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
Dodgers vs. Padres game chat
Aaron Judge pushes back on Team USA ‘passion’ narrative as he returns from WBC heartbreak
TAMPA — Usually when Aaron Judge is coming off a crushing loss in an elimination game, he has an entire offseason to get over it.
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Try it freeThis 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.”
Austin Riley homers again as Braves continue to ramp up in spring training
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?
MLB season preview: Robot umpires, Dodgers’ try for 3 in row, Rays’ return to Trop as lockout looms
NEW YORK — Baseball is changing at a dizzying speed in 2026 with the arrival of robot umpires, the return home of the Tampa Bay Rays and an alphabet soup of networks televising games in perhaps the last season before a labor shutdown.
Much has transpired in the 4 1/2 months since the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied in World Series Game 7 to beat Toronto in 11 innings and become the first repeat champion since the 1998-2000 New York Yankees.
There was the usual free agent musical chairs that saw Kyle Tucker wind up with the Dodgers, Bo Bichette with the New York Mets, Alex Bregman with the Chicago Cubs and Pete Alonso with the Baltimore Orioles.
Venezuela became a first-time champion of a World Baseball Classic with record attendance and television viewers.
But looming above the usual excitement for opening day on Wednesday is the possibility of no games in a year.
Tony Clark was forced to resign as players’ association head and replaced by Bruce Meyer as talk intensified about a possible management salary cap proposal the players’ association vows to fight. Major League Baseball is likely to lock out players on Dec. 2, leaving 2027 in limbo.
Cy Young Award winners Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal are on the eight-man executive subcommittee that directs collective bargaining.
“We need people that are invested and kind of have status among players and within the game to go into the negotiations and be comfortable going toe to toe with the owners,” Skenes said. “It’s not something that I sought out. Some guys nominated me for the position and that’s not something you say no to.”
Send in the robots
Following testing that started in the minor leagues in 2019, MLB decided last September to use the Automated Ball-Strike System in the regular season.
While human umps call every pitch, each team has the ability to challenge two calls per game, retaining the challenge if successful, and have the possibility of at least one more in each extra inning.
“You want get the egregiously wrong calls fixed and you want make sure you get it right in a big spot,” three-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander said.
ABS won’t be used for a two-game series between Arizona and San Diego in Mexico City on April 25-26, for the Philadelphia-Minnesota game at the Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa, on Aug. 13 or the Atlanta-Milwaukee matchup in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, on Aug. 23.
Finding where a game is televised is more complicated than ever.
Regular-season national broadcasts are split among Fox/FS1, TBS, ESPN, NBC/Peacock, AppleTV and Netflix. NBC’s networks take over the Wild Card Series from ABC/ESPN.
In addition, MLB will produce and distribute the local telecasts of 14 teams following the financial problems of Main Street Sports Group, which operates the regional FanDuel Sports Network stations.
When the New York Yankees play the MLB season opener at the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday, the game will be exclusively on Netflix.
Dodgers go for three-peat
After becoming the first team to win consecutive championships since the 1998-2000 Yankees, the Dodgers try to become just the fifth group to win three in a row, joining those Yankees, five by the 1949-53 Yankees, four by the 1936-39 Yankees and three by the 1972-74 Oakland Athletics.
“When you’re a Dodger, people want to take us down. They want to beat us,” manager Dave Roberts told players in his spring training speech. “It’s a Game 7. So I think that we’ve got to look ahead and say that this is going to be harder than it’s ever been and we got to work even harder. And so my ask as a team, as an organization is to push ourselves even more. We already got the talent. There isn’t any more talent in a major league clubhouse than in this room.”
Coming off his fourth unanimous MVP award, Shohei Ohtani is expected to be a two-way player over a full season. He returned to the mound last June 16 following his second major elbow surgery on Sept. 19, 2023.
Back at the Trop
Tampa Bay returns to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg after a season playing home games across the bay at Steinbrenner Field, the spring training home of the Yankees.
Damage to the Trop caused by Hurricane Milton in October 2024 has been repaired. The Rays were 41-40 at Steinbrenner last year, their lowest home winning percentage since 2016. They drew 786,750 for an average of 9,713, selling out 61 games.
