Category: MLB

MESA, Arizona — The Cubs who played in this game who will actually be on the Opening Day roster did very well. They got five runs out of (most) of the starting lineup and three relievers who will be in the Opening Day bullpen threw scoreless innings (and so did Luke Little, which is a good sign).

Then things went off the rails with guys who aren’t going to sniff Wrigley Field this year. The Cubs lost to the Giants 9-5, but the result is meaningless. Let’s talk about the good stuff, which includes some more ABS challenges won by Moisés Ballesteros.

The Cubs took a 1-0 lead in the first. Nico Hoerner doubled with one out, and one out later, after a Dansby Swanson walk, Michael Conforto singled Nico in [VIDEO].

The Cubs got another run in the fourth. Dansby Swanson led off with a triple and one out later, scored on a ground out by Ballesteros.

Three Cubs runs crossed the plate in the fifth. Michael Busch led off with a single and advanced to second on a walk by Hoerner.

Swanson’s double scored Busch [VIDEO].

Hoerner took third on the double and he and Swanson both scored on this single by Ballesteros [VIDEO].

Here’s Dansby on his two-hit afternoon [VIDEO].

As I noted in the game preview, this was a bullpen day. Caleb Thielbar, Phil Maton and Hoby Milner combined for three no-hit innings. The only baserunner was Luis Matos, who was hit by a Maton pitch leading off the second. So that’s all good. So was Luke Little’s scoreless inning. He allowed a leadoff walk to Jesus Rodriguez, but then picked him off and retired the next two hitters.

The Giants teed off for 13 hits and nine runs off Corbin Martin, Connor Schultz, Vince Reilly and Brooks Caple, and you will not likely hear those names as MLB Cubs after March 24.

The other thing I wanted to mention was more successful ABS challenges by Ballesteros. Here’s one [VIDEO].

There were also two by Busch — in the same at-bat! Here’s the first [VIDEO].

Here’s the second — 0n the very next pitch! [VIDEO]

Busch wound up with a single in that at-bat and later scored. I like that the guys are taking advantage of challenge situations to try them. It’s good practice, in my view, for using them during the season, what situations are best to use them, etc.

Attendance watch: A near-sellout of 15,033 saw this game on a very warm (86 at game time) afternoon. That makes the season total 120,808 for 10 games, or 12,081 per date.

The Cubs are off Monday, one of two scheduled off days this spring. They will resume the spring schedule Tuesday afternoon in Surprise against the Rangers. Cade Horton will go for the Cubs. At the posting time of this recap, the Rangers did not have a starter listed. No TV or radio Tuesday.

Monday, there will be six WBC games, three in the afternoon and three in the evening. The evening games include the USA vs. Mexico. I will post two game threads Monday, one for the afternoon games at 10:30 a.m. CT (first games are at 11 a.m. CT) and another for the night games at 5 p.m. CT (the first night games are at 6 p.m. CT). Stick around, there will be plenty to discuss here Monday!

With the Dominican Republic leading Team Netherlands deep in the game Sunday afternoon, manager Albert Pujols was considering pulling some of his starters.

Mets slugger Juan Soto was among those he spoke to, but with his turn in the order due up and the offense quickly closing in on the mercy rule, he told the skipper that he wanted to stay in. 

“I was paying attention to the game and I knew that I would come to bat that next inning,” he said via a translator. “He wanted to remove me, but I said no let’s continue, let me hit.”

So Pujols obliged, and the All-Star slugger was sure to deliver. 

Soto dug in and immediately crushed the first pitch 419 feet to right-center for a game-ending two-run homer. 

He turned and pointed towards the DR dugout after the ball left his bat, then made his way around the bases, before being paraded on by his teammates as he crossed the plate. 

“It’s a beautiful experience,” Soto said. “The homer, the feel of the game -- we have a long way to go, yet I have to thank God -- I’m very happy I was able to execute, it’s definitely one of the most important and beautiful times in my career.”

It was Soto's first homer of the tournament, but the team’s seventh through two games. 

The loaded DR lineup also has them second among teams with a total of 24 runs over that span.

“It’s great what we can do,” Soto told MLB Network. “We’ve been passing the baton, we don’t try to be the hero -- I feel like we have a great lineup, everybody can do damage, but we’re playing team baseball -- it’s fun to play like that.”

