Category: MLB

As the heat island of Phoenix continues to fester, I wonder if this is going to become the way of things. By that, I mean Cactus League – and possibly, Fall League – games being moved from the afternoon to the evening, to avoid the worst heat. I’m a little surprised they moved today’s game, but left tomorrow and Sunday with the usual 1 pm starts. Saturday’s forecast high temperatures is 105 F, which would be almost indistinguishable from today, and destroying the all-time record for March 21, currently eight degrees below that. Maybe weekend attendees at the Cactus League are made of asbestos or something.

After Zac Gallen, we may expect to see LHP Philip Abner, RHP Kevin Ginkel, RHP Ryan Thompson, and RHP Andrew Hoffmann. All of those definitely have a shot at a bullpen spot. Abner has likely overtaken Brandyn Garcia after the latter’s recent struggles, but as noted earlier, Ginkel has had his problems too. As expected when spring started, the Arizona bullpen was always likely to be the area most subject to change on the team. We’re now down to less than a week before Opening Day, and perhaps half the bullpen spots are still up for grabs. We’ll talk about that more tomorrow though.

Today, on the Spring Equinox, the Texas Rangers welcome a sliver of San Francisco Giants to Surprise for a Cactus League night game.

RHP Nathan Eovaldi makes what is surely his final appearance of the spring ahead of his Opening Day start next Thursday. San Francisco will counter with RHP Spencer Bivens for the split squad Giants.

There will be a telecast of this one on the Rangers Sports Network, a radio broadcast via 105.3 The Fan, or you can follow along on Gameday. First pitch from Surprise Stadium is scheduled for 8:05 pm CT.

Go Rangers!

Luis Gil looked dominant in five strong innings as he looks to grab a spot in the Yankees' rotation, as New York took down the Baltimore Orioles, 3-1, on Friday night in Tampa. 

Gil was pumping in heaters early and often and surrendered just one hit and one walk while tallying seven strikeouts on 69 pitches (46 strikes).

It was a rough night for Aaron Judge in his first game back from the WBC as he went hitless in three at-bats with three strikeouts. O’s starter Zach Eflin got him twice, as the right-hander was just as good as Gil, retiring the first 14 Yanks he faced and getting 15 of 16 batters. 

The two teams combined for two hits (both doubles) entering the home half of the eighth inning when the Yanks took advantage of a Baltimore youngster with four doubles in a five-hit frame to win the game.

Here are the takeaways...

- Gil got two quick outs to start the first before blowing a 99 mph fastball off the inside corner past the bat of Pete Alonso. The righty picked up where he left off: beating Coby Mayo on a 93 mph changeup in on the hands and blowing a 99 mph fastball past Leody Taveras in a perfect second. More of the same in a 12-pitch third as Gil blew a 98 mph fastball past Luis Vazquez and a 99 mph fastball past Jose Barrero. 

After retiring the first 11 straight, including a sixth strikeout, blowing a 97 mph fastball above the zone past Taylor Ward, Gil surrendered a ground-rule double deep to left off Alonso's bat. (The ex-Met smoked a 97 mph heater at the top of the zone, 110.3 mph off the bat.) Gil recovered by getting Mayo swinging at a wicked 91 mph slider off the outside corner.

Gil closed his book in the fifth, getting around a one-out walk with a 6-4-3 double play. Gil pitched like he had something to prove and seemed amped up, averaging 96.8 mph on his fastball (up 1.5 mph), 93.2 mph on his changeup (up 2.4 mph), and 88.6 mph on the slider (up 1.9 mph)

- Judge, in his return for the WBC, went down swinging on a curveball in and at the knees and was caught looking at a 3-2 two-seamer that ran back right over the plate in the fourth against Eflin.

The slugger had a big chance with one out in the sixth with runners on first and second against reliever Dietrich Enns. In the eight-pitch at-bat, which included an error by O's catcher Samuel Bassallo that put both runners in scoring position, Judge waved at a 3-2 change-up below the zone to finish 0-for-3 with three strikeouts.

- Ryan McMahon, getting the start at short, popped out in foul territory to third after a nine-pitch battle to start the third and went down looking at a sinker to strand a runner at second to end the fifth. McMahon lined a changeup from O's minor leaguer Cohen Achen the other way for a double that one-hopped the wall (106.3 mph, 334 feet), to finish 1-for-3.

