Category: MLB

JUPITER, Fla. — Carson Benge has performed at a high enough level this spring to earn a job with the Mets. Now he awaits the final verdict.

The stud prospect completed his initial Grapefruit League season Sunday, finishing 1-for-3 in the 4-3 loss to the Marlins at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium.

Benge, who finished with an .874 OPS in 14 games, hardly appeared overwhelmed, both on the field and off.

“I am happy that I carried myself in a really good way,” the 23-year-old outfielder said. “I showed everyone what kind of person I am and I feel like that is what spoke the loudest for me.”

Mike Tauchman’s removal from the mix — the veteran outfielder has a torn meniscus in his left knee that needs surgery — may have strengthened Benge’s chances, although the Mets conceivably could have carried both Tauchman and Benge.

Tyrone Taylor and Brett Baty are right field options, and Jared Young is another possibility.

But it may be determined that Benge is ready, handing him the starting job.

The Mets will break camp after a workout Monday, but it’s possible Benge won’t know his fate until just before Thursday’s season opener.

Benge is not on the 40-man roster.

“I’ll be patient,” Benge said. “I have waited this long, I will wait a little longer.”

Benge was asked about his biggest takeaway from camp.

“Just the level that these guys play at,” Benge said. “Day in and day out, they put in the work. They put real focus into everything they do, from preparation, hydration, stuff on the field, stuff off the field is really what I picked up.”

Nolan McLean and Sean Manaea will pitch in Monday’s intrasquad scrimmage.

It will be a final tuneup for McLean before his scheduled Sunday start against the Pirates.

It’s unclear when Manaea will pitch for the first time, as he begins the season in the bullpen in a piggyback role.

Clay Holmes and Kodai Senga will remain in Port St. Lucie to pitch in minor league games this week before heading north.

David Peterson allowed one earned run on five hits over five innings against the Marlins to finish the Grapefruit League with a 4.15 ERA.

The lefty is scheduled to face the Pirates on Saturday at Citi Field.

Cubs right-hander Cade Horton, who shapes up to be the No. 2 starter after Matthew Boyd begins the season, had an excellent six-inning outing against the Brewers Sunday at Sloan Park.

Okay, so it was against a team of Brewers minor leaguers, as all the MLB Brewers had departed for Milwaukee Sunday, as they have exhibition games there against the Reds Monday and Tuesday.

Still, Horton was again dominant and the Cubs smashed the Double-A and Triple-A Brewers 12-0.

Horton threw 68 pitches (48 strikes). Here’s more on Horton’s outing [VIDEO].

As for the Cubs offense, most of the regulars played the first few innings of the game and hit those minor-league Brewers well.

Here’s an RBI double by Moisés Ballesteros in the second [VIDEO].

Ballesteros later doubled again. He’s a hitting machine, perfect for the DH role he’ll embody this year.

In the third, Alex Bregman homered [VIDEO].

Ian Happ followed that with a solo homer of his own [VIDEO].

Nico Hoerner had a pair of hits, including a two-run double. Dansby Swanson also drove in a pair.

So, yes, against minor leaguers. Still, it has to be good for these hitters to get into a rhythm before Opening Day on Thursday. After today the Cubs don’t face the Brewers until May 18.

Ben Brown threw two scoreless innings of relief, and was touching 97-98 consistently. I think this will be an excellent role for him this year, and it appears he’s going to make the Opening Day roster and serve in that precise role.

Attendance watch: 14,375 paid on another hot (96 degrees) day at Sloan Park. That pushes the season total over 200,000, at 202,927 for 16 dates. That’s an average of 12,683 per date. (This does not include the Spring Breakout game.)

One more note, ICYMI:

No surprises here. Jonathon Long might have had a shot at the Opening Day roster, but the injury he suffered early in camp set him back too far. I’m thinking he’ll get some chances in the big leagues later this year.

The Cubs will wrap Spring Training 2026 with two exhibition games against the Yankees at Sloan Park. Monday afternoon at 2:05 p.m. CT, Shōta Imanaga will face Carlos Lagrange. No TV Monday, there will be radio broadcasts on both WSCR The Score and the Yankees flagship WFAN 660.

