As most of you know, I was lucky enough to be invited to attend Winter Warmup as a reporter. Last year, I used that experience to write several season previews. Due to the late start of the top 20 prospect series (caused by waiting for Brendan Donovan to be traded), my Winter Warmup stories have been pushed to now instead of at the beginning of spring training. Thus technically, these could also be called season previews, but there’s a good chance I write a couple of these after the season has already started. I’ll try to pick stories that are not outdated for the ones during the season.

If you’re dissatisfied with Victor Scott’s offense, I have some good news. Victor Scott agrees with you.

“I do a lot of reflecting and a lot of looking at myself in the mirror so I like to see where there are areas I can grow, but I told them I wanted to come back a totally different player,” Victor Scott said. “I know I have two calling cards: the defense and the speed aspect, but I’m not complete without my offense.”

And yes, from a performance standpoint, Scott’s spring training has not gone well, but we all understand how important spring training stats are: they’re not. Especially if a player is working on a new swing. Because he wanted his offense to get better, he looked at why his swing was not working the way he wanted it to.

“What I didn’t realize is what a lot of what my swing was doing before, I was loading the ball of my foot which was basically cheating my rotation, so with that my knee would drive the rotation which then spins my upper half off the ball,” Scott said.  “I had no idea I was doing that.  That’s why you kind of get that pull-across swing and you start to pull groundballs to second base.  For me, groundballs aren’t necessarily a bad thing, they are when they are at 2nd base because I can’t run that out.”

He and the coaches, as he describes it, knew he had to crawl before he walked. He went to West Virginia for motion capture and force plate testing to see how his body was moving. In other words, he was trying to see if he was doing something wrong and if there was something he could do.

“We found out that some of my movements were kind of inefficient and didn’t really help me with being adjustable which I thought they did, but they got exposed,” Scott said.

He did movement prep to get his hips to rotate the right way and to create better shin angles. These would give him a firmer front ankle so that he could better use his energy.

“We’re to the point where we are hitting lives, the swing is much shorter, much more compact and I’m able to be more adjustable and more athletic, so that’s fun for me.”

His slow decline as the season went along means that he was not doing a good job adjusting once pitchers figured out how to pitch to him. There are reasons for optimism on how he should be better positioned to make adjustments due to a couple factors. The Cardinals have made a serious investment in tech and coaching.

“That speeds up development and a lot of things can be done in-house instead of going outside and having to get that information. That’s kind of how I viewed this offseason working with Casey (Chenoweth) and working with Brownie (Brant Brown), so when I need help or when I need to make an adjustment or something is a smidgen off, I can correct it faster.”

Chenoweth in particular is a new addition to the MLB staff. He will be an assistant hitting coach, but Scott worked with him before back in 2023 when Chenowith was the hitting coach for the Peoria Chiefs. That year, Scott had a 117 wRC+ and got promoted midseason to Springfield.

“He’s a guy who understands what he’s talking about, he understands the swing, he understands kind of how to talk to the player and present that information, so that’s a guy I like to use for assistance for help.”

One person who does not need to be sold about Victor Scott is his manager. Oliver Marmol brought up Victor Scott twice during his Winter Warmup interview and Scott’s named was not brought up in any question by a reporter. He went out of his way to talk about Scott. He was asked a question about the rotation and after sharing how he was excited about that group, he then specifically called out Victor Scott.

“When I’m going into spring training, that’s one of the things I’m most excited about, in addition to our centerfielder,” Marmol said. “I’m excited to see Victor Scott and see what he’s capable of this year. Those two things excite me daily.”

Nobody asked a follow-up about Scott, but clearly Marmol wanted to talk about Victor Scott, because later on in the interview, he was asked a question about Masyn Winn and how he wanted to become a more well-rounded player and not just a “defense” guy. And in the process of answering the question about Winn, he decided to give another shout-out to Victor Scott.

“Like Vic, the ceiling is so high for both those guys offensively, I don’t think we’re close to seeing what they’re capable of doing, but I do think because of the way they’re going about it, they’ll close that gap sooner or later,” Marmol said.

These comments were made towards the end of the interview and I think he was genuinely disappointed nobody asked about Victor Scott. So instead of waiting for a question that never came, he wanted to make sure we knew that he believed in Scott. The reason I am emphasizing this is because this is bad news for anyone who thinks Nathan Church should play CF over Scott. I don’t think you’re going to get your wish.

Old school fans should love what Victor Scott wants to be this upcoming season. One of his personal goals this season, with the logic that he plans to get on base more, is to steal twice as many bases as last season. His personal goal is 70 bases. The last time a Cardinal stole 70 bases, it was Vince Coleman in 1988 when he stole 81 bases. To put it another way: I’ve never personally seen a Cardinal steal 70 bases, so that would be cool to experience.

“When this works this year, I’ll be on base more, stealing bases,” Scott said.  “That’s what I like to do.  I like to put myself into scoring positions in order to score more runs.  Driving the ball in the gap more; homers is not in my cards, that’s not me.  I can do it every now and then, but I’m a guy who is a line drive guy; gets on base, hits the ball the other way.  That’s my brand of baseball.”

And this will annoy some of you, I am sure, but still he plans to bunt. I think the difference between the average fan’s thinking and Victor Scott’s thinking is that fans see how successful Scott was at bunting last season (not very) and think “this is his true talent success rate at bunting” while Scott thinks he is capable of getting bunt hits more often.

“This shorter and more compact swing is going to help me utilize those abilities and I don’t want to miss the fact that I’ve been bunting like crazy this offseason,” Scott said.

If you want a little insight into why he was still bunting in spring training, I believe that is why. And for now, I am personally okay with it for two reasons. First, this is the season to do it. This is a season of experimenting to some extent and honestly he was a very good at bunt hits in the minors. I am willing to accept the possibility that he underperformed last year in his bunt attempts.

Secondly, at least for now, he’s pretty much a singles hitter anyway so I don’t see some huge missed opportunity that he’s not actually swinging the bat. He needs to improve on his bunt attempts no question, but it’s not a terribly high bar he has to reach for a bunt to make sense. He batted .216 last season with not much power. Obviously if his changes to his swing work like he hopes, this argument will not apply and I would honestly love to face that reality.

Masyn Winn

Another player who hopes to steal more bases is Masyn Winn, who is under no illusions that he has no shot at stealing as many bases as Scott.

“Vic is track speed,” Winn said.  There’s a difference between track speed and baseball speed.  Now if I could be within five, I would love that.”

Sadly, we can not interpret that as Winn saying he’d love to steal 65 bases. There’s a very good chance he did not know Scott’s personal goal was to steal 70 bases or that Scott would say that to the media later. Since Scott stole 35 bases last season however, I do think something like 30 bases is what Winn is hoping for.

“I need to take my shots – in the right situation of course – but I didn’t even give myself a chance last year,” Winn said.  “This year, with a healthy knee, I’ve been working a lot on running in PT, getting it back for a reason, I want to be able to use that speed.”

Winn is also redirecting his offensive goals for this upcoming season. Last season, he wanted more homers. This year he just wants to get on base more.

