Category: MLB

When the San Francisco Giants and New York Yankees Opening Day rosters take the field at Oracle Park this afternoon for the first game of the Major League Baseball season, the Arizona Wildcats baseball program will be well represented.

Three of the six former Wildcats to appear on Opening Day rosters will be present in San Francisco: the Giants’ and Jared Oliva and Daniel Susac and the Yankees’ Austin Wells.

The three players represent the range of experience of Arizona alums in MLB. While Wells is a well-known commodity in the big leagues, Oliva and Susac are looking to make a name for themselves this season, Oliva as a journeyman outfielder and Susac as an up and coming catcher.

Here are all the former Arizona Wildcats on 2026 Opening Day rosters listed alphabetically.

Kevin Ginkel, Arizona Diamondbacks

Year in Majors: 8th

Ginkel is looking for a bounce back year after struggling last season and missing the last few months with a shoulder injury. He had a 7.36 ERA last season in 29 appearances. Ginkel should have a prominent role on a D-backs bullpen in need of dependable arms. The 32-year old Ginkel is two years removed a great 2024 year when he recorded a 3.21 ERA over 70 innings.

Scott Kingery, Chicago Cubs

Year in Majors: 7th

Kingery is back on a big league roster after being mostly out of MLB from 2021-25. Kingery appeared in 19 games with the Angels last season, recording four hits in 29 plate appearances. Kingery had a so-so Spring Training for the Cubs, hitting .204 in 24 games. Making the Cubs Opening Day roster comes as a bit of a surprise. He provides a solid glove at second base but will likely play sparingly.

Jared Oliva, San Francisco Giants

Year in Majors: 3rd (first since 2021)

Oliva, a journeyman outfielder, made the Giants roster after putting together an eye-catching Spring Training. Oliva’s bat (.375 batting average) and speed on the bases sealed his spot. Oliva has spent practically his entire career in the minors, save 26 appearances with Pittsburgh in 2020-21. He’s shown decent pop at the AAA level, but it’s hard to know if his hitting will translate to big league pitching. However long his tenure in the Giants clubhouse, Oliva’s story to the big leagues after spending most of a decade in the minors is an inspiring one.

Rob Refsnyder, Seattle Mariners

Year in Majors: 11th

Refsnyder is back on the West Coast after spending the majority of his career in the American League East (aside: Refsnyder is on his seventh team, all in the AL). The 34-year old provides a reliable bat with a knack for hitting lefties. Playing for the Red Sox last season, Refsnyder batted .304 against left-handed pitchers compared to .212 versus righties. Refsnyder’s plate approach has improved over the years. The Athletic profiled his hitting philosophy last year.

Daniel Susac, San Francisco Giants

Year in Majors: 1st

Susac is making his Major League debut for the Giants. The former first round pick by the A’s was picked up by San Francisco in the Rule 5 Draft. Susac is the second in his family to serve as the Giants’ backup catcher; his older brother Andrew played behind Buster Posey in 2014-15. Whether the younger Susac sees more playing time in the black and orange will depend on whether he can carry over his solid minor league batting numbers to the big leagues.

Austin Wells, New York Yankees

Year in Majors: 4th

Wells is the most high profile former Wildcat on this list and the guy who is under the most pressure as he enters his second season as the the Yankees’ starting catcher. Wells is considered an excellent framer of pitches, a skill that may lose some of its value under MLB’s new automated ball-strike system. Offensively, Wells hasn’t lived up to the hype. Last season he batted .219 with a .711 OPS. Those numbers earned him a lot of boos in the Bronx. The Yankees are hopeful that Wells’ strong showing in the World Baseball Classic competing for the Dominican Republic will mark a turnaround at the plate.

The Brewers have officially released their active roster for Opening Day! As of a few days ago, when the Brewers optioned Robert Gasser, Logan Henderson, and Shane Drohan to the minor leagues, it seemed certain which players would end up making the final cut. But a late trade threw one curveball into the decision-making process, so while 25 of these 26 players were expected as of this weekend, one wasn’t even in the organization.

Now presenting your 2026 Milwaukee Brewers ‼️ pic.twitter.com/oyGp4xd53M

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) March 25, 2026

That “one” is right-handed pitcher Jake Woodford, acquired from the Rays for minor-leaguer K.C. Hunt on Tuesday. Woodford is out of minor league options, so that makes Easton McGee the odd man out; he has been optioned to Triple-A Nashville.

The Brewers also officially placed several players on the injured list, and there is nothing unexpected here. Akil Baddoo, whose strained hamstring is expected to keep him out until June, has been placed on the 60-day IL, which opened the 40-man roster spot for Woodford. Steward Berroa, Quinn Priester, Craig Yoho, and Rob Zastryzny all head to the shorter IL (10 days for Berroa, 15 for the pitchers). (Dave gave updates about these players’ expected return dates yesterday.)

Besides the Woodford/McGee swap, everything else is as expected. A quick review with a few notes:

Position Players

Catchers: William Contreras and Gary Sánchez
Infielders: Jake Bauers, David Hamilton, Joey Ortiz, Luis Rengifo, Brice Turang, and Andrew Vaughn
Outfielders: Jackson Chourio, Sal Frelick, Brandon Lockridge, Garrett Mitchell, and Christian Yelich

These positional designations, used by the team, are of course not going to be completely accurate. Yelich will mostly play as the designated hitter (though the team keeps saying they aren’t afraid to use him in left field, and did so on Monday to back that up). Bauers will play sometimes, maybe frequently, in the outfield.

