WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA - MARCH 11: Dustin May #3 of the St. Louis Cardinals throws a pitch against the Washington Nationals during the first inning of a spring training game at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches on March 11, 2026 in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Rich Storry/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Sunday is the final game of the season opening series versus the Tampa Bay Rays as the St. Louis Cardinals will start Dustin May. After another inspiring come from behind takedown of the Rays that ended with JJ Wetherholt’s first walk-off, the Cardinals will try to sweep the series today. According to MLB.com, the Cardinals will face former teammate Stephen Matz who is scheduled to take the mound for the Rays.
A year and two days ago, the Phillies had no answers for the then-Nationals’ MacKenzie Gore.
Their only comeback, besides their comeback win over Washington that day, was that they couldn’t see.
Shadows.
A common downside of a 4:05 start time, and a precursor to Gore’s career-high 13-strikeout afternoon.
On Sunday, the Phillies couldn’t lean on the same excuse against the now-Rangers’ Gore under a cloudless sky, as Philadelphia dropped the series finale to Texas 8-3.
The tall, lanky left-hander delivered a performance to remember, one that carried echoes of last March. The Phillies didn’t record a hit through the first five innings.
Gore attacked all afternoon against a righty-heavy Phillies lineup. He filled up the zone with his mid-90s heater, then played off it with a big-bending curveball. Bryce Harper has seen plenty of him over the years, and the assessment hasn’t changed much.
“He mixed [his pitches] well today,” Harper said. “The slider/curveball mix, but the heater was really good.”
And he did it in a spot where he hadn’t always been comfortable. Gore had struggled at Citizens Bank Park entering the day, carrying a 7.22 ERA in six career outings against the Phillies.
The Phillies did show some life against the North Carolina native.
In the sixth, they finally put Gore on the ropes. Justin Crawford dribbled an infield single, Trea Turner worked a walk and Kyle Schwarber lofted a single to load the bases.
Harper struck out, but then Gore hit Alec Bohm to force in a run and put the Phillies on the board. Gore’s day was done moments later. Adolis García brought home another run with a sacrifice fly, with that run charged to Gore.
Gore’s final line: 5 1/3 innings, two hits, two earned runs, three walks and seven strikeouts.
Rob Thomson pointed to the same thing he did all weekend: the Phillies are forcing the fight late, but they’re putting themselves in a hole early.
“We got to get something going earlier in the game,” Thomson said. “I think everybody in the lineup is trying to get off to a good start, maybe a little bit anxious, and they’ll settle in.”
Gore was one of the many notable arms on the move this offseason, much like fellow lefty and former NL East opponent Jesús Luzardo, who drew the start opposite him.
Sixes flew for Luzardo in the wrong direction. He went six innings and allowed six runs on six hits, all earned.
His first two innings on the hill were flawless. Six up, six down — paired with three strikeouts. Then, the middle innings of his outing took a turn.
Texas’ newcomers did most of the damage. Brandon Nimmo drilled a left-on-left two-run homer in the third, and former Phillie Andrew McCutchen greeted the crowd with yet another extra-base hit this series — this time a three-run shot that hooked right down the left-field line.
McCutchen even gestured an apology to the Philadelphia faithful, who rained him with boos, on his way back to the dugout.
Thomson’s view was that Luzardo’s stuff was still there, but a couple of mistakes got punished.
“Stuff was really good. Velocity was there. A lot of swing and miss,” Thomson said. “First two innings, he was lights out… just a couple bad pitches.”
Luzardo’s breakdown was similar. No mechanical excuse, just execution.
“No, nothing mechanically,” Luzardo said. “Just got to do a better job to keep the ball in the yard.”
On the Nimmo homer, Luzardo credited the swing more than anything.
“I would say [it was] a good swing on a good pitch,” he said.
The southpaw allowed just one homer on a sweeper to a lefty last season, a pitch he threw 52 percent of the time in those matchups — more than any other delivery.
Luzardo, who signed a five-year, $135 million extension just under three weeks ago, still managed to gut through the outing. He threw 99 pitches and struck out seven. He also didn’t sound like someone spiraling after one bad stretch.
“There’s always positives to take away,” Luzardo said. “We got 159 games left, so it’s not the end of the world… The stuff was probably the best it’s been all year, even throughout spring. So, you know, I’m healthy. I feel great.”
But two- and three-run homers will beat you. And without much run support for the second day in a row, it’s a tough way to win.
It was also the second straight day the Phillies had been no-hit through the first 4.2 innings or more. Turner didn’t chalk it up to panic. More timing, more rhythm, more early traction.
Turner also wasn’t buying into any early-season offensive doom, especially with how little spring camp tends to translate.