“I wanted to hit a bomb every time and that’s just not gonna happen,” Winn said. “That’s something I need to take pride in, is just being annoying at the plate, a guy pitchers don’t want to throw to, just cause they’re going to waste pitches.”

One cannot also underestimate what a healthy knee can do for Winn’s offense. He played through a slight meniscus tear and it required arthroscopic surgery. Only after the surgery was Winn able to realize how much it hampered his game.

“I walked out of surgery and it was almost like a week after, I was like “this is what it’s supposed to feel like to walk” and I had just gotten so used to the pain of playing through it that I was like this is my normal,“ Winn said.  ”I do think last year, looking back on it, probably affected me more than I thought it did.”

After Nolan Arenado got traded and Arenado said his goodbyes to the Cardinals group chat, Winn joked to Arenado that if Arenado robbed him of a hit, he would slide in cleats first. Arenado told him that he’d try to rob Winn like he robbed Andrew Knizner.

“I’m sure he’s gonna hit one over to me,” Winn said. “I’m going to rob it, take my time, let him get down to first base, make him think he’s got a hit. I’m sure he’ll do the same.”

(Winn was the most effusive in last year’s Winter Warmup about wanting to play next to Arenado, so in case it wasn’t clear, this is joking with your friends, not any kind of dig at Arenado. Well except his speed. I do think it’s clear, but I know how easy it is for people to misinterpret these kind of things.)

Here we are on the eve of the 2026 MLB season, and we’ll have Colorado Rockies baseball this weekend. Finally, we will get to see the Paul DePodesta–Josh Byrnes rebuild strategy in action.

That also means it’s time for my yearly SWOT analysis. (Read 2024’s here and 2025’s here.)

As a refresher, my preference is to write a (very rough) SWOT analysis that examines strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This year’s column poses a challenge. After all, these 2026 Rockies are a very different team than they were in September of 2025. With a new front office and coaching staff, deeper roster, enhanced analytics capabilities, and an updated approach to the game, it’s an exciting, albeit unpredictable, time.

That’s a long way of saying that we don’t really know what 2026 will look like, but we do know (with some certainty) that it will be different.

With that said, here’s my best attempt to evaluate the 2026 Rockies though I would add one caveat. I am not confident of the categories in which I have placed the evidence. Is the new front office a strength or an opportunity? I’m not sure, but I went with strength. You get the idea. And one of the things I hope we discuss in the comments is how these factors should be evaluated and which ones I’ve missed.

(And for those of you who do this professionally, please forgive my amateur application of the form.)

Strengths: Characteristics that give an organization an advantage over others

• A new front office — This is not exactly a strength since the Rockies are playing catchup to other organizations, and they won’t be caught up in six months when the season ends. However, the Rockies now have a serious MLB front office. While we should expect to see improvement from players on the field, the real changes will be happening behind the scenes, and it will be some time before we know their effectiveness. This front office is going to rely on more than “guys playing better,” and they may even surprise folks.
• A coaching staff the players like — The players have been clear — pretty much all of them — that they like manager Warren Schaeffer and the ways in which the coaching staff is working with them. After a miserable 2025, Schaeffer earned their trust and managed to get young players through an unforgettable (derogatory) season. This is no small feat. That terrible season gave Schaeffer a chance to hone his skills and build trust, and this season, he should be able to capitalize on that investment. Someone commented a couple of weeks ago that if Schaeffer can get this team under 100 losses, he should be under consideration for Manager of the Year. I agree.

• The bullpen — Bullpens are, of course, volatile conglomerations, but the potential is there for the Rockies to have a bullpen that much of MLB overlooks. That may prove valuable during the season and certainly as the trade deadline approaches.
• Hunter Goodman — I suspect the Rockies All-Star and Silver Slugger came as a bit of a surprise to MLB, but Rockies fans always knew the bat was for real. Will Goodman regress? We don’t know. But if he doesn’t, the Rockies will have a catcher with significant offensive upside, which is a valuable commodity.

Weaknesses: Characteristics that place the organization at a disadvantage relative to others

• The Rockies are behind — For all those strengths outlined in the previous section, the fact remains that the Rockies are woefully behind their peers. Should fans expect losing? Yes. Should they expect a lot of it? Also, yes. But should things be improved? Probably. Still, losing is hard on professional athletes, and while DePodesta and Byrnes implement their system, there will surely be some grim games lying in wait.
• The offense is bad — This may change, but based on what we saw last season, the Rockies had an offense that couldn’t hit and struck out a lot. That’s no way to win baseball games. Hopefully this is an area in which the Rockies will improve, but based on what we saw last season, there’s work to be done.
• The starting rotation will have its work cut out — Last year’s starting rotation was historically bad, and it’s not possible for the Rockies (or any team) to win without at least a replacement-level rotation. To their credit, DePodesta and Byrnes have set out to correct this by signing veterans with diverse arsenals who aren’t afraid of pitching at elevation.

• The farm system is marginal — Ranking systems have been down on Rockies prospects since last year. The question remains whether this is a lack of talent or a lack of player development. By September, we will have a better idea.
• Kris Bryant’s contract — We’ve written words — so many words — about Byrant’s seven year, $182 million dollar contract. It is increasingly clear that Bryant’s playing days are over. Until the Rockies have resolved the KB conundrum, they will have a level of uncertainty in their ability to plan financially.

Opportunities: Elements in the environment that the organization could exploit to its advantage

• Coors Field should be weaponized — We’ve talked about the “Coors Effect” ad nauseam, and the Rockies talk a lot about the challenges of playing at elevation. This year, it feels like, finally, they have a front office ready to transform Coors Field into a visiting pitchers’ house of horrors.
• The Rockies will have players to deal at the trade deadline — I expect the Rockies to be very active at the trade deadline — as in, “I-wonder-if-Purple-Row-will-be-able-to-keep-up” active. DePodesta and Byrnes have said that they will listen to offers on any player, and the Rockies may have players — especially pitchers — to move in July. Add to that the possibility of trading Brenton Doyle, Mickey Moniak, and Ezequiel Tovar, and the Rockies can begin rebuilding their farm.

• A curious fan base — We hear a lot about how “Rockies fans show up no matter the team’s record,” but serious fans know that’s a fiction. Much of the gate is driven by fans of visiting teams who are either transplants or taking a three-day weekend. Just go to any series with the Chicago Cubs or the Los Angeles Dodgers or the Houston Astros or the Baltimore Orioles . . . I could go on, but you get the idea. One thing that has happened because of the front office and coaching changes is a fan base that is ready for winning and a front office that is ready to answer questions and build relationships. The Rockies need to spend this capital wisely.

Threats: Elements in the environment that could cause trouble for the organization

• The NL West — The Dodgers have built a juggernaut. They want a third consecutive World Series (and to their credit, who wouldn’t?). They made offseason moves in signing Kyle Tucker and Edwin Díaz to load up to take another run at it. The Rockies luck against the Dodgers has rarely been good, and that trend will probably continue in 2026. In addition, I think the Arizona Diamondbacks are sneaky good. In addition, the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants are solid. Before the Rockies can contend, they must find a way to win in the NL West.
• The looming lockout — Strictly speaking, this is beyond the scope of the 2026 season, but any momentum the Rockies build they risk losing in the event of a lockout that extends into the 2027 season. Certainly, no team would be immune from its effects, but for a young and rebuilding team, the impact might be especially devastating.

