 hit.
• Michael Plassmeyer: 1 inning, 1 k.
• Alex Amalfi: 1.2 innings, 3 hits, 1 walk, 1 k, 2 earned. and a blown save.
• Hayden Juenger: Got the last out, but Sportsnet decided not to show it.

Hitters, Starters:

• Jonatan Clase: 3 for 3, 2 RBI, double. .300 BA on the spring. Really good game for him.
• Daulton Varsho: 1 for 3, double. .429.
• Jesus Sanchez: 1 for 4, RBI, k. .143.
• Brandon Valenzuela: 1 for 3, RBI. .300.
• Yohendrick Pinango: Ok, who names their kid Yohendrick? 0 for 3, k. .077.
• Arjun Nimmala: 0 for 3, 2 k. .182.
• Rafael Lantigua: 0 for 1, walk. .545.
• Charles McAdoo: 0 for 3, k. .357. He made an error, a rushed spin throw from short. He likely shouldn’t have thrown it but it was close enough for the first baseman to make the catch on. Actually it wasn’t an error, a hit, the throw wouldn’t have gotten the baserunner anyway.
• Sean Keys: 1 for 3, double. .188.

Others:

• Carlos Mendoza: 1 for 2, double. .571.
• Jay Harry: 0 for 1, k, but he reached on a wild pitch for strike three.
• Robert Brooks: 0 for 1, k.
• Je’Von Ward: 1 for 1, double.
• Josh Rivera: 0 for 1, k.
• J.R. Freethy: 0 for 1, k. He looked 12 (to me).
• Cutter Coffey: 0 for 1, k.

The Jays are now 2-6-2 on the spring.

Tomorrow, the Jays are hosting the Red Sox. Cody Ponce starts for the Jays. It is a 1:00 Eastern start.

The Yankees improved to 8-2 with a 5-3 spring training win Sunday at the Philadelphia Phillies' BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater, Fla.

Takeaways

1. Will Warren started fast and finished strong. He struck out the side -- Trea Turner, J.T. Realmuto and Alec Bohm -- in the first inning on his way to 3.2 scoreless innings frames with one hit, which was Rafael Marchán's one-out double in the third. Warren, who threw 33 strikes on 50 pitches, has allowed one run on five hits through his first two spring training starts of 2026. He has struck out seven and walked none.
2. Trent Grisham was hitless in his two at-bats, but he made a second-inning snag that reminds of why the Yankees value him so highly. Batting leadoff and starting in center field, Grisham's one-out grab robbed Bryson Stott of a potential double to the gap and kept Warren humming along.
3. J.C. Escarra was a bright spot for the Yankees, whose starters were hitless through four innings against the Phillies' arms of starter Andrew Painter and relievers José Alvarado and Tanner Banks. New York's sixth-batting starting catcher picked up Ryan McMahon's leadoff strikeout in the fifth inning, tagging Jonathan Bowlan for a one-out double and coming home moments later via Seth Brown's two-out single, putting the Yankees on the board at 1-0. Escarra's 3-for-8 spring includes one home run, two RBI and four runs scored in three games.

4. Jasson Domínguez's 0-for-3 afternoon out of the third spot in the batting order felt like a missed opportunity. He did have a successful ABS challenge, overturning a strike up in the zone to a ball, but his eventual strikeout swinging -- Painter's only punchout in two innings -- was a lowlight result.

Who's the MVP?

Warren, whose nearly four shutout frames set the tone as the Yankees' bats -- eventually their non-starters later in the game -- came alive for the spring training win.

Highlights

3 up. 3 down.

Warren struck out the side in the 1st 👊 pic.twitter.com/OQUo5hb4dd

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) March 1, 2026

Grish has got it 🔥 pic.twitter.com/4ohkqJOsJC

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) March 1, 2026

A defensive gem from Lombard Jr. to Rice 💎 pic.twitter.com/4rebTbXsRk

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) March 1, 2026

Brown brings in Escarra 👏 pic.twitter.com/Z6WQ5HRNqD

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) March 1, 2026

McMahon makes it look easy. pic.twitter.com/vcfTR23C4k

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) March 1, 2026

What's next

The Yankees host Panama in Tuesday's 1:05 p.m. game.

Back to Salt River Fields for the D-backs, who are now without most of their expected starting infield. Carlos Santana, Ketel Marte and Geraldo Perdomo are now off to join their country for the World Baseball Classic, so won’t be back for a while. It’ll therefore be up to Nolan Arenado to marshal the infield in their absence, and that’s what we see in the line-up today. Luken Baker, Tommy Troy and Jose Fernandez take over for the trio named above, with Arenado and Alek Thomas perhaps the only players who’ll be in our Opening Day line-up. Which is now this month, folks. Welcome to March!