“Spring doesn’t really matter one way or the other,” he said. “You get your work, you get ready, if you get out healthy, I think that’s most important… When you get five at-bats every day, you get [into] a rhythm.”
The Phillies will wrap up their six-game homestand when they welcome Washington to town on Monday. Taijuan Walker, Andrew Painter — who will make his Major League debut — and Cristopher Sánchez are lined up over the next three days.
The Houston Astros (1-2) continue their opening 4 game series against the Los Angeles Angels (2-1) this afternoon at Daikin Park.
RHP Tatsuya Imai will make his first big league start for the Astros opposite RHP Jack Kochanowicz and the Angels.
TODAY’S ASTROS STARTER: RHP Tatsura Imai is making his major league debut in a game every Astros fan has been looking forward to for months. Imai comes in with an excellent pedigree from the Japanese Professional League where he was 10-5 with a 1.92 ERA in 163.2 INN. Imai struck out 178 hitters and walked only 45 batters in those innings.
Imai put up great numbers this Spring, making three starts and posting a 0.00 ERA (0ER/6.0 IP) while allowing a microscopic .111 opponent batting average with 7 strikeouts.
Jack Kochanowicz Kochanowicz has been with the Angels since 2024. He spent most of last season in the rotation and pitched a portion of 2024 in Los Angeles. His best season came in 2024 when he was 2-6 with a 3.99 ERA in 11 starts. Last season he was 3-11 with a 6.81 ERA.
This spring, Kochanowicz was 0-0 with five starts. He had a 1.62 ERA in 16.2 INN. He had 15 strikeouts and four walks.
VS. THE ANGELS: The Astros open this season with a divisional series against the Angels, who the Astros went 8-5 against in 13 games last season. The Astros are 139-84 all time against the Angels and have won the season series against them in every full season dating back to 2015.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Saturday, March 29, 1:10 p.m. CST
Location: Daikin Park, Houston, TX
TV: Space City Sports
Streaming: Space City Sports
Radio: KBME 790 AM; TUDN 102.9 FM HD2
MAI TO DEBUT: RHP Tatsuya Imai is making his MLB debut today after a stellar Spring Training, in which he worked a combined 9.2 scoreless innings across four starts…in January, the Astros signed Imai to a three-year deal…in 2025, he was an All-Star for the Seibu Lions in the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization (NPB), where he went 10-5 with a 1.92 ERA (35ER/163.2IP) in 24 games.
TODAY’S AVAILABILITIES: The Astros clubhouse will be open to approved media at Daikin Park from 10:10-11 a.m. CT…Astros Manager Joe Espada will be made available in the Astros dugout at approx. 11 a.m.
FORT MYERS, FL- FEBRUARY 28: Connelly Early #71 of the Boston Red Sox pitches during a spring training game against the Minnesota Twins on February 28, 2026 at JetBlue Park in Fort Myers, Florida. (Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images) | Getty Images
It’s the rubber match of the opening series of the season. Connelly Early makes his first start of the season against Rhett Lowder, who hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2024. Both bullpens are spent after a long game yesterday, so getting to the bullpen early should favor the offense. Masataka Yoshida makes his first start of the season in left field, moving Duran to center, Roman Anthony to DH, and Ceddanne Rafaela to the bench.
The Orioles and Twins close out the opening series this afternoon at Camden Yards, with first pitch scheduled for 1:35 p.m. ET. The series is tied 1-1 after Baltimore won a dandy Opening Day opener 2-1 before the Twins took Game 2, 4-1, with Kyle Bradish allowing a two-run Royce Lewis homer in his debut and the offense ice-cold.
So far, O’s hitters have struck out 24 times and scored just three runs in two games. The starting pitching has been very good, though. Hopefully less of the former, more of the latter today.
On that note, is time to see what all the fuss is about: Shane Baz, the Orioles’ spendiest offseason acquisition and new owner of a five-year, $68 million deal—the largest pitching contract in franchise history, all before he’s even thrown a pitch for the team—makes his debut today. Baz is a phenomenally talented thrower, a former first-rounder and Rays No. 1 prospect with an electric fastball. He’s also struggled with elbow problems, having had Tommy John surgery in 2022 and missed most of 2023 and 2024 after that. In 2025, his first fully healthy season in four years, he posted a 4.87 ERA and 1.33 WHIP with 176 strikeouts across 166.1 innings for Tampa Bay. Given what the Orioles have just paid him, he’ll look to improve on those numbers in his new home. This front office seems to believe in him.
