Category: MLB

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Houston Astros vs. Pittsburgh Pirates, March 17, 2026, 1:05 p.m. ET

Location: LECOM Park, Bradenton, FL

How to Listen: 93.7 The Fan, 100.1 FM, AM 1020 KDKA, Sports Net Pittsburgh app SNP 360

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The Pittsburgh Pirates are at home against the Houston Astros looking to grab a win in Spring Training.

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Since their first World Series run in 2017, the Astros have produced, traded for, and developed a huge amount of pitching talent. From Cy Young winners like Dallas Keuchel and Gerrit Cole, to future Hall of Famers like Zack Greinke and Justin Verlander, the Astros have had no shortage of pitching excellence in their domination of the AL over the past decade or so.

Now, the Astros’ rotation of 2026 has certainly seen better days. Hunter Brown remains one of the top-end arms in the AL, if not MLB, but outside of him are major question marks, including unknown international talent, baby-faced rookies, and former top prospects who bounce between the bullpen and the rotation as needed.

Last year, the Astros strung together some solid numbers:

• ERA 3.86 – 11th in the league
• Earned Runs 619 – 19th in the league
• Walks 508 – 16th in the league
• Strikeouts 1504 – 2nd in the league

While the Astros were not the dominant force they’ve been in the past, they certainly gave the Mariners and the rest of the AL a run for their money. Fortunately for the Mariners, the Astros have had some major shake-ups in their rotation. While the addition of Tatsuya Imai may alleviate some of the issues that could arise, it’s hard to say whether Imai will be as good as some of the guys who have already departed.

Notable Departures and Injuries

Framber Valdez(LHP) signed as a free agent with the Detroit Tigers. While Valdez has been supplanted as the ace of the Astros’ staff, there’s no doubt that he was a core piece of the Astros’ rotation and will be sorely missed. We will see if Imai can successfully replace the hole in the rotation left by the left-hander.

Hayden Wesneki(RHP) was acquired before the 2025 season as part of the Kyle Tucker trade. After making a handful of starts, he suffered a UCL tear, leading to Tommy John surgery. Wesneki is likely to return at some point this coming season, but with setbacks, it remains to be seen when that will be.

Ronel Blanco (RHP) had a breakout 2024, including a no-hitter, and was set to be a major part of the Astros’ rotation in 2025. However, early in the season, Blanco suffered a right elbow injury and underwent Tommy John surgery. The young phenom is expected to make his return after the 2026 All-Star break.

Notable Arrivals

Mike Burrows(RHP), Roddery Muñoz(RHP), Tatsuya Imai(RHP),  Trey McLoughlin(RHP), Ryan Weiss(RHP)

Minor League Contracts

Kelvin Herrera (RHP), Maximiliano Villanueva (RHP),  Ángel Alcántara (RHP), Ángel Brito (RHP), César Pastrano (RHP),  Thomas Sveyda (LHP)

The Rotation

Player	Age	Throws	IP	K/BB	ERA	FIP	WAR
Hunter Brown	27	R	183	3.26	3.35	3.45	3.8
Cristian Javier	29	R	148	2.18	4.68	4.79	1.2
Tatsuya Imai	28	R	153	2.33	4.38	4.29	1.7
Mike Burrows	26	R	131	2.91	4.11	4.18	1.6
Lance McCullers Jr.	32	R	109	2.00	4.39	4.47	1.0
Spencer Arrighetti	26	R	86	2.25	4.46	4.55	0.5
Ryan Weiss	29	R	90	2.62	4.24	4.24	0.7

The obvious headline here is the departure of Framber Valdez and the arrival of Tatsuya Imai. In Valdez, the Astros have lost one of the top lefty starters in the league to the Tigers, a team they could absolutely see in October. However, the price tag was not as eye-popping as I would have expected: just 3 years, $115 million, and a mutual option for 2029. The feeling around the league seems to be that the market never really materialized for Valdez. While I’m sure the Astros likely made a competitive offer, following an incident late in the season in which Valdez seemingly crossed up his own catcher, major concerns and rumors about his personality and locker-room presence began to circulate in the league.

In response, the Astros have taken a chance and signed their first Japanese player, Tatsuya Imai. Imai has spent the last eight years rising through the Japanese NPB ranks and has strung together some very impressive seasons for the Seibu Lions, establishing himself as one of the top pitchers in Japan. The right-hander distinguished himself right away by stating his preference to “take down” Ohanti, Yamamoto, and Sasaki as opposed to joining them on the Dodgers. Imai has big shoes to fill in Houston, but could be just the stabilizing presence the rotation needs.