- Oswaldo Cabrera, playing third, went down looking at a cutter on the corner his first time up, but knocked in the game's lone run, muscling a 3-1 fastball up the middle for an RBI single scoring McMahon from second, to go 1-for-3.

- Jazz Chisholm Jr. notched the first Yanks’ hit in the fifth with a two-out bloop into left-center and took advantage of some lackadaisical defense, hustling into second for a double. He went 1-for-3.

- Out of the bullpen, David Bednar got two strikeouts swinging on the splitter below the zone in a 13-pitch, 1-2-3 sixth inning. 

Left-hander Tim Hill issued a walk to start the seventh, and after getting Alonso to fly out to center, induced a 5-4-3 double-play. After Hill's 14-pitch effort, PaulBlackburn outdid him with a 1-2-3 eighth on just seven pitches. Blackburn made things interesting in the ninth, allowing a one-out triple down the third base line, aided by the left fielder falling over on the warning track, and a two-out Bassallo RBI double off the base of the wall in right. But after walking Maverick Handley, the righty got Anderson De Los Santos looking to end it.

- Trent Grisham was called out looking at a two-seamer on the inside corner and was robbed of a hit to start the fourth when Taveras ranged to his left in center to flag down a sharply hit (103.8 mph) sinking-liner. He finished 0-for-2 with a walk.

- Cody Bellinger, playing left field, grounded out to the right side of the infield three times, all of which ended innings and the last of which stranded two in scoring position in the sixth, to go 0-for-3.

- Ben Rice went down swinging at a 2-2 curveball below the zone in his first at-bat. He finished 0-for-3.

- Giancarlo Stanton, getting the start in right field where he didn't see any action, swung through a sweeper off the outside corner in his second at-bat. He finished 0-for-2.

- J.C. Escarra grounded out to first and walked. He went 1-for-2 on ABS challenges behind the plate.

- Oddity that may not interest anybody: The Yanks closed the first, second, and third innings by grounding out to first with Alonso tossing it to Eflin covering the bag.

Highlights

Luis Gil strikes out seven in five innings 🔥 pic.twitter.com/xUJ7dI2ovC

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) March 20, 2026

Up next

The Yanks head over to Lakeland to take on the Detroit Tigers with Cam Schlittler getting the start in the 1:05 p.m. first pitch.

The Dodgers’ final night game in Arizona has them hosting the San Diego Padres.

Friday game info

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Padres
• Ballpark: Camelback Ranch
• Time: 6:05 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570

TAMPA — Usually when Aaron Judge is coming off a crushing loss in an elimination game, he has an entire offseason to get over it.

This time, he is just a few days away from Opening Day.

Judge returned to Yankees camp on Thursday and was in the lineup on Friday night for the first time since he captained Team USA to the World Baseball Classic final on Tuesday, when it fell to Venezuela in dramatic fashion.

“You’re still thinking about the last couple games, the whole tournament, stuff like that — you’re mad about that,” Judge said before Friday’s game against the Orioles at Steinbrenner Field. “But once I came back here, get a chance to be around the boys and throw on the pinstripes, now it’s time to get back to what we’re doing with the Yankees and build towards a championship again.

“First couple hours weren’t great, but now that I’m back here around the guys, we’re ready to roll.”

Judge posted a .845 OPS with two home runs across seven games in the WBC, though he finished with a sour taste, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in the final against Venezuela.

Still, he already wants in for the next time Team USA plays — potentially in the 2028 Olympics, if not the next WBC — and said he had a “blast” sharing a clubhouse with the game’s best and playing in front of raucous crowds.

“I wish the crowds and the energy were like that every single night, but it’s tough to do in 162 games, I know that,” he said. “It was just a fun environment. Elimination games from the very beginning, even in pool play, which was great. Just seeing the passion of players that usually I play against that don’t show a lot of emotion, all of a sudden they’re showing emotion, so it was cool.”

Speaking of those emotions, Team USA caught some flack for appearing to take a more businesslike and buttoned-up approach than most teams during the tournament that was full of flair and fun.