Just how fun? Soto said this is one of the most enjoyable teams of his career.

“I’ve been on a lot of great teams,” he said. “2019, 2024, those were really fun teams that I played with but this has to be top of the top -- you have the whole family, the whole Dominican Republic cheering for you being there for you, there’s nothing better than that.”

After briefly flirting with a win yesterday the Mariners went back to their comfort zone today, losing 3-6 in Maryvale to the Brewers. All three of their runs came off homers: a two-run shot by Leo Rivas and a mammoth tank job by spring breakout star Brennen Davis.

Lefty Kyle Harrison, Milwaukee’s big trade acquisition this off-season, looked sharp in his outing, blowing through the top of the Mariners’ lineup in the first on six pitches, including a three-pitch strikeout looking of Brennan Davis.

George Kirby worked around a hard-contact out in the first —111.6 off the bat of Garrett Mitchell, snagged by a surehanded Will Wilson at third – and then a double from Jake Bauers where Lazaro Montes made a strong throw in from right field but Leo Rivas wasn’t able to get the tag down in time.

The Mariners got on the board in the second against Harrison when Patrick Wisdom reached on a dropped third strike and then Leo Rivas leaned on a first-pitch fastball that landed directly in his turn-and-burn zone, pulling the ball 441 feet for a two-run homer. Little lion man ahoy!

Lazaro Montes kept the inning going with a “double” that he hit against the shift and then made the mistake of not going full steam into second, just squeaking underneath the tag. We can allow that since he got robbed of what should have been a solid putout at second earlier.

Kirby had to work around some more traffic in the second inning, some his fault and some not. He lost a nine-pitch battle with Blake Perkins, walking him on a splitter, and then Will Wilson mishandled a routine groundball to put two on with two outs. (Willllll I have said so many nice things about your defense this spring come onnnnn man). But Kirby was able to put out the fire, coaxing an easy inning-ending groundout off the bat of Ethan Murray. His third inning was even sharper, as he put down the Brewers in order, striking out Mitchell on the changeup then getting a pair of groundouts.

NB: Do not trust Statcast’s analysis on Kirby’s day. Statcast will tell you he threw an 88 mph four-seamer (he did not) and a 94 mph four-seamer. Those were actually the changeup and cutter, respectively, which Kirby was playing around with today. Pitching coach Pete Woodworth said postgame he told Kirby not to focus on throwing a bunch of changeups when he was on a limited pitch count, but George Kirby do what George Kirby want to do, especially when armed with his own PitchCom device that allowed him to call some of his pitches.

Kirby’s day ended on a sour note, unfortunately, as he hung a slider (a real one) in a 3-2 count to Andrew Vaughn, who torched the pitch into the outfield where it hopped over the fence for a ground-rule double. Postgame, Kirby said he wasn’t entirely satisfied with his sliders in this outing. “Just kind of felt like I was trying to make them too nasty. Should just trust the grip and let it fly.”

Troy Taylor couldn’t keep the inherited runner from scoring, and then gave up a three-run homer to put the Brewers ahead 4-2. (110 off the bat. 477 feet. Brutal.) Peyton Alford came up to clean up the mess, and did.

Josh Simpson was not so fortunate, and gave up another two runs on a home run to Jake Bauers and an RBI double to Christian Yelich. But he also struck out the side, one looking and two swinging. Command remains an issue for Simpson, but there’s definitely something there. It’s just not quite something fully formed yet, but he’s another depth piece that’s valuable to have in Tacoma.

Brennen Davis got one of those runs back in the sixth inning, because Brennen Davis will not be denied a tank shot of his own when everyone else is getting one. He took Jacob Misiorowski very deep, a 464 foot blast to deep left-center with a 115.8 EV.

Other notes:

• Cole Young worked a walk off the lefty Harrison in the third. Good job, Cole Young. He then stole second. Good-er job, Cole Young.
• Yosver Zulueta had a very good outing, allowing one hit on a bad-luck weak contact double but striking out the side. That is his fourth outing this spring and he’s yet to give up more than a pair of hits while striking out six. Another one to keep an eye on for the pile.
• Gabe Mosser recovered from a rough outing last time out to pitch two solid hitless innings to close this game out.
• The Brewers like to show each player’s hometowns on the board, which is how I found out Jonny Farmelo and Andrew Knizner were born just two hours along I-95 from each other in Centreville and Glen Allen, VA, respectively. Old Dominionheads rise up.