The Astros also sought out domestic rotation depth, acquiring Mike Burrows in a three-team trade earlier this offseason. Burrows had a solid 2025 in limited innings for the Pirates and has impressed so far in spring training for the Astros. So far this spring, Burrows has not allowed a run in 12 innings of work while striking out 15. While the projections have not been kind to Burrows despite his solid spring performance, the Astros have very recently had success turning an above-average Pirates starter into a bona fide Cy Young superstar. Let’s all hope he falls back to earth.

The Arm Barn

Role	Player	Age	Throws	IP	K/BB	ERA	FIP	WAR
Closer	Bryan Abreu	29	R	68	3.19	2.98	3.11	1.5
Setup	Bryan King	29	L	67	3.28	3.68	3.9	0.5
Setup	Enyel De Los Santos	30	R	60	2.72	4.14	4.31	0.1
Middle	Steven Okert	34	R	64	3.14	3.86	4.00	0.4
Middle	Bennett Sousa	31	L	50	3.00	3.58	3.74	0.2
Swing	Roddery Muñoz	26	R	52	2.18	4.57	4.75	-0.1
Swing	Kai-Wei Teng	27	R	55	2.23	4.43	4.38	0.1
IL	Josh Hader	32	L	66	3.63	3.22	3.28	1.5
IL	Nate Pearson	29	R	54	2.27	4.41	4.49	0.0

There is seemingly very little turnover in the Astros bullpen going into 2026. The Astros have made a habit of bouncing young starter prospects into the bullpen, often for deep playoff runs. The two Bryans, Abreu and King, are both products of the Astros system. They have both turned in several excellent seasons and look to continue doing so in 2026. On top of the Bryans, the bullpen also looks to feature Ronel Blanco and Hayden Wesneski, both also Astros products, though they’re not likely to feature until later this year. As I mentioned earlier, Blanco threw a no-hitter in 2024, but isn’t expected to return until after the All-Star break. Similarly, Wesneski is also returning from a UCL injury; his return is unknown.

In more recent years, they have brought in veterans for the bullpen but generally avoid the journeymen who so often make up major league bullpens around the league. Josh Hader is a familiar name around the league and was a big get for the Astros’ pen back in 2024. Hader has served as the Astros’ closer since then, and nothing looks to change in 2026. The Astros also feature a variety of veteran arms. Enyel De Los Santos, Steven Okert, and Bennett Sousa are all journeymen who have featured for teams across the league in the past few years. They all have had some success out of the Astros’ pen recently and will likely be crucial for a team, rotation, and bullpen that has been plagued by injuries over the last few seasons.

Overall, the Astros do not have the dominant star-studded rotations of their golden years. Injuries and unhappy players have robbed some of their young prospects of crucial development and opportunity. Still, this season seems to mark a new start. New young talent, high-level contributors returning from injury, and potential cancers excised from the locker room; the Astros could be poised for a return to form in 2026.

Is the game on TV?

It is. First pitch at 1:05 PM on NESN.

What’s the lineup

What should we watch for?

Happy green Red Sox jersey day! Honestly, that’s always kind of a fun thing to watch, though I wonder if the new City Connects will dilute the novelty a bit. As for actual game play, let’s see if Masatka Yoshida can keep his red hot WBC hitting going, and let’s see how Sonny Gray looks as he approaches his first regular season start with the Sox.

More rule changes are coming to baseball — sort of.

On Monday, FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen reported the details of a document circulating in MLB front offices that is to be passed down to managers and coaches throughout each organization. Minor League Baseball will pilot several more new rule changes during the 2026 season, some of which are likely to remain in the lower levels of the game as player-development aids rather than eventually becoming major league rules.

Here’s the short and sweet of it:

1. Complex League/DSL pitchers allowed to re-enter
2. Expansion of ABS System and Check Swing Adjudication
3. Pitch clock changes
4. Second base positioning

Let’s go through each of these and break them down.

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The first rule change involves pitchers re-entering games.

“Arizona Complex League, Florida Complex League, and Dominican Summer League games, the starting pitcher will be permitted to re-enter a game after being removed.”

No, this isn’t some reversion to Little League. It’s about “player health and development,” according to Longenhagen. If you’ve ever been to a Complex League Game, or even Single-A for that matter, you know things can get out of hand pretty fast when a starter doesn’t have it. Bullpens get used up throughout the week, inevitably leading to some second baseman who threw a couple of innings in high school finishing off the game.