As for things to watch early in the season that could affect the roster, I am keeping my eye on a few, and I’ll order them in terms of my perceived urgency:

• What are the Brewers getting out of the presumed center field platoon of Mitchell and Lockridge?
• Does Ortiz look like a typical below-average, slick-fielding middle infielder, or is he as bad as last year? And how many of his at-bats are going to Hamilton?
• Does Rengifo look like a guy who can hold down the fort at third base all season?
• Is Bauers, coming off a Ruth-ian spring, making it impossible to not play him against every right-handed pitcher?
• How is Jett Williams looking at Triple-A Nashville?

The answers to these questions could determine whether this group is the same or not when summer rolls around.

Pitchers

Here’s who’ll be coming off the mound for the Brewers to start the season.

Starters: Kyle Harrison (L), Jacob Misiorowski (R), Chad Patrick (R), Brandon Sproat (R), Brandon Woodruff (R)
Relievers: Grant Anderson (R), Aaron Ashby (L), DL Hall (L), Jared Koenig (L), Trevor Megill (R), Abner Uribe (R), Jake Woodford (R), Ángel Zerpa (L)

Notably, the Brewers have just one lefty in the starting rotation… but more than half of the pitchers coming out of the bullpen are left-handed. I’m not sure how unusual that is or not, but I don’t remember the last time the Brewers did it.

Of course, Aaron Ashby and/or DL Hall could end up starting some games at some point this season, and Robert Gasser is standing in the wings at Nashville. But the Brewers have announced their starters for the first six games of the season, and they all come out of the starting group listed here.

Once again, questions I’m keeping an eye on:

• How are the young guys holding up in the rotation, and are any of them going to be replaced early in the season by the standby options in the minors (Gasser, Logan Henderson, Shane Drohan, others)?
• Who is going to have to move aside when Priester (hopefully) returns (supposedly early May), and is this group going to make that decision difficult?
• How is Woodruff’s velocity, and if it’s a little scary, is he compensating somehow?
• Are we getting about what we’re expecting from everyone in the bullpen? And what are we expecting from Zerpa?

Those are early roster-related questions I’m keeping my eyes on. I’m just glad we have real baseball to watch again!

The Tampa Bay Rays have officially finalized the 26-man roster for the 2026 season, including six players to the injured list.

Here is your 2026 Rays for Opening Day:

LEFT-HANDED PITCHERS (4): Garrett Cleavinger, Steven Matz, Shane McClanahan, Ian Seymour

RIGHT-HANDED PITCHERS (9): Bryan Baker, Joe Boyle, Mason Englert, Yoendrys Gómez, Griffin Jax, Kevin Kelly, Nick Martinez, Drew Rasmussen, Cole Sulser

CATCHERS (2): Hunter Feduccia*, Nick Fortes

INFIELDERS (5): Jonathan Aranda*, Junior Caminero, Yandy Díaz, Carson Williams, Ben Williamson

OUTFIELDERS (6): Jonny DeLuca, Jake Fraley*, Cedric Mullins*, Richie Palacios*, Chandler Simpson*, Ryan Vilade

10-DAY INJURED LIST (2): INF Gavin Lux*, INF Taylor Walls**

15-DAY INJURED LIST (2): RHP Ryan Pepiot, RHP Edwin Uceta

60-DAY INJURED LIST (2): RHP Manuel Rodríguez (recovery from right elbow surgery), RHP Steven Wilson

*left-handed batter
**switch hitting batter

It should be noted that both Palacios and Vilade are capable of manning infield positions and are in play for second base roles with Lux on the injured list with a shoulder injury, while short stop should be primarily manned by Williams following an oblique strain for Walls.

As the final move, the Rays have elected to add LHP Cam Booser to the 40-man roster, but are optioning him to Triple-A. To make room, reliever Wilson — acquired from the White Sox alongside reliever Gomez in the OF Everson Pereira/UTIL Tanner Murray trade — was moved to the 60-day injured list with a lower back injury.

With spring training having finally drawn to a close and the first official day of the 2026 Major League Baseball season arriving, the Colorado Rockies have formally announced their Opening Day 26-man roster.

Names in bold denote those players making an Opening Day roster for the first time.

Starting Rotation

• LHP Kyle Freeland, No. 21
• RHP Michael Lorenzen, No. 24
• LHP Jose Quintana, No. 62
• RHP Tomoyuki Sugano, No. 11
• RHP Ryan Feltner, No. 18

Entering his tenth MLB season, left-handed pitcher Kyle Freeland will once again lead the Rockies’ pitching rotation as the Opening Day Starter. This will mark his franchise-record fifth time getting the nod for Opening Day as he takes the mound on Friday, March 27th against the Miami Marlins.

Behind Freeland is a rotation that looks nigh-unrecognizable compared to previous seasons. Only right-handed Ryan Feltner returns in the no. 5 spot as he looks to rebound from an injury-shorted 2025 campaign.

Right-handed pitchers Michael Lorenzen and Tomoyuki Sugano, as well as left-handed pitcher Jose Quintana, are all veterans joining the Rockies for the first time as off-season free agent acquisitions.