Judge said he heard about that from friends and family, but took issue with the narrative.

“Everybody’s different, every culture’s different,” Judge said. “I love everything what Mexico was doing, what Great Britain was doing, what the [Dominican Republic], how they celebrated the game, how their fans celebrated the game, that was amazing.

“If they’re gonna say we don’t have the passion, my passion’s grinding in this cage when nobody’s watching, grinding as a 6-year-old in the backyard with my dad. That’s where our passion came from as kids. So if I don’t show it outwardly like that, it doesn’t mean I don’t love the game.

“Everybody in that clubhouse, you can ask every single one of those guys, that was probably the most fun they’ve ever had playing the game, the past few weeks, myself included.”

Judge, who indicated he would be in favor of the WBC moving to midseason so there would be fewer restrictions on pitchers building up, also caught some heat during the tournament when he said the atmosphere for the WBC was “bigger and better” than playing in the World Series.

On Friday, he mentioned the bands playing in either corner of the outfield during the WBC and different chants echoing through the domes where USA played.

“World Series games, a lot of the passionate fans, they can’t afford those tickets sometimes,” Judge said.

Alas, Judge will have to wait seven months for a chance to get back in front of crowds like that, now turning his attention to helping the Yankees get back to that stage.

After Judge built up quickly early this spring to be ready for the WBC, Aaron Boone now plans to back off him a bit in the final days of camp.

After DHing on Friday night, Judge is scheduled to play in right field on Sunday and then start Monday’s exhibition against the Cubs in Arizona ahead of Wednesday’s opener.

“He’s built up, ready to go,” Boone said, “so a couple days backing off hopefully serves him well.”

Atlanta’s bats continued to make some noise here in the Grapefruit League as the Braves slugged their way to yet another win during spring training action.

It took a while for the bats to get going but once they did, a couple of the Braves regular made their presence felt in a loud manner. Jorge Mateo did deliver an RBI single in the second inning but the fifth inning was when things got pretty loud. With a runner on first and one out, Matt Olson appeared to have gotten all of a changeup from Pirates pitcher Nick Dombkowski. Olson crushed it with an EV of 109-mph with a 27 degree launch angle but it only ended up landing at the fence (386 feet away from home plate, to be exact) for an RBI double. Drake Baldwin scored a run on the play as the Braves went ahead in the contest.

Austin Riley came up to the plate right afterwards and he proceeded to earn bragging rights in the dugout by hitting a pitch from Dombkowski over the fence for a two-run dinger. Now granted, Riley’s batted ball was “softer” at 102-mph and shorter at 368 feet but the idea is to hit the ball over the fence and that’s what Riley did for the fourth time this spring. That gave the Braves a three-run inning as the middle of the lineup continued to look solid with the regular season looming.

While this was going on, José Suarez ended up throwing 75 pitches across 5.1 innings. He did a very solid job of keeping the Pirates lineup quiet in this one and it wasn’t like the Pirates sent a lineup full of organizational depth to North Port, either. Suarez finished with just one run allowed on two hits, two walks and six strikeouts as well. Suarez’s strikeout victims included Marcell Ozuna (twice), Oneil Cruz and Mississippi State baseball legend Jake Mangum, so it wasn’t like the strikeouts were coming against lesser competition, either. This certainly helped Suarez’s case for leaving North Port and heading to Cobb County instead of Gwinnett County.

Joel Payamps entered the game in the sixth inning in relief for Suarez and he ended up going 1.2 innings while striking out a pair of batters as well. That set the stage for Raisel Iglesias to enter the game in the eighth inning and he tossed his third scoreless inning in five spring training appearances so far. While Iglesias did give up a hit, he did strike out two batters along the way so as long as he’s doing that once the season is underway then people around here will be pretty happy about that. Robert Suarez ended up closing out the game with a scoreless inning and two strikeouts of his own, so it was nice to see the set-up man and closer both clicking in this one as well.

Going back to the regulars at the plate, Drake Baldwin and Dominic Smith each picked up hits in this one. 2026 World Baseball Classic champion Ronald Acuña Jr. was greeted with a very nice ovation upon his return to Braves camp and while he didn’t get a hit, he did make his presence felt by reaching base twice via walks. Meanwhile, Cal Conley hit a double, stole third base and scored on an RBI single, so that’s pretty encouraging. Luis Guanipa drove in Kevin Kilpatrick Jr. with an RBI single of his own and Jorge Mateo’s aforementioned RBI single was his only knock of the day.