So MiLB’s answer to this problem is removing a pitcher and letting them come back in at some point later on. Weird? Yes, but it makes sense. There are also a couple of stipulations that must be met. The pitcher “must throw at least 25 pitches in the inning during which he is removed,” to be eligible for re-entry, and he can only do so in the inning after his removal. This can be done once per game and only starting pitchers are allowed to do so.

The idea here is to limit that single-inning pitch count and spare a struggling youngster some wear-and-tear on his arm without completely removing him from the game. That was he can still get experience sitting between innings and going back out to start a fresh frame. How often will teams want to trot a guy who can’t get out of an inning back to the mound remains to be seen, but it’s a decent rule in theory, especially at the lowest level of professional ball.

BYB Says: Good for the game, kind of.

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This next change shouldn’t be all that shocking. The Automatic Ball-Strike System (ABS) and Check-Swing Adjudication are coming to the Pacific Coast League.

“The Pacific Coast League will use the ABS Challenge system and follow the same rules that have been adopted at the Major League level for the 2026 season. Consistent with past seasons, MLB will monitor gameplay to determine if there is a desire to test changes at a later point in the season. Beginning on May 5, 2026, the batter, pitcher, or catcher may also appeal the umpire’s decision regarding whether the batter swung at a pitch. A swing will be considered to have occurred if the maximum angle between the bat head and the bat handle exceeds 45 degrees. This rule was tested in the Florida State League and Arizona Fall League in 2025.

This doesn’t really matter to Tigers fans. The Toledo Mud Hens are in the International League, which has already had ABS since 2024. The Check-Swing Challenge won’t be coming to the International League, but umpires will begin calling swings and no-swings based on the 45-degree threshold mentioned above, starting May 5. This is clearly to reduce strikeouts, and there will be very few checked swings ruled as swings with 45 degrees past the line of the fron of the place now the standard.

The Florida State League, in which the Lakeland Flying Tigers play, will have both systems in use as the PCL. “Teams have 2 challenges that may be used for ball/strike calls or swing/no-swing calls.”

With ABS making its way to The Show, one would think the Check-Swing Adjudication system is next. Testing it at higher levels matters, but these things take time. It’s also pretty jarring to see where the line is between a swing and no swing. Using the system to be sure is one thing, changing the definition of a check or no-check swing is a different matter entirely.

BYB Says: Robots are the future. Deal with it.

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MLB is always trying to speed up the game. The introduction of the pitch clock helped, but that’s not enough… apparently.

This is a multi-parter, so break down the breakdown.

PitchCom Safe Harbor: Have you ever watched a game and thought, “Yeah, he’s lying about having a PitchCom issue to buy more time?” This is for you!

“In Triple-A teams will be assessed a mound visit if play is stopped for the purpose of addressing an issue with PitchCom.”

If a team doesn’t have a mound visit remaining, that’s an automatic ball. Take that, you cheats and liars!

Teams will probably need a dedicated employee responsible for keeping the PitchCom systems working perfectly if they don’t already. No more gaming the Coms!

Defensive Signals: This one is weirder.

“At all levels, the clock will no longer stop and reset when the catcher leaves his position to give defensive signals.”

So, if the catcher comes out to give bunt-coverage signals or first-and-third signals, he better do it fast. If he doesn’t get back in the catcher’s box with nine seconds left on the clock, that’s an automatic ball.

This feels unnecessary, but maybe it’s an issue that I’m not noticing. Defensive signals matter. Baseball is a strategic game and keeping the defense all on the same page in a high leverage situation is crucial. Rushing the mental aspect feels like it will upset the ancestors, but I suppose they aren’t around to grumble for a reason?

Mound Visits: Okay, this one is funny.

“At all levels, mound conferences must end and all coaches and players, other than the pitcher, must be off the dirt of the mound and moving toward their positions or the dugout before the mound visit clock reaches zero.“

I love it when a coach or manager has something they want to say to an umpire, so they wait for them to come out and break up the mound meeting, only to get an earful of whatever perceived grievance is ruffling feathers that day. It’s good stuff, but also let’s be adults and just shout at each other from the dugout when that needs to happen. Overall, this is good. Less stalling, even if it means a bullpen guy has to rush to get ready.

