Category: MLB

PHOENIX –– When it comes to the new ball-strike challenge system being implemented in Major League Baseball this year, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts doesn’t yet have any hard-and-fast rules for his players.

But on Friday, he offered a few general guidelines.

“I think right now, I feel comfortable with the catchers doing the challenges versus the pitchers,” Roberts said on the eve of the Dodgers’ Cactus League opener –– in which they will get to test the new automated ball-strike system (ABS for short) for the first time.

And what if a pitcher decides to challenge a call?

“He’d better be right,” Roberts said, laughing.

Such is the new dynamic players will face with the advent of ABS. Starting this year, the automated reviews will give each team the opportunity to challenge at least two ball-strike calls per game. And unlike normal manager challenges on all other types of play, an ABS review can only be initiated by a hitter, catcher or pitcher –– who may do so by tapping their head within two seconds of each pitch.

Once a team loses two challenges, its players won’t be able to dispute any further calls in a game (unless there are extra innings, in which case teams will be awarded another challenge opportunity).

“I think it’s good that we’re practicing it in spring,” Roberts said. “We’re having conversations about leverage and how to use it to our advantage.”

The ABS system, which relies on Hawk-Eye ball tracking cameras within ballparks to determine whether a pitch was in the strike zone, has been a long time coming. 

Since 2022, it has been tested in the minor leagues, where players and teams came to prefer having a limited number of challenges per game over allowing the system to make every pitch call, no matter what.

Last spring, MLB gave it a trial run in big-league spring training games, gathering feedback that was used to craft the specifics for its regular-season rollout now.

“I think it should benefit baseball,” Roberts said.

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One of the big points of previous dispute regarding ABS usage: the strike zone itself.

Veteran third baseman Max Muncy noted that, in early versions of ABS that he experienced while on minor-league rehab assignments in recent years, the top of the zone seemed atypically high –– differing significantly from the way many human umpires called the game.

“There were some pitches that, I’d go back and look at the iPad just to see (if they would be called strikes),” he recalled. “And there were ones literally at my eyes that it would say is a strike, just because of how the zone is measured.”

Now, however, MLB has made some tweaks.

Compared with data compiled from actual umpires’ calls, the top and bottom of the ABS zone have been made slightly tighter (“That stinks a little bit,” Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow joked). The league has also been measuring players’ heights this spring for ABS purposes, so each batter will have a zone proportional to their size.

“They’re doing things to make it better, I think,” Muncy said. “But there’s no way to tell until we actually get it.”

For the Dodgers, that process will start Saturday, providing a new subplot to follow over the course of the season.

Now, just like batting average and on-base percentage, players will undoubtedly have their challenge success rate tracked –– by media, coaches and front office analysts most of all.

Their ability to judge the right time in a game to challenge calls will also be scrutinized, introducing a new strategic element to every at-bat.

“You really have to know when you should challenge and when you can’t,” Muncy said. “Like, if it’s the third inning, 0-2 count, two outs and there’s no one on, and there’s a pitch that’s called on you that’s maybe borderline –– even if you’re right, is that really gonna change that much? And if it’s the eighth inning, full count, bases loaded and a pitch is borderline, even if you’re wrong, to me that’s an OK time to challenge.”

To Roberts, it means that “some hitters have to be honest with themselves” in the heat of the moment and avoid risking challenges at the wrong time simply out of frustration with borderline calls. 

“That goes with baseball IQ,” he said. “Understanding when you challenge, when you don’t.”

And for pitchers like Glasnow, it means leaving the responsibility largely up to the catchers, who have the best view of the zone from right behind the plate.

“Now, if it’s super obvious, I might (still challenge a call),” Glasnow added with a chuckle.

If he does, as Roberts cautioned, he just better be right.

Record: 1-0. Change on 2025: +1. 5-inning record 0-1.

The Diamondbacks got off to a winning start this afternoon, coming from behind with a two-run eighth inning to prevail over their SRF-mates from Colorado. It was a day for the new guys, with all three Arizona runs being driven in by players who weren’t part of the organization at the end of last season. Nolan Arenado got the team on the board with the D-backs’ first home-run (below), giving them a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Then, trailing 2-1 in the eighth, shortstop Jacob Amaya singled home A.J. Vukovich with the tying run. Catcher Matt O’Neill then double home Amaya, with what proved to be the winning run for Arizona.