After one game in Anaheim, the Freeway Series shifts to Dodger Stadium with the Dodgers hosting the Angels for the first of two games in Los Angeles.

Roki Sasaki makes his final exhibition start, trying to land the plane after a very turbulent spring training. Sasaki starting this middle game of the Freeway Series lines him up to start the second series of the regular season, against the Guardians.

Left-hander Reid Detmers starts Monday for the Angels.

Monday game info

• Teams: Dodgers at Angels
• Ballpark: Dodger Stadium
• Time: 6:10 p.m.
• TV: SportsNet LA, FanDuel Sports Network West (Angels)
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

Box Score

The Milwaukee Brewers wrapped up their Cactus League slate in Mesa, Arizona on Sunday afternoon, as they took a rough 12-0 loss at the hands of the Chicago Cubs.

Is this a worrying loss? Perhaps even less than other spring training games, which are already of very little concern. In this one, the Brewers had just about none of their regulars, as the major league squad is traveling back to Milwaukee for a pair of exhibitions against the Reds on Monday and Tuesday.

In fact, outside of starting pitcher Chad Patrick (27 career appearances), the only other players on the travel roster for Sunday with MLB experience were reliever Peter Strzelecki (77 appearances) and outfielder Jacob Hurtubise (83 career plate appearances over 41 games). Oh, and most of Milwaukee’s star prospects are over at Hohokam Stadium playing in the Spring Breakout game against the A’s, so we’re really talking about digging deep in the minors for today’s roster.

On the other side, the Cubs rolled with most of their everyday players, including Michael Busch, Alex Bregman, Ian Happ, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Nico Hoerner, Carson Kelly, Moisés Ballestreros, Dansby Swanson, and Matt Shaw. Cade Horton also started on the mound.

So, rather than put you through the misery of going through a sad 12-0 loss to Milwaukee’s biggest rival, I’ll just give you a peek at a few key stat lines.

Patrick did not have a great game, as he went four innings, allowing seven runs on six hits and a pair of walks with four strikeouts to finish his spring with an 11.68 ERA. Concerned? Again, no. Strzelecki allowed two runs in 1 2/3 innings, and Garrett Hodges, Tanner Gillis, and Stiven Cruz also pitched in this one.

Offensively, six players finished with a hit today, including Dylan O’Rae, Jeferson Quero, David García, Mike Boeve, Eric Brown Jr., and Hurtubise. The only one of those of the extra-base variety was a double by Brown. Hurtubise and O’Rae both swiped a bag, while the offense as a whole went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

Perhaps the coolest thing about this game was Prince Fielder’s son, Jadyn, entered the game late as a pinch-hitter for Marco Dinges. The 21-year-old second baseman struck out in his only at-bat.

The Brewers have the aforementioned exhibitions against the Reds on deck, as they’ll welcome them to American Family Field in Milwaukee for games on Monday and Tuesday. Then, it’s time for Opening Day, as the White Sox come to town beginning Thursday. Aaron Ashby will start in Monday’s game against Cincinnati, with Brady Singer starting for the Reds. First pitch in that one is at 6:40 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on 94.5 ESPN Radio and the Brewer Radio Network.

That was a fun way to wrap spring training. The Blue Jays smoked Tampa Bay, 14-1, with most of the regulars getting in on the action. The highlights:

• Dylan Cease went 5.0 innings, striking out six while allowing no runs on three hits and two walks. He had a little wobble in the fourth, accounting for both walks and a single, but he was still getting it up to 97 and looking easy in the fifth.
• Louis Varland gave up the lone Rays run, on a deep Carson Williams solo homer in the seventh. It’s been kind of a rough spring for Louis, they’ll need him to sharpen up for the regular season.
• The rest of the bullpen was good. Spencer Miles, Mason Fluharty and Braydon Fisher combined for three innings of perfect relief.
• The offence was rolling, dropping six in the first and then seven more in the fourth.
• George Springer was 2-3 with a homer and a walk
• Vladimir Guerrero jr. was 2-2 with a homer and a walk
• Addison Barger was 3-4
• Alejandro Kirk was 3-3 with a homer, a double, and a walk
• Jesus Sanchez was 2-4 with a homer and a double
• Andres Gimenez was 1-3 with a double and a walk.
• Eloy Jimenez had a pinch hit double

