Category: MLB

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Despite a healthy pitching staff, the Mets will not open the season with a six-man rotation, Carlos Mendoza revealed on the penultimate day of Grapefruit League action on Saturday.

In the midst of a rocky spring, Sean Manaea will move to the bullpen in a piggyback role to begin the season.

Mendoza offered his pitching plans to begin the season on Saturday, with Freddy Peralta tabbed for Opening Day and David Peterson and Nolan McLean to follow suit for the first three games of the season against the Pirates. Clay Holmes and Kodai Senga, in that order, will take the next two games against the Cardinals in St. Louis.

"We were pretty honest with all of them at the beginning of camp, if everyone was healthy, we were going to have to make some tough decisions and one of them was going to be pitching in that type of role," Mendoza said. "The way we see it is (Manaea's) taking that turn right now and probably two times through the rotation because of the schedule and the off days. We don't feel like we need a sixth starter yet."

The Mets’ six-man rotation will be a five-plus to begin the season.

Sean Manaea has been squeezed to the bullpen for the first two times through the rotation, manager Carlos Mendoza said Saturday, leaving the veteran lefty in a piggyback role.

Freddy Peralta, David Peterson, Nolan McLean, Clay Holmes and Kodai Senga are aligned to pitch the first time through the rotation.

Peralta is slated to return for Game 6, in St. Louis.

“Six guys throwing the ball really well and we were pretty honest with all of them at the beginning of camp that if everyone was healthy, we were going to have to make some tough decisions,” Mendoza said.

Off days early in the schedule preclude the Mets from needing a sixth starter immediately.

Manaea, whose velocity has dipped in spring training, was “not happy” with the decision, according to Mendoza.

“But he was very respectful and he understood,” Mendoza said.

“Right now, it’s Sean doing it, but it could easily be somebody else, and they are well aware of that.”

Manaea was a weak link in the rotation last season, pitching to a 5.64 ERA in 15 appearances.

He missed half of the season rehabbing from a strained oblique and elbow discomfort caused by a loose body.

Manea’s schedule to pitch will remain fluid, according to Mendoza, with no set spot in which he will piggyback a starter.

If you are a Washington Nationals fan, I would recommend making a trip up to Rochester, New York this April. Recent demotions have made the Nats Triple-A affiliate one of the most fascinating in the minors. Dylan Crews being sent down solidified the Rochester Red Wings as being must see TV.

There are multiple former top 10 picks, an All-Star, and a top 100 prospect the Nationals acquired this offseason. The Rochester Red Wings have never been more interesting than they are right now. I am not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing, but they certainly have my attention. Let’s run through some of the big names down there and discuss when we could see them in DC.

Dylan Crews is the biggest name down there, so I want to start by talking about him. Despite a woeful spring, the decision to send Crews down was a surprise. Crews still has so much pedigree and is a massive name. Sending him down is a gutsy decision by the new regime. At the same time, it makes all the sense in the world.

When Crews was in Triple-A in 2024, he was good but not great. He posted a .795 OPS in 49 games with the Red Wings. That was enough for Mike Rizzo to call him up to the big leagues though. Crews was pretty clearly rushed, with Rizzo looking at his college pedigree rather than his relatively mediocre minor league numbers.

Now Crews will truly get a chance to master the level and develop properly. Rochester will be a good place for him to do that. Matthew LeCroy is a beloved manager up in Rochester and they also have a pair of strong hitting minds. Brian Daubach was retained as the Triple-A hitting coach, a role he has had since 2018. His experience will be combined with the new analytically minded assistant hitting coach Travis Fitta. Hopefully those two can help rebuild Crews.

However, Dylan Crews is far from the only interesting character in Rochester. There will also be a former All-Star in the Red Wings rotation to start the season. That would be Josiah Gray, who is back after missing most of the last two seasons due to Tommy John Surgery.

In the first half of 2023, Gray was emerging as part of the Nats long term plans in the rotation. Gray was part of the Max Scherzer/Trea Turner return and was looking like a middle of the rotation arm in 2023. There was some luck involved in his great first half, but he was still a dependable arm.