A beautiful site to see pic.twitter.com/7DjWoid3JU

— DBacks Dispatch (@DbacksDispatch) February 20, 2026

On the pitching side, the D-backs used eight different pitchers, seven of whom put up zeroes. The exception was Isaiah Campbell, who allowed both Rockies’ runs in the fourth, on a pair of hits. However, the defense didn’t help him on either of those. The first was an infield single to former D-backs Jake McCarthy, though Arenado’s attempt to get him at first… was not great. Playing left, Ryan Waldschmidt then got all turned around, with a very poor first step on a ball which ended up whistling over his head for an RBI triple. But otherwise, decent results, with Thomas Hatch and Andrew Hoffmann each getting two K’s in the first and second innings.

They were helped considerably by Gabriel Moreno using his ball-strike challenges effectively behind the plate. He got three reversals in a row, turning balls into strikes, before the end of the second. It was not a good day for home-plate umpire Alex McKay. All told six of seven challenges by the players ended up being successful. Also, in kneejerk reactions, Waldschmidt didn’t look great at the plate overall, though did scald the day’s hardest-hit ball at an impressive 115.6 mph. Nor did Druw Jones impress the SnakePit, but Tommy Troy had some decent at-bats. Alek Thomas reached base safely in both of his at-bats, on a walk and a hit.

We’ll be back tomorrow, facing the same opposition, with the Diamondbacks the home-team this time! It will be another 1:10 pm start at Salt River Fields, with Mitch Bratt making his Diamondbacks debut.

By this time tomorrow, the Braves will have gotten done with their first spring training game of the season. That’s pretty exciting, even if all that means is that the countdown to the Opening Day will officially be underway. Anyways, here’s hoping tomorrow goes well. The floor is now yours and here’s a random clip:

Last game: 8-1 loss to White Sox

Next spring training game: Saturday, Feb. 21, vs. Rangers at Sloan Park, 2:05 p.m. CT. TV: Marquee Sports Network. Radio: The Score.

Next regular season game: Thursday, March 26, vs. Nationals at Wrigley Field, time TBD. TV: Marquee Sports Network

Cubs radio: WSCR/The Score (all regular season games), Sirius XM radio (click for channel), Cubs broadcast radio affiliates

Current MLB standings

2026 Cubs regular season schedule

Cubs 2026 spring training record: 0-1
Al’s 2025 spring training record: 0-1

Cubs 2025 regular season record: 92-70 (50-31 home, 42-39 road)
Cubs 2025 postseason record: 4-4 (4-1 home, 0-3 road)
Al’s 2025 regular season record: 53-37 (50-31 home, 3-6 road)
Al’s 2025 postseason record: 4-2 (4-1 home, 0-1 road)

Cubs 2025 regular season record on various TV channels

Marquee Sports Network: 81-64
Fox: 4-2
ESPN: 4-2
Apple TV+: 3-1
Roku: 0-1

Cubs 2025 regular season record wearing various uniforms

White pinstripe: 41-25
Chicago Blues: 9-4
Blue alternate: 14-15
Road gray: 28-25
Ryne Sandberg tribute: 0-1

It’s rare that a Cactus League opener is better welcomed for its final score than for the mere notion that baseball is back. But with an 8-1 walloping of the Cubs at their Sloan Park home field — and against a true Cubs rotation piece in Jameson Taillon, at that — the White Sox managed to make this opener more about the result.

Not to say it isn’t wonderful to have baseball back, even facing a club wearing those cuddly pinstriped PJs. But the South Siders made hay all day, pounding Cubs pitching for 12 hits, six of them for extra bases.

Right off, it was Austin Hays homering in his first White Sox appearance. (If memory serves, Austin Slater homered in his first regular season PA for the club, and his flip at the trade deadline last summer eventually netted Chicago a potential fifth starter, so start shopping again in the Bronx Bombers Gift Book, Chris Getz.)

(OK, well MLB had the Hays homer footage up earlier, but now it’s gone. It was a sweet, 105.6 mph smash to left field, chasing a Kyle Teel ground out off the bat at 107.4.)