Batter Timeouts:

• “Double-A & Triple-A. When a batter requests time, the home plate umpire will grant time, point at the batter, then immediately reset the Pitch Clock. Batters must return to the batter’s box and become alert to the pitcher before the clock reaches 8 seconds remaining.“
• “High-A. Batters will only be permitted to request time with runners on base (i.e., batters will not be permitted to request time with the bases empty). Umpires may continue to grant time if a special circumstance applies (e.g., hitter is brushed back, there is bona fide equipment issue, or injury concern).“
• “Single-A. Batters will not be permitted to request time. As in High-A, umpires may continue to grant time if a special circumstance applies (e.g., hitter is brushed back, there is a bona fide equipment issue, or injury concern).“

Single-A guys are getting the short stick here, but the umpire’s special circumstance discretion should be just enough to keep things reasonable. Sometimes, guys need a second to compose themselves, but keeping the game moving is important, especially at the low levels.

Disengagement Limit: This feels like the most important one of the bunch.

“In Double-A, the Disengagement Limit will be reduced from 2 to 1. When there are runners on base, pitchers may pickoff or step off once during a plate appearance without penalty.”

No one likes to watch 15 pickoff attempts in a row, but there are speedsters who warrant a throw or two to keep them honest. In my opinion, this is too easy to exploit. One pickoff attempt and then a guy can take a much, much bigger lead and swipe a bag. It’s going to make runners more aggressive, and maybe that will lead to some fun plays by catchers, but it feels like a slippery slope. Testing it at one level is smart.

BYB Says: Does baseball need to be this fast? Maybe the minor leagues do…

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Last but certainly not least is the positioning of second base change.

“International League second base will be placed entirely within the perimeter of the infield diamond during the second half.”

First off, terrible wording. The “second half” refers to the second half of the season, and the language about where the base is actually moving is unclear. The short answer is that the back of first and third base line up with the middle of second base. The goal is to move the base in a bit to make the diamond an actual diamond and shorten the distance between the bases, which encourages stealing.

Maybe this image will help, courtesy of the Official Baseball Rules 2021 Edition:

This decreases the distance between first and second, and second and third, by 9 inches, which is double what MLB did by increasing the size of the bases.

BYB Says: Every inch matters.

Alright MLB, we get it. You want more balls in play and more offense in general, and you’ll do anything to get what you want. Other than forcing teams to cut their infield grass, apparently. All these things are just being tested, so we’ll have to see how teams react to their minor league implementation, but they really are forcing it at this point.

The Milwaukee Brewers have announced their plan to air 10 games on over-the-air stations in Wisconsin in 2026, anchored by WITI Fox 6 in Milwaukee.

Those games include Opening Day on Thursday, March 26 against the White Sox, with a first pitch at 1:10 p.m. Other simulcasts will all occur on Tuesday night games, with the full schedule included below.

• Thursday, March 26 vs. White Sox (1:10 p.m.)
• Tuesday, March 31 vs. Rays (6:40 p.m.)
• Tuesday, April 28 vs. Diamondbacks (6:40 p.m.)
• Tuesday, May 12 vs. Padres (6:40 p.m.)
• Tuesday, May 19 @ Cubs (6:40 p.m.)
• Tuesday, June 2 vs. Giants (6:40 p.m.)
• Tuesday, August 4 vs. Pirates (6:40 p.m.)
• Tuesday, August 18 vs. Mariners (6:40 p.m.)
• Tuesday, August 25 @ Mets (6:10 p.m.)
• Tuesday, September 8 vs. Cubs (6:40 p.m.)

The channels participating in the simulcasts are as follows:

• Milwaukee: WITI Fox 6
• Madison: WISC-TV, TVW
• La Crosse-Eau Claire: WKBT-TV
• Marquette, Michigan: WJMN-TV
• Duluth-Superior: KDLH-TV, KBJR-TV
• Wausau-Rhinelander: WSAW-TV, WZAW-LD, WYOW
• Green Bay: WGBA-TV, WACY-TV

The Atlanta Braves are in their final countdown of their excellent spring showing and Reynaldo López looks to continue his ramp up before hopefully being a key member of a Braves 2026 rebound.

López has looked good this spring in his 9.0 innings pitched. He has only allowed six hits, and one earned run so far while striking out eight. Hitters are only hitting .182 against him thus far. The few areas that give pause is that he has walked four hitters and his groundout to air out ratio is only 0.36. If he wants to maintain success, he needs to keep the ball out of the air.

The Braves will face Sonny Gray in Ft. Myers. Gray has only pitched 5.1 innings this spring and has struggled in limited action. ERA in small sample sizes can be deceiving, but even if we look beyond his 6.75 we see that he has three walks to only five strikeouts while giving up four hits to include two HRs. Hitters have been able to maintain a .300 average against him. Again, small sample size and he will likely pitch much better in the regular season.