Now, he is on the mend, looking to re-establish himself after missing so much time. The 28 year old is very likely to get his shot in the Nats rotation at some point. However, he still needs to find some sharpness in AAA. His breaking stuff looks crisp, but his velocity is down from his pre-surgery levels. Gray is confident that velo will come with more reps.

Gray will be throwing to a big name catcher in Harry Ford. The Nats acquired Ford in a trade that sent Jose A. Ferrer to Seattle. After the trade, I figured Ford would be the starting catcher right away. He had a great year in Triple-A last year and made his big league debut. Ford was even on the Mariners playoff roster.

However, the Nats decided that he needed more seasoning. Ford did not light the world on fire this spring, so the team decided to roll with Keibert Ruiz instead. He also spent some time away from the team at the WBC, which may have hurt his case. Ford did have a couple big moments, including a homer for Great Britain at the event.

That was not enough for him to lock down a job though. If he has a strong start to the season, I think he could be in the big leagues pretty quickly. There could be some service time games being played here with Ford. If he is down for a few weeks, the Nats will gain an extra year of team control.

The young catcher had an .868 OPS in AAA last year, so I expect him to hit while he is in the minors. After years of bad catching, I am really excited to see what Ford can do when he gets to DC. We will have to watch him in Rochester first though.

Those three are far from the only intriguing players in Rochester. Another big name in AAA is Robert Hassell III. The former top 10 pick was a big piece in the Juan Soto trade and made his MLB debut last year. While Hassell struggled in the big leagues, he did hit .310 with an .839 OPS in AAA.

Hassell’s development has not gone as expected since coming to DC, but he is still just 24 years old. He showed some of the hitting chops he was known for in the past last season. However, that did not translate to the MLB. If he can hit in AAA again, he will get another shot.

A few pitchers I am interested in seeing are Luis Perales, Riley Cornelio, Mitchell Parker and Andrew Alvarez. All of them have interesting traits. Parker has been in the Nats rotation the last two years, while Cornelio broke out in a big way last year. Perales is a top prospect the Nats got in a trade with the Red Sox. He is a fireballer, but his size and control questions give him relief risk. Alvarez is a crafty lefty who looked good at the end of last season and in the spring.

If you want to see one of the most interesting teams in Minor League baseball, go up to Rochester. You are going to have to do it quickly because some of these players will be in the big leagues soon. I know I will be checking Rochester Red Wings box scores every day and you should too.

Dodger Stadium used to suffocate offense, now it invites it. 

For decades, Dodger Stadium lived on the reputation of a pitcher’s park. A place where fly balls went to die under the Southern California night, where the marine layer rolled in like a silent accomplice.

Not anymore.

According to a RotoWire MLB study built on Statcast data from 2020 through 2025, Dodger Stadium has quietly — and now unmistakably — become Major League Baseball’s most prolific home run haven. Not Coors Field. Not Cincinnati’s bandbox. Not the Bronx. Los Angeles. With 1,241 home runs launched into its bleachers and beyond, it sits atop the sport, narrowly ahead of Great American Ball Park (1,221) and Yankee Stadium (1,216).

Part of the shift in Dodger Stadium going from a pitcher’s park to the most home run-friendly park in baseball is hitting philosophy. The Dodgers hired Robert Van Scoyoc as their hitting coach ahead of the 2019 season, reinforcing a commitment to modern, launch-angle-oriented hitting philosophies. 

Another part is roster construction. You’ve heard of the Bronx Bombers, right? Well, what about the Dodger Destroyers. Los Angeles has been in the top five in total home runs every season going back to 2020, and they hammered 244 home runs alone in 2025, 142 of them at home. When you consistently trot a lineup full of former MVPs who love the long ball, your home run totals are going to rise. 

At the center of this power surge stands Shohei Ohtani, the game’s gravitational force, who has already launched 57 of his 109 Dodgers home runs within these same once-pitcher-friendly walls. 

“I think that our team is a big part of hitting them,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts when told that the most home runs launched in baseball since 2020 have been at Dodger Stadium. “We play 81 games at home. So offensively, we’ve done a good job of hitting homers in our ballpark. And when you get Shohei (Ohtani) it skews that number a little bit, too.”