Crisp contact would quickly become a theme of the day. After White Sox starter Jonathan Cannon (an OK first start despite 41 pitches to get five outs, three Ks, a walk and a homer) lost the lead to a Seiya Suzuki long ball in the Cubs half of the first, the Good Guys really went to work.

Derek Hill started off his 1-for-1, two-walks afternoon with a free pass, and on an 0-2 count next Sam Antonacci crushed a room-service fastball deep and out to right field. With this bat chuck from Sam, you would have thought he struck out, but the paisan announced his Spring Training presence with authority either way:

The White Sox picked up another off of Taillon right away, as Korey Lee singled and stole second, driven home by a Tristan Peters single.

Two innings later, three walks sandwiched around a single out packed the sacks for Munetaka Murakami. What happened next could be characterized as a gift double courtesy of Suzuki or a ball that would have been a grand slam in 16 of 30 MLB parks, depending on which side of town in which you reside:

By the way, Munetaka swung through a 95 mph fastball on the first pitch of the at-bat, but when Cubs reliever Porter Hodge cited the pregame skinnies and dipped right back into the well for a nearly identical pitch, Mune crushed it 408 feet off the center field wall. Take your scouting report and shove it, MLB.

Munetaka’s two hits on the day cracked off the bat at 108.3 (second-inning single) and 105.5 (fourth-inning double).

After Antonacci eventually ended the fourth inning with a GIDP, the game shifted to let’s-finish mode, with a parade of outs and just three more extra-base hits for either side.

Two of the XBHs was from “singles hitter” William Bergolla Jr., with a double in the sixth and two-bagger in the eighth that would lead him home as the South Siders’ final run.

And the other one, well, get on the Braden Montgomery hype train, because he clocked a first-pitch, two-out triple to drive in Darren Baker from first:

CHECK OUT THAT SPEED. It’s a standup triple on a screaming liner to the wall. Montgomery is at or past second base by the time the ball is fielded and is nearly standing on third by the time the cutoff man has the pill. Whoa.

All in all, a splendid opener for the White Sox. Shed a tiny tear for those ivy bumblers.

The undefeated Chicago Nine will lace ’em back up tomorrow for the Camelback Ranch opener against the A’s, which will be a CHSN broadcast to boot.

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The Dodgers‘ iconic uniform has looked off the last few seasons.

When Nike rolled out its Vapor Premier template across Major League Baseball in 2024, the backlash was swift. Players around the league grumbled about thinner fabric, awkward fits and pants that felt better suited for a beach volleyball tournament than a pennant race.

Fingers were pointed at MLB and Fanatics. Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin insisted his company merely followed Nike’s blueprint. Nike designed it. MLB approved it. Fanatics executed it.

The backlash was felt in Los Angeles as well, but it wasn’t just the breathability of the uniforms. Fans noticed instantly that the script was off.

The second “d” in “Dodgers” was sliced in half by the jersey placket, as if someone had taken scissors to the logo at the wrong time. A tiny detail, some said. Tell that to a fan who’s worn that script across his chest since childhood.

For 2026, Nike finally listened to the fans and made changes.

The font is larger. The spacing is cleaner. Most importantly, the lowercase “d” no longer awkwardly straddles both sides of the jersey opening.

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There’s a clean, traditional break between the “o” and the “d,” restoring the classic flow of the Dodgers’ iconic chest script. The material has also been upgraded — thicker, more durable, less transparent — a nod to the chorus of player complaints that began in spring 2024.

Nike fixes #Dodgers jerseys for 2026 feature including a corrected script logo where the letter "d" is no longer split by the placket. The redesign restores a more traditional, larger font for lettering & Numbers
A return to more durable, higher-quality fabric. pic.twitter.com/YJV1OIQYfl

— Patrick Robles (@roblespan) February 20, 2026

In the post above, you can see the differences in the uniform from last season to this season.

The Dodgers open their Cactus League season on Saturday at Tempe Diablo Stadium against the Angels. They will open their 2026 campaign on March 26 at Dodger Stadium against the Diamondbacks.