PORT ST. LUCIE — Freddy Peralta was a ball of energy in the Mets clubhouse before facing the Yankees on Sunday. 

Whereas most pitchers prefer solitude on their scheduled day to pitch, even in spring training, Peralta was engaged in a basketball game, shouting as he attempted off-balance shots and laughing most of the way. 

“I just be myself every day,” Peralta said. “It doesn’t matter if I’m pitching or not pitching, that is what I do.” 

On this day he faced a skeleton Yankees lineup at Clover Park.

After a rough first inning — with a misplay and weak contact contributing factors — Peralta rebounded into form over the next two to provide the home crowd with a glimpse of the ace who will head to the mound for Opening Day in 2 ½ weeks. 

Peralta struck out four over three innings, allowing three hits and one walk with two earned runs in the 10-4 victory. 

An adjustment helped. After relying on his fastball early, Peralta turned to his changeup in the second inning and curveball in the third. The Yankees were tamed. 

“After the first inning, me and Alvy had a conversation and we thought that was the right way to do it,” Peralta said, referring to Francisco Alvarez. “We saw that they were swinging a little like they were trying to hunt the fastball earlier and we tried to miss it a little bit more. I told [Alvarez] and asked him and he said, ‘Yes,’ and it worked.” 

It was the first time Alvarez handled Peralta (who was starting his second exhibition game this spring) in the Grapefruit League. 

What has Alvarez learned about Peralta? 

“He commands his fastball, he commands the curveball and he’s got a great changeup, too,” Alvarez said. “For him it’s more about command. Every pitch is nasty, so he has just got to command the pitch and that’s it.” 

Peralta was asked about his chemistry with Alvarez. 

“I had conversations with him even before we got here to spring training,” Peralta said. “And back then I knew that he was going to be very good because he’s very interested and makes you do well for ourselves, for the team, for everything. He showed me that he wants to win, he cared about it, he cared about performance and that is No. 1 for catching.” 

Already together in camp with Peralta for over a month, Alvarez has come to appreciate the energy the pitcher has brought to the clubhouse. 

“He’s a great teammate,” Alvarez said. “He’s always happy. He brings a lot of energy and he’s going to be big for us.” 

The two will work together (provided they remain healthy) more often than not this season. This day against the Yankees represented a nice beginning for the duo. 

“It’s in a good place,” manager Carlos Mendoza said, referring to the chemistry between Peralta and Alvarez. “This goes back to the very first few days of camp when he was throwing bullpens and Alvy was catching him and just kind of get to know some of the targets that he likes, some of the things he likes to do with the baseball as far as the changeup, the breaking ball, the fastball, against lefties and righties. 

“Now, the way they are talking about the game between innings it’s just in a good spot. Alvy is asking good questions and Peralta is giving him really good feedback.” 

Peralta likely has another two starts remaining in the Grapefruit League before getting the ball against the Pirates on March 26 at Citi Field. The next step will be buildup to four and five innings. 

And there could be additional pregame basketball games. 

“We’re always betting a coffee or something,” Peralta said. “So, somebody has to bring me a coffee.”

The White Sox and their spring winning continued on Sunday, as they picked up their 10th win of the preseason with a 5-4 showing against Kansas City.

Perhaps feeling the heat after I so boldly declared prior to the game that he was “rapidly …” Jarred Kelenic got the South Siders on the board with a lefty-on-lefty home run off Royals starter Noah Cameron, a 430-foot blast that would’ve been gone just about anywhere.

Unfortunately, Sox starter Jordan Hicks was not sharp, walking four over 1 2/3 innings and allowing two runs, one coming on a bases-loaded walk. Hicks’ fastball velocity was down a notch, sitting around 98 mph after being in the 99-100 mph range his first two appearances. He’ll be ticketed for the bullpen sooner rather than later.

The game became tied at two when Luisangel Acuña continued his spring heater, sending a 110 mph line drive screaming up the middle for an RBI single.

Pitching in the multi-inning, middle relief role he’ll see during regular season action, Sean Newcomb looked sharp for two innings before getting touched up in this third, grooving one to Royals first baseman Nick Loftin, who took it out to left field for a 4-2 K.C. lead.