As the spring comes to a close, there are a few spots left on the bench that are not finalized for the Braves. Kyle Farmer, Dominic Smith, and José Azócar have all made strong cases if we are looking at this spring training in a vacuum. They carry an OPS of .986, .804, and .832 respectively. Based on their platoon splits, there are arguments to be made that both Farmer and Smith make the team on Opening Day.

Azócar and Farmer will both get the chance today to boost their case for making the Opening Day roster with each getting the start against RHP Sonny Gray.

There could be an argument to be made that Camargo and León may have an outside shot to win the backup catcher role over Heim, but the odds seem slim at this point even though Camargo has hit two bombs this spring.

López is going to get a good test today. In his previous starts this spring he has not seen many full time MLB starters. He will get that test in the game today as the Red Sox have many of their starters in the lineup.

As can be seen in the lineup above, many of these players in the lineup are having fantastic showings this spring. The good news is that in spring training the games are to ramp up and this will be a good training opportunity for López. Baseball Reference has this fun tool called OppQual to measure the difficulty of opponents in the spring. A 7.0 is AA level on average, 8.0 is AAA, and 10.0 is MLB. So far López is at a 7.5. That will change after today.

Game Notes

Time: 1:05 ET

TV: Gray TV

Radio: ESPN 103.7/WIFN 1340

The long night of the offseason is approaching its conclusion! Pitchers and catchers report to the Tampa spring training complex in nine days as of the time that this post goes up, and we’ll have exhibition games beginning on February 20th against the Orioles. Opening Day in San Francisco is just over a month after that, on March 25th.

Whether you’re following all the early Yankees activity on social media or just waiting until Opening Day to tune in, Pinstripe Alley has you covered with our annual season preview series. Every weekday from now until the real action begins, we’ll delve into a player who is expected to be either on the Opening Day roster or a key part of the Yankees’ system. There are always some surprises in spring training and unexpected injuries, so the people we run through will be subject to change, but we will endeavor to hit the most important names in camp.

So follow along with us! This article will live near the top of our homepage throughout spring training and the first couple weeks of April, serving as the tracker for all of our season previews. The links will be updated daily as new players are profiled. You can see our tentative schedule below.

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David Bednar
Cody Bellinger
Paul Blackburn
José Caballero
Oswaldo Cabrera
Jazz Chisholm Jr.
Angel Chivilli
Gerrit Cole
Fernando Cruz
Jasson Domínguez
Camilo Doval
J.C. Escarra
Max Fried
Luis Gil
Trent Grisham
Tim Hill
Aaron Judge
Ryan McMahon
Ben Rice
Carlos Rodón
Amed Rosario
Cam Schlittler
Clarke Schmidt
Giancarlo Stanton
Anthony Volpe
Will Warren
Ryan Weathers
Austin Wells
Ryan Yarbrough
Spencer Jones
George Lombard Jr.
Elmer Rodríguez
Dax Kilby
Ben Hess
Carlos Lagrange
Cade Winquest

Player order and selection subject to change following any future Yankees transactions.

Shohei Ohtani is back in Dodgers camp after the World Baseball Classic, and will likely be back in the Dodgers lineup later this week. We’re also nearing the point when he will pitch in an actual game, after doing his pitching build-up this spring on the backfields and before games.

Ohtani pitched four simulated innings last Friday in Miami on a World Baseball Classic workout day, which lines up for another potential start this weekend in an actual game. Whether that start will come at Camelback Ranch or during the Freeway Series against the Angels, Ohtani is much more built-up than last season, when he eased back into the rotation with short starts, beginning in June.

“Last year we had the plan to start from one inning, to keep him going active with us playing. I think this year we’re certainly north of that,” manager Dave Roberts told reporters on Tuesday in Arizona. “I don’t see how we wouldn’t be able to get to three or four innings in a major league game.That’s certainly a better jumping off point than last year.”

Ohtani had three seasons with the Angels (2021-23) during which he was a full-time two-way player for the entire season. He made at least 23 starts in each of those seasons, and topped out at 28 starts and 166 innings in 2022, when he finished fourth in American League Cy Young voting and second for AL MVP (behind Aaron Judge and his 63 home runs).

Ohtani as a two-way player truly showcases the impact he has on the sport. Baseball revolves around the batter-pitcher matchup, as he’s involved in more of those battles than anyone. From 2021-23 with the Angels, Ohtani had 13 different baseball months during which he was involved in at least 200 plate appearances either batting or pitching, topping out at 268 PA in September 2022. That year was nearly an even split for Ohtani, facing 660 batters while pitching and batting 666 times.

Last year, his busiest month with the Dodgers was in August, with 193 total plate appearances (121 batting, 72 pitching).