Flashing bleached hair under his cap as he settles in with his new team, Dodgers closer Edwin Díaz threw his first pitch of Thursday's live bating practice session to Freddie Freeman. It was called a strike. As Díaz got set for his next pitch, Freeman tapped on his helmet in a playful attempt to challenge the call.

In response, Díaz tapped his cap twice.

These gestures will become the norm in major league baseball this season, starting this weekend, thanks to the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System.

Each team will begin games with two challenges, initiated by a pitcher, hitter or catcher tapping their head within seconds of the call — no dugout consultation allowed. The moment it's challenged, a graphic will show the result of the challenge on the video board and once the call is confirmed or overturned, the game will go on.

Read more:Mookie Betts eyes a bounce-back year at the plate: 'I'll see what I can make of it'

Teams retain challenges when they're successful and lose them when they're not.

The added layer of strategy intrigues Stephen Nelson, the Dodgers’ radio play-by-play voice.

“As humans we are naturally resistant to change, especially baseball fans, and I say that as a baseball fan,” Nelson said this week at the team's Camelback Ranch training facility. “So there's definitely going to be that early period where everybody's probably going to hate it, but you got to get through that.”

In recent years, MLB has tweaked the game — implementing a replay system to challenge calls on the field, placing a runner on second base to start extra innings, using a pitch clock. The ABS system has been tested in the minor leagues since 2022, and major leaguers got a taste of it during spring training last year and also in the All-Star Game.

In 288 spring games last year, there was an average of 4.1 challenges per game, adding an average of 57 seconds to it. Pitchers and catchers successfully overturned calls more often than hitters.

So who will be in charge of making challenges during at-bats?

“I will let the catcher dictate if he [wants] to challenge or not,” Díaz said this week. “I won’t do it … he’s been there all day long, they know the strike zone for the umpire.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was hesitant to say the club will have a hard rule on who can call for challenges. He feels more comfortable with his catcher doing it than a hitter or pitcher, but if a catcher decides to challenge, he expects them to be right.

“He better be right,” Roberts said Friday.

“It’s good that we're practicing in spring, but we're having conversations about leverage and how to use it to our advantage,” he added.

Roberts said if hitters want to make a call, they need to be honest with themselves about their personal knowledge of the strike zone and their baseball IQ and understand when to challenge a call and when not to.

Read more:Healthy, slimmer Teoscar Hernández 'out to prove something' this season with Dodgers

“There's no perfect science to it, but we're just going to keep talking about it, trying to educate our guys,” he said.

Luis Cruz, a former player and now a Spanish-language announcer for the Dodgers, said hitters don’t need to be thinking about challenging a call.

“I don’t want to have another thing in my mind … then you lose your focus on your at-bat,” he said.

Jackson Ferris to start Sunday's game

Left-hander Jackson Ferris, the Dodgers' minor league pitcher of the year in 2024, will start Sunday's game against the San Diego Padres at the Peoria Sports Complex.

Ferris, acquired along with outfield prospect Zyhir Hope from the Chicago Cubs for Michael Busch two years ago, logged a 3.86 ERA and 1.46 walks plus hits per inning pitched across 26 games and 126 innings at double-A Tulsa last season.

“I like Jackson,” Roberts said. “I like the player. He’s a good kid. A lot of talent. I think for me, it’s just trying to harness his arsenal. It’s a good fastball. He needs to continue to get ahead, be able to put hitters away with the secondary pitches, be efficient with his pitches per inning, but I like Jackson. He’s really talented. He’s scratching the surface, but he’s gotta go out there and perform, so I’m excited to see him on Sunday, and throughout the spring.”

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Good afternoon everyone, it’s time to dive back into the mailbag and answer some of your questions. Remember to send in your questions for our weekly call by e-mail to pinstripealleyblog [at] gmail [dot] com.

ReadingYankee asks:I am starting to worry about the production of Stanton. He is aging and proved less effective in the postseason last year, although it would be foolish to expect his 2024 production again. He has another year or two, and he has not been trusted in the outfield more than a game or two in the last couple seasons. At what point do the Yankees pull the plug on an oft-injured, DH-only type player? And when that happens, what will be their plan for the DH spot?