If you’re the type who’s encouraged by spring training results then you have to be pleased to see the Braves currently at the top of the Grapefruit League standings. While nobody’s ever hung a banner for winning the Grapefruit League pennant, it’s still nice to see the Braves continuing to click out there as they get ready for the games that will actually begin to count by this time next Friday. Are y’all excited yet?

“I love gold!” the infamous “Austin Powers” character once said. 

Evidently, so do the Dodgers. 

On Friday morning, the team revealed its 2026 “Gold World Series Championship” jerseys and hats.

The new merchandise features gold trim wrapped around the name and numbers like a crown, while the iconic “Dodgers” script across the chest gleams with the weight of October still clinging to it. 

The iconic Dodgers hat looks like it was dipped in dominance, with the Dodger blue elevated by a gold LA logo, a solid gold brim, and two stars on either side rest like badges of honor.

Back-to-back World Series titles. It also features a 2025 World Series champion patch on the right side.

The Dodgers will wear the newly released jerseys and hats when they take the field against the Diamondbacks on March 26 for Opening Day at Dodger Stadium. 

The new collection celebrates and honors the Dodgers’ seven-game victory against the Blue Jays last October. It is available at Fanatics now.

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Champions wear Gold.

The Dodgers Gold Collection is available now at https://t.co/9I0nt25Ix1 and at Dodger Stadium starting 3/23! pic.twitter.com/AhaI8ERKKT

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) March 20, 2026

You can also find the Dodgers Gold Collection at the team stores throughout the stadium and the official team stores throughout Los Angeles.

The Dodgers are ready and reloaded to start the new season as they seek to become the first team to three-peat since the Yankees in 1998-2000.

Shohei Ohtani leads the loaded roster that also features new All-Star additions in closer Edwin Diaz and outfielder Kyle Tucker. 

This is what a dynasty looks like when it leans into its own reflection. Not cautious. Not humble. But dipped in gold.

The Atlanta Braves have trimmed their camp roster down to 36 players today after optioning left-handed reliever Dylan Dodd to Triple-A Gwinnett and reassigning top pitching prospect JR Ritchie, catcher Sandy León, utilityman Luke Williams, and outfielders José Azócar and Ben Gamel to their minor league camp.

Dodd, who pitched well out of Atlanta’s bullpen last season, had an option remaining making his chances to stick on the Opening Day roster as the third left-hander in the bullpen an uphill battle due to the organization prioritizing roster flexibility.

The four position players who were reassigned are all big league veterans who have been part of the Braves organization in past seasons, with the exceptions of Gamel. They all inked minor league deals with Atlanta this off-season and could see time with the big league club at some point in 2026 if they stay with the organization.

Gamel has a strong enough Spring Training that Jurickson Profar’s 162-game suspension opened the door slightly for him to open the season with Atlanta.

Ritchie appears to not be part of the Opening Day roster – something that seemed more and more plausible after an impressive showing in Florida. There is still a chance he could open the year in Atlanta, but it seems the Braves will start him in Gwinnett, barring an injury in the final week before the Braves open against the Kansas City Royals on March 27.

Atlanta will have to make 10 more transactions to get the big league roster down to 26 players.

Colorado Rockies at San Diego Padres, March 20, 2026, 6:10 p.m. PST

Watch: Padres.TV

Location: Peoria Sports Complex – Peoria, AZ

Listen: 97.3 The Fan

Please remember our Game Day thread guidelines.

• Don’t troll in your comments; create conversation rather than destroying it
• Remember Gaslamp Ball is basically a non-profanity site
• Out of respect to broadcast partners who have paid to carry the game, no mentions of “alternative” (read: illegal) viewing methods are allowed in our threads

GB community, this is your thread for today’s game. Enjoy!

The Colorado Rockies dropped a high-scoring affair yesterday, falling 14–11 to the San Francisco Giants. Willi Castro and Kyle Karros each had two hits to lead the offense, but bullpen struggles proved costly—most notably Seth Halverson, who continued to have a tough spring. 