But Roberts also pointed to something that isn’t talked about enough. The weather. 

The marine layer still lingers, and the physics of flight for a baseball have remained the same.

But over the last decade, due in large part to climate change and global warming, the average temperature in Los Angeles from April to September has risen by 3 degrees Fahrenheit, with five of the warmest years in California history having occurred since 2020.

“I think there’s something to the air in the summertime,” Roberts said. “The air gets light, and the ball flies. But it is a surprising stat of all the ballparks in the big leagues Dodger Stadium leads the league in home runs.” 

It is surprising that Chavez Ravine was once known as a park that punished imperfection and now it rewards precision — and modern hitters are nothing if not precise.

Even Angel Stadium, another venue long held hostage by dense coastal air, ranks fourth with 1,150 home runs. The narrative that weather alone dictates offense is cracking, just like bats meeting 98 at the top of the zone.

Another surprising twist? Coors Field — baseball’s mile-high launching pad — didn’t even crack the top five, tying for sixth. Oracle Park, once feared for its cavernous dimensions, sits near the bottom. Meanwhile, Dodger Stadium — baseball’s old soul — has become its loudest amplifier.

The Dodgers have won three World Series since 2020, but Dodger Stadium didn’t change its identity overnight.

It got rewritten by the recent history of success.

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

Going into 2026, the Yankees have quite a number of interesting rotation options at their disposal. Some of those — the likes of Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, and Clarke Schmidt — will miss some time to start the season, but are expected back at some point. In the meantime, the team will be relying on Max Fried at the top of the rotation, and hoping that Cam Schlittler is as good as his tantalizing rookie season made him look.

There are also another couple young players who, at least to start the year, will be tasked with rounding out the rotation. Two of them we’ve seen plenty of in recent years: Will Warren and 2024 AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil. Another is Ryan Weathers, who the Yankees picked up in a trade with the Marlins this offseason. With those three hoping to impress and get a longer run in the rotation, even when the Yankees start to get some guys back from injury, we wanted to know which of them you think will have the best 2026.

As you can see, Warren was the runaway winner in the voting. That’s understandable, as we have seen several flashes of being a good pitcher in his time in the majors. With a career 5.16 ERA and a 4.44 one last year — 92 ERA+, for reference — he hasn’t been able to find consistency at the big league level. However even when he has struggled, signs like his strikeout numbers point to there being something there.

Of the three, Gil has probably shown the most at the big league level, having won the AL ROTY, as mentioned. While he dealt with injuries of his own last season, keeping him out a while, he didn’t totally replicate that in 2025. His ERA was actually better than 2024, but some of his peripherals were worse, as he continued to struggle with control and walking batters. He’s also a bit older than a ROTY win might suggest, as he’ll be 28 in June.

Weathers is quite low on this post, probably because he has really struggled in spring training. Of course, you can’t always just copy and paste spring numbers into the regular season, as players use this time of year to work on stuff, trying things they might not in a regular season game. However, there’s only so much you can write off from a 8.68 ERA in 9.1 innings. His spring debut was very impressive, and he’s struck out a ton of batters, but it’s easy to understand why people are skeptical at this stage, when we’ve mostly only seen him struggle in a Yankees’ uniform.

Whether you voted in the poll or not, who of those three do you think will have the best 2026 and why?

These survey results are sponsored by FanDuel.

When the Mets signed Jorge Polanco to a two-year, $40 million contract to be their first baseman just days after Pete Alonso got five years from the Baltimore Orioles, it was, to put it lightly, a surprise. Polanco has been a good offensive player for a number of years, with a standout 2025 for the Seattle Mariners. However, he had never played more than an inning of first base professionally and, entering his age 33 season, isn’t exactly at the stage of his career where a positional change this extreme is likely. 

Now, let’s get both extremes out of the way. Polanco was a not-great middle infielder for most of his career, but based on all available data, playing second base or shortstop is much higher on the defensive difficulty spectrum than playing first is. He is downshifting positional difficulty, which is the better approach for someone learning the position during spring training. So this isn’t like asking Juan Soto to learn shortstop.