Bullpen

• RHP Zach Agnos, No. 36
• RHP Chase Dollander, No. 32
• RHP Jimmy Herget, No. 44
• RHP Jaden Hill, No. 0
• RHP Juan Mejia, No. 47
• RHP Antonio Senzatela, No. 49
• RHP Victor Vodnik, No. 38
• LHP Brennan Bernardino, No. 83

Right-handed pitchers Antonio Senzatela and Chase Dollander will both start the season in the bullpen after competing for the fifth rotation spot during spring training. Senzatela missed valuable time to be stretched out as he joined Venezuela for the World Baseball Classic, while Dollander will be given the opportunity to face big league hitters as he continues to work on his mechanics and arsenal.

Right-handed reliever Seth Halvorsen was optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque to find his footing after a season-ending elbow injury and a difficult spring training saw him struggle to dial in his command. Fellow righties Zach Agnos, Jimmy Herget, Jaden Hill, Juan Mejia, and Victor Vodnik are all returning to the bullpen after playing significant roles there in 2025.

The Rockies’ lone left-handed reliever to start the season is Brennan Bernardino, who arrived via trade with the Boston Red Sox during the off-season.

Off-season waiver claim and right-handed pitcher Keegan Thompson has been designated for assignment

Catchers

• C Hunter Goodman, No. 15
• C Brett Sullivan, No. 26

As expected, 2025 All-Star and Silver Slugger Hunter Goodman will be the Rockies’ primary catcher to start the 2026 campaign. Non-roster invitee Brett Sullivan earned the backup catcher role after a solid showing in Cactus League play where he hit .410/.452/.821 with five doubles, a triple, three home runs, two stolen bases, and struck out just three times in 39 at-bats. He also demonstrated solid defense behind the plate.

Braxton Fulford has been optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque, where he will get regular at-bats as the Isotopes’ starting catcher.

Infielders

• 1B TJ Rumfield, No. 7
• 2B Edouard Julien, No. 6
• 3B Kyle Karros, No. 12
• SS Ezequiel Tovar, No. 14

Outfielders

• OF Jordan Beck, No. 27
• OF Brenton Doyle, No. 9
• OF Jake McCarthy, No. 31
• OF Mickey Moniak, No. 22

Utility

• Willi Castro, No. 3
• Troy Johnston, No. 20
• Ryan Ritter, No. 8

Only four of the Rockies’ non-catching position players were on last year’s Opening Day roster: Gold Glove winners Ezequiel Tovar and Brenton Doyle, as well as outfielders Jordan Beck and Mickey Moniak. Everyone else is either a new arrival from the off-season or making the Opening Day roster for the first time in their career.

Third baseman Kyle Karros and utility-man Ryan Ritter both made their MLB debuts last season and earned spots on the Opening Day roster during spring training. Karros will be the Rockies’ every-day third baseman while Ritter has taken on super-utility duties by learning outfield and first base during camp.

Edouard Julien, Jake McCarthy, and TJ Rumfield all joined the Rockies via trade over the off-season while Willi Castro was a free agent acquisition. Julien will likely be the Rockies’ back-up second baseman behind Castro, though both are able to play multiple positions. McCarthy will play corner outfield when he is not spelling Brenton Doyle in center field.

Troy Johnston, a waiver claim, made the roster after a solid spring and an injury to incumbent Tyler Freeman. He can play first base and both corner outfield positions.

TJ Rumfield, who arrived from the New York Yankees in exchange for right-handed reliever Angel Chivilli, was the standout player of spring training. He earned the starting first base job after hitting .286/.359/.554 in 23 games with five home runs and only two strikeouts over 56 at-bats. He was also the Rockies’ Abby Greer Spring Training MVP award winner.

Injured List

• 1B Blaine Crim, No. 16 (Left oblique strain) (10-Day)
• UTIL Tyler Freeman, No. 2 (Back tightness/inflammation) (10-Day)
• OF Zac Veen, No. 13 (Right knee contusion) (10-Day)
• LHP McCade Brown, No. 51 (Right shoulder inflammation) (15-Day)
• RHP RJ Petit, No. 58 (Tommy John surgery) (15-Day)
• DH Kris Bryant, No. 23 (Lumbar degenerative disk disease) (60-Day)
• RHP Jeff Criswell, No. 46 (Tommy John surgery) (60-Day)
• RHP Pierson Ohl, No. 40 (Tommy John surgery) (60-Day)

The Rockies will start the season with eight players on the injured list. Right-handed pitchers Pierson Ohl—acquired via trade with the Minnesota Twins—and RJ Petit—a Rule 5 draft selection from the Detroit Tigers—both required Tommy John surgery before the season started. Meanwhile, RHP Jeff Criswell is rehabbing from his own surgery and is expected back in April or May.

Blaine Crim, Tyler Freeman, Zac Veen, and McCade Brown all missed significant time this spring due to a variety of ailments and will not be ready to start the season.

Kris Bryant was assigned to the 60-day injured list on the first day of spring training. He is not expected to play this season.

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This is a weird post. I’ll just go ahead and get that out of the way. And then I’m going to head into a brief-ish aside.