Facing O’s hitters for the Twins is the gargantuan 6’9”, 260-lb right hander Bailey Ober. Now entering his sixth season, Ober is something of an unknown quantity. Ober was very good in 2022 and ‘23, with a combined 3.37 ERA in 37 starts, but he’s coming off a rough 2025 in which he posted a 5.10 ERA in 27 starts, and he didn’t inspire a lot of confidence this spring, allowing 17 hits and 6 earned runs in 13 innings with his fastball averaging below 90 mph in all four outings.
SCOTTSDALE, AZ - FEBRUARY 28: Seth Lugo #67 of the Kansas City Royals pitches during the game between the Kansas City Royals and the Colorado Rockies at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick on Saturday, February 28, 2026 in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Photo by Zach Gardner/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Coming into the 2026 season, the Royals had a lot of hype and enthusiasm surrounding them, from the fans, local media and even the national media. I think it’s fair to say that two games into the season, a lot of that enthusiasm and excitement has dissipated. A shutout on Opening Day and a blown save in game two, puts the Royals on the verge of being swept to open the season.
Sitting at 0-2, the Royals will be deploying Seth Lugo for the Sunday afternoon contest in Atlanta. Lugo, pitched in the World Baseball Classic for Puerto Rico, but also a little bit for Kansas City in Spring Training. After a fantastic first season for the Royals in 2024, Lugo struggled last year and was also hurt at different times. Today, he hopes to start his third season with the club right and help lead them to their first victory as well.
It’s not much different than last night’s lineup against Reynaldo Lopez, except Nick Loftin starts at second base instead of Jonathan India, who is off to a rough start. Lane Thomas also gets the nod in left field over Isaac Collins, who is also struggling currently, and Carter Jensen and Salvador Perez change positions.
As for the Atlanta Braves, they are off to a great start despite missing a lot of their stars. They have mashed their way to two victories over the Royals. 4 home runs, make up 8 of their 12 runs on the season. Right hander Grant Holmes will start for them today.
Here is the lineup for the Braves against Seth Lugo.
Can the Royals avoid a sweep and not be winless going into their home opener? Can the offense do anything after putting up just two runs over the first two games of the season? Hopefully the answer to both of those questions is yes, but we won’t know until 12:35 p.m. CT to get our answer, as first pitch on Royals.TV will be then.
Grant Holmes will be taking the mound to face off against Seth Lugo and the Kansas City Royals in an attempt to hold down the fort and end the series with a sweep.
Last night’s ending was a great comeback, and now with two wins under their belt, the Atlanta Braves are determined to end the series and the weekend off on a high note. Let’s see if today’s performances will “grant” them (see what I did there?) that achievement.
Mar 26, 2026; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets left fielder Juan Soto (22) pats right fielder Carson Benge (3) on the head in front of center fielder Luis Robert Jr. (88) after defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | Brad Penner-Imagn Images
Mets lineup
Francisco Lindor – SS
Juan Soto – LF
Bo Bichette – 3B
Jorge Polanco – DH
Luis Robert – CF
Brett Baty – 1B
Marcus Semien – 2B
Carson Benge – RF
Luis Torrens – C
Nolan McLean – RHP
Pirates lineup
Oneil Cruz – CF
Brandon Lowe – 2B
Bryan Reynolds – DH
Ryan O’Hearn – RF
Jared Triolo – SS
Spencer Horwitz – 1B
Nick Gonzales – 3B
Henry Davis – C
Jake Mangum – LF
C. Mlodzinski – RHP
Broadcast info
First pitch: 1:40pm EDT TV: SNY Radio: Audacy Mets Radio WHSQ 880AM, Audacy App, 92.3 HD2
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA - FEBRUARY 13: Jose Quintana #62 of the Colorado Rockies looks on during a spring training bullpen at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick on February 13, 2026 in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Photo by Kyle Cooper/Colorado Rockies/Getty Images)
While practicing patience is still encouraged, the Colorado Rockies’ 2026 season is off to a familiar start. The Rockies are in Miami looking to avoid being swept by the Marlins on Opening Weekend after losing by just one run in both of their first two games. Yesterday afternoon had some fireworks as rookie TJ Rumfield and shortstop Ezequiel Tovar both struck their first home runs of the season, but the Rockies struck out eight times in seven innings against Marlins starter Eury Pérez as they fell short.
Left-handed veteran Jose Quintana will make his first regular season start for the Rockies—suiting up in his ninth uniform—after joining the team on a one-year, $6 million deal this off-season. Quintana posted a 9.72 ERA over three starts and 8 1/3 innings during spring training with eight strikeouts and six walks. He also made a scoreless, three inning start with a strikeout as the captain of Team Colombia during the World Baseball Classic.