Fortunately, the Sox have Colson Montgomery, who tied the game at four with a blast of his own in the bottom of the inning:

The homer’s 105.9 mph exit velocity just narrowly edged out the 105.7 mph fly out he delivered his first time up, completing a good day for the team’s former top prospect. Anywho, immediately afterward Kelenic gave the Sox a 5-4 lead with his second homer of the game — this one of the Little League variety.

Scoreless innings from Jordan Leasure, Chris Murphy and Tyler Gilbert kept that the score the rest of the way, leaving the final 5-4 as the Sox reached the double-digit win mark in Spring Training.

They’ll be back at it again tomorrow, when they host the Rockies at 3:05 p.m. CT at Camelback Ranch and Chrystal O’Keefe makes her 2026 recapping debut.

Justin Wrobleski continued his impressive spring with three scoreless innings on Sunday in the Dodgers’ 11-7 loss to the Athletics in Mesa

Wrobleski struck out three, with two finished off by his slider and another by his four-seam fastball. The left-hander is in the mix for an early-season spot in the starting rotation, but there’s likely room for him on the active roster even as a bulk reliever.

“I feel like the same guy, I just have a little more experience,” the left-hander told Kirsten Watson during an in-game interview on SportsNet LA. “You can’t get experience until you get experience.”

Andy Pages is also having a nice spring, and got the scoring started with a solo home run in the first inning.

Pages, who also singled on Sunday, has eight extra-base hits in 29 plate appearances this spring.

Notes

Like Pages, Alex Call had two hits in three at-bats, including a home run. Call’s second hit was a two-run single, giving him three RBI.

Dodgers built a 7-0 lead in their first four trips to the plate, but Leo De Vries personally cut that A’s deficit to just one. The 19-year-old consensus top-13 prospect in baseball, ranked as fourth at MLB Pipeline, hit a two-run home run off Kyle Hurt in the fourth inning and a grand slam off Carson Hobbs’ second pitch in the fifth, cashing in all three runs left by Cam Day.

Nick Senzel started Sunday at second base, his ninth start this spring, and reached base all three trips to the plate. His leadoff walk in the six was the taking of CD Pelham’s 1-2-3 inning.

Paul Gervase struck out three in his 1 1/3 scoreless innings, preserving a tie, the most noble task during exhibition season. The 6’10 right-hander has nine strikeouts among his 28 batters faced this spring (32.1 percent).

Jordan Weems, who took the loss in the ninth inning Thursday in Goodyear by allowing four runs without recording an out, allowed four consecutive hits then a two-run double in a four-run eighth inning to decide Sunday’s contest.

Up next

The Dodgers are in Maryvale to face the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday afternoon (1:05 p.m.; SportsNet LA, MLB Network), with Emmet Sheehan back on the mound in his second spring outing and first start.

On Sunday, the Chicago White Sox gave fans another reason to be excited about the 2026 season when they announced that Shane Smith will be the Opening Day starter against his former team in Milwaukee. This is the earliest that Chicago has named their starter ahead of Opening Day since 2018, when the Sox pegged James Shields as the starter on February 27. 

Smith has been one of the most exciting players and storylines to follow since Dec. 11, 2024 when the Sox selected him in the Rule 5 draft. Coming from an organization known for scouting and producing some of the best pitchers in the game, Smith showed plenty of upside as a starter and reliever. His talent immediately shone in his Sox debut and during his first month in the majors; Smith held a 2.23 ERA and racked up 26 strikeouts in his first six games.

As the spring and early summer progressed, Smith continued to dominate. He became the best pitcher in the rotation and was named the Sox’s only All-Star in July. Despite exhibiting natural bumps in his rookie year, Smith finished 2026 with the fewest earned runs (62) and home runs (17) allowed, lowest WHIP (1.196) and most innings pitched (146 ⅓) among Sox pitchers who started more than 20 games.

Fast forward six months, and Smith will be headlining a quirky starting rotation made up of returning youngsters, veteran pitchers and rookies fresh off of Tommy John surgery. 

Fans willing to make the trek up to Milwaukee are bound to be treated to a memorable Opening Day. And if the Brewers give fireballing Jacob Misiorowski the bump to start the game, that’ll be even better.