I used to generate a lot more content. On the rare occasion I interrogate this fact, the subsequent thoughts fall into a few camps. One is that, well, I’m just busier. My bit of unsolicited life advice framed as a statement: one small child in a both-parents-work household with no non-hired help nearby is imminently doable; two small children with the same setup is really difficult. 2025 was also just a brutal year all-around, I’m not sure what 2026 represents in that regard yet. But, the other hand is that for me, MLB is shoving itself more into the “abstractly/conceptually interesting” camp rather than the “directly engaging camp.” My favorite part of baseball was roster construction, but the expanded playoffs have brutalized the idea (as expected). On top of that, there’s a bunch of non-player-related uncertainty (different balls, different rules), which both dampen the rewards to roster construction but also make baseball feel kinda serialized — “Oh, that was the year that X” — perhaps too much. I don’t know. Anyway, the combination of having less time and feeling like learning baseball things is less consequential because rosters are just kind of a morass of “we sorta tried” these days is a bummer.

Okay, I got that out of the way. And having done so, I’m going to talk about Spring Training.

The Braves won three-fourths of their official Grapefruit League contests, finishing 21-7. Even the mighty Dodgers couldn’t catch up — the Braves’ total victory over both spring leagues wasn’t assured until late, but the Dodgers ended up finishing 20-9 in the Cactus League. This, of course, means nothing. You know it means nothing, and even if it meant something, Spring Training during a World Baseball Classic year would mean even less. (Though, of course, the Braves won while missing arguably their best player for much of Spring Training…) But, it’s useful to occasionally reevaluate whether the things we think we know are true are… true. So, here we are.

I went back to 2016 (because that’s the year we have “modern” playoff odds memorialized on FanGraphs). For those years, I pulled teams if they:

1. Won either the Cactus or Grapefruit League; or
2. Didn’t win either league, but had a record better than the winner of one of those leagues.

This gave me 24 team-seasons, excluding 2020. Most years had two or three teams in this set; 2017 has four, because the Angels “won” the Cactus League with a .588 winning percentage, while three Grapefruit League teams fared better. One of those teams was the 2023 Braves, who had a .643 Spring winning percentage — behind the Cardinals that year, but still good enough to be included. (And we all know how 2023 went for the Braves!)

For each of those team-seasons, I then pulled both their actual end-of-season winning percentage, but also their before-the-season-started final projected wins point estimate. All of this is summarized below.

Some of this stuff is kinda interesting. The teams here have a collective 85 win-ish projection (whether you include 2026 or not). Actual performance for these teams ended up around 87 wins, so basically a two-win swing. It seems tempting to say that superlative Spring Training teams go on to beat their projections in the regular season, but nah — pretty much any statistical test you can muster shows no effect, something underscored by the fact that despite the two-win swing overall, ten of the 24 teams performed worse than expected. These findings are also robust to pretty much any kind of drill-down — excluding “extra” teams that didn’t win their Spring league, only taking the best team each Spring, etc. etc.

Bottom line, you already knew this: it doesn’t matter. The 2016 Nationals had an insane Spring Training, as did the 2024 Orioles. Those teams actually did do much better than expected. But the 2025 Giants are next, and they ended up at .500, as expected. The 2016 Diamondbacks weren’t supposed to be good, had a great Spring Training, and then imploded during the regular season.

You probably could’ve surmised all of this. But now you know. Yay, the Braves won in Spring Training. That’ll have to be its own reward, such as it is. Overall, the Braves will have to scrap for a playoff spot, as their injury situation and general roster malaise make this much more of a 2019-2021 situation than the expected-and-consummated dominance they managed in 2022-2023.

In 1989, the Royals had the third-best record in baseball, but fell short of a playoff spot because of the “Bash Brothers” Oakland Athletics and the lack of a Wild Card in baseball. They had an emerging superstar in Bo Jackson, a future Hall of Famer in George Brett, the reigning AL Cy Young winner in Bret Saberhagen, familiar veterans like Willie Wilson and Frank White, and solid young players like Danny Tartabull, Kevin Seitzer, Tom Gordon, Mark Gubicza, and Jeff Montgomery. Then they went out and added two big free agents, poaching 19-game winner Storm Davis from the A’s, then in a coup, signing reigning NL Cy Young winner Mark Davis away from the Padres. I asked my dad if we could get World Series tickets.

The Royals did not make the World Series.

Both Davis free agents were flops. Injuries plagued Jackson, Tartabull, and Saberhagen. The Royals finished 75-86, the fourth-worst record in the league, and their worst season since 1970.

Still, I was an 11-year old kid, whose team was demonstrably good, and had made some big splashy moves. It was also one of the first years I had followed baseball. I thought the team might be good in 2015, but I was a jaded, cynical adult by then. There is something about being young and innocent and willing to allow yourself to buy in to be excited about a team.

Think back – when were you the most excited about a Royals season on the eve of Opening Day? Was it a team that fulfilled your hopes? Or like the 1990, a team that fell flat on its face?

It’s a crowded outfield, but Aaron Judge has made the Opening Day roster.

While that may have been an easy decision, filling out the pitching staff was not, as the team elected to start the year with a four-man rotation. Offdays tomorrow and Sunday mean the club optioned Luis Gil to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and roll with a nine-piece bullpen, including Rule 5 pick Cade Winquest. Last year’s Trade Deadline acquisition Jake Bird will start the year with the MLB team, a step forward after a near-immediate optioning to the minors last season, and Brent Headrick rounds out the relief corps.