Quintana has made five career starts against the Marlins with a 2.61 ERA over 31 innings. His primary pitch heading into this season is a low velocity sinker backed up by a changeup, a curveball, a four-seam fastball, and a slurve.
Making the start for the Marlins is the right-handed Max Meyer. The 27-year-old missed the majority of the 2025 season with a left hip impingement, posting a 4.73 ERA with 68 strikeouts over 12 starts before landing on the season-ending injured list in June. Meyer excelled in spring training this year, not giving up a single run in three Grapefruit League outings—including two starts—with 12 strikeouts and only one walk.
Meyer uses a high-80s slider with heavy vertical drop as his primary pitch, while his four-seam fastball sits comfortably in the mid 90s. He also throws a sinker, a changeup, and a sweeper. In two career starts and ten innings against the Rockies he has a 7.20 ERA and has given up three home runs.
BALTIMORE, MD - SEPTEMBER 10: Carmen Mlodzinski #50 of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitches during a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on September 10, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Pittsburgh Pirates are on the road today against the New York Mets at Citi Field looking to grab a win and raise the Jolly Roger.
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The first iteration of Sunday Night Baseball for the 2026 season goes down tonight between the Cleveland Guardians and Seattle Mariners at 7:20 p.m. ET on Peacock.
Can star slugger Jose Ramirez and red-hot rookie Chase DeLauter take advantage of an advantageous pitching matchup? How about Slade Cecconi’s strikeout prop against a whiff-heavy Mariners squad?
Emerson Hancock gets the nod for the Seattle Mariners, and that’s more about the injuries around him than it is his personal brilliance.
The tall righty has managed poor results with a 5.49 xERA and 5.23 FIP across 162 2/3 innings despite playing in the pitcher’s haven that is T-Mobile Park.
The former Georgia Bulldog pitches to contact with a lowly 16.6% K rate, and those balls-in-play have a high likelihood of falling for hits given his second-percentile xBA (.291).
Jose Ramirez demolished right-handed pitching a year ago (143 wRC+) and has strong numbers against four-seamers, sinkers, and changeups — Hancock’s hittable three-pitch arsenal against left-handed bats.
Slade Cecconi Over 4.5 strikeouts (-112)
The Seattle Mariners have some worrisome contact data at the plate through three games, leading to an increased expectation for Cleveland Guardians starter Slade Cecconi’s strikeout numbers.
They have the worst zone-contact percentage (74.6%) in the league, which has led to a 32.1% K rate. Tanner Bibee, Gavin Williams, and Joey Cantillo all managed to find swings and misses against this lineup, and now it’s Cecconi’s turn.
The 26-year-old was sharp in the spring, tossing a 1.62 ERA across 16 2/3 frames. He’s riding a nine-inning scoreless streak and has found success adding a sweeper and tightening his cutter. The new arsenal should pay immediate dividends before hitters can adjust.
Chase DeLauter home run (+450)
Do you know who leads Major League Baseball in home runs entering Sunday?
It’s Cleveland rookie Chase DeLauter with four, who has homered in each of his first three regular-season games — including last night’s game-winning dinger in the 10th inning.
The ballyhood prospect has lived up to the hype and more, and a case can be made that he’s the league’s hottest hitter given his .357/.357/.1.214 slash line.
There’s been a lot of swing-and-miss in his game (35.7%), but Hancock’s unimpressive strikeout abilities diminish that concern. If DeLauter makes contact, look out.
How to watch Guardians vs Mariners and game info
Location
T-Mobile Park, Seattle, WA
Date
Sunday, March 29, 2026
First pitch
7:20 p.m. ET
TV
Peacock
Odds are correct at the time of publishing and are subject to change. Not intended for use in MA. Affiliate Disclosure: Our team of experts has thoroughly researched and handpicked each product that appears on our website. We may receive compensation if you sign up through our links.
TORONTO, ON - MARCH 28: Toronto Blue Jays infielder Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (27) slides to the plate as Oakland Athletics catcher Shea Langeliers (23) looks on in the bottom of the sixth inning of an MLB game between the Oakland Athletics and the Toronto Blue Jays on March 28, 2026, at Rogers Centre in Toronto, ON. (Photo by Mathew Tsang/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The A’s are still looking for that first win of the season. Let’s not get swept by the Blue Jays to start the season, eh?
We got Luis Morales on the bump today for his first start of the season. The righty had a tough camp but he can start putting that all behind him with a quality outing today.