But playing first isn’t, as Brad Pitt as Billy Beane once said, “not that hard.” First base is a very different position than any of the other infield positions because of the footwork, the stretching, and the picking, all of which don’t really resemble play at the other positions. While, yes, the worst defenders on the field usually play first, they usually know how to play first base. So this isn’t as simple as just giving Polanco a new glove and suddenly getting Lou Gherig out there. Plus, he’s going to be catching throws from a brand new third baseman in Bo Bichette, which adds to the difficulty.

The truth likely lies somewhere in the middle of that spectrum, and while Polanco has played a few games at first this spring, it isn’t as if his performance has sparked gobsmacked reactions on either extreme. This is likely going to be an open question until Polanco shows one way or the other what his first base defense looks like. 

That is only half of Polanco’s game and, frankly, the half that could change at the drop of a hat. If the first twenty games are an unmitigated disaster, Polanco could wind up the (close to) full-time designated hitter and put this question of first base behind us. So let’s look at who Polanco the hitter is. 

Actually, that is harder to do than you may think.

Polanco battled a lot of leg injuries, has an 80-game suspension for performance enhancing drugs on his record, and has had a lot of ups and downs in his MLB career. Using Baseball Reference’s 162 game average, Polanco has been a .263/.330/.442 hitter with 23 home runs, good for a 112 OPS+. While those aren’t exactly Pete Alonso numbers, given the mix of players the Mets brought in this season, that’s probably a passable performance. 

But those career numbers are not really who 2026 Polanco is. After a disastrous 2024 season, Polanco remade his swing and came out a very different hitter. Our Lukas Vlahos discussed this while grading his signing:

Under the hood, there are clear changes supporting the offensive jump. Polanco increased his bat speed by more than a full mile per hour and nearly doubled his fast swing rate without lengthening his swing at all. He also flattened his attack angle, a change that did result in more ground balls but which also improved the quality of his pulled air contact. All of this drove significant improvements to Polanco’s Z-contact and exit velocity metrics without harming his approach significantly or batted ball distribution in a meaningful way…Polanco had a 92nd percentile ISO and a 13th percentile strikeout rate…Among players with 100 PA last year, Ketel Marte is the only batter better than Polanco in both of these metrics. Jose Ramirez is the only other player somewhat close. That’s impressive company no matter how you slice it.

If the Mets believe that the changes he made are real and sustainable, then let’s use his 2025 as a more accurate comparison for this season: .265/.326/.495 with 26 home runs. That’s a 134 OPS+, which is much more palatable for a first baseman. For context, Alonso’s OPS+ was 144 in 2025. 

I use Alonso purposely, as that is who Polanco is going to be compared to for his entire Mets tenure. I don’t think anyone, from David Stearns to Polanco, expects Polanco to put up Alonso’s power numbers in 2026. Alonso is, at this moment, one of the elite power hitters in the game, and over the course of Polanco’s two-year deal, he will likely always be the inferior power hitter to Alonso.

But signing to Polanco for two years is very different than signing Alonso for five. Polanco at first is a roll of the dice, but Alonso at first is a known quantity. And what’s known more than many of us want to believe is that Alonso is declining defensively, and doing so at a fairly steep rate. It is understandable to want Alonso, who you know what to expect from, versus Polanco, a total unknown at first base. But even if Polanco is a disaster at first base and at the plate, he’s a more affordable and short term disaster than Alonso may wind up being. 

But if Polanco can be a passable first baseman – a big if – and he can keep his changes from 2025 going – another big if – the overall performance between the two may be closer than we think. 

Of course, that doesn’t erase the many fantastic memories we have of Alonso as a Met, nor does it lessen the sting of his departure for those that wanted to root for him in blue and orange for the rest of his career. But what it may do is help the team win baseball games. And that is why we are all here, isn’t it?

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza cleared up any confusion Saturday morning, announcing the team will go with a five-man starting rotation to begin the regular season.

Freddy Peralta was already announced as the Opening Day starter against the Pittsburgh Pirates on March 26, but it was unclear the order of pitchers who will follow him. 