We also got some news. Angel Bastardo and Yariel Rodriguez have been told that they didn’t make the opening day roster. Rodriguez had a good World Baseball Classic, but he hasn’t looked great in MLB camp and was always facing an uphill battle after being waived back in December and so coming off the 40-man roster. For Bastardo, failing to make the team probably means the end of his time as a Blue Jay. As a Rule 5 draftee, he’ll have to be traded to a team that will roster him or offered back to the Red Sox. Selecting him in the 2024 draft, knowing he needed to rehab from Tommy John surgery through the whole 2025 season, was an interesting gamble. The Jays got to take a long look at him over the winter, and if he’d been ready he could have been a talented addition. He struggled a lot, though, walking seven and throwing four wild pitches in 7.2 spring innings, and he doesn’t look ready to step directly into an MLB bullpen. There will be one more pitching cut to come, as the Jays currently list 14 uninjured pitchers as active with 13 being the in-season limit. Most likely that will be optioning Chase Lee so that they can keep 2025 Rule 5 draftee Spencer Miles. Miles has looked effective this spring, striking out 11 of 46 batters faced and regularly running his fastball up to 98.

Now we enter the four day dead period before Sacramento comes to the Dome on Friday evening to open the season. I’m more than ready to watch some real baseball.

Observations from Mets spring training on Sunday:

Baty delivers

Brett Baty completed a strong Grapefruit League season by going 1-for-3 with an RBI in a 4-3 loss to the Marlins in Jupiter, Fla.

Baty posted a .920 OPS this spring as he prepares for duty at three infield positions and right field.

Weaver wild

Luke Weaver walked three batters and recorded only one out before he was removed from the game.

The right-hander allowed one earned run.

Caught my eye

The Mets played their possible Opening Day lineup, with the exception of catcher: Ben Rortvedt started and Francisco Alvarez had the day off.

Monday’s schedule

The Mets will hold an intrasquad scrimmage at Clover Park before departing for New York.

Phillies relief pitcher Daniel Robert is hospitalized and in stable condition after collapsing during his first bullpen session of spring training on Sunday.

Medical staff rushed to the aid of Robert, 31, who stumbled off the mound amid a cardiac incident at the club’s camp in Clearwater, Florida.

The training personnel used a defibrillator and transported him to the hospital, where he is “stable and alert,” the team said.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Robert maintained consciousness throughout the event and managed to leave the field under his own power.

Robert suffered a similar cardiac incident in October, after which the Phillies medical team resuscitated him with CPR and an external defibrillator. 

He then received an implanted cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD), which was “triggered” during Sunday’s event.

The device data was reviewed at the hospital, according to MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki.

RHP Daniel Robert collapsed throwing a bullpen session this morning in Clearwater. He had an event last year.

Team said, “The ICD was triggered as he was coming off the mound but he is stable and alert. He was taken to the local hospital to have the device data reviewed.”

— Todd Zolecki (@ToddZolecki) March 22, 2026

Robert — who held a 4.15 ERA across 15 appearances with the Phillies in 2025 — returned to the franchise last month on a minor-league deal and joined the team as a non-roster invitee for training camp.

The right-hander told NBC’s Jim Salisbury that the driving factor in his return was the bond he’d forged with the organization and its medical staff, saying “I owe everything to them.”

“They stayed in touch all winter,” Robert added. “They were super accommodating. They knew exactly what was going on and had a plan for me. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to play this season, but if I was able to, I wanted it to be here because of the way the Phillies supported me. All the tests show I’m healthy. The Phillies helped me get to see some of the best doctors in the country.”

Further medical tests delayed Robert’s first bullpen of the season until Sunday.

The Dodgers are back in Southern California on Sunday night to start the exhibition Freeway Series against the Angels at Angel Stadium in Anaheim. Much like Friday night against the Padres at Camelback Ranch, Sunday showcases another potential opening day lineup for the Dodgers, this time with Alex Freeland at second base after getting good news Sunday morning.