While the line from George Kirby’s start against Milwaukee won’t jump off the page, Kirby himself was delighted in it – and not just because of how he pitched, effortlessly mixing his pitches so much that Statcast couldn’t keep up (those splitters? Changeups, actually. And the fastball clocking in at 94? A cutter.).

But it’s not a new pitch that’s got Kirby smiling. Rather, it’s a small device clipped to his belt that allows him to call his own pitches.

“[Knizner] called a good game. I got this thing on my belt now, though, so I can kind of call pitches when I want to,” he grinned.

Once again, while Cal Raleigh is away at the WBC, his pitchers are taking some time to try something new out. For Kirby, though, it cuts deeper. Calling his own pitches is an idea that Kirby has toyed with before and dismissed, but came back to this off-season, talking it over with pitching coach Pete Woodworth. Kirby is obsessed with throwing his pitches with “conviction”, something he’s been honing in on since last year, and being able to have ownership at times over his pitch calling is something he feels will help him in that pursuit.

“It’s just a way for me to have more conviction in some of my pitches. Something that I really want to throw instead of shaking 20 times to get to the one, you press it and go from there.”

It’s not every pitch – Kirby said he only did it 8-10 times during his outing on Sunday and that he’s “still learning where the buttons are” – so it’s not like Kirby is putting his catchers out of a job. But it’s something that allows him to feel even more invested in his outings. He feels like it will encourage him to lock in even more and read hitters’ swings so he can be more attuned to which pitches are performing especially well on a certain day.

“I think it’s a way for me to settle in my game a little better. I feel like there’s always a pitch or two where like, oh, I wish I didn’t throw that. And that’s kind of the worst thing to do mentally. I feel like, when I’ve got this thing [said with a loving pat to the transmitter], if I have something in my head, I’m going to call it right there. I don’t want to play the mental game of, oh, I should have thrown the curveball there, or the slider there, or whatever it may be.”

For Kirby, who emphasizes the mental side of the game so much, it’s an exciting way to tap into the mind-body connection.

“I just think having it locks me in even more, and then I’m more in control and therefore more convicted and confident.”

That sounds very good for George Kirby – and very scary for the hitters who will face him this season.

It’s Sunday once more, and you know what that means — it’s time for our weekly social media roundup! We finally got some real, meaningful baseball this week, as the 2026 World Baseball Classic is finally underway. A whopping 13 Yankees have suited up for this year’s tourney, led of course by Yankees and Team USA Captain Aaron Judge. Regardless of whether they’re with their national teams or stuck in Tampa at the spring training complex, what have the Bombers been up to this week? Let’s find out!

World Baseball Classic

Our lead story is, of course, the World Baseball Classic. While a small army of Yankees are involved, one certainly stands above the rest — both literally and figuratively.

Welcome, Grichuk

New Yankee outfielder Randal Grichuk, signed recently to a minor league deal with the Yankees, posted on Instagram to mark his 13th season.

CC Fires Back

After the Yankees announced that CC Sabathia’s No. 52 will be retired this season, a certain old sportswriter who yells at clouds and writes for the New York Post penned a column criticizing the decision. Not one to take an insult lying down, Sabathia took to his social media accounts to say, “Ah damn Phil sorry you feel that way…see you 9/26/26 😂😂😂😂.”

Aces for Jazz

On his last day off before the WBC, Jazz Chisholm Jr. decided to hit the green and play some golf…where he proceeded to hit a hole-in-one that was so impressive that the PGA Tour official Instagram posted about it. Apparently, nobody has done it on this particular hole in 25 years. Nice work, Jazz — but maybe save your impressive athletic feats for the diamond.

There’s Waldo!

Yankees fan favorite Oswaldo Cabrera made his spring debut on Friday night, the culmination of a long recovery from last spring’s broken ankle. Good to see you back in pinstripes, Cabrera!

More Media Day Photos

Both the Yankees and the players have been slowly posting photos from this year’s media day, so we have a few more this week.

Question of the Day

This week’s Question of the Day was one that the pitchers took very, very seriously: if the pitchers had a Home Run Derby, who would win? This isn’t as easy a question as it used to be, back when pitchers actually came to the plate on a frequent basis for NL teams and semi-regularly for AL squads, but that made their answers all the more interesting.