“There is genuine, authentic excitement to get back to the Trop,” manager Kevin Cash said. “We’ve played well in the Trop. We’ve had a lot of success in the Trop. And I think we’re going back to something that’s probably going to be a little bit newer, a little better than maybe as we left it because they had to do so many repairs.”
Milestone watch
Four players could reach 400 career home runs this year.
Manny Machado starts the season at 369, followed by Freddie Freeman at 368, Aaron Judge at 367 and Bryce Harper at 363.
Dodgers drop flashy 2026 ‘Gold Collection’ jerseys and hats
“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.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) March 20, 2026
The Dodgers Gold Collection is available now at https://t.co/9I0nt25Ix1 and at Dodger Stadium starting 3/23! pic.twitter.com/AhaI8ERKKT
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.
Braves trim roster, option Dylan Dodd; reassign JR Ritchie, four others
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 Spring Training Game No. 28 Thread: Juan Mejia vs. Nick Pivetta
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:
ST Game 29: Colorado Rockies at San Diego Padres
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!
ST Game 28: San Diego Padres at Los Angeles Dodgers
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!
Jameis Winston will appear on Netflix's opening night MLB coverage
If you thought it was odd to see a WWE wrestler on the coverage of Netflix's NFL games on Christmas, that was just the appetizer.
Netflix will televise on March 25 its first-ever MLB game, the opening-night game between the New York Yankees and the San Francisco Giants. On Friday, Netflix announced that New York Giants quarterback Jameis Winston will be a “special guest” for the event.
Yes, Winston played baseball at Florida State. His initial NFL contract with the Buccaneers prevented him from playing baseball. And he's a compelling TV presence — funny, entertaining, charismatic.
Still, he doesn't come from the MLB ecosystem. Baseball aficionados will regard it as unusual to see him on the broadcast.
Netflix doesn't seem to have an issue with unusual. This year's Christmas games included clunky in-game interviews with former NFL players. It distracted from the action, and it made the presentation of the game seem amateurish.
There could nevertheless be a strategic benefit to Winston's presence. "Eating a W" becomes an easy way to add a little something to the ball before a pitch.
Nebraska Baseball Drops Series Opener at Michigan, 2-1
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.
Spring Game #28: Athletics versus Cubs Game Thread
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!
Spring Breakout gamethread: Tigers at Pirates
Join us as the Detroit Tigers farm system matches up against Konnor Griffin and the Pittsburgh Pirates farm system in the annual Spring Breakout game. The Tigers will have Max Clark in center field and 2025 first rounder Jordan Yost at shortstop in the starting lineup, with Bryce Rainer in the DH slot and hard-throwing relief prospect Marco Jimenez starting things off on the mound. We should see Michael Oliveto at some point as well. Griffin, baseball’s consensus number one ranked prospect, will handle shortstop for the Bucs, with a good pitching prospect on the mound as the starter in RHP Seth Hernandez.
Manager Alan Trammell has managed the last two breakout games for the Tigers, winning them both.
First pitch is set for 7:35 p.m. ET on Peacock, MLB.tv, and ao MLB Network.
SB Nation Site: Bucs Dugout
Yankees’ Jasson Dominguez gets sent to Triple-A despite strong spring
TAMPA — Jasson Domínguez came to camp with an uncertain role and put together one of the best springs of any Yankee.
It still was not enough to win a spot on the Opening Day roster.
The Yankees optioned Domínguez to Triple-A on Friday, two days before breaking camp with a full outfield that did not have room for the 23-year-old outfielder who had 429 plate appearances in the big leagues last season.
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Try it free“[He took it] like a pro,” manager Aaron Boone said after a 3-1 win over the Orioles. “We had a good talk. Difficult conversation to have. One of the things that I told him is I’m proud of him, because he walked into this camp with all kinds of conversation around him and, ‘the option may be coming,’ if everything played out a certain way. It didn’t affect anything in the way he carried himself day in and day out, the way he worked. I think he continued to get better while he was here in this camp and he performed in this camp.”
The writing was on the wall for this to happen since the opening days of camp, when GM Brian Cashman acknowledged that it would be in Domínguez’s best interest to be getting everyday at-bats, which was not going to happen in The Bronx (barring injury) with a starting outfield of Aaron Judge, Trent Grisham and Cody Bellinger.