Predictions

Okay, so here are my (probably wrong) predictions.

• The Rockies will go 63-99. That would mean three additional wins per month, and that strikes me as reasonable given the improvements the front office has made. Any record that includes fewer than 100 losses is an unquestioned win for this organization.
• Three players will surpass 30 home runs: Hunter Goodman, Ezequiel Tovar, and T.J. Rumfield.
• The Rockies will be in the top 10 teams in terms of stolen bases.

So that’s what I’ve got.

Let me know what you think.

This week on the internet

I know the World Baseball Classic happened last week, but I feel compelled to share this Ezequiel Tovar video:

May that energy carry on into the season.

Rockies stay connected on mound with coach calling pitches from dugout | MLB.com

Thomas Harding talked with Rockies coaching, pitching, and catching staffs to get their takes on pitching “suggestions” coming from the dugout. Truly, this one is worth your time.

Four months ago, this Rockies prospect couldn’t speak. Now, he’s back in baseball | The Athletic ($)

Catch up with Braylen Wimmer in a pretty terrific article. (I think I’ve provided a gift link.)

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

Our contributors at Brew Crew Ball are excited to get the 2026 season underway after an offseason that featured a few big moves, including trading away Freddy Peralta and several others to reload with a younger roster. Here are our team award predictions for the Brewers in 2026.

Team MVP

Paul Dietrich: Brice Turang

I’m tempted to go with Jackson Chourio here, because it does feel like a leap is coming soon. But Turang has been one of the team’s most valuable players for two straight years, he was just named the best second baseman of the World Baseball Classic, and he was killing the ball in spring training before he took off to play for Team USA. Ever since Turang’s power breakout last August, we’ve had to consider what could happen if he’s a guy with 30 homer potential who could steal 30 bases and play Gold-Glove-level defense. I don’t know if he’ll put all of that together this season, but I think he might end up as Milwaukee’s best player.

Harrison Freuck: Brice Turang

I don’t think Turang is the best offensive player for Milwaukee (that title probably belongs to William Contreras, or, if 2026 is finally the breakout, Jackson Chourio), but Turang’s combination of strong defense and offense makes him the most valuable player for this team. Coming off an impressive season that garnered him some MVP votes, followed by a great performance in the World Baseball Classic, Turang is poised to take another step forward this year.

Dave Gasper: Brice Turang

During the World Baseball Classic, John Smoltz declared he thought Brice Turang was the MVP of Team USA. If Turang can be the MVP on a team filled with actual MVPs, then he certainly can be the MVP of the Milwaukee Brewers this year. Turang has some of the best raw power at this time, and he has finally learned how to tap into it in games. He’s improved every year in the major leagues, and heading into his age-26 season, he’s primed to be even better and could even be a 30/30 threat.

Pair that power/speed combo with still being able to hit for a high average and Platinum Glove defense at second base, and you have a star that will get plenty of MVP votes.

Jason Paczkowski: Brice Turang

The rise of Brice Turang is going to continue in 2026. After leading the team in WAR (both bWAR and fWAR) in 2025, Turang is still improving. He’s starting the season well with a strong performance in the World Baseball Classic, and he’s on track to continue that into the regular season. With just a little more power, as well as a return to his strong defense from 2024, he could easily be a top 10 candidate in the NL MVP vote after finishing 14th last season.

Adam Zimmer: Brice Turang

I’m buying into the hype. Turang played well enough down the stretch last season to earn himself some down-ballot MVP votes. He hit 13 home runs post-July 1 and finished the season with 5.6 bWAR. In this month’s World Baseball Classic, he posted a.936 OPS in 22 at-bats. 

I already wrote an article last November detailing why I think the new version of Turang is here to stay.  If Turang can indeed carry his late-season form into 2026, he could very well end up hitting 30-plus home runs. He already posted almost 6 WAR last season with an OPS under .800. Improvement over a full season would make him a legitimate MVP candidate, especially when you consider his stellar defense at second. 

Most Improved Player

Paul Dietrich: Jacob Misiorowski

Is this cheating? I’m not sure. Miz only threw 66 innings in the big leagues during last year’s regular season, and then 12 more in the postseason, and at times — especially in the postseason — he looked like the Brewers’ best pitcher. But it’s easy to forget how much of a roller coaster his regular season was; he actually finished with a below-league-average ERA at 4.36, and while his walks are trending in the right direction, he still walked guys at a rate higher than all but two of the qualifying starting pitchers last season. I think he’s going to keep improving that walk rate, and I think experience is going to make him a little better at handling pitching with guys on base, and I suspect he’ll be well above average this year. I’m not going to predict full-blown stardom, but I’m also not going to NOT predict that.

Harrison Freuck: Jake Bauers

I’m not one to read too much into spring training results, but Jake Bauers has been playing great for longer than just spring training. In 22 games (16 starts) in the final month of the season, Bauers hit .360/.458/.560 with a pair of homers, nine RBIs, 11 runs, and three steals across 59 plate appearances. He’s been even better this spring, hitting .471/.581/1.147 with six homers, five doubles, eight RBIs, 11 runs, and three steals in just 13 games (43 plate appearances). While he’ll split time with Andrew Vaughn at first base, it isn’t out of the question for him to turn in his best season yet, as last year’s 0.7 bWAR is his career-high.

Dave Gasper: Garrett Mitchell

I’m hoping and praying this is the year we get to see a fully healthy Garrett Mitchell. He has played in parts of four MLB seasons but has just 390 ABs over 141 games played. The best way to improve is to get reps, and getting a full season of reps should help Mitchell improve tremendously as he goes along. When he had that healthy three-month stretch in the second half of 2024, Mitchell posted a 124 OPS+ and a 2.0 bWAR. A full season at that pace would make him a 4 WAR player. The upside is tremendous; he just needs the ABs to get there.

Jason Paczkowski: Robert Gasser

This is a tricky pick after a 2026 season where most of the Brewers had a strong season. As a result, I’m going to go with a player who missed most of the season due to injury. Robert Gasser had a great start to his major league career in 2024, but elbow surgery ended his season and took most of 2025 as well. He made it back on the roster late in the season and even pitched in a couple of postseason games. As he enters 2026 healthy, he’s looking good and ready to contribute in the majors. Even if he does begin the season in the minor leagues, he should still have a strong impact on the Brewers this season.

Adam Zimmer: Joey Ortiz

Call me delusional, call me ignorant, call me what you want. I’m choosing to be an optimist here. For one, Ortiz quite literally cannot get worse at the plate than the numbers he put up last season. He had the worst OPS in baseball last season, and his Statcast data, by and large, supported his numbers. The bar is the floor. Ortiz is also playing for his job, as the Brewers have a few uber-talented middle-infield prospects breathing down his neck. 