It’s also worth noting that a remarkably healthy spring training meant that there was just no room for Jasson Domínguez to get regular reps, so he’s down in Triple-A with Gil to begin 2026, while a more traditional fourth outfielder is on the roster instead in former Yankee killer Randal Grichuk. The RailRiders begin their season tomorrow in Buffalo, so the likes of Domínguez, Gil, Oswaldo Cabrera, Spencer Jones, Elmer Rodríguez, and Carlos Lagrange will be in action shortly.

Here’s the full roster rundown:

2026 New York Yankees Opening Day Roster pic.twitter.com/AJ4IAeW80a

— Yankees PR Dept. (@YankeesPR) March 25, 2026

As the Yankees’ account notes, shortstop Anthony Volpe and pitchers Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, and Clarke Schmidt will begin the year on the injured list. Rodón is rehabbing from offseason surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow and could come back later in April. Volpe had shoulder surgery and should return in May, and there’s a chance that Cole could be back from Tommy John surgery late that month if his rehab goes well. Schmidt had his own Tommy John later in 2025 and won’t be able to pitch until the second at the absolute earliest.

The 26 active players can reasonably be broken down like this:

Defensive Lineup

Austin Wells, C
Ben Rice, 1B
Jazz Chisholm Jr., 2B
Ryan McMahon, 3B
José Caballero, SS
Cody Bellinger, LF
Trent Grisham, CF
Aaron Judge, RF
Giancarlo Stanton, DH

Bench

J.C. Escarra, C
Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
Amed Rosario, UT
Randal Grichuk, OF

Rotation

Max Fried, LHP
Cam Schlittler, RHP
Will Warren, RHP
Ryan Weathers, LHP

Bullpen

David Bednar, RHP (closer)
Fernando Cruz, RHP
Camilo Doval, RHP
Tim Hill, LHP
Ryan Yarbrough, LHP
Jake Bird, RHP
Brent Headrick, LHP
Paul Blackburn, RHP
Cade Winquest, RHP

Someone from that pitching group will be dropped during next week’s series with the Mariners in order to form a proper five-man rotation, but for this opening three-game set with the Giants, manager Aaron Boone will have plenty of options in the back end of games.

While the Dodgers are striving to be the last team standing for the third season in a row, they aren’t alone in their quest to be the best for a long stretch of time.

Shohei Ohtani won National League MVP in each of his first two years with the Dodgers, the only player in franchise history to win that award in consecutive years. But he also won American League MVP in 2023 with the Angels, so he’s on a streak of three MVPs in a row, and four in the last five years.

Barry Bonds is the only other player in MLB history to win more than two MVP awards in a row. Bonds explored the limits of science in winning four consecutive NL MVPs with the San Francisco Giants from 2001-04, during which he hit an eye-popping .349/.559/.809 from ages 36-39.

Thirteen other players won two MVP awards in a row, and Bonds himself also won consecutive awards in 1992 with the Pittsburgh Pirates and in 1993 with the Giants. In all, there have been 17 MLB seasons in which a player was trying for a third straight MVP.

Player	Year	bWAR	fWAR	MVP finish
Jimmie Foxx	1934	8.3	8.8	10th
Hal Newhouser	1946	9.7	9.3	2nd
Yogi Berra	1956	6.2	6.4	2nd
Mickey Mantle	1958	8.7	8.8	5th
Ernie Banks	1960	7.9	7.0	4th
Roger Maris	1962	3.7	3.7	no votes
Joe Morgan	1977	5.8	5.8	no votes
Mike Schmidt	1982	7.4	7.2	6th
Dale Murphy	1984	5.5	5.6	9th
Barry Bonds	1994	6.2	6.0	4th
Frank Thomas	1995	5.3	5.4	8th
Barry Bonds	2003	9.2	10.2	1st
Barry Bonds	2004	10.6	11.9	1st
Barry Bonds	2005	0.6	0.7	no votes
Albert Pujols	2010	7.5	6.8	2nd
Miguel Cabrera	2014	5.1	5.2	9th
Shohei Ohtani	2025	7.8	9.4	1st

These are nearly all fantastic seasons. Bonds at age 40 in 2005 broke down and only played in 14 games. Fifteen of the other 16 seasons topped 5 WAR, using either Baseball Reference or FanGraphs, save for Roger Maris in 1962, who put up a solid 3.7 WAR the year after setting the home run record.

The average of all 17 seasons, even including Bonds’ injured year, is 6.8 bWAR and 7.0 fWAR.

Besides Ohtani and Bonds, three players got reasonably close to winning a third straight MVP, finishing second the year after winning two in a row.

Hal Newhouser is the only pitcher on this list, winning AL MVP in 1944 and 1945 with the Detroit Tigers during World War II. Then he put up a 1.94 ERA with 26 wins, both league-leading, and 275 strikeouts in 292 2/3 innings in 1946. His Tigers finished second for the pennant to the Boston Red Sox, and Ted Williams won MVP by hitting .342/.497/.667 with 38 home runs.

The 1946 voting was relatively close, with Williams collecting 224 points to 197 for Newhouser. Williams got nine first-place votes compared to three for Newhouser. The other two second-place finishes were of the distant variety.

Yogi Berra won three AL MVPs in five years with the New York Yankees, including in both 1954 and 1955. Then it was Mickey Mantle’s turn. Mantle won MVP unanimously in 1956 by winning the triple crown, with Berra coming in second place in voting. Mantle also won MVP in 1957 but finished fifth in 1958 despite 8.7 bWAR and 8.8 fWAR.