Switching things up, we like it. Shea bats leadoff on his half-day while we see Darell Hernaiz get his first start of the year at second base in place of Jeff McNeil. Will it help jump-start our year? To be determined…
MIAMI, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 18: Bruce Sherman, principle owner of the Miami Marlins, introduces Clayton McCullough (L) as the manager of the Miami Marlins at loanDepot park on November 18, 2024 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Jasen Vinlove/Miami Marlins/Getty Images) | Getty Images
In 2022, the “It’s Not My Moneyball” series was created in response to the lockout imposed by the owners that disrupted Spring Training and arguably cost Clayton Kershaw a perfect game in Minneapolis (I had fun). As the season starts, the World Baseball Classic concludes, we must revive this series as trouble looms in the distance, hanging in the air, exactly in the way a brick does not.
Introducing the Dirty Dozen
The current playoff system is allowing more teams than ever to play in postseason ball, with 23 of 30 teams making the playoffs at least once, and 12 of 30 have won their division. While I was initially skeptical, this state of affairs is an unalloyed good. The fact that MLB did not have a repeat champion for 25 years clearly demonstrates the randomness of the postseason tournament.
Those crying for “parity” point to the National Football League as a prime example, seemingly forgetting that dynasties can and do happen in a hard-salary-cap league. For all the NFL’s alleged parity, one has to go back to 2010 for a conference championship weekend without either the New England Patriots or the Kansas City Chiefs participating.
If the owners (and to a lesser extent, Hollywood) had their way, the famous line about “rich teams, poor teams, fifty feet of excrement, and then the Athletics” from the venerated film Moneyball would be true. I love the film, but it completely ignores Miguel Tejada’s MVP campaign and the young stellar rotation of Barry Zito, Mark Mulder, and Tim Hudson. But sure, let’s focus on pre-Parks and Recreation Chris Pratt, while cementing a slightly askew version of baseball economics.
If we are being entirely honest, while using the film’s framing for reference, there are the Dodgers, then teams that can feasibly keep up them on a pure spending basis in the Mets, Yankees, Phillies, and Blue Jays, then teams that are either barely going over or hovering at the 2026 luxury tax threshold of $244 million in the San Diego Padres, Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves, and Chicago Cubs.
Then we have teams at least within 60 million of the luxury tax threshold: Houston Astros, San Francisco Giants, Detroit Tigers, Arizona Diamondbacks, Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles, Anaheim Angels, Seattle Mariners, and Kansas City Royals.
Then we have the teams bringing up the rear, with projected luxury tax payrolls from FanGraphs and threshold amounts. It’s not pretty because we are talking about over a third of the league — twelve teams, a dirty dozen of billionaire paupers.
Cincinnati Reds ($151 million, 93 million from threshold)
Cleveland Guardians ($98 million, 146 million), and
Miami Marlins ($84 million, 160 million).
It’s kind of funny, and a little pathetic, that the owners are going to pretend that Miami is not a viable baseball market during negotiations. That statement is true during the regular MLB season, as loanDepot Park is a factory of contemporary sadness. However, one would not have known that state of affairs during the recently concluded World Baseball Classic. Loud fans, who are actually allowed to sit in the upper deck in a packed house? In this economy?!? At loanDepot Park?!?
The fact that loanDepot Park is unlikely to get that full again for at least three years is a damning indictment of the incompetence of the current ownership group down there. There is a high cost to being poor or playing at being poor, in baseball’s case, in the United States.
When the Dodgers’ luxury tax bill exceeds a team’s literal payroll, a few truths become painfully clear.
First, these teams are not trying. While one would expect teams that just started rebuilding (like St. Louis and Minnesota) to have lower payrolls, there are teams in this pauper’s brigade who are clearly being subsidized by the Dodgers’ largesse.
A rebuild that never ends is just sanctioned mediocrity.
The Brewers rely on a model of self-imposed austerity in which they either draft and develop well or suffer perpetual mediocrity. This essay is not arguing that the Brewers must spend like the Dodgers, as most teams cannot. However, if a team cannot spend within the completely arbitrary yet somehow respectable $160 to $190 million range of the Diamondbacks, Mariners, Royals, and Angels (all that money wasted in Anaheim), and make itself look like a pauper compared to the San Francisco Giants, what are you doing?
To play Devil’s Advocate for a moment, there is far less margin for error when operating on a pauper’s budget.
Tampa plays in the Dinky Ice Rink that God (Usually) Forgets, and Cleveland plays in a nice ballpark, somehow won their division last year, and planned to follow up that campaign by literally doing almost nothing apart from running it back, much to the annoyance of anyone who noticed. If one were forced to find a theme in what I will call the Dirty Dozen, most members are from the Central Divisions of both leagues.
But Michael, these teams cannot possibly spend on the level of the Dodgers and other markets. Therefore, they cannot possibly retain their stars.
If such a fact were true, it would be time to strip away the league’s antitrust exemption, consider dividing the league into a Premier League and a Champions League, and introduce relegation in Major League Baseball.