However, there remain signs that Ortiz could still become a serviceable hitter. Over the last 92 games of the season (from June 1 onward), he hit .261. Ortiz would need to show improved plate discipline while maintaining his contact rates, but that could push his OPS into normal, albeit below‑average, territory. In that case, he’ll have improved more than any other Brewer compared to last season.

Newcomer of the Year

Paul Dietrich: Ángel Zerpa

The choices here are basically Luis Rengifo, David Hamilton, or a bunch of young pitchers who we’re not totally sure when they’ll be on the big-league roster… or Zerpa, who I’m going to go with after he looked good in the WBC. His numbers weren’t great last season, but if the Brewers gave up both Isaac Collins and Nick Mears for him, they obviously saw something they liked. And I like it when the Brewers’ front office and pitching gurus see something they like.

Harrison Freuck: Luis Rengifo

Entering 2026, it seemed like the Brewers had found their third base solution in the form of Caleb Durbin. But Matt Arnold and Co. did what they do best, surprising everyone and shipping Durbin (as well as the rest of the third base depth chart) to Boston in February. A week later, they added Luis Rengifo in free agency.

Rengifo, who turned 29 last month, was a solid major leaguer just a few seasons ago, and he can also hold his own defensively. While he may not be the flashiest player, if he can replicate his 2022/2023 seasons — when he hit 33 homers and drove in 103 over 253 games — he’ll provide the Brewers with a solid stopgap as they wait for their infield prospects to develop.

Dave Gasper: Ángel Zerpa

While the acquisition of Ángel Zerpa from the Royals may have gone under the radar, especially after the Freddy Peralta and Caleb Durbin trades, Zerpa could have a big impact on this bullpen. The Brewers traded two very productive players from last year’s squad, Nick Mears and Isaac Collins, in order to get Zerpa, who has a career 3.97 ERA. While his ERA hasn’t been overly impressive, the Brewers see untapped potential in him and believe they can tap into it.

Zerpa pitched for Venezuela in the WBC, and in their path to the title, he struck out Shohei Ohtani looking by painting 97 mph on the outside corner. Zerpa opened some eyes with his WBC performance, including mine. It may not be long before he’s a trusted high-leverage option for Pat Murphy.

Jason Paczkowski: Kyle Harrison

Though his Opening Day status is up in the air after he left his last spring start with a blister, Kyle Harrison is going to be in the Brewers’ starting rotation. The Brewers believed in him enough to acquire him from the Red Sox in the Caleb Durbin trade. The overall spring numbers don’t look great, but his strikeout rate is strong. The Brewers grabbed a gem from the Red Sox last season with Quinn Priester. Have they done it again with Harrison?

Adam Zimmer: Kyle Harrison

As I wrote about last month, Harrison can be a middle-of-the-rotation starter — or better — if he develops an effective secondary pitch (or two). His fastball will always be a plus pitch, but his changeup has been quite effective this spring after he tweaked it over the offseason. Expect him to show fans why he was once a top prospect in all of baseball. 

I almost chose Ángel Zerpa, who looked electric in the WBC and is a prime candidate to benefit from the Brewers’ famed “pitching lab.”

Good morning.

• With Opening Day just three days away, Buster Olney has seven things he’s learned in Spring Training.
• The MLB dot com beat writers have the most important thing each team has learned in Spring Training.
• Jared Greenspan has four things that players have learned about the Automatic Ball/Strike (ABS) system this Spring.
• Umpire Bill Miller learned to be sure his microphone was off before he wished to be overruled by the ABS system. Unfortunately for Bill, he’s too good of an umpire.

• Thomas Harrington has ten players who could seize the opportunity after others getting injured in Spring Training.
• Davy Andrews looks at the weird collection of players who have hit more home runs in Spring Training than the regular season.
• Chad Jennings writes that players returning from World Baseball Classic duty are trying hard to catch up on the time they missed in Spring Training. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Team USA captain Aaron Judge defended his team from charges that they didn’t have any fun during the WBC. (The Athletic sub. req.) Judge also said he’d play for Team USA anytime they asked, including the 2028 Olympics.
• Mariners outfielder Randy Arozarena said he apologized to teammate Cal Raleigh after Arozarena’s angry tirade after Raleigh wouldn’t shake his hand during a WBC game.
• Dayn Perry builds his “Dream Team” USA for the 2030 World Baseball Classic.
• Maria Guardado speaks with Will Clark about his memories of playing for Team USA in the 1984 Olympics.
• J.J. Cooper writes that the WBC has always been great, but now that everyone else has realized that, the WBC has gone mainstream.
• The Phillies and Cristopher Sánchez have agreed to a new six-year contract extension.
• Phillies reliever Daniel Robert is “stable and alert” after suffering a “cardiac event” while throwing a bullpen on Sunday.
• The Pirates announced that top prospect Konnor Griffin will start the season in the minor leagues.
• Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon explain why the Pirates decided to send Griffin to the minor leagues. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Last year, Dean Kremer led the Orioles in innings pitched and strikeouts. Baltimore just sent Kremer down to Triple-A to start the season.
• The Yankees sent outfielder Jasson Dominguez down to Triple-A, despite a strong Spring Training.
• Instead, veteran Randal Grichuk will make the Yankees’ Opening Day roster. Bryan Hoch reports.
• Reliever Craig Kimbrel will not make the Mets Opening Day roster. Anthony DiComo with the story, and he writes that it’s unclear if Kimbrel is willing to remain in the organization.
• Ten teams still do not have distribution deals for the broadcasts of their games this year.
• Eno Sarris has ten bold predictions for the 2026 season. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• The MLB dot com writers have their predictions for who will end up on top of the big statistical categories in each league.
• Mike Axisa has some sleeper candidates for breakout seasons in 2026.
• Mike Petriello has seven hitters who could break out this year.
• Bradford Doolittle explains why Rangers outfielder Wyatt Langford is his sleeper pick for American League Most Valuable Player this season.
• A preview of the AL East.
• Paige Leckie reports on the “friendly rivalry” between two close friends, Orioles manager Craig Albernaz and Nationals manager Blake Butera.
• Andy McCullough, Will Sammon and Sahadev Sharma break down a survey of experts on who are the top aces in MLB and who are just back-end guys. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• The Mariners are back with their humorous ads for the new season. The first one this year, with all the new fathers on the team, is “TriDads Up,” with the players balancing their duties as ballplayers and fathers.

• Finally, Charlotte Varnes has the story of Rockies outfield prospect Braylen Wimmer, who is back in Spring Training just four months after having a cancerous brain tumor removed. (The Athletic sub. req.) The story covers the problems that Wimmer had to overcome, like being temporarily unable to speak, and how baseball is coming back to him.

With Opening Day less than a week away, the Orioles appear poised to keep Pete Alonso, Coby Mayo and Ryan Mountcastle all on the active roster. Mouncastle and Mayo quickly emerged as trade candidates after the team signed Alonso, but a deal never materialized. Mayo returned to third base once Jordan Westburg went down with an injury, and Mountcastle will enter the season as a bench bat with some pop.