Lineup

Shohei Ohtani DH
Michael Tucker RF
Mookie Betts SS
Freddie Freeman 1B
Will Smith C
Max Muncy 3B
Teoscar Hernández LF
Andy Pages CF
Alex Freeland 2B

Tyler Glasnow starts on the mound.

Other pitchers

Non-roster pitchers Chris Campos and Antoine Kelly are active for the Freeway Series, as is the full major league bullpen. Tanner Scott, Alex Vesia, Blake Treinen, and Ben Casparius are expected to pitch Sunday night.

Up from the minors are Ronan Kopp (wearing number 83), Cam Day (89), Antonio Knowles (92), and Cody Morse (90).

Other position players

Miguel Rojas, Santiago Espinal, Alex Call, and Dalton Rushing are active, as is catcher Eliézer Alfonzo, the last remaining non-roster position player in camp.

Up from the minors are Zach Ehrhard (99), James Tibbs III (98), Eduardo Quintero (87), Emil Morales (93), Chase Harlan (94), and Joendry Vargas (88).

1904
Bob Elson, who would become the longest-tenured broadcaster in White Sox history, was born in Chicago.

Elson graduated from DePaul but became a WGN voice in 1929 almost completely by accident, being pulled into an audition while merely taking a tour of KWK in St. Louis and then WGN snatching him home. He would go on to cover more than 5,000 baseball games in his career.

Elson spent most of his career covering both White Sox and Cubs games, but from 1946-70 worked only on the White Sox. He had a smooth delivery that allowed him also to shift over to Blackhawks work (1934-55, interrupted only by service in World War II), and pro football (Bears and Cardinals) in the 1930s. He was also one of the first broadcasters to conduct on-field interviews.

While not exactly the most beloved or colorful voice in club history, there will never be another broadcaster who comes close to the service Bob Elson gave the White Sox.

1906
Moose Solters, who finished his career with the White Sox, was born, in Pittsburgh. The left fielder seemed on his way to superstardom, with brilliant early-career seasons for the Red Sox and Browns. But three of his four seasons from 1936-39 were poor, prompting the White Sox to buy low on Solters in a 1939 challenge trade with St. Louis, sending the Browns left fielder Rip Radcliff. Radcliff had a great 1940 season in St. Louis, leading the majors in hits. Solters also had a strong, bounce-back season.

Sadly, during the 1941 season Moose was struck by a loose baseball while walking onto the field at Griffith Stadium in Washington, sustaining a skull fracture. His comeback attempt failed, as his eyesight began to fail him as a result of the injury.

For you trivia buffs, both Solters and Marv Owen were born on exactly the same day, preceding the first White Sox championship season. Solters played three seasons with the White Sox and Owen two, and depending on the timing of transactions the birthday twins may have been briefly on the same White Sox roster: Owen was sold to the Red Sox on Dec. 8, 1939, the same day Solters came to the South Side in trade.

1985
Primary 1960s White Sox owner Art Allyn passed away at age 71, in Sarasota.

He came to the White Sox a lion and went out a lamb — or maybe it was the other way around. Allyn had the winning bid to secure the club from Bill Veeck and shrewdly rebuilt an aging team via GM Ed Short. In fact, for all of the storied White Sox seasons, the best three-year record for the franchise came under Allyn’s ownership, 1963-65.

Allyn had a heroic side off the field as well: Repulsed by the segregation Florida continued to practice into the 1960s, the owner bought a motel near the Sarasota training grounds to allow his Black White Sox players to sidestep the institutional racism still being practiced.

On the other hand, Allyn did leave the White Sox as a villain. Allyn was unwilling to hold Short’s feet to the fire after a series of sour moves in the second half of the 1960s, and the threadbare White Sox began to openly solicit Milwaukee as a relocation site after the Braves moved south to Atlanta. It was Allyn who steered the Sox up north to play a significant percentage of their home schedule at County Stadium, not Comiskey Park.

Finally, with Art on the verge of selling the White Sox to interests who would have vacated Comiskey Park permanently, Art’s brother John Allyn intervened and bought Art out in 1969, saving the White Sox for Chicago.