[Author’s Note: Expand to 32 teams, split between 16 teams — talk about a thought experiment! The bottom two teams play a playoff series to avoid relegation. The top four teams in the lower division play in a playoff tournament, with the winner promoted. Thoughts for later.]
Capitalism is alive and well in MLB
This fact is not true, so I shall continue. One does not have to think very hard in order to come up with examples.
Bobby Witt is inarguably the best player produced by the Kansas City Royals organization in the past twenty years, although just how good is a question for our colleagues at our sister site, Royals Review. If the naysayers were correct, Witt would have hit free agency with aplomb, likely leaving the City of Fountains.
There is an unacknowledged truth about the market as it is now: there’s nothing stopping teams from spending money to lock up homegrown talent during the team control years, at the expense of buying years of arbitration (which owners generally hate) and early free agency. Witt signed for 11 years and $288 million, both franchise records.
Now, there are instances where players price themselves out of the market. Everyone seems to forget that the Dodgers let star shortstop Corey Seager depart for the Texas Rangers in a 10-year, $325 million deal. Yes, this deal occurred in the pre-Ohtani era. I would have gone 7 years at $275 million, which is the type of higher Average Annual Value deal the Dodgers could not make work with Bryce Harper et al., but one that finally worked for Kyle Tucker.
Yet most view it as a fait accompli that Paul Skenes will depart Pittsburgh and Tarik Skubal will depart Detroit at their earliest respective opportunities. Yet Skenes is only in his second year, and Skubal and the Tigers did not discuss a long-term extension this offseason, which is his last year under his current contract.
If the Tigers are just going to shrug and feign helplessness, I hope they make use of the compensatory draft pick when Skubal signs elsewhere. If an organization is going to try to embarrassingly lowball Skubal in his final year of arbitration — and what a blunder that fiasco was — one cannot be shocked when Skubal suits up for more money next year. I saw Skubal be somewhat mortal against the Dodgers in Detroit in 2024, which was the only game the Dodgers prevailed in that weekend.
If Skubal ends up in Los Angeles, the Tigers will likely only have themselves to blame. The Dodgers have both benefited from other teams’ failures (Boston re: Mookie Betts, Atlanta re: Freddie Freeman, San Francisco re: Blake Snell, Tampa re: Tyler Glasnow, Toronto re: Ohtani, Yamamoto, Sasaki, etc., etc.) and invested in infrastructure and drafting, even finding value in down-year drafts.
Stars will continue to get paid. The underlying gripe in the naysayers’ complaints, as I see it, is that these cheapskates, rather than haranguing and hectoring their own skinflint ownership into acting, would rather not follow up on the good fortune of having a star come up through the ranks in order to be paid like one.
Juan Soto’s latest contract, a 15-year, $765 million deal, is a boneheadedly stupid contract for someone with mediocre-to-awful defense and someone who is not a two-way player. If a team wants to spend stupidly, see the Mets, see the late 2000s Dodgers, etc., the market is going to allow it, and generally pay the baseball and monetary costs for it.
A loser with a checkbook is still a loser
The lazy, borderline stupid take is that imposing a salary cap and floor would improve parity in MLB and make talent more available throughout the league. Brodie Brazil argued as such recently, when a proposed $260-280 million cap and a $140-160 million floor entered the discussion, likely in an attempt to prime public opinion.
Mr. Brazil makes the dubious argument that, if the hypothetical floor and cap were imposed using this year’s payrolls, the players would end up with more money under this system than they do under the current system, and that things would not change all that dramatically, as under the proffered numbers for hard cap and floor, players would get more money overall.
While the arithmetic is technically correct, it’s an argument missing context, like confidently arguing a lump of metal falls faster than a feather when dropped from the same height (gravity is the same on both objects; wind resistance is the missing variable).
If he truly believes that last part of his argument, I have an overextended, teetering Bay Area mass transit system to sell him. I could even do a little song about it, even though it’s technically not a monorail. Rather than asking how the boot leather tastes, it is worth noting that MLB already operates under a soft cap system.
If penalties for going over or being too far under need more teeth, that discussion might be worth having. Maybe the parties will get there after setting all the goodwill generated by the 2025 World Series and the 2026 World Baseball Classic on fire.
Imagine making an extra $100 million dollars available to the owners of the Dirty Dozen right now. Does anyone honestly believe that they are going to spend this extra money on payroll rather than pocket it as they have been doing? The flip side to the Dodgers being forced to spend less money on payroll in a hardcap system is the unexpected consequence of the organization keeping more money, which they will undoubtedly use creatively to maintain their current dominance.