Injuries to Westburg and Jackson Holliday reduced the crowd in the infield. Blaze Alexander and Coby Mayo will frequent the starting lineup early in the season, and the team appears to have room for another utility player in addition to Mountcastle. That’s great for those guys, but Mountcastle will only play first base at this point in his career. His path to playing time involves a day off for Alonso or a spot start as the designated hitter.

• ZiPS: .260/.305/.432. 111 games, 17 home runs, 107 wRC+
• ZiPS DC: .260/.305/.432. 34 games, 5 home runs, 107 wRC+
• Baseball Reference: .261/.309/.414. 429 plate appearances, 12 home runs

Both FanGraphs and Baseball Reference anticipate Mountcastle to bat around .260 and get on base three out of 10 times. The ZiPS projection that factors in playing time expects Mountcastle to appear in only 34 games this season. Mike Elias said over the weekend that he expects the team to find a place for the 29-year-old.

“Mounty has historically been great against left-handed pitching, so I think he’s going to be a front-line player for us,” Elias said. “We’ll figure out a way to help him impact games for us.”

Every team has bench players. Mountcastle features significantly more offensive upside than guys like Tony Kemp, Emmanuel Rivera, or Daniel Johnson. Mounty has failed to reach his full potential over the last few seasons, but the team still believes in his ability to make an impact at the dish. There’s a reason they didn’t deal him for a low-leverage reliever or a scratch-off lottery ticket prospect.

I’m sure he’d like to play every day, but Mountcastle is used to a part-time role. He platooned with Ryan O’Hearn for a few years and yielded a large amount of starts to Mayo last September. He’s handled any uncertainty with class, and he looked loose throughout camp.

Good morning, baseball fans!

Welcome to the first week of the regular season! It’s time to take a look at what’s on deck for the San Francisco Giants this week.

Monday

The Giants welcome the Sultanes de Monterrey to Oracle Park for an exhibition game tonight at 6:45 p.m. PT. The game will have television coverage on NBC Sports Bay Area and radio coverage on KNBR.

Tuesday

The exhibition series with the Sultanes continues Tuesday at 6:45 p.m. PT. The game will have television coverage on NBC Sports Bay Area and radio coverage on KNBR and KSFN.

Wednesday

OPENING DAY! The Giants will welcome the New York Yankees to Oracle Park for Opening Day at 5:05 p.m. PT. This will be the only game on Wednesday, which means you can only watch it on Netflix. Naturally. Radio coverage will be available on KNBR and KSFN.

Thursday

Off Day

Friday

The Yankees series continues on Friday, starting at 1:35 p.m. PT. The game will have television coverage on NBC Sports Bay Area and radio coverage on KNBR and KSFN.

Saturday

The final game of the Yankees series will start at 4:15 p.m. PT. This will be a national broadcast on Fox, with radio coverage available on KNBR and KSFN.

Sunday

An extremely rare Sunday off. What a weird schedule to start the season.

It's the Dodgers, and everyone else, in the National League West this season.

The two-time defending World Series champions ponied up a combined $309 million to sign two free agents, world-class closer Edwin Díaz and four-time All-Star corner outfielder Kyle Tucker.

The second-place San Diego Padres continued to cut payroll, bidding farewell to free agents Dylan Cease, Robert Suarez, Luis Arraez and Ryan O’Hearn. The San Francisco Giants' offseason highlight: becoming the first MLB team to make a college coach with no professional baseball coaching experience their manager. The 47-year-old Tony Vitello comes on board after coaching the Tennessee Volunteers for the past eight seasons.

The Arizona Diamondbacks are attempting to bounce back after following up a 2023 World Series appearance with two underwhelming seasons. And the Colorado Rockies are starting fresh yet again, replacing general manager Bill Schmidt with Paul DePodesta, who, after working for the Dodgers and other MLB teams, most recently served as the Cleveland Browns' chief strategy officer for the past 10 years.

1 | Dodgers

2025 | 93-69, 1st in West

Last year in playoffs | 2025

The Dodgers will open the season with a record payroll, to go with sky-high expectations, as the team vies for baseball’s first three-peat since the New York Yankees won three straight World Series titles between 1998 and 2000. The Dodgers remain the steady favorites, but seven of their nine regular position players are on the other side of 30. Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts and Teoscar Hernández all showed signs of regression last season. The Dodgers have been bitten by the injury bug over the past two years, especially in their rotation and bullpen. Pitchers Blake Snell, Gavin Stone, Brusdar Graterol and Evan Phillips will all open the season on the injured list. How will Roki Sasaki’s second try as a member of the pitching rotation go? With all this in mind, expect Dave Roberts to manage his club accordingly. Don’t expect the Dodgers to gun for the 2001 Seattle Mariners’ win record of 116. Expect load management, as the Dodgers pace themselves with the goal of a healthy roster entering postseason play.

2 | San Diego Padres

2025 | 90-72, 2nd in West

Last year in playoffs | 2025

Despite a middling September — the Padres went 14-11 in the final month of the season — the club finished only three games back of the Dodgers. Though the club lost some key pieces over the winter, the Padres still boast a lockdown bullpen featuring Mason Miller, and a potent lineup starring Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. After an impressive rookie season, Jackson Merrill struggled to find his footing in his second year, landing on the IL three separate times. Merrill could be this season’s breakout star in the National League. If he takes a leap and the Padres stay healthy, this club could surprise.

3 | San Francisco Giants

2025 | 81-81, 3rd in West

Last year in playoffs | 2021

Since the Chicago Cubs eliminated the Giants from the 2016 NLDS, the club has made the postseason just once. Newcomers Luis Arraez and Harrison Bader should provide length to their lineup. Bader enjoyed a resurgent 2025 where he slashed .277/.347/.449 while playing plus-defense, earning himself a two-year, $20.5-million deal. Arraez saw a 22-point dip in batting average last season from 2024, but maintained a low-strikeout rate (3.1%). Right-side infield defense will be a question mark with Arraez returning to second base and Rafael Devers manning first. The Giants should get good length out of starting pitchers Robbie Ray and Logan Webb. Webb led the National League in innings pitched for the third straight season.

4 | Arizona Diamondbacks

2025 | 80-82, 4th in West

Last year in playoffs | 2023

Since their miraculous run to the World Series in 2023 — a postseason in which they bludgeoned the Dodgers, outscoring their divisional foes 19-6 in a three-game sweep in the NLDS — the Diamondbacks have missed the playoffs in each of the last two seasons. The club will likely be without two of their best three starting pitchers to open the season, as Corbin Burnes works his way back from Tommy John surgery and Merrill Kelly deals with lingering intercostal nerve irritation. With manager Torey Lovullo entering his 10th season with the club and the final year of his contract, could his seat be heating up?

5 | Colorado Rockies

2025 | 43-119, 5th in West

Last year in playoffs | 2018

Under new president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta, the Rockies will look to turn the page from a season to forget in 2025. Having played just 170 games through his first four seasons with the Rockies — posting a minus-WAR (Wins Above Replacement) in three of them — Kris Bryant’s future remains in question as he deals with a degenerative disk disease. He will open the season on the 60-day IL. The club saw promise last year from 25-year-old catcher Hunter Goodman and 27-year-old Mickey Moniak. The club will hope to see continued growth from youngsters Ezequiel Tovar, Jordan Beck and Brenton Doyle, with top prospect and 2024 Golden Spikes Award winner Charlie Condon eyeing a potential big-league debut this summer.