Tonight in Peoria, the 12–13 Rockies take on the 14–11 Padres, where temps could still be triple digits at first pitch. The roster is now trimmed to 40, and with Opening Day just one week away, the lineup is largely made up of regulars. 

Juan Mejia opens on the mound for Colorado and enters with a 3.38 ERA and four strikeouts across 2.2 innings this spring. He also threw three clean innings for the Dominican Republic in this year’s World Baseball Classic. 

In 2025, Mejia posted a 3.96 ERA across 61.1 innings with 68 strikeouts, showing the ability to miss bats and handle consistent bullpen work. The Rockies view him as a key bullpen piece this year, relying primarily on a fastball/slider combination. 

Nick Pivetta gets the start for San Diego. The 33-year-old right-hander is being counted on to anchor the Padres’ rotation after a standout 2025 season (2.87 ERA, 190 strikeouts over 181 innings).  Pivetta has dealt with minor arm fatigue that pushed back his schedule, and San Diego has been cautious with his workload so far this spring. 

On the field, the results haven’t been sharp — he’s allowed multiple runs in every outing and carries a 7.88 ERA this spring. He works primarily off a four-seam fastball, mixing in a curveball and sweeper as his primary secondaries. 

Sound off in the comments — what are you watching for tonight?  

First Pitch: 7:05 PM MDT  

TV: Rockies.tv, Padres.tv 

Radio: Padres – KWFN 97.3 

Lineups: 

San Diego Padres at Los Angeles Dodgers, March 20, 2026, 6:05 p.m. PST

Watch: None

Location: Camelback Ranch – Glendale, AZ

Listen: None

Please remember our Game Day thread guidelines.

• Don’t troll in your comments; create conversation rather than destroying it
• Remember Gaslamp Ball is basically a non-profanity site
• Out of respect to broadcast partners who have paid to carry the game, no mentions of “alternative” (read: illegal) viewing methods are allowed in our threads

GB community, this is your thread for today’s game. Enjoy!

Friday nights between Michigan and Nebraska always seem to turn into pitchers duels. It started off very precariously for both teams on the mound for different reasons, but after they settled down, the offenses went dormant.

Nebraska started the scoring in the first. Mac Moyer led off the game with a hit as he seemingly does every game. This one however was pulled into right field, which is very unlike Moyer. He cruised into second with a double. Catcher Jeter Worthley followed up with a sharp single. Case Sanderson then lifted a ball to left. The Michigan left fielder seemed to fight the sun and dropped the ball, allowing Moyer to score. The Huskers couldn’t do any more damage, ending the half inning up 1-0. Usually a bad omen if you can’t get a big inning on a starter despite being gifted an out.

Husker hurler Ty Horn really had a hard time in the bottom of the inning. He had issues controlling his off speed pitches. Combine that with the size of the zone shrinking to about a 6 inch square and it was a huge relief to get out of there with no runs allowed.

Michigan wouldn’t be denied in the next inning. Senior outfielder Greg Pace Jr hit s hard grounder right back up the middle. He stole second base, and then came home as a ball just barely sneaked between short stop Dylan Carey and second baseman Jett Buck, tying the game at 1-1.

Horn continued to struggle in the 3rd, not locating his breaking pitches and his fastball having a seemingly different zone for the umpire. Three Michigan singles scored second baseman Carson Luna to go up 2-1.

Michigan’s starting pitcher Kurt Barr had his slider working to perfection from the start. Other than the error in the first inning, Nebraska rarely even threatened through 6 innings. Multiple times with a runner on base, he would come back and strike out the final batter to end the inning.

In the 4th Ty Horn found his off speed pitches and went on a run. He struck out the side, part of six straight strikeouts before walking Michigan’s best hitter, Colby Turner with 2 outs in the 5th. He would have to retire at 102 pitches at that point, having thrown way too many pitches in the first couple innings. His line on the day was 4.2 innings, 2 runs on 6 hits with 8 strikeouts and 2 walks. A good battle despite not having anything but a fastball early and an adventurous zone.