Today’s question is how many pitching starts will Ohtani make for the Dodgers in 2026?

The latest iteration of the storied MLB The Show series is good, it’s really good — but it’s been good for years now. Routinely one of the best sports video games of the year, The Show is truly hitting the point of diminishing returns, and while MLB The Show 26 is the best iteration of the series, it’s also not that much better to the point of an overwhelming recommendation unless you’re a die-hard fan who keeps up with the live service elements of the game each season.

It begins with the on-field action, and to this end MLB The Show 26 still reigns supreme. No sports game feels as true to life as this series in capturing not just hitting, pitching, and fielding — but the minutia in between. Top pitchers will paint the zone with infuriating accuracy, hitters will manage to get the barrel on balls outside of the zone, and an elite shortstop will really shine through with their ability to create double plays and rifle incredible throws into first.

One big quality of life improvement for more casual players is the addition of “Big Zone Hitting,” this is a happy medium between the incredible ease of simple timing hitting and traditional zone hitting — generating more reliable contact if you’ve struggled with batting in the past. There’s enough granularity to feel like you actually need to locate the pitch, without the frustration of endless pop-up flies without perfectly guessing which zone the ball is going to.

On the pitching side the added drama of “Bear Down Pitching” amps up the drama in clutch situations. With a press of LT before the pitch crowd noise is drowned out, you can hear the pitcher’s heartbeat, and it offers greater accuracy on one key pitch. These can only be used a couple of times per game, so as not to be abused — but there’s nothing quite like having a tying runner on base in the 9th and activating Bear Down to get that critical out.

Along with these two features are a slew of new niche animations that add even more realism to the game. That said, glitches still happen — including this one where ___ bat became something rather lewd.

The bummer that is the World Baseball Classic

MLB The Show 26 is dripping in World Baseball Classic references, including the cover which boasted Aaron Judge along with the WBC uniform, and Team USA jersey. Unfortunately there isn’t a fully fleshed out WBC mode, or even the option to simply pick up and play the WBC.

Instead, it’s been tucked inside “Diamond Dynasty,” which is The Show’s equivalent of Ultimate Team as special challenges. There are licensing and timing realities that developer San Diego Studios have used to explain why there isn’t a fully-realized WBC mode, but especially releasing well before opening day it’s jarring not to be able to play the biggest international tournament in baseball inside MLB’s flagship game.

The Negro Leagues continue to be incredible

It’s astonishing to me that no other sports video game has played into the history of the game to the depth of MLB The Show. The mode has returned as an ode to the incredible players lost to time and prejudice who deserve to have their stories told. My nine-year-old daughter was glued to the screen as I was playing through the Negro Leagues, loving the real-life interviews woven with watercolor images from the past.

This year’s crop of stories from the Negro Leagues are:

• Roy Campanella
• Mamie “Peanut” Johnson
• John Henry “Pop” Lloyd
• George “Mule” Suttles

We need historical modes like this in other sports games.

Creating my baseball monster

“Road to the Show” is naturally back, and remains one of the best individual career modes in sports video games. The ability to take a player from high school, through college, the minors, and into the pros really highlights the brutal mountain prospective baseball players have to climb on the way to stardom.

This year adds more college recruiting options to choose from, expanding the roster to 19 possible schools to play for en route to The Show: Cal State Fullerton, TCU, Tennessee, South Carolina, UCLA, Texas, Vanderbilt, LSU, UNC, Stanford, Michigan, Florida, Arkansas, Virginia, FSU, Oregon State, Wake Forest, Clemson and Fresno State.

It’s a small addition, but a notable one. On the other end of the spectrum is new “Road to Cooperstown” integration, which formats specific goals when you’re in MLB to try and make the hall of fame and cement your legacy. Otherwise the mode has seen some general improvements in requesting trades, and position changes — but nothing that reinvents the wheel.

Thankfully you can still make absolute monsters as your created players, or scan your own face if you want to be in the game. I’ll let you decide what I did here.

Is MLB The Show 26 worth getting?

If you’ve taken a long break from baseball games and want to get back in then there’s absolutely no reason not to get MLB The Show 26. It’s a brilliant game in a series that always iterates, always gets better, and is constantly improving. Similarly if you enjoy the live service elements of the game like Diamond Dynasty, and that’s your main gaming focus of the year — then you more or less have to buy it to keep up with the player base.

However, if you bought MLB The Show 25 and only played casually, well, there’s nothing really here that reinvents the wheel. At best it will feel like small, iterative improvements that unquestionably make the game look, feel, and play better than ever — but there’s no huge leap over past titles in the series.