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Of course, projecting the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens roster is also a sneaky excuse for one more final projection of the Detroit Tigers Opening Day roster. Nothing has really changed at the major league level. I expect Kevin McGonigle and Parker Meadows to be with the Tigers on Opening Day, and for some combination of Enmanuel de Jesus, Brant Hurter, Sean Guenther, and Brenan Hanifee to start the season with the three open spots in the Tigers’ bullpen.

We got news on Saturday night that second ranked Tigers’ prospect, center fielder Max Clark, will start the season in Triple-A Toledo. That move has consequences, indicating that almost certainly Parker Meadows has made the Opening Day roster. They can’t both play center field in Toledo, although it’s at least plausible that they could share center and right field duties or something. Trei Cruz will also need to stay sharp in center field, though he’ll also split some time at the shortstop position.

Either way, here is our crack at the players manager Gabe Alvarez and pitching coach Doug Bochtler will be working with to start the 2026 season. They can carry 28 players on the active roster.

The Hens open on Thursday the 26th, just as the Tigers do. They’ll be on the road as well, taking on the Lehigh Valley IronPigs in a short series to begin the regular season. Then they’ll spend a week in Syracuse, before returning to the Fifth Third Field on April 7th for their home opener against the St. Paul Saints.

Starting rotation

RHP Keider Montero

RHP Ty Madden

LHP Bryan Sammons

LHP Carlos Pena

RHP Dylan File

RHP Sawyer Gipson-Long – IL

RHP Troy Watson – IL

Sawyer Gipson-Long, and Troy Watson are all working their way back off the injured list. Gipson-Long suffered an oblique strain at the beginning of camp and is throwing bullpens. He should return shortly, perhaps in time to take the fifth spot in the rotation right out of the gate. Watson had arthoscopic surgery on his right elbow and may be a while longer.

We’ll probably see a pitcher or two released from the relief ranks before the season starts. Depending on Gipson-Long’s status, they will likely spot start their final rotation spot out of a deep group of veteran minor league relief arms until one of the two is ready to go.

Jake Miller is close to a return after a lost 2025 season in Erie with back issues and then surgery on both hips to correct the underlying labrum tears that contributed to his back trouble. The Tigers assigned him to Toledo back on March 6, but seem likely to send him back to Erie to get back into form before he makes the jump to Toledo. Fellow lefty starter Andrew Sears had some kind of issue that kept him from seeing major league camp, but is reportedly throwing bullpens. We’ll see how long it takes for him to get on the mound again, but he’s not too far from a promotion to Toledo either.

Bullpen

RHP Dylan Smith

RHP Tyler Mattison

RHP Tanner Rainey

RHP Jack Little

RHP Matt Seelinger

LHP Sean Guenther

LHP Konnor Pilkington

LHP Colin Poche

RHP Woo-Suk Go

RHP Ricky Vanasco

RHP Scott Effross- IL

RHP Tyler Owens – IL

LHP Bailey Horn – IL

RHP Dugan Darnell – IL

RHP Phil Bickford – IL

The bullpen is pretty full, though a veteran or two might end up opting out, but really only Dylan Smith and Tyler Mattison are notably exciting. Bailey Horn fits the bill in terms of good stuff, but he’ll be a little while before returning from right elbow arthroscopy. With minimal information available, it’s impossible to know when guys will come off the injured list. Sean Guenther has had a good camp and should get a look again this year and could possibly take a spot on the Opening Day roster instead, bumping Brant Hurter or Enmanuel de Jesus to Triple-A for a while.

Drew Sommers could be a quality lefty reliever if his command comes together, and he’s still young at 25 years of age. I expect he’s bound for Erie to start the year to keep working on his command. It’s just hard to imagine them carrying four lefties in the pen to start the year, and Pilkington, Poche, and Guenther feel like bigger priorities as major league depth until Sommers levels up a bit more.

RHP Cole Waites is still trying to rebuild his velo after his return from Tommy John last year. He used to be 98 mph, but was 92-93 mph for the most part in camp. I will guess he’s going to Erie until it comes back, but they could keep him in Toledo instead, and send RHP Woo-Suk Go to Erie instead. Otherwise it’s a collection of veterans with enough quality stuff to succeed, but not enough command, and in most cases, no huge carrying pitch to lean on if they don’t improve that command.

The Tigers have added minor league veterans like RHP Yendy Gomez, RHP Wandisson Charles, RHP Luke Taggart, RHP Jan Carabello, and RHP John Stankiewicz, along with a few younger free agent signings who will be in Lakeland. Since we haven’t seen them, it’s pretty impossible to know where the Tigers will play the older minor league veterans in that group. Gonez and Carabello are young though, and project for West Michigan or Erie to start the season.

Either way, leaving out the injured list guys, that gives them a five-man rotation and an 10-man bullpen to start with on the 28-man roster.

Position players

CF Max Clark

OF Wenceel Pérez

OF Ben Malgeri

OF Corey Julks

OF Cal Stevenson

1B Jace Jung

2B Max Anderson

SS Trei Cruz

3B Hao-Yu Lee

UT Chris Meyers

UT Gage Workman

C Tomas Nido

C/1B Eduardo Valencia

SS Trey Sweeney -IL

Obviously, we’re assuming Parker Meadows is with the Tigers on Opening Day, moving Wenceel Pérez, Trei Cruz, and Corey Julks to Toledo. It sounds like Hao-Yu Lee is just about healed from his oblique injury. If not, the Tigers could add a veteran minor leaguer like 1B/LF types, Chris Meyers or Justice Bigbie. Whenever Lee is ready, he and Anderson will split days between second and third base together.

We’ll see what the Tigers decide to do with John Peck. There’s a good chance he goes back to Double-A if only to keep both he and Trei Cruz playing shortstop most days. Still, Peck has had a great camp, and while he’s only spent about a month and change at the Double-A level, the Tigers clearly are impressed as he’s travelling to Arizona with the club for the final two exhibition games. I wouldn’t be shocked if he ends up in Toledo either, in which case veteran minor leaguer Chris Meyers can easily be bumped back to Erie. Peck can play all over the infield, and so if Cruz gets a lot of time at shortstop it isn’t going to hinder Peck’s development as a versatile right-handed hitting infielder who has some power and is pretty good at shortstop to boot.

If Peck is starting the year as the Hens’ shortstop, splitting some of that time with Trei Cruz, that might spell the end for Trey Sweeney. The Tigers will need a 40-man spot for Kevin McGonigle sooner rather than later, and it’s just hard to see Sweeney doing anything without a major overhaul to his swing. Of course, they could also drop Workman at this point and keep Sweeney as a utility infielder, and that’s probably more the move as Workman has aged out and couldn’t take advantage of his major league look with Cubs last year. Still, they’re both 26 this year, so pick your poison I suppose. They’re young enough not to totally give up on, but not important enough to worry about at the same time.