2026
The White Sox signed catcher Reese McGuire to a $1.2 million contract, beginning his second go-around with the team. McGuire originally played on the South Side in 2022, slashing .221/.261/.285 in 53 games before being dealt to Boston for Jake Diekman. That 0.0 WAR effort was enough to bring the 31-year-old back to town, likely costing the White Sox younger and cheaper catching prospect Korey Lee.

The Seattle Mariners for years have done a “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Night” for years, and in 2026 they will expand that to include a BYU night.

On Saturday August, 22 against the Chicago Cubs the Mariners will host a BYU Night. If you purchase the ticket special you will receive a Mariners-themed BYU Jersey. Below is the description from the Mariners.

“Rally your crew for BYU Night at T-Mobile Park on Saturday, August 22! With this exclusive offer, you can score a Mariners-themed BYU Jersey and specially priced tickets to a marquee matchup against the Cubs. Plus, $5 of every ticket sold will benefit the BYU Scholarship Replenishment Fund.”

I live in the Seattle area and have been working with the Mariners and BYU on this promotion. The Mariners have done college themed nights for regional universities in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, and this will be the furthest college themed night they have done. The Mariners have seen the success from LDS night and recognize all the BYU alumni and fans in the Pacific Northwest.

Tickets are available to purchase here.

It’s time to predict how the season will play out! How will the Royals do? Who will win MVP? Who will end up playing in the World Series?

Give us your predictions on the Royals, the playoffs, and awards for the 2026 season by filling out this short survey. You can see last year’s predictions here. We’ll unveil what the readers predicted on Wednesday, plus predictions from our writers.

If you are having trouble reading the form on this site, you can go to this link.

No.

…

Wait, you want more? How about in bold?

No.

Ok, I guess I should probably show my working a little bit. So what I did was gather up the D-backs’ spring training results for each season since 2003 (which is where ESPN’s statistics begin), with the exception of 2020 – when both spring training and the regular season were kinda half-assed. I took the win percentage of the team that spring (ties, which are a thing in the Cactus League, were discarded) and plotted it against the regular season record for the same year. If there was any kind of correlation, you’d expect there to be a visible line. Here’s what the graph actually looks like:

Yeah, I’m not really seeing it, unless I squint particularly hard. Far and away the best spring record was in 2016, when the Diamondbacks went 24-8, the best spring record in the majors by 2.5 games. If you don’t remember much else about the 2016 season, there’s good reason for that. Conversely, one of the worst springs came in 2011, when Arizona went 12-25, the lowest win percentage in the Cactus League. But that ended up being the last time the team won the division, doing so by a comfortable eight-game margin. All told, the correlation between spring and regular season records is .105 – pretty weak.

That figure is roughly in line with an earlier and broader study, carried out in 2002. It concluded, “The correlation between spring records and regular season records is .15… For comparison, the correlation between last year’s regular season record and this year’s regular season record during the same period is a much stronger .52.” In other words, if you want to see how a team is going to do this year, looking at how they did last year is going to be a far better predictor, than what they are doing in spring. There are a lot of reasons for this, mostly connected to the fact that teams are simply not trying their utmost to win Cactus League games.

We see this in line-ups which become a game of “Who’s he?” after the fifth inning. In pitchers who enter a game more interested in refining a particular pitch – or perhaps, trying out a new one – than getting people out. In outfielders not putting their bodies on the line to make preseason plays which could end up in injury. In schedules which don’t reflect the regular season – this spring, the D-backs play the White Sox as often as any NL West opponent. In veterans who, let’s be honest, aren’t fighting for a roster spot, know exactly what they need to do to be ready, and are understandably disinclined to do any more.

There is an argument to be made that there is a connection, but it’s diluted by time. After all, the Opening Day roster for the D-backs in 2025, was radically different from the one which took the field after the trade deadline. [As a rough check, of the fourteen players to appear in the D-backs’ August 1 game against the Athletics, only half were on the Opening Day roster] So, let’s plot Arizona’s spring training record against what the team does at the very start of the season, with their record through the end of April that season. Maybe that will show a greater degree of correlation?