Much like the offense at large, I’m willing to give some grace to Giancarlo Stanton’s performance in the postseason because of the heater he was on in the regular season, especially given the strong performances he’s shown in nearly every other October run. The team isn’t going to cut bait on one of the veterans of this clubhouse while he still has some juice left in his bat, and his absences aren’t that big of a hit because they free up space for the rest of the team to cycle through quasi-rest days as a DH. Between getting their superstar Aaron Judge some half-days, flexing Ben Rice’s spot in the lineup around, and working in playing time for Jasson Domínguez should he be on the major league roster, there’s plenty of options to fill the gap.

The concern going forward, however, is just how much mileage is actually left on those legs. Stanton’s been a notorious slow-returner from his injuries (which makes the run he put on in 2025 even more incredible), so if he has a season where he’s a frequent flier on the IL instead of going through one big injury, that could spell disaster for his productivity. There’s also the concern that Stanton’s good year was a product of how little he actually had to play, and while there’s a running assumption that he’s going to miss time in every season going forward the goal is to still field the best team possible — if Stanton is gassed from the rigors of a 162-game season by the end of it all, he may not find himself penciled in when the chips are down.

jmack1775 asks:Why did we get Goldy to platoon with Rice when Rice should be an everyday player and learn to be at least passable against lefties? And if the plan is for Rice to catch a significant amount of games and Goldy to fill in at 1b, isn’t Rice’s value diminished at catcher?

Paul Goldschmidt’s place on the team this year is more of a mentor figure for Rice to learn the position, as the Yankees likely see him as their everyday first baseman of the future. He’ll get the lion’s share of starts at the position, and then for the games where Goldschmidt takes over against lefties that frees Rice up to see time behind the plate and still get in the lineup for the experience (and hopefully, improvement). It shouldn’t be a significant amount of games where Rice is catching, since J.C. Escarra is still the backup catcher and Rice will be going in as the defined starter at first as opposed to bouncing around looking for playing time. Was it the ideal fit? No, and the Yankees outright acknowledged this when Aaron Boone discussed the signing, but there are ways that it can work out quite well for New York.

Shoducky asks:What would it take to pry Mason Miller away from the Friars? Would a package of Dominguez and Gil do it?

Trade packages are generally a tricky thing to speculate on considering the strengths of one system aren’t going to be the same as another, and organizations have internal scouting on prospects that differ from the outside publications — that being said, the Padres traded the No. 3 prospect in baseball at the time to acquire Miller as the headliner of a four-player package at last year’s deadline. The Yankees don’t have a prospect anywhere close to that ranking on any board, and even considering that the cost would be lowered with one less year of control on Miller’s contract it’d be a tough pitch for the Padres to listen in on. New York has also shied away from the flashier bullpen additions as of late, both in terms of free agent deals and in trades, with their deal for David Bednar being an exception that still only cost the team their eighth-best prospect. If they wanted to change direction on that they certainly could, but that’s likely a discussion for the summer when there’s a clearer field of targets to acquire.

Pablo Lopez will miss the 2026 season. 

The Twins right-hander is set to undergo Tommy John Surgery next week after it was discovered that he had a torn ulnar collateral ligament earlier this week. 

Lopez, who turns 30 next month, had felt something in his elbow during a bullpen session on Monday. 

The injury also takes Lopez out of the World Baseball Classic, during which he was set to take the mound for Venezuela. 

The typical recovery timeline for Tommy John is roughly 12-to-18 months, meaning Lopez could be back on a big league mound by early next season. 

It’s the second time in Lopez’s professional career that he will undergo Tommy John, having previously done the surgery in 2014 while he was in the Mariners’ organization. 

Lopez has been Minnesota’s starter in each of their last three Opening Days since being traded over by the Marlins before the 2023 season. 

In three seasons with the Twins, Lopez has posted a 3.68 ERA across 78 starts. 

During his debut season with the team in 2023, Lopez had the best season of his career, making his first and only All-Star team and finishing 7th in the AL Cy Young voting with a 3.66 ERA across 194 innings. 

Last season, Lopez dominated with a 2.74 ERA, although he was limited to just 14 starts with a shoulder and forearm strain. 

After finishing 70-92 last season, Twins management cleaned house this offseason. 

Shortly after the regular season’s end, Minnesota fired manager Rocco Baldelli after seven seasons at the helm, later replacing him with Derek Shelton. 