Domínguez’s chances became even slimmer when the Yankees brought veteran outfielder Randal Grichuk to camp on a minor league deal, with the right-handed hitter fitting the Yankees bench better than the switch-hitting (but better from the left side) Domínguez.
Still, Domínguez did everything in his control to leave a strong impression this spring, batting .342 with a 1.013 OPS, three home runs and three steals in 13 games.
“Just because it’s not here to start doesn’t mean he can’t continue to get better each and every day there,” Boone said. “As talented a player he is right now, there’s still so much more for him to get to. It’s a crazy game and he could be back before you know it. The one thing I do think is he’ll impact our club in a way this year.”
It certainly sounds as if Rule 5 pick Cade Winquest will claim one of the final bullpen spots, with Boone offering a strong vote of confidence for the reliever.
“We feel like he’s going to be a good pitcher,” Boone said. “I think he’s shown enough to keep himself in that mix for us and to warrant us taking him. We’ll see in the end which way we go. But he’s taken to some of the minor adjustments we’ve had for him, the pitching group has had for him. That’s always a work in progress, but I think he’s got a chance to be good.”
That, along with Kervin Castro being optioned to Triple-A on Friday, would appear to leave the final bullpen spot down to Brent Headrick or Jake Bird.
Giancarlo Stanton got his first outfield game action of the spring on Friday, starting in right field and playing five innings, which was the latest positive indication of how he is feeling physically.
“If we get into the season and we get into a spot where I have to use the DH from time to time for someone else and maybe he can go out there and spell us, I feel like right now, he’s in a position to do that,” Boone said. “I don’t think it’s going to be a lot necessarily, but want to be prepared for it without jeopardizing him physically.”
Spencer Jones and Elmer Rodríguez were named the winners of the 2025 Kevin Lawn Awards, given annually to the Yankees’ minor league position player and pitcher of the year. … The Yankees optioned reliever Yerry De los Santos to Triple-A and reassigned catchers Ali Sánchez and Payton Henry and outfielder Kenedy Corona to minor league camp.
Cubs vs. Reds at Sloan Park and vs. A’s at Hohokam Stadium preview, Friday 3/20
MESA, Arizona — Today’s roster moves:
Friday notes…
- FORMER CUBS IN REDS CAMP: Pierce Johnson, P.J. Higgins.
- FORMER CUBS IN A’S CAMP: Aaron Civale, Mark Leiter Jr., Brooks Kriske.
- SPLIT SQUAD: This is the only Cubs split squad game scheduled this spring. The home game begins at 8:05 p.m. CT and the away game at 8:10 p.m. CT.
Here are today’s particulars.
Cubs lineups at Sloan Park and Hohokam Stadium:
Reds lineup:
A’s lineup:
Matthew Boyd will start for the Cubs at Sloan Park. Other Cubs pitchers scheduled for the home game: Hunter Harvey, Phil Maton, Caleb Thielbar and Hoby Milner.
Brandon Williamson will start for the Reds. Other Reds pitchers scheduled tonight: Tony Santillan, Emilio Pagán, Zach Maxwell and Brock Burke.
Jameson Taillon will start for the Cubs at Hohokam Stadium. Other Cubs pitchers for the away game: Javier Assad.
Luis Severino will start for the A’s. Other A’s pitchers scheduled tonight: Mark Leiter Jr., Michael Kelly and Joel Kuhnel.
No TV for the home game. The away game will be on Marquee Sports Network and NBC Sports California. There will be a radio broadcast of the home game on the Reds flagship station, WLW 700. The away game will be with the A’s broadcasters on ATH Audio.
MLB.com Gameday for Cubs vs. Reds
MLB.com Gameday for Cubs vs. A’s
Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page for today.
Please visit our SB Nation Reds site Red Reporter and A’s site Athletics Nation. If you do go there to interact with Reds or A’s fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.
As we have done in the past, we’ll have a first pitch thread at five minutes to game time and one overflow thread, 90 minutes after game time. For today, that will be 8 p.m. CT and 9:35 p.m. CT.
These threads will not post individually onto the front page; instead, you can find links to them in the box marked ”Chicago Cubs Game Threads” at the bottom of the front page. There will also be a StoryStream on the front page with all the game thread links, as well as the recap after the game is over. The pitcher photos and regular-season stats will return on Opening Day.
Discuss amongst yourselves.