David Peterson will start the second game of the season on March 28 with Nolan McLean going on March 29 to round out the opening series. Clay Holmes will then take the mound on March 30 against the St. Louis Cardinals, followed by Kodai Senga in fifth game of the season on March 31. The manager also said that if Senga needs to pitch on regular rest this year, he will.

Mendoza then clarified that Sean Manaea will be used out of the bullpen and piggyback one of the starters, but did not say which game. 

"We are going to use him in a piggyback tandem, but we're not necessarily going to announce which game he's going to be pitching," Mendoza said.

Mendoza gave some more insight into what went into the decision to go with a five-man rotation over a six-man rotation, noting that plan will likely be used for two turns through the rotation.

"Six guys throwing the ball really well," Mendoza said. "And we were pretty honest with all of them at the beginning of camp. If everyone was healthy, we were going to have to make some tough decisions and one of them were going to be pitching in that type of role. 

"The way we see it is, he's taking that turn right now, probably two times through the rotation because of the schedule and the off days, we don't feel like we need that sixth starter yet. He's going to make starts for us. Couple times through, making sure guys go through their routine. We'll revisit when we have to and maybe there's somebody else's turn at the time. But for now, that's the decision there."

Mendoza added that Manaea was "not happy" about the choice, but was "very respectful" and "understood" the move. The manager also said Manaea's velocity dip in spring training did not impact the decision.

"He's a professional and he'll be ready to go," Mendoza said.

Manaea later spoke with reporters after the announcement, saying he is ready to step up in the different role. The left-hander also said he's built up to 60 pitches and is hoping to reach 65-70 pitches next game (Monday in an intrasquad scrimmage).

"For me, I just want to go out and pitch and help this team win. Whatever capacity that is, I know I'm going to be the best at that," Manaea said.

He added: "I consider myself a starter. To not be that is frustrating. At the end of the day, I'm just going to let my pitching do the work, whatever capacity that is, and we'll go from there."

Carlos Mendoza announces the Mets' rotation to begin the season

🔸 Thursday, March 26 : Freddy Peralta
🔸 Saturday, March 28: David Peterson
🔸 Sunday, March 29: Nolan McLean
🔸 Monday, March 30: Clay Holmes
🔸 Tuesday, March 31: Kodai Senga pic.twitter.com/6HIwzCYTqe

— SNY (@SNYtv) March 21, 2026

The Mets plan to use Sean Manaea in a piggyback role to begin the season

Carlos Mendoza explains the decision: pic.twitter.com/xvzevk06Q2

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) March 21, 2026

I have a busy Saturday, in front of leaving for Japan on Sunday, so getting this together Friday night.

The Jays are in Bradenton, Florida, which is a very pretty town. But the game isn’t going to be on TV.

Also the Jays Prospect are playing the Phillies prospects in Clearwater. And this game is on Sportsnet. MLB is running these games to let us see some of the top prospect on our favorite teams. I like the idea. Apparently, the teams are using their MLB Pipeline top 30, plus others picked by their teams.

The Jays team will be players from this list:

Pitchers

Austin Cates, RHP
Javen Coleman, LHP
Daniel Guerra, RHP
Adam Macko, LHP
Landen Maroudis, RHP
Carson Messina, RHP
Nolan Perry, RHP
Grant Rogers, RHP
Gage Stanifer, RHP

Catchers

Edward Duran, C
Aaron Parker, C
Brandon Valenzuela, C

Infielders

Cutter Coffey, 3B
Josh Kasevich, SS
Sean Keys, 3B/1B
Charles McAdoo, 3B/1B
Arjun Nimmala, SS
JoJo Parker, SS
Tim Piasentin, 3B
Josh Rivera, SS
Juan Sanchez, 3B

We have seen many of these guys in spring games this year, but I’d love to see JoJo Parker play.

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.

The current consensus among MLB pundits is that the sport will slam to a grinding halt in December 2026; to which I respond: Where were you lot literally three years ago, when I pointed out the clear writing on the wall?