Barr made it through 7, getting just an absolute gift of a strikeout call on Rhett Stokes to lead off the inning. The ball ended up about 6 inches off the ground on the chalk line making up the left handed batters box. Moyer then singled to right. He appeared to swipe second baseman despite being beaten to the base by the ball. He was called out on the field and the umpires seemingly couldn’t see an angle where the glove touched his shin after he slid into the back of the base. Barr struck out Worthley for his 10th and final strikeout, to go with no walks.

Caleb Clark threw 2 innings of no hit ball in relief of Horn. He struck out 1 and walked 1. Tucker Timmerman came in to take his spot with 2 outs in the bottom of the 7th. He pitched perfect against 3 batters, striking out 2. Grant Clevenger came in and struck out the last batter in the 8th.

The Huskers threatened in the 9th, Miken Miller led off, his first at bat since Florida State due to injury. He hit a chopper to 2nd that was too tough to get him out at first. Preston Freeman came in to pinch run for the catcher, representing the tying run. He didn’t last long, as Drew Grego hit a ball sharply right at the short stop for an easy double play. Devin Nunez gave the Huskers another chance as he took a ball to the hand on a checked swing. Rhett Stokes poked a ball through the right side, bringing up the top of the lineup. Moyer worked a full count, but rolled over a ground ball to the first baseman to end the game. 2-1 Wolverines.

The Husker offense had come in red hot, excelling at getting lead-off runners on. Today that only happened in the 1st and 9th innings. It’s no surprise those are the innings that included their single run and next biggest threat of the game.

Nebraska’s 4-6 hitters of Buck/Carey/Overbeek were a combined 0 for 9 with 4 strikeouts (3 by Carey) and a ground into double play. A Buck walk and Overbeek hit by pitch were the only ways they reached base. Those guys have to be big time contributors for this team to reach their goals.

The two teams are right back at it tomorrow, with first pitch in Ann Arbor at 1pm CDT.

Two evening games in a row? What is this, the regular season?

We got another nightcap for you guys as the Athletics play host yet again, this time to the Chicago Cubs. Both teams are just days away from the beginning of their regular season campaigns and are fine tuning their rosters and alignments. The Cubs tonight are actually split up, with half coming to Mesa to take on the A’s and the other half playing host to the Reds on the other side of town. These games still technically don’t matter, but they’re starting to have more weight to them the closer Opening Day comes, for both of these squads.

For the Athletics on the mound tonight they’ll be going with the newly-named Opening Night starter in Luis Severino. The right-hander is set to make his final exhibition appearance, which includes both spring with the A’s and his time playing in the World Baseball Classic with Team Dominican Republic. Sevy is looking to put the finishing touches on his ramp up for the regular season and we’ll be hoping to see some zeros on the scoreboard tonight.

Here’s your A’s lineup for Friday night’s contest:

The A’s are mixing up the lineup a little bit but not too much. We have a new leadoff man tonight in Lawrence Butler, who will be playing right field tonight. That’s a huge update as the final step in Butler’s rehab from patellar tendon surgery is manning the outfield grass. The club is also apparently anxious to get him as many plate appearances as possible after his abbreviated camp.

The rest of the top half of the lineup looks like how you’d expect, with Kurtz and Langeliers again batting back-to-back near the top of the order. The interesting part of tonight’s lineup is near the bottom half of the lineup card though. We’ll be getting to see Jeff McNeil log some time on the grass himself as he slides from second base to center field, displacing Denzel Clarke from the starting nine. And taking McNeil’s spot at the keystone is Andy Ibanez, who is likely to break camp with the club. Could this be an alignment that the A’s actually go to if Clarke’s bat isn’t up to snuff?

The Cubbies will send right-handed veteran Jameson Taillon to the mound themselves for what’ll be his own final spring tune up. The righty has had a tough camp so far but spring stats don’t matter. Still, it’d be nice to rough him up and get another win for our guys in Green & Gold.

The Chicago lineup tonight shakes out like this:

We’ll be seeing a mix of the Cubs’ regulars as well as backups. Shouldn’t be too difficult of an assignment for Severino but these guys are getting ready for the season themselves. Everyone wants to hit the ground running and that starts in these games over the final week.

Predictions? A win? A loss? A Nick Kurtz home run? Doens’t matter just yet but let’s still have fun with it on a great Friday night. Let’s go A’s!