Albert Pujols won NL MVP in 2008 and 2009, and in 2010 the St. Louis Cardinals first baseman turned in another monster season by hitting .312/.414/.596 with 42 home runs. He did get one first-place vote that year, but Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto got the other 31 to win the award.

Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge won the last two AL MVPs, and has a chance to join the group of three-consecutive-MVP winners in 2026. Ohtani this year will try to join Bonds as the only players to win four MVPs in a row, perhaps buoyed by his return to full-time two-way status.

The Cleveland Guardians have chosen their twenty-six players for Opening Day in Seattle.

Catchers: Bo Naylor, Austin Hedges, David Fry

Infielders: Kyle Manzardo, Rhys Hoskins, Brayan Rocchio, Gabriel Arias, Jose Ramirez and Daniel Schneemann.

Outfielders: CJ Kayfus, Steven Kwan, Chase DeLauter and Angel Martinez.

Starting Pitchers: Tanner Bibee, Gavin Williams, Slade Cecconi, Joey Cantillo, and Parker Messick.

Bullpen: Peyton Pallette, Colin Holderman, Connor Brogdon, Tim Herrin, Matt Festa, Erik Sabrowski, Shawn Armstrong, and Cade Smith.

Hunter Gaddis, Andrew Walters and George Valera all open the year on the 15-day IL.

Johnathan Rodríguez was designated for assignment today. Condolences to CTC site user Ray Fosse. I hope someday that we will be able to say the biggest mistake Stephen Vogt ever made was starting Johnathan Rodriguez in right field against Tarik Skubal in a playoff game. It’ll be a nice piece of trivia and trauma.

What do you think about the roster choices? Let us know in the comments below

The Mets announced their 26-man roster for Opening Day earlier today. The Mets are carrying 13 pitchers and 13 position players, and there are no real surprises on the list, though the make-up of the bullpen has a somewhat unexpected choice or two.

Starting Pitchers:

Clay Holmes (RHP)

Sean Manaea (LHP)

Nolan McLean (RHP)

Freddy Peralta (RHP)

David Petesron (LHP)

Kodai Senga (RHP)

Relief Pitchers:

Huascar Brazobán (RHP)

Luis Garcia (RHP)

Richard Lovelady (LHP)

Tobias Myers (RHP)

Brooks Raley (LHP)

Luke Weaver (RHP)

Devin Williams (RHP)

Catchers:

Francisco Alvarez (R)

Luis Torrens (R)

Infielders:

Brett Baty (L)

Bo Bichette (R)

Francisco Lindor (S)

Jorge Polanco (S)

Marcus Semien (R)

Mark Vientos (R)

Jared Young (L)

Outfielders:

Carson Benge (L)

Luis Robert Jr. (R)

Juan Soto (L)

Tyrone Taylor (R)

The Mets also officially updated their current major league injured list.

Reed Garrett (60-Day, right elbow sprain)

Justin Hagenman (60-Day, rib fracture)

Tylor Megill (60-Day, right elbow sprain)

A.J. Minter (15-Day, left lat surgery)

Dedniel Núñez (60-Day, right elbow sprain)

And with the roster set, that means that infielder Vidal Bruján, left-handed relief pitcher Bryan Hudson and catcher Ben Rortvedt were all designated for assignment.

Freddy Peralta will start the first game of the season tomorrow against the Pirates at Citi Field at 1:15pm. LGM.

Adam Sýkora is set to make his NHL debut for the New York Rangers on Wednesday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs. 

The Rangers recalled Sýkora from the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League on Tuesday. 

During Wednesday’s practice, the 21-year-old forward slotted onto a line with Vincent Trocheck and Will Cuylle, indicating he’ll be given a middle-six role in his NHL debut. 

“Super without words,” Sýkora said about his excitement level for his NHL debut via Mollie Walker of The New York Post. “It was super exciting for me playing with those guys. I just want to bring them some energy, some juice and be good on the forecheck.”

Sýkora was selected by the Rangers in the second round of the 2022 NHL Draft, and he’s spent the past three seasons playing in the AHL.

He has recorded 12 goals, 17 assists, and 29 points in 62 games with the Wolf Pack this season. 

Throughout his time in Hartford, Sýkora has become quite the fan favorite and a player beloved by his teammates due to his relentless energy that he plays with and exuberant personality. 

“My happiness through for him is through the roof,” Jaroslav Chmelař said of Sýkora. “I mean, he's the best person I've met. He's such a nice guy...We were kind of dreaming about it at the beginning of the year that we would love to play together one time. So hopefully that comes through.”

Having been with the Rangers’ organization since 2022, Sýkora has spent a long time waiting for this moment, and he'll look to provide a spark for a team and fan base in desperate need of something to be excited about.

This is Sýkora’s chance to etch his mark with the Rangers and build momentum going into the 2026-27 season.

“I know I’m a different player from those the New York Rangers have drafted,” Sýkora said in September. “So, that’s kind of my path — forecheck, backcheck, all the skating, hard work, that’s kind of my job that gets me here. And I want to put it all together to get to the next level. Defensive things, penalty kill, blocking shots and a team player, helping and supporting each other. Be alive on the bench and support the other guys here.”

The Arizona Diamondbacks announced their 2026 Opening Day roster with a series of roster moves. The 40-man roster is at 40.