If anything, the Dodgers have been operating with a chip on their shoulders for a while. Years of playoff frustration and mockery, combined with unlimited money, tend to do that.
Do the naysayers really want to create additional variables for people smarter than the average front-office person to overcome? The Dodgers responded to the league’s apparent indifference toward the 2017 Trashtros’ misdeeds by transforming from a perceived squad of talented homegrown goobers into a faux-mercenary brigade that challenges the league to beat them when it counts.
Get better or get angry
The Dodgers are benefiting from mastery of the current economic system. When I now hear the lamentations of those who complain, it is the frustrated wish of those saddled with being fans of teams that are fundamentally lacking.
Shohei Ohtani was never, under any circumstances, going to be a Sacramento/Oakland/Las Vegas Athletic or Milwaukee Brewer or a Miami Marlin, 50/50 heroics aside. One can chart out the same path for Freeman, Betts, Glasnow, Snell, or just about any of the Dodgers’ current constellation of stars.
“There’s a legacy that’s already in here, and you just try to carry that [legacy] on,” said Max Muncy, now the team’s longest-tenured player after Kershaw’s departure. “You’re not trying to change it, you’re trying to keep it going.”
Baseball’s richest payroll means plenty of well-compensated stars. Which means egos and players wanting to maximize their place in a lineup that resembles the Walk of Fame. Which, in theory, breeds simmering chaos.
Except in Los Angeles, it seems.
“We don’t have the narcissistic superstar,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman explained.
Mookie Betts put it less delicately.
“Nobody’s being a d— in here,” he said….
…“Because we all love each other, we all trust each other,” Betts said. “We’re all very comfortable going up and telling one another our opinions. And it’s never in a derogatory (way), a tearing someone down way. It’s always in a positive manner, and it’s never like, ‘This is the end of the world.’”
There is a reason that even veteran role players like Miguel Rojas have bought into what the Dodgers are selling on the field.
Miguel Rojas says the Dodgers don’t care what anyone thinks about how they’re operating and that other teams are just “trying to blame someone for their losses” pic.twitter.com/LN6HVNw8SY
Yes, the money helps, but the Dodgers’ current run is something truly unique.
The Smoking Gun
Yes, there are multiple non-exclusive ways to build a roster: through the draft, through trades, through the open market of free agency, and through international posting. It is not one exclusive approach that works, as the Dodgers have shown excellence in all of these areas.
Per Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman of the New York Post,who reported on February 19, the owners have assembled an approximately $2 billion war chest as a rainy-day fund, with about $75 million from each team.
As of this essay, 15 teams have spent more on this lockout fund than on the open market. It is not a perfect one-to-one match, but it is no surprise that ten teams of the Dirty Dozen spent more on the fund than in the open market. The White Sox spent barely more than their contribution. The Giants did not, somehow, which explains a lot of the agita from San Francisco this winter.
The Players Union will never agree to a salary cap. These Dirty Dozen owners do not want to spend cash now while existing in a more forgiving system. Stars will continue to get paid, especially while deferred money is still a thing. The people caught in the crossfire of a hardcap are the mid-tier guys and the overvalued bullpen guys: your Michael Confortos, Chris Taylors, Kirby Yates, Tanner Scotts, et al, etc.
If that view is what the naysayer truly believes and is oblivious to the fact that dynasties can and do happen in a hard-cap system, I only have one thing to say: good luck. After all, a loser with a checkbook is still a loser. As long as the Dodgers remain a destination, players will continue to gravitate toward them.
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - OCTOBER 06: Jesus Luzardo #44 of the Philadelphia Phillies pitches against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the first inning in game two of the National League Division Series at Citizens Bank Park on October 06, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Now that the Phillies’ dreams of an undefeated season have been dashed, they’ll have to settle for going for a series victory over the Texas Rangers on Sunday.
Jesus Luzardo gets the start for the Phillies. The lefthander was 15-7 with a 3.92 ERA in 2025.
MacKenzie Gore will be making his Rangers debut after coming to Texas in an offseason trade. The former National had a 2.50 ERA in three starts against the Phillies in 2025.
(Original Caption) Left to right- first row: Barnes, Adams, Shocker paschal, Braxton, Oleary, Gazzela, Sharky- middle row- Koenig, Collins, Bengough, Huggins, Boall, Ponnock, and Meusel; back row- Woods (trainer), Fred Merkle, Jones, Coons, Ward, Skiff, Hoyt, Lazzari, Ruth, Gobrig, Thomas, McQuaid, and Dugan. (Photo by George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images) | Corbis via Getty Images
The first half of the 1920s were a transformative time for the Yankees, the still relatively new franchise transitioning from an also-ran into a true behemoth. With the arrival of Babe Ruth coinciding with the beginning of the live-ball era and the assemblage of Murderers’ Row, the building of the sport’s greatest empire was just beginning. Not all who played for those teams garnered the same fanfare as your Ruth’s and Gehrig’s — some were lucky enough just to be along for the ride, and that label certainly applies to right-handed relief pitcher Herb McQuaid.