…or not. “Not” works too. Indeed, and slightly weirdly, there is actually less correlation, with a figure of just .007. It does vary. Last year, the numbers were actually fairly close: 17-14 in spring, then 16-14 through the end of April. But over three consecutive seasons either side of COVID, from 2018 through 2021, there was a gap of more than 150 points in the win percentages. The all-time gap, however, belongs to 2008, at a whopping 314 points. The Diamondbacks went an underwhelming 8-12 in spring, then roared out of the gate with a 20-8 record, before… Yeah, it kinda was downhill for them thereafter.

It does all average out over time. The composite record from 2003-25 (again, excluding 2020) comes in at a win percentage of .495, which sits almost exactly between the team’s record through April (.510) and their mark across all regular season games (.478) over the same period. The D-backs have generally been… well, mediocre over the past twenty-plus years and that is reflected in general mediocrity before Opening Day. Might be interesting to see whether or not that applies to, say, the Dodgers: are they as good in spring as they have been during the regular season? But, meh. It’s the Dodgers, so who cares?

Below is the actual data used in the graphs. Told you I’d show my working. 🙂

Mets top outfield prospect Carson Benge entered 2026 spring training with every chance to not only win a spot on the Opening Day roster but also the starting job in right field.

And while the team concluded their Grapefruit League schedule with a 4-3 loss to the Miami Marlins on Sunday afternoon, Benge still does not yet know what his fate will be, telling reporters afterwards that he still has not been informed whether or not he has made the team.

“Still waiting,” he said with a smile.

On paper, Benge did everything he needed to, and then some, to make the club this spring. The 23-year-old hit .366 with a .435 OBP, driving in five runs and stealing a base. And that doesn’t include a home run that he hit in an exhibition game against Team Israel.

But even more than that, Benge looked the part, which was what the Mets wanted to see from him this spring. He worked the count, took pitches the other way, and looked good defensively in right field.

"I’m happy that I carried myself in a very good way and I showed everyone what kind of person I am, and I feel like that spoke the loudest for me," Benge said.

With Mike Tauchman heading for meniscus surgery, all signs point towards Benge not only making the team but starting on Thursday against Pirates ace Paul Skenes.

But whether Benge ends up making the club or not, he gained some invaluable experience by being around the team for all of 2026 camp.

"Just the level that these guys play at, day in and day out they put in the work," Benge said. "They put real focus into everything they do, from preparation, hydration, stuff on the field, and stuff off the field. That’s really what I picked up."

The Mets will pack up and head back to New York, where they'll play an intra-squad scrimmage game on Monday in preparation for Thursday's Opening Day.

Benge was unsure whether or not he'll be heading north with the big club, but he's ready to roll with the punches on whatever comes next.

"I’m excited to get out of here and play some ball, wherever that may be," he said.

Will Warren has set the tone this spring, and his final tune-up did not disappoint, as the Yankees defeated the Phillies 6-2 on Sunday afternoon.

In what turned into an eventful first inning, Warren had to work around a leadoff double by Kyle Schwarber. After the extra-base hit, Warren leaned on both his stuff and a little help from the challenge system. J.T. Realmuto had a borderline pitch called a ball, but catcher J.C. Escarra quickly signaled for a review. The call was overturned, giving Warren his first strikeout of the afternoon.

Bryce Harper followed with a challenge of his own the following at bat on a called strike and lost, then grounded out to move Schwarber to third, briefly putting pressure back on the Yankees’ right-hander.

With a runner 90 feet away, Warren went right back to work. After getting ahead in the count, he turned to the ABS system himself when a two-strike pitch at the top of the zone was called a ball. Warren’s challenge was successful and the call was overturned, strike three was awarded, and Schwarber was stranded at third to end the inning.

In total, the Yankees went 2-for-2 on successful challenges in the frame, while one additional challenge against them stood. The most aggressive team using the system this spring lived up to that billing early and often on Sunday.

After the leadoff hit, Warren retired 15 straight. His final line was all you could hope for and then some: five innings, six strikeouts, one hit, no walks, and just 62 pitches.

It was the perfect finishing touch on a strong spring for the still-official-nickname-less Will Warren. If he keeps pitching like this, he is going to need one. Wicked Willy? The Mississippi Magician? We’ll work on it.

Soon, the Yankees broke the gridlock. Following a successful challenge, Ryan McMahon put New York on the board with a single to center, scoring Giancarlo Stanton and moving Jazz Chisholm Jr. to third.