Overall, we have a great baseball game that feels like it’s been going back to the well a few times too many. The true lack of the WBC feels like an unforced error, and the core experience is largely the same.

8/10

MLB The Show 26 was reviewed on Xbox Series X using review code provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment

We had another great game today and this time, there was no controversy.

Venezuela 4, Italy 2

Italy took an early lead, but Venezuela rallied with a three-run seventh inning to end Italy’s magical run in the World Baseball Classic.

Italy actually broke out to an early lead when Tigers pitcher Keider Montero struggled to throw strikes. Astros outfielder Zach Dezenzo singled with one out and then Montero walked Jac Caglianone, Brewers minor leaguer Andrew Fischer and the Angels’ J.J. D’Orazio in a row, forcing in the first run of the game. Phillies minor leaguer Dante Nori grounded into a fielder’s choice to make it 2-0 Italy in the second.

Meanwhile, Aaron Nola kept the powerful Venezuelan lineup scoreless for three innings. He got some help in the first inning with when Jakob Marsee made a nice catch in center field and doubled up Maikel Garcia at first base.[VIDEO]

You can’t tell from that video but Italy shortstop Sam Antonacci deked out Garcia with a dive at second base.

Sam Antonacci with another incredible deke to set up the double play 😮 #WorldBaseballClassichttps://t.co/KsVvXurOmDpic.twitter.com/bf5PcE9KUc

— World Baseball Classic (@WBCBaseball) March 17, 2026

That’s the second time this tournament that Antonacci successfully pulled off that move.

But with one out in the fourth inning, Eugenio Suárez got Venezuela on the board with this solo home run. [VIDEO]

Italy threatened to blow the game open in the sixth inning when they loaded the bases with two outs. But Brewers pitcher Angel Zerpa struck out Antonacci looking to end the threat. [VIDEO]

Italy manager Francisco Cervelli’s strategy in this game was to get through as much of the game as possible by piggybacking his two best pitchers, Nola and Michael Lorenzen. The strategy looked brilliant as Nola allowed just one run on four hits over four innings. Lorenzen kept the Venezuelans from scoring in the fifth and sixth innings, allowing just one walk. But Lorenzen walked Gleyber Torres to lead off the seventh, That looked like no big deal as he then struck out Wilyer Abreu and William Contreras.

But with a man on first and two outs, Lorenzen allowed four straight singles. First, number-nine hitter Jackson Chourio singled to center. Returning to the top of the order, Ronald Acuña Jr. tied the game 2-2 by beating out an infield single. [VIDEO]

Next, Maikel Garcia singled home Churio to give Venezuela a 3-2 lead. [VIDEO]

Finally, Luis Arraez connected for the fourth-straight single to make it 4-2. [VIDEO]

Cervelli pulled Lorenzen for reliever Kyle Nicolas after the Arraez single, but by then it was too late.

Neither side managed another baserunner after the Arraez RBI single. Daniel Palencia came on to collect the save for Venezuela and he struck out Antonacci to the end the game. [VIDEO]

It’s the first ever trip to the World Baseball Classic finals for Team Venezuela. Team Italy has nothing to be ashamed of, putting on a near-miraculous run and electrifying a country that was discovering baseball for the first time in some cases. Even their only loss was a narrow one to a very good Venezuela team.

Tonight’s final between Venezuela and USA is at 7 p.m. CT at LoanDepot Park in Miami. Nolan McLean is scheduled to start for the Americans and Eduardo Rodríguez is penciled in for Venezuela. We will, of course, have a game thread here this evening for the title game.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Orioles fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

After an offseason of surprising and occasionally quite exciting moves, and a spring training season that began with injury news that shook up the infield, we’re finally down to the wire and heading towards the regular season. The Orioles who are going to try to make this year a better one than last year are assembled and in nine days we’re going to start to find out how this season is going to go.

This week’s survey is a simple one: How many wins do you think the Orioles will get this year?

The options below start with 75 or fewer, signifying that someone thinks this year will go as badly as last year did or even worse than that, and then go in bands of several wins from there. Vote for the one you’re feeling right now. As usual, we’ll have to hope the optimists are the ones that end up being right.

If you’ve voted for a low number, what are you afraid is going to hold this team back? If you’ve voted for a high number, how do you think they’re going to overcome last year’s problems? If you’re somewhere in the middle, what would make you feel better about the season early on? Let us know in the comments below.