Late last month, with spring training just weeks away, the Twins and president of baseball and business operations Derek Falvey “mutually” agreed to split ways.

The team announced general manager Jeremy Zoll would continue “leading” the baseball department after Falvey’s departure.

The Yankees’ first Grapefruit League game is in the books. For those hoping for some offense, that was always going to be a tough ask for a lineup that had just four major leaguers, especially when they’ve all been subbed out by the middle of the sixth. Jazz Chisholm Jr. singled in the first, but they managed just two more singles in the final 8.1 innings of the game, Orioles pitchers tallying 13 strikeouts on the afternoon. By far, the bright spot of the game was the performance of top pitching prospect Elmer Rodríguez, who pitched three scoreless innings after earning the start in the spring training opener. Pete Alonso crushed a two-run bomb in the sixth to account for all of the scoring in this game as the Yankees drop the spring opener to the Orioles, 2-0.

The Orioles had their ace Trevor Rogers on the mound coming off 18 impressive starts in 2025 when he posted a 1.81 ERA. His velocity was already at mid-season form, but that didn’t prevent Chisholm from logging the first hit in all of spring training, the second baseman dumping a two-out single to right on a 1-1 slider at the bottom of the zone.

first base hit of Spring belongs to @j_chisholm3 🔥 pic.twitter.com/hmXswcjfGK

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) February 20, 2026

In the bottom half, we got our first look at the Yankees’ top overall pitching prospect, Elmer Rodríguez. The 22-year-old righty was named Baseball America’s Yankees Minor League Player of the Year in 2025 after posting a 2.58 ERA across Double-A and Triple-A and the second-most strikeouts in the minors (176). He looked impressively sharp in his first taste of pitching against major league hitters, getting Gunnar Henderson and Pete Alonso to roll over a pair of soft grounders before striking out the Orioles’ top overall prospect Samual Basallo on an elevated heater, Rodríguez’s sinker touching as high as 97 in the first.

Rodríguez had his first brush with traffic on the bases in the second and passed that test as well. Baltimore had runners on the corners following a Tyler O’Neill leadoff single and Adley Rutschman one-out single, but Rodríguez worked himself out of the jam by getting Heston Kjerstad to bounce into the inning-ending double play on a perfectly located 1-2 changeup on the corner low and away. We also got our first ABS challenge earlier in the frame, Rodríguez having a strike two call confirmed after Colton Cowser challenged.

Rogers departed after two innings, replaced by reliever Keegan Akin, while Rodríguez was allowed to pitch the third. The Orioles started to barrel up the baseball the second time the top of the order faced Rodríguez, Henderson lining a two-out single to center and Alonso clubbing what looked like a sure-thing RBI double into the gap in left center, but non-roster invitee and former minor league Gold Glove winner Kenedy Corona made a fabulous diving catch to save a run and end the inning for the first web gem of spring.

Despite the harder hit balls to end his outing, Rodríguez was nothing short of impressive in his spring debut. His sinker had decent velocity, averaging 94, while the changeup and slider look like his go-to weapons to induce whiffs. Overall, he posted a very good 29-percent called-strike-plus-whiff rate and an even better 70-percent groundball rate. Most notably, Rodríguez exhibited sharp command of four different pitches, able to find the edges of the zone with the sinker, cutter, changeup, and slider. He departed after three scoreless innings having allowed three hits and no walks with one strikeout on 42 total pitches.

Jake Bird was the first reliever out of the bullpen for the Yankees, and he maneuvered around an O’Neill one-out single by inducing the inning-ending double play from Cowser. Austin Wells unsuccessfully challenged a pair of called balls that weren’t particularly close in the fourth and fifth innings, meaning the Yankees were out of challenges for the rest of the game. New York subbed out all their starters shortly thereafter, but not before Alonso provided the only offense of the contest, a booming two-run blast to left off a hanging first-pitch curveball from career minor-leaguer Bradley Hanner.

The Yankees offense went hitless for a six-inning stretch, their two other singles coming from substitutes Jackson Castillo in the seventh and Jonathan Ornelas in the ninth. Outside of Hanner in the sixth, you have to admire the job done by the Yankees pitchers, Rodríguez, Bird, Kervin Castro, Carson Coleman, and Dylan Coleman combining to toss seven scoreless frames. I also reckon there will be more excitement on offense as more lineup regulars are worked into spring games.