Jazz did not stay there long, coming home on Escarra’s hard-hit single to right as the Yankees pushed the lead to 2-0. Nola limited the damage from there, stranding two runners to end the fourth, but his afternoon would not last much longer.

In the bottom of the fifth, Aaron Judge put an emphatic end to Nola’s outing, launching a changeup over the left-field wall for one of his trademark, effortless rockets. The blast traveled 380 feet off the bat at 111.7 mph and would have left all 30 big league parks, a reminder that even in spring, Judge’s power plays anywhere.

The Yankees were not done in the inning. Ben Rice followed Judge’s home run with a double and later came around to score on a Chisholm single to right, extending the lead and continuing a strong offensive frame.

The Phillies threatened in the top of the seventh, loading the bases with no outs against Camilo Doval. Doval responded by strucking out Adolis García and then induced Edmundo Sosa into an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play, escaping the jam and preserving the Yankees’ lead.

The Phillies finally broke through in the top of the eighth against left-hander Tim Hill. Schwarber got all of a sinker and drove it out to left, cutting the Yankees’ lead in half at 4-2.

The Yankees answered right back in the bottom of the eighth.

Max Schuemann laid down a sacrifice bunt to bring home Oswaldo Cabrera, pushing the lead back to three. Moments later, Amed Rosario followed with a single up the middle, scoring Kyle West making the score were it would finish at 6-2.

The Yankees now head west to wrap up spring training with a two-game matchup against the Cubs at Sloan Park in Mesa, Arizona.

First pitch is scheduled for 3:05 p.m. ET, with the game available on WFAN 660 AM for Yankees listeners and 104.3 The Score for Cubs coverage. Carlos Lagrange is expected to get the start for New York, while Shota Imanaga is lined up for Chicago.

Box Score

Following an altercation on the global stage, Seattle teammates have returned their focus to Opening Day.

Mariners outfielder Randy Arozarena revealed Saturday that he has apologized to teammate Cal Raleigh, following his flagrant rant aimed at the superstar catcher earlier this month at the World Baseball Classic.

In a statement released through the club, the two-time All-Star emphasized that there’s no bad blood between the “brothers and teammates.”

“I understand that with Opening Day a few days away, I don’t want it to be a distraction,” Arozarena said. “Cal and I have talked and I apologized for what I said after the game. Nothing in the WBC takes away from the fact that we are brothers and teammates.”

The Mariners sluggers sparked controversy at the WBC while pitted against each other during Team USA’s 5-3 group stage win over Mexico on March 9.

Raleigh, behind the dish for the U.S., spurned a handshake from Arozarena as he came up to bat, the same non-greeting that Mexico’s star outfielder received from U.S. catcher Will Smith at the 2023 WBC. 

Even so, Arozarena didn’t take kindly to being slighted by his longtime teammate — with whom he’s played since 2024 and helped punch Seattle’s first ticket to the ALCS since 2001 — going off on a profanity-laced tirade in Spanish to Mexican journalist Luis Gilbert after the game.

Raleigh immediately brushed off the situation, saying the pair had already spoken and that it wasn’t a “big deal at all.”

In case there was any doubt, the reigning MLB home run king reiterated his comments on Saturday, telling reporters that he and Arozarena are both ready to put the past behind them.

“We talked it out, and everything went great,” Raleigh said, via MLB.com. “Randy knows that I love him, and he’s a brother, and it’s in the past and none of us are carrying this forward. We’re in a good spot. We talked it out. We were both sorry, and we both got in a good place and we’re both happy to be here, too.

“It was really good walking in the door and seeing everybody. As fun as [the WBC] was, it was nice to feel back here. It feels like the family’s all back together in a way.”

Mariners skipper Dan Wilson applauded Seattle’s united clubhouse, underscoring that he wasn’t shocked by Arozarena’s apology — and that everyone’s focused on the same goal.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” Wilson said, via MLB.com. “That’s what we’ve talked about in that clubhouse. It’s just a special group. They love each other, and yeah, it’s time. I think we’re all ready to get back to Seattle and get this thing started.”

The defending AL West champs open their season at home against the Guardians on Thursday.