Overall, this is a really good group of position players with Clark as the headliner. Wenceel Pérez is a solid MLB caliber hitter who just doesn’t stand out in terms of power or defense. Anderson and Lee are just outside of top 100 consideration. Jung and Cruz are older minor league former prospects who had pretty good camps. Valencia isn’t much of a catcher in MLB terms but he bat did erupt in a big way last year and he could provide some power and lefty mashing depth to the Tigers along the way.

The Tigers have a far stronger supporting cast in case of injury or ineffectiveness from their position player group than we’ve really even seen before. It’s just unfortunate that they don’t really have an ace pitching prospect or at least a fearsome relief prospect waiting in the wings. Keider Montero may be able to help out, but until his command takes another step he’s still just quality depth for the rotation and bullpen. Tyler Mattison has the stuff, as does Tanner Kohlhepp, but they’re now deep into their mid-20’s and neither has been able to develop enough command to reach the major league level yet. Hopefully Troy Melton, and maybe by late July or August, Jackson Jobe, can ultimately provide some more impressive help, while top pitching prospects like Miller and Sears get in position to contribute spot starts or long relief work this summer.

The Yankees begin their 2026 season in just over 60 hours from post time. Before they face the Giants in San Francisco for Opening Night on Wednesday though, they’ll stop by Arizona for a couple exhibition tune-ups at the Cubs’ spring training complex in Mesa. We also have a Brewers team preview coming up today, so we’re in a Senior Circuit state of mind this morning.

So for our question today, we want you to know who you think is the NL’s best team outside of the Dodgers? There’s no getting around the fact that the two-time defending champions are the favorites, but if someone were to seriously challenge LA this year, who would it be? Shooting from the hip, I’d say that the Cubs, Mets, Brewers, and Phillies are in the clubhouse, though if someone wanted to argue Braves or Giants, I would at least hear them out.

But it’s cheating to just name a whole bunch of intriguing contendersteams. To name one, I’ll go with the Phils. When that starting rotation is humming along at maximum power, it has multiple Cy Young contenders to throw at you between Zack Wheeler, Cris Sánchez, and Jesús Luzardo (plus Aaron Nola). Losing Ranger Suarez hurts, but they’re in good shape. And though there are reasonable age-related concerns with the lineup, it’s hard to turn up your nose at the Kyle Schwarber party.

Today on the site, John will present the final edition of our Making the Team Meter for 2026 spring training, and Sam will check out one of the relievers expected to land a spot in middle relief: Rule 5 pick Cade Winquest. Later, Kevin will wish old pal Dellin Betances a happy birthday, Jeff will preview the Brewers, Jonathan will offer some Yankees-themed fantasy baseball tips for 2026, and Madison will put out the call for your mailbag questions.

Today’s Matchup

New York Yankees vs. Chicago Cubs

Time: 3:05 p.m. EST

Video: N/A (audio available via WFAN 101.9 FM/660AM or MLB.tv)

Venue: Sloan Park, Mesa, AZ

The Pittsburgh Pirates have the consensus top prospect in baseball in Konnor Griffin, and they see him as someone who could be the face of their franchise.

The Pirates reportedly have already discussed a big-time contract extension with Griffin who still hasn’t played a game in the major league, according to Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com. The details of this contract that Mayo reported go further than $100 million over a massive nine-year contract.

Griffin was the ninth overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft out of Jackson Preparatory School in Jackson, Miss. and he spent the entire 2025 season in the Minor leagues.

The 19-year old hasn’t even featured at Triple-A yet, but Griffin brings exactly what the Bucs need and what they have been looking for out of that shortstop position. 

Griffin not playing at the Major League level yet makes a contract extension very risky for Pittsburgh, but one that they are willing to take. Waiting until Griffin becomes a MLB star will make signing him much more difficult, in terms of the money involved and the years too. 

MLB teams get six years of team control with their players before they become free agents and can then choose who they want to play for.

A contract extension would give both sides what they want. The Pirates would take off years of free agency from Griffin, three years if they did sign him to that nine-year deal, and Griffin would make money far earlier in his career than waiting until after the 2031 season to do so.

Griffin being the top prospect in baseball and signing an extension before his MLB debut would be record breaking. The contract would also have potential to be the biggest contract in Pirates history too.

It is very rare to see a move made like this especially for a player with no major league experience but it’s a move that I think is smart. Griffin is the future of the franchise and if he turns out to be as good as everyone is saying then it would be smart for Pittsburgh to have locked up for a while.

A nine-year contract for that much money does seem like a lot, but we have seen the Pirates in the past not want to spend money on star players and they let them walk. I am glad it looks like they don’t want history to repeat itself and have Griffin walk. Now he could obviously leave after his extension but this move is something we are just not used to seeing the Bucs do.

The talented shortstop will not be on the Opening Day roster, but we should expect to see him in the Majors at some point for the 2026 season. 

TAMPA — Luis Gil’s dominant final start of the spring was still not enough to lock up a spot in the Yankees four-man rotation to begin the season.

Now the question is whether he will open the year in the bullpen or the minors until the Yankees need a fifth starter in early April.

With four off-days in the first 13 days of the season, the Yankees are going with a four-man rotation to begin the year so their starters are not going too long between starts over the first two weeks.

Max Fried will start the opener against the Giants on Wednesday, followed, after a day off, by Cam Schlittler, Will Warren and Ryan Weathers.

That leaves Gil as the odd man out following a camp in which his stuff was lacking before turning it on Friday night in a throwback performance against the Orioles.

“We’re working through that — do we want him to start a couple [in the minors] and then pop him in the rotation?” Aaron Boone said Sunday after a 4-0 win over the Phillies at Steinbrenner Field. “Is there an avenue to do it a different way? That’s what we’re working through still.”

Gil will stay back in Tampa to throw live batting practice Wednesday to continue his buildup, making it more likely that the Yankees carry an extra reliever on their Opening Day roster.

The arms still vying for spots — with three up for grabs if Gil is optioned, two if he is not — are Rule 5 pick Cade Winquest, lefty Brent Headrick, Jake Bird and Osvaldo Bido.

Headrick and Bird have minor league options while Bido does not and the Yankees must carry Winquest on their roster or offer him back to the Cardinals.

The Yankees could use Gil out of the bullpen in a piggyback role to keep him built up, but they already have length options in Ryan Yarbrough and Paul Blackburn.

If Gil throws live batting practice Wednesday, he would likely be unavailable for all of the opening series against the Giants.

Otherwise, they do not need a fifth starter until April 11 and Gil would be eligible to be called up as early as April 9 if he is optioned.

“Obviously, he’d like to be a starter with us, so frustrating [for him],” pitching coach Matt Blake said. “But at the same time, he understands the position we’re in with the way the schedule lines up for the first two weeks in particular. Now it’s just a matter of making sure we do right by him and keep him in rhythm and find the best balance for the bullpen and our starting group.

“It’s not necessarily a specific decision around Luis.”