The Texas Rangers have claimed outfielder Dairon Blanco on waivers from the Kansas City Royals, the team announced today. To make room on the 40 man roster, the Rangers have placed pitcher Jordan Montgomery on the 60 day injured list.

Blanco is a righthanded hitting outfielder who turns 33 in April. Originally from Cuba, Blanco played in the Cuban National Series until defecting in 2016. Blanco signed with Oakland, and was traded to the Kansas City Royals at the 2019 trade deadline in a deal that sent Jake Diekman to the A’s.

Blanco made his major league debut in 2022, and spent most of 2023 and 2024 in the majors before getting just 8 plate appearances in the bigs in 2025, with the bulk of his time spent at AAA. Blanco is very fast but not a real good defender, with the bulk of his playing time coming in left field in the majors. Blanco has a career .257/.312/.416 slash line in 284 plate appearances, though with 59 steals in 73 attempts. he slashed .253/.332/.405 for Omaha in AAA last year.

Blanco has two options remaining per Fangraphs, so if he doesn’t lose his 40 man spot in the interim, the Rangers will be able to send him to the minors at the beginning of the season.

Montgomery going to the 60 day injured list was an inevitability, as he will miss the first couple of months of the season as he recovers from Tommy John surgery.

More than the vast majority of spring training games, this matchup between the Yankees and Mets was all about the starting pitchers. While both of them disappointed on their own levels, Ryan Weathers’ disastrous outing proved pivotal in the Yankees’ 10-4 loss against an underwhelming Freddy Peralta.

It might have read 82 degrees and sunny on the forecast, but Weathers called for heavy clouds as the Mets did a number on the high expectations he provided the Bombers in his first start this spring. Starting off the game in the best possible way—punching out Marcus Semien and Jorge Polanco on his way to a 1-2-3 first—Weathers’ outing took a turn for the worse in the second inning. Despite not allowing a single extra-base hit, the southpaw coughed up three runs courtesy of one too many walks for a pitcher who was unable to find the zone the whole game.

With four of the first five hitters reaching base in the second inning, Weathers was relieved to keep him from laboring too much in a single frame, but that didn’t mean the outing was over. Chris Veach bailed out Weathers from a bigger blowup in the second by retiring Polanco and Semien, but the Yankee starter was determined to concede more runs, which is what he did coming out for the third under the spring re-entry rules. Perhaps slightly unsettled by a fielding error from Zach Short—that allowed Bo Bichette to reach base to start the third—Weathers quickly thereafter conceded back-to-back doubles on his way to allowing five earned runs, unable to get out of the third.

The left-hander hit the strike zone in only 35 percent of his four-seamers, and the sinker that he was able to locate more consistently got pummeled in the zone, responsible for four of the seven hits he allowed. The lack of success with either of his fastballs didn’t give much of a chance for that sweeper and changeup to succeed. Opposing hitters didn’t register a whiff in any of their seven swings against Weathers’ changeup. Let’s get back to his fastball for a second, though. Weathers, who was sitting at 98.7 mph on the heater in the first, saw that velocity drop by over a mile and a half in the third, failing to record a single out on the frame.

When Weathers left the mound for the final time, the Yankees had already squandered a two-run first-inning lead that had come courtesy of the prospects at the top of the order and Seth Brown. The veteran lefty hitter drove in Spencer Jones, who stole his third base this spring, yet to be caught on the basepaths. Brown was the Yankees’ most productive hitter on the day, recording two of the team’s six hits.

Once all the starters had left, the Mets added three insurance runs against Dom Hamel, securing a safer 10-4 lead. Much like in the third inning, an error at second base contributed to the scoring, this time done by Bryce Martin-Grudzielanek.

It wasn’t all clouds on this day, however. Jasson Domínguez shined with a two-run single and perhaps more importantly, showed off some improved left-field defense.

Outfield defense was on display all around for the Yankees, as Jones made a nice diving catch in center at one point and Duke Ellis robbed a homer.

Much like today, the focal point of Monday’s game will be the Yankees’ starting pitcher. For the first time this spring training, left-hander Max Fried takes the mound for a start as the Yanks see a familiar foe with an unfamiliar uniform. Now a Pirate, José Urquidy will start for Pittsburgh against New York on George Steinbrenner Field—first pitch is at 6:35 PM ET.

Box score