The Yankees return to Tampa to host the Tigers in the spring home opener at George M. Streinbrenner Field. Aaron Judge is penciled in to right field, while Rodríguez’s fellow top pitching prospect Carlos Lagrange draws the start against Keider Montero. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 pm ET with the broadcast moving to YES.

Box Score

As many suspected once the news of Pablo López’s ligament tear broke, the right-hander’s season is over.

One day into the 2026 season, the Twins lost their #1 starter to an elbow injury during live batting practice. López will now spend the season recovering after doctors reconstruct his elbow.

In terms of roster construction, this immediately knocks askew any perceptions of trying to win with this roster constructed from pockets sewn shallow. Joe Ryan, who spent last year in Cy Young contention, stays at the top of the rotation unless or until he gets traded; behind him, the Twins have a handful of back-of-rotation players, at least one of which now have to elevate their play if the team hopes to, as ownership insists, win with the guys they have.

We’ve already discussed on the site the different options Minnesota has to fill out their rotation, whether through elevated an untested player or bringing in someone still on the market. But whichever option the front office chooses, the team now lacks one of their best players, an energetic fan favorite.

The news of López’s surgery was not a surprise, but to all Twins fans, it was a disappointment, and fewer and fewer will be looking forward to the 2026 season. It’s still baseball, but the excitement that comes with spring has faded.

After that Canada/Finland, I’m sure I’m five pounds lighter.

Tomorrow, we get our first real fake baseball game of the year. The Jays are playing the Philles in Dunedin. It is a 1:00 pm start time and it will be on Sportsnet 1. Eric Lauer is listed to start the game.

And speaking of Lauer, he told Gregor Chisholm that, he felt, the Jays told him he would be in the starting rotation this season. But, after adding, Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce, there might not be a spot for him.

“It is a little frustrating,” Lauer admitted during an interview with the Star this week. “I mean, I was told last year some things, like, for certain would happen this year, and then we made some moves.

“We got some great guys, so I’m not mad about that, but I think I’m still in a position where I’m in a great spot to produce and all I have to do is go out there and do it.”

I do feel for him. He was terrific last year, and, generally, that would mean he would have a spot in the rotation. But the team does have to do what they think is best, they had the chance to improve the pitching staff. It would be wrong not to do it.

Having the extra arm is great for the team, but not so great for Eric. If he starts the season in the bullpen and stays there for a couple of months, it would be hard to see him switching back to the rotation. If he really wants to be a starter, I guess he could ask for a trade, though it might be hard to leave a team that made it to the World Series.

He is a free agent after the season. If he were to get 30 starts and pitch the way he had last year, he’d be looking at a big contract. If he is a long reliever, he would likely be looking at far less of a payday.

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Beyond that there isn’t a lot for Jays’ News:

• Kevin Gausman talked about the possibility of retiring after the season. I’m expecting that he’ll be good enough this year to get offers that he would have a hard time refusing.
• Shane Bieber is further ahead than the Jays thought he would be. He’s throwing ‘120 feet’. There is no rush to get him onto the mound, but he might get there sooner than we figured.
• Shi Davidi tells us that Ricky Tiedeman feels good, thinks he’s ready to contribute and that he threw two simulated innings yesterday.

Happy Friday.

I don’t have anything especially profound to share with you other than one new fact. We’ll have live game discussion threads for all of the St. Louis Cardinals regular season games obviously, but also now for all of the Spring Training games.

In a normal world, there wouldn’t be a lot to talk about during Spring Training, but the St. Louis Cardinals are in a pivotal year where there should be plenty to discuss. How does JJ Wetherholt look so far? Do Jordan Walker’s swing decisions look any better? We’ll have so many opportunities to overanalyze and overreact to everything and anything the St. Louis Cardinals do until they break camp for the regular season.

First Spring Training game is Saturday, February 21 at 12:05pm central time as the St. Louis Cardinals take on the Washington Nationals. I plan to be here and I invite you to the Spring Training baseball discussion party, too.