Michael Soroka, who now looks to be back in the rotation to start the year, following Merrill Kelly’s issues, gets his second start of spring. So I’d expect him to try and get through three innings this afternoon. He allowed a run on two hits and a walk over two innings his first time out, with three strikeouts. We should get to see some familiar names out of the bullpen after Soroka, with the following potentially on the list: LHP Kohl Drake, RHP Kevin Ginkel, RHP Ryan Thompson, RHP Drey Jameson, RHP Shawn Dubin, RHP Alfred Morillo and LHP Spencer Giesting.

Again, no TV for this one, but as was the case yesterday, you can tune in on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM or online, with Chris Garagiola & Brandon Webb bringing you the game.

Finally, the first big bunch of roster moves for Arizona this morning.

Today the Texas Rangers travel over to Peoria, AZ where they will take on the reigning AL West champion Seattle Mariners who are fresh off being just a handful of outs away from the World Series before heartbreak last October.

Texas will send LHP Jacob Latz to the mound opposite RHP Logan Gilbert for Seattle.

The Mariners have video, otherwise you can listen via 105.3 The Fan or follow along on Gameday. First pitch from Peoria Stadium is scheduled for 2:10 pm CT.

Go Rangers!

Mookie Betts is in the lineup for his first Cactus League game in 2026, one of a handful of Dodgers regulars being slow-played this spring. Freddie Freeman is also in the lineup, in his planned cleanup spot.

Sunday game info

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Angels
• Ballpark: Camelback Ranch
• Time: 12:05 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570

The Athletics have had a rough start to spring training, going 1-6 in their first seven preseason games. However, a new month means a fresh start and a sign that the start of the regular season is inching closer. With the calendar shifting to March, it is time for the A’s to start playing better in preparation for Opening Day at the end of this month against the defending American League champion Toronto Blue Jays.

Right-hander J.T. Ginn will be making the start for the A’s this afternoon against the Cincinnati Reds. Ginn pitched well against the San Francisco Giants a few days ago in his spring debut, racking up three strikeouts over two perfect innings. The focus will be on Ginn today to see if he can follow up that performance with another strong outing, one that will likely last longer as the A’s evaluate whether the best place for him is in the starting rotation or the bullpen. Ginn should be on the A’s roster to begin the season in some capacity as he is proficient at inducing groundouts, something A’s pitchers need to induce more often in year two of the team’s temporary residence at Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park.

The A’s lineup this afternoon shakes out like this:

For the second day in a row, Nick Kurtz is batting behind Jacob Wilson atop the lineup, an alignment that should carry over into the regular season. If Kurtz homers with Wilson—or another leadoff hitter—on base, that’s two runs on the scoreboard. In general, it’s a sound strategy to place a power threat behind a high-contact hitter who consistently gets on base.

Both of the team’s catchers are in this afternoon’s lineup as is third baseman Max Muncy, who is off to a hot start this spring with four hits in ten at bats. Muncy can put some ground between him and the other third base competitors with another strong performance today. Lastly, today’s outfield starters are all prospects. Henry Bolte and Junior Perez are getting extended looks early this spring, yet both have struggled so far.

The Reds have Andrew Abbot, one of the best left-handed pitchers in the National League, lined up for his second spring start this afternoon. Here is how Cincinnati lines up behind him:

The Reds have several regulars in their starting lineup, so it should be another good test for Ginn and the pitchers lined up to follow him out of the A’s bullpen. JJ Bleday has gotten off to a strong start this spring, but can he keep it going against his former team?

What better way to start a new month than with an A’s win. Let’s go A’s!

Do you think players trying to make the team or holdovers trying to keep their jobs care as much that the opponent is the Cubs as fans do? They probably have other things on their minds, but thumping That Other Team in Town back in the first Cactus League game was sure fun for us.

The parade of pitchers for the Sox today will begin with lefty Anthony Kay, a presumed member of the starting rotation once games count. Kay gave up a run against the Mariners in his first spring start, with two walks in two innings causing the damage.

The Cubs counter with rotation member Shota Imanaga, who had two scoreless innings but gave up three hits in his first outing. Imanaga will face a lineup recovered from the split squad games Friday:

The Cubs lineup against Kay et al. also includes a number of presumed regular season starters, but not all:

First pitch is scheduled for 2:05 p.m. Central, with temps expected to again get warmer than 90°. The Cubs Marquee network is covering the game, but the network of the team whose chairman hates fans almost as much as he hates players only has the game on radio. So if you don’t get Marquee, pull the rocker up to the Truetone, pretend it’s 1935, and dial up ESPN 1000.