There is no doubting that the Dodgers have made themselves the juggernaut of the NL West and indeed all of baseball, winning back-to-back World Series and signing one of if not the top free agent every winter. The Rockies meanwhile don’t look close to shaking the label of worst team in baseball any time soon. The intriguing question for the division, therefore, is how the other three teams will place by the end of the season. For the first time in what feels like a long time, it looks like the Padres may finally be displaced from their perch as the perennial runners-up to the Dodgers, and appear at risk of missing the playoffs altogether.

2025 record: 90-72 (2nd, NL West)
2026 FanGraphs projection: 80-82 (4th, NL West)

They’ve got an incredibly top-heavy lineup — Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado, Jackson Merrill, and Xander Bogaerts are expected to put up over 16 wins between them and should carry the rest of the offense on most nights. However, they have a billion dollars tied up in Tatis, Machado, and Bogaerts. While that’s not the worst trio to have that kind of money invested into, Machado and Bogaerts are both 33 while Tatis is excellent yet not exactly the slugger he was pre-PED suspension. Furthermore, Merrill has to prove he can bounce back from a disappointing sophomore campaign and once again establish a ceiling as a perennial future All-Star.

If anything should happen to that quartet, be it injury, regression, or failure to rebound, production will drop off precipitously. No other hitter on the roster is expected to reach a 110 wRC+ while Merrill is the only projected starter under the age of 30. That being said, I don’t expect the offense to be the unit that holds the Padres down.

That distinction belongs to the starting pitchers. There is a scary amount of injury risk in the rotation. Michael King re-signed for three years and $75 million after missing most of the season to a nerve injury in his throwing shoulder. Nick Pivetta is coming off a career-high in innings and has several major injuries in his pitching arm’s past. Joe Musgrove is expected to start the season in IL after suffering a setback in his Tommy John rehab. Yu Darvish’s status is at the very least “unlikely to pitch” after conflicting reports of his retirement over the winter. King’s fellow former Yankee Randy Vásquez has been healthy but is downright allergic to strikeouts. Germán Márquez, Griffin Canning, and Walker Buehler were all brought in on one year prove-it deals, all three having undergone major surgery in the last two years. There is a very real possibility that none of the players mentioned hits 100 innings in 2026.

The saving grace is that the Padres should continue to have the No. 1 bullpen in MLB. Led by flame-throwing closer Mason Miller, almost every late inning San Diego lead is safe. Jeremiah Estrada and Adrian Morejon were both terrific in 2025 and project to be the same in 2026 while Jason Adam could be ready for Opening Day after his excellent 2025 was cut short by a torn quad.

All this being said, the biggest Padres story as Opening Day looms does not take place on the field but instead in the highest offices of the organization. Following former owner Peter Seidler’s untimely passing from non-Hodgkin lymphoma after the 2023 season, his brother and widow became embroiled in a toxic lawsuit over control of the team. His widow eventually dropped the bulk of her claims, but it created a pall over a team that should have been solely focused on its championship window. Seidler’s sons are now in the process of fielding bids for a team sale, with final bids expected to come in April as many around the industry predict that the franchise will top the record $2.4 billion that Steven Cohen paid to buy the Mets.

Thus, San Diego appears to be in somewhat of a no-man’s land as they await the finalization of the sale and the accompanying changes to the front office. They have one of the oldest rosters in baseball and shouldn’t expect any help to come from the minors given their status as the worst farm system in MLB, with only Kruz Schoolcraft cracking MLB Pipeline’s top-100 list at 88th overall. Given all this uncertainty about the short and long-term trajectory of the franchise, it’s understandable that the Padres were conservative when it came to external additions, preferring one-year deals near the league minimum for veteran players. Canning and Márquez joined the fold one one-year pacts and Buehler on a minor league deal with a spring invite while Nick Castellanos was claimed off waivers from the Phillies, San Diego only on the hook for the minimum portion of his salary. Even regarding King’s three-year deal, it has opt-outs, so if he fully gets back to his 2024 form, he’s probably out the door for a better dealafter 2026.

For Padres fans accustomed to their recent success, they could be in for a rude awakening in 2026. FanGraphs Depth Charts pegs them for a fourth-place finish with a losing record of 80-82 and just 22.3-percent playoff odds while PECOTA believes they will finish third at 81-81 with 30.6-percent playoff odds. It’s not that the teams around them have gotten better — though the Giants have made several marquee additions to the offense over the last two years — so much as the Padres being injury-riddled and a year older. It’ll be a three-way dogfight for second in the division, and even then that’s no guarantee of clinching a Wild Card.

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More Pinstripe Alley MLB team season previews can be found here.