Hebert George McQuaid Born: March 29, 1899 (San Francisco, CA) Died: April 4, 1966 (Richmond, CA) Yankees Tenure: 1926
Herbert George McQuaid was born on March 29, 1899, in San Francisco, CA, to Frank McQuaid — brother-in-law to former heavyweight champion James J. Corbett — and Lillian Cecilia McQuaid (née O’Neill). He grew up just across the street from Recreation Park, home of the Class AA San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League — a young McQuaid gaining his love for the game from watching Seals games out the window of his childhood home. His family suffered tragedy when he was young, his father taking his own life during a poker game when McQuaid was just 13-years-old.
McQuaid attended Mission High School and pitched for the Visitacion Valley neighborhood team before moving to the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland prior to his senior year. By 1919 he was working as a stenographer and pitching for the St. Joseph’s Sodality team of east Oakland in the Oakland Midwinter League. He caught the attention of local professional teams when he tossed a near-no-hitter for the J.J. Kriegs store team in 1920, and earned an invitation to the training camp held by the team he watched growing up, the Seals. He threw a complete game during his audition and snuck a spot on the Opening Day roster when a pair of their pitchers were released for gambling allegations.
McQuaid threw a complete game in his professional debut, a 2-1 win over Portland at the same Recreation Park that he grew up adjacent to. That fall, Ty Cobb traveled to San Francisco as part of his barnstorming tour, and McQuaid retired him twice on a ground out and popup in another. McQuaid pitched two seasons for the Seals and one for the Los Angeles Angels — both in the PCL — and caught the eye of Cincinnati Reds scout Dick Egan, with whom he signed prior to the 1923 season.
The then-24-year-old pitcher made his MLB debut that season, giving up a run in two innings of relief of an 8-2 loss to the Pirates on June 22, 1923. The six-foot-three hurler possessed a “blinding” fastball, a fast overhand curve, and a slower, “wicked” underhand curve. Shortly thereafter, he missed over a month with a sore foot, and was later unused during a 15-game road trip when he returned from injury. However, he made nine appearances between September and October, earning his first start on September 13th and first career win nine days later. The Reds finished second in the division and missed out on the playoffs, but McQuaid finished the year with a 2.36 ERA and didn’t allow a home run across 12 appearances totaling 34.1 innings.
That winter, the Reds sold McQuaid to the St. Paul Saints of the Class AA American Association as partial payment for Chuck Dressen. He pitched two seasons for the Saints, going 21-14 in 76 appearances with a 4.39 ERA across 314 innings. In September of 1925, Saints president and former Yankees scout Bob Connery sold McQuaid to the Yankees in part to prevent him from being exposed to the Class AA draft, New York agreeing to pay St. Paul an additional $25,000 should McQuaid remain on the roster beyond May 1st.
McQuaid made the Opening Day roster and appeared in one game before the Yankees agreed to return him to the Saints. However, they made an immediate U-turn and traded pitcher Hank Johnson, outfielder Nick Cullop, two players to be named later, and cash to St. Paul to reacquire McQuaid. He made one start that season, allowing three runs in seven innings of a 4-3 win over the Tigers, and finished the year with a 6.10 ERA in 17 appearances totaling 38.1 innings having not appeared in the Yankees’ final 14 games of the regular season.
As division winners, the Yankees advanced to the World Series to face the Cardinals. McQuaid was the very last player added to the World Series roster, with instructions that he only be called as a last resort. He didn’t make an appearance as the Bombers fell to St. Louis in a seven-game instant classic. He wouldn’t pitch another game in the Majors, the Yankees selling him back to the Saints for $10,000 at the end of the season.
McQuaid pitched six more seasons in Class AA between American Association and the Pacific Coast League. He retired from professional baseball in 1932 and ran a taproom in Modesto and was later a bartender in Oakland, where he coached local youth teams in the area he grew up. He passed away from cancer on April 4, 1966, in Richmond, CA, at the age of 67. A relative footnote during a legendary decade in Yankees history, it is said that “his greatest act with the Yanks was refusing to be released.”
References
Herb McQuaid. Baseball-Reference.
Herb McQuaid. Baseball Almanac.
Gibson, Darren. “Herb McQuaid.” SABR.
See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.
Jose Ramirez Over 1.5 total bases