— Additional reporting by Jon Heyman

There is no clock in baseball, and any half-inning could, in theory, last forever—the Dodgers decided to test the boundaries of that by scoring a ridiculous 10 runs in the third inning on their way to a blowout win. If you ask me, it was a bit overkill given how dominant Tyler Glasnow was, but the more the merrier, and who doesn’t love to see a lot of runs? This particular rally began with a solo shot from Teoscar Hernández…

…and it ended with a Shohei Ohtani bases-loaded three-run double, scalding a ball to levels that make you question if he is truly human when such majestic feats have become the norm for the reigning back-to-back NL MVP.

Funny enough, a home run would eventually come from the leadoff spot, but not from Ohtani. Once the replacements started to come in, James Tibbs III batted for Ohtani and hit an impressive solo shot to left centerfield.

The 13 runs the Dodgers scored were more than enough to back up Glasnow’s performance. Whenever someone asks you to describe the Glasnow experience, simply point to a start such as this one against the Angels, tossing five one-run innings and recording all but four of his outs via strikeout. Not nearly as efficient as most of the other ace-caliber pitchers, Glasnow dominates in rare fashion, even if he ultimately goes an inning or two shorter than you would like for someone of his caliber. Possessing two outstanding breaking balls, Glasnow can often pick up clues on which one is working best in any particular evening and just ride with it; tonight, it was the curveball.

Glasnow leaned into a curveball that was particularly dazzling, inducing a whopping 13 whiffs on 18 swings, mystifying Angel batters all evening long. The sole blemish on his record was a long shot to Jorge Soler on a 2-2 four-seam fastball that could not have been more than middle-middle if Glasnow had tried it. Speaking of Soler, if not for the Dodgers’ scoring outburst in the third, his performance would probably be the headline of this game. Soler also took Tanner Scott deep, this time for a three-run shot in the sixth. Once again, it was a fastball, this one not nearly as poorly located, that caused the damage. Scott’s blowup inning was the one big negative for the Dodgers in this game, as the left-hander allowed three earned runs while recording only one out.

Up next

The Dodgers and Angels meet again on Monday night, this time at Dodger Stadium. Reid Detmers will be the starter for the visiting team, while the Dodgers have yet to announce theirs. Start time at 6:10 p.m. PT.

Observations from Yankees spring training Sunday:

Finishing strong

Ryan McMahon had little to show for his narrowed batting stance for much of the spring, but he finished strong, recording a hit in four straight games to finish camp, including two Sunday.

Cami-lo point

In his first game back from the WBC, Camilo Doval had a shaky inning — hitting a batter, giving up a double and walking another to load the bases. But he got out of it unscathed with a strikeout and a double play.

Caught my eye

In the Grapefruit League finale, Ben Rice got his first (and only) inning of the spring as a catcher.

After starting at first base, he moved behind the plate in the sixth inning to catch David Bednar and Fernando Cruz.

Rice did catch bullpen sessions and live batting practices throughout the spring, but he is not expected to catch much, if at all, in the early going, though he could mix in some more as the season goes along.

Monday’s schedule

The Yankees face the Cubs in an exhibition in Mesa, Ariz., with spring standout Carlos Lagrange making one last start before heading to the minors.

Record: 15-13-1. Change on 2025: -1. 5-inning Record: 11-16-2.

The Diamondbacks saved the best for last, punching out their biggest margin of victory in the final Cactus League game. An emphatic 11-1 victory over the Padres was anchored by Gabriel Moreno, who hit two home-runs and doubled, giving him three long-balls for spring. Jorge Barrosa also hit his third HR, and Ildemaro Vargas went deep for the second time. The D-backs pounded out sixteen hits all told, with Ryan Waldschmidt joining Moreno in the three-hit club, and Barrosa singling in addition to his homer. Ben McLaughlin drew a pair of walks, as Arizona finished by going 7-1-1 over their final nine games. Not that it matters, of course… 🙂

The pitching was almost as good as the hitting, holding the Padres to five hits and two walks. It was a bullpen game for the Diamondbacks, and opener John Curtiss went two scoreless with a walk and four strikeouts. Brandyn Garcia rebounded from his recent struggles, fanning two of the three batters he faced. Juan Morillo was the only pitcher scored upon, allowing a solo home-run in the fourth. But thereafter we saw two scoreless innings from Shawn Dubin, then Yilber Diaz, Logan Mercado and Taylor Rashi took things the rest of the way for the D-backs bullpen.

Tomorrow, it’s back to Chase Field, for the first of two warm-up games there against the Cleveland Guardians. First pitch is at 6:40 pm, with Merrill Kelly starting for Arizona.

The Athletic | Chris Kirschner: (subscription required) Following yesterday’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies, the New York Yankees announced their rotation to start the season: Max Fried, Cam Schlittler, Will Warren, and Ryan Weathers. Notably absent, of course, was 2024 AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil. With the number of days off during the first week and a half of the season, the Yankees can get away with a four-man rotation the first two times through the order.

At this point, it’s unclear whether Gil — who has been working with Matt Blake to change the release point on his fastball, in the hopes of turning it back into the out pitch it was in the first half of 2024 — will break camp with the big league club, working as a piggyback behind Weathers, or with the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, allowing the Yankees to bring an extra reliever.

SNY.com | Alex Smith: Facing a roster crunch, the Yankees traded infielder Jorbit Vivas, who is out of options, to the Washington Nationals yesterday afternoon (as Michael covered for us). In exchange, they received pitching prospect Sean Paul Liñan (Washington’s 27th overall prospect, according to MLB Pipeline), who was acquired from the Dodgers in their Trade Deadline swing for Alex Call, and whose fastball is lacking but whose changeup has screwball-like qualities and has been compared to Devin William’s famous Airbender.

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: With Grapefruit League action coming to a close yesterday (the games today and tomorrow are, technically, not spring training matchups, but exhibitions), the Yankees announced this year’s James P. Dawson Award winner, given to the most outstanding rookie in spring training. To nobody’s surprise, pitching prospect Carlos Lagrange, whose performance put him on the map nationally and which forced difficult conversations about whether or not the Yankees ought to have him start the season with the big-league club, was this year’s award recipient.

Lastly, in case you’re curious, a few old Yankees friends on the bubble received some news over the weekend about whether or not they made their teams out of spring training. MLB Trade Rumors helps out on the rapid-fire:

• Jonathan Loáisiga cracked the Diamondbacks bullpen as a non-roster invitee to spring training.
• The Phillies picked up one erstwhile Yankees reliever and demoted another, with Tim Mayza joining their ’pen on a minor-league deal and Lou Trivino getting assigned to Triple-A.
• Also in the not-so-lucky bunch alongside Trivino, Gio Urshela and Austin Slater were released by the Twins and Tigers, respectively.
• These notes are a few days old, but Ian Hamilton did not make the Braves’ bullpen and was outrighted to Triple-A Gwinnett, and the Red Sox signed Tommy Kahnle to a minor-league deal after his appearance in the World Baseball Classic. It’s likely that the changeup specialist will need to open 2026 at Triple-A to tune up.
• The worst news might go to Mike Tauchman, who was on track to join the Mets as a fourth outfielder but instead suffered a meniscus tear in his knee. Ouch. Condolences to the ol’ Sock Man.