RIGHT-HANDED PITCHERS (12)

• 19 Ryne Nelson
• 22 Joe Ross
• 23 Zac Gallen
• 32 Brandon Pfaadt
• 34 Michael Soroka
• 37 Kevin Ginkel
• 38 Paul Sewald
• 43 Jonathan Loaisiga
• 45 Taylor Clarke
• 56 Andrew Hoffmann
• 62 Juan Morillo
• 81 Ryan Thompson

LEFT-HANDED PITCHERS (1)

• 57 Eduardo Rodriguez

CATCHERS (2)

• 8 James McCann
• 14 Gabriel Moreno

POSITION PLAYERS (11)

• 1 Jorge Barrosa
• 2 Geraldo Perdomo
• 4 Ketel Marte
• 5 Alek Thomas
• 6 Ildemaro Vargas
• 7 Corbin Carroll
• 10 Jordan Lawlar
• 13 Tim Tawa
• 26 Pavin Smith
• 28 Nolan Arenado
• 41 Carlos Santana

Selected to Major League roster:

• RHP Jonathan Loaisiga (No. 43)
• RHP Joe Ross (No. 22)
• INF Ildemaro Vargas (No. 6)

Placed on 10-day injured list:

• C Adrian Del Castillo (retro. March 22; strained left calf)
• INF Tyler Locklear (retro. March 22; recovery from left elbow surgery)
• OF Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (retro. March 22; recovery from right ACL surgery)

Placed on 15-day injured list:

• RHP Merrill Kelly (retro. March 24; left intercostal nerve irritation)

Optioned to Triple-A Reno:

• LHP Brandyn Garcia

Cleared spots on 40-man roster

Designated for assignment:

• RHP Grant Holman

Placed on 60-day injured list:

• RHP Cristian Mena (strained right shoulder)
• LHP Blake Walston (left ulnar collateral ligament surgery)

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No real surprises here. We were more or less aware of the 26-man roster a couple of days ago, between roster moves and statements by Torey Lovullo. The lack of left-handed relievers is interesting: we’ll see how that works out, especially against the Dodgers who have some top left-handed hitters. Three non-roster invitees have been added to the roster as expected. Spaces for two were cleared by moving Mena and Walston to the IL, and DFA’ing Holman. The last was picked up off waivers from the Athletics on February 15, so will become a ghost D-back, never appearing for the team.

And now we find respite from our troubles. It’s a new season of Major League Baseball, one of the best pain relievers known to humankind. Unless your team is on the receiving end of some bad baseball luck. But we won’t talk of such things, not in this opening paragraph. Let us embrace the joy of possibility inherit in every Opening Day Night.

The San Francisco Giants will host the New York Yankees in San Francisco at Oracle Park for the first Opening Night in MLB history. It’ll be a Netflix-themed event as the broadcast will only be available on the world’s most popular streaming service. If you don’t have a Netflix subscription or if your internet goes down right before first pitch, you can still listen to the familiar voices of Giants broadcasters on KNBR, at least.

The biggest story of this new season is that the Giants franchise has never gone more than four years without a winning season. This would be the fifth consecutive non-winning season if they can’t manage to get to 82 wins. That’s the pressure new manager Tony Vitello finds himself under before he logs a genuine inning of a major league game. That’s right — the Giants are a winning franchise, and breaking an internal streak of their own that helps define that winning way is a really big story. A new manager making the leap from the college ranks to the big leagues, like some sort of NBA coach, is probably the second-biggest story of this season.

His first task will be juggling a nebulous relief corps that would seemingly have every defined role in an open audition. To some extent, a baseball game is a baseball game, and in-game managing for either an SEC game or an NL West game would prove very similar at many points. But how will Vitello handle the pressure late in the game when it’s Aaron Judge stepping into the box and the Giants are clinging to a 4-3 lead?

Ah, and then there’s the Aaron Judge of it all. The Giants host the New York Yankees for this opening series and outside of the Los Angeles Dodgers, this is an intense first test for a first-time MLB manager as well as a roster hoping to sneak into the Wild Card. This is where Rafael Devers comes in.

During the runup to this Opening Night on Netflix, the advertisements touted Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees versus Rafael Devers and the San Francisco Giants. That’s a big change from recent years and having a figure with national name recognition and as a sort of lineup anchor is a redefinition of the team. With his bat in the middle of the order, the lineup takes shape. This is one of the few times in recent years where the lineup has a lot of expectations on it, with the bare minimum being league average. That’s a big shift from recent years, when it was basically “if it could just be league average, the team will be in good shape.“

The Yankees have a great bit of expectation on them as they always do. They’re expected to win the AL East, as tough as a division as the NL West the Giants find themselves in. Last season, they had the best lineup in the sport (+34.3 fWAR — 1st, 849 runs scored — 1st) and this season they’ll be returning basically the same group of hitters. That helped cover for a decidedly average pitching staff (+16.3 fWAR — 14th, just ahead of the Giants at +15.7 fWAR), which is more or less where the team will find itself to start the season, as their two most expensive rotation pieces — Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon) aren’t set to return until around May or June.

As much as Judge is the face of the Yankees and the national media has installed Devers as the face of the Giants, it’s Logan Webb who is the Main Giant, and he’ll take the ball on Opening Night. Now, he’s faced the Yankees in game 1 before, right after Aaron Judge turned down the Giants’ massive contract offer in free agency, and it was memorable for 12 strikeouts but still a loss. He did finally defeat the Yankees last season (career: 1-2, 5.50 ERA in 18 IP), but Aaron Judge has never stopped tormenting our favorite team. In 9 games against the orange and black, he’s hitting .484/.590/1.000 with 5 home runs. So, that’s something to keep in mind.

Also worth keeping in mind: both participated in the World Baseball Classic, and Logan Webb was great for Team USA while Aaron Judge was not. He might be The Kid Who Only Hit Homers against the Giants, but in world competition and, like, the World Series, he’s a non-entity. So, take some solace in that, I suppose. Logan Webb? He’s pretty great all the time. Maybe the Giants can get him into the postseason before he’s gone. Though, to be clear, Aaron Judge is 3-for-7 against him, with a pair of homers and a double (but also 3 K and 2 BB).

The Giants did not win the Cactus League again, but they did place second. Last year, they stormed out of the gates following their success in the spring. Can they do the same here against a quality opponent? Whatever the outcome, baseball is back, and at least for the first couple of games, that’s good enough.

Series overview

Who: New York Yankees (94-68 in 2025) vs. San Francisco Giants (81-81 in 2025)
Where: Oracle Park | San Francisco, California
When: Wednesday at 5pm PT, Friday at 1:35pm PT, Saturday at 4:15pm PT — that’s right. No Sunday game.
National broadcasts: Wednesday (Netflix — yes, the streaming service; and, it’s exclusive), Saturday (FOX TV)

Projected starters
Wednesday: Max Fried (LHP) vs. Logan Webb (RHP)
Friday: Cam Schlitter (RHP) vs. Robbie Ray (LHP)
Saturday: Will Warren (RHP) vs. Tyler Mahle (RHP)

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Players to watch (besides Logan Webb & Aaron Judge)

Yankees

Trent Grisham: The Yankees got him in the Juan Soto trade as a way to balance the finances for the Padres, but he was considered a throw-in. But then, last season, he hit 34 home runs and posted an .811 OPS in 581 plate appearances; so, the Yankees tagged him with the qualifying offer, which he accepted ($22.03 million). Is he a $22 million dollar player? No. Have I forgotten (or forgiven) him for hitting that walk-off home run at Oracle Park during the 2020 season? Also no. He is not a thorn in the team’s side as he was in 2020 & 2021 (29-for-95, 4 HR, 19 RBI, 9 2B, 3 3B), with just just 21 hits (1 HR, 2 2B) in his last 95 at bats against them and 3 walks against 30 strikeouts, but you’ve always got to keep an eye for that dude who is not the lineup’s main dude (Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, Jazz Chisholm, Ben Rice), and he’ll be one of the guys the Giants’ carousel of lefty relievers will have to perform well against.

Camilo Doval: We will see if the Giants’ former closer starts off his first full season with the Yankees on a hot streak. We know how wild he can be, but also how effective his velocity is.

Ben Rice & Paul Goldschmidt: Two players at opposite ends of the career spectrum, but Rice’s 26 home runs and left-handed swing should give Giants pitching some problems while Paul Goldschmidt figures to still be a Paul Goldschmidt in the Giants’ side.

Giants

Luis Arraez: It’ll be a big first test for the Giants’ new second baseman as the Yankees offer some speed on the basepaths and a lot of hard contact. He also has the chance to flare some balls all over the field and delight those Giants fans who never stopped believing in batting average as the sole measure of a hitter’s capabilities.

Patrick Bailey: The Yankees’ speed showed up as 134 stolen bases last season (8th in MLB) and so on top of defending against the running game, he’ll also have to deal with the hitters — even as the dugout will be calling more pitches for him this season. And then there’s the ABS Challenge System, which has the chance to spotlight just how effective of a catcher he is, either by showing umpires that he didn’t dramatically frame something or simply that he understands the strike zone enough to know when a pitch has been missed.

Rafael Devers: He should hit at least 3 home runs in this series. He has 31 home runs in 119 career games against the Yankees and a triple slash of .270/.348/.533 to go with it.

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Tony Vitello watch

The Vitello era kicks off with a matchup against the New York Yankees and… Aaron Boone. Now, Boone is considered to be a great clubhouse manager, but the knock on him is that he’s not a good in-game strategist. That sort of criticism has lost its impact here in the 21st century, though, as front offices typically provide the manager with so much information that the guy standing on the top step doesn’t really need to think for himself. He just has to manage the human beings around him.

That’s sort of why Tony Vitello’s not going to be a total flop in the early going. Zack Minasian and the quants will have provided Vitello and his coaching staff with all the scouting reports and decision trees he’ll need to get through 9 innings, just as Brian Cashman has given Boone. Boone is 697-497 in 8 seasons. Given that, I’m sure he has earned the right to go “off script” and has probably developed some good instincts. Enough to outfox or fluster Tony Vitello, baseball rat? I doubt it. In case you forget, Boone had never managed anything anywhere when he got the call to manage the Yankees.

So, although it’s unlikely that either guy will make an obviously embarrassing decision, I’ll be watching to see if there’s anything that stands out and if Aaron Boone can out-manage Tony Vitello or vice versa.

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Prediction time

The Giants did win their 3-game series against the Yankees last season. But! They are just 3-6 in the matchup since 2023, so let’s go with our favorite line on this site: Giants avoid the sweep.