At the risk of asking the owners how many times they need to learn this lesson, I am not generally in the business of making predictions, but I will venture out on a limb and make a prediction today:

The owners are going to lock out the players (again) in December 2026 when the current collective bargaining agreement expires.

[emphasis as in original.]

The following point needs to be repeated loudly because most owners are counting on everyone in the media and the fans to ignore the following immutable truth: there is absolutely no reason for a lockout to occur; if the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) were to expire, the players and owners could proceed under the current system until a deal for a new CBA is struck. The only reason owners impose a lockout is to pressure the Players’ Union into accepting a salary cap, which the Union is hellbent on rejecting.

Admittedly, I was wrong about who the “culprits” of the impending lockout would be, but my reasoning was generally sound, even if the owners were trying to act as if they were doing something while doing nothing. The owners have stopped playing around with optics and faux committees.

Back in 2023, the baseball world quivered in fear of Steve Cohen bullying the league with his seemingly limitless financial resources for the Mets, and looked at the efforts of Peter Seidler doing his best Mike Ilitch (Mr. I) of the Detroit Tigers impersonation as Exhibit B of why the sport would grind to a screeching halt in December 2026.

The fears were misguided as the Mets continued to find entertaining ways to set money on fire, and like Mr. I, Peter Seidler passed away all too soon, leaving a wake of family trauma, which rippled outwards to the organization and is only now reaching a conclusion.

A juggernaut did arise on the horizon, but it was not the (LOL)Mets, but our very own Los Angeles Dodgers.

If anything, if you want a starting point to the villain arc (apart from the league’s failure to punish the 2017 Houston Astros for cheating — just a piece of metal, huh? — and the 2023 Arizona Diamondbacks whipping the mostly-busted 2023 Dodgers out of the playoffs), one need only look at the Dodgers after one particular signing: Shohei Ohtani in the 2023 offseason.

Lest anyone forget, Ohtani devised the structure of his massively deferred deal and presented it to the Dodgers (who clearly accepted), the San Francisco Giants (who probably should have offered more money), the Toronto Blue Jays (it is a sore subject still), and the Anaheim Angels (who declined).

Far too many people forget that Ohtani proposed the structure, likely in part because on a team with eventual-first ballot Hall of Famer Mike Trout, the closest the Angels could get to the playoffs was buying a ticket to see it with the rest of the hoi polloi.

The Dodgers largely operated with a standard deviation in spending during the first part of the current CBA until Ohtani. However, when presented with the opportunity to win with a unicorn like Ohtani, one would be an absolute fool not to try to leverage both the maximum results on the balance sheet and in the trophy room.

Unlike the Angels, the Dodgers read the room, read their hand, and shoved their chips into the middle.

• 2022 – $293,330,382, including $32.4 million luxury tax bill
• 2023 – $268,198,867, including $19.4 million luxury tax bill
• 2024 – $353,015,360, including $103 million luxury tax bill
• 2025 – $417,341,608, including $169.4 million luxury tax bill
• 2026 – $538.7 million, including ~$142.6 million luxury tax bill (projected)

Half a billion dollars on a team’s payroll is the fever dream of those playing MLB: The Show. In essence, the argument about the Dodgers is really three parts of the same conversation, which will be separated below:

The Dodgers have more revenue than anyone in baseball; therefore, the season is over before the first pitch is thrown! And thus baseball needs to have a lockout in 2027 to stop the madness!

Half of the above statement is true and an ironclad fact, which we shall break down and examine over the next two essays.

Living that Scrooge McDuck Life — for better and worse

Detractors are correct: the Dodgers are lapping everyone in revenue, based on what we publicly know.

Having the biggest revenue deal in baseball (in part due to the incompetence of MLB’s other owners), leading baseball in home and road attendance every year since the pandemic, and having a generational international superstar who is a cross between Michael Jordan and Babe Ruth, worthy of a documentary that basically ignores him, will do that.

No one can credibly argue that the Dodgers do not lead baseball in raking in the money. One need only look at “probable Law and Order”-extra Kyle Tucker and the literal king’s ransom he will be paid over at least the next two seasons. So goes the cry before the impending lockout: the Dodgers broke baseball through wanton spending, and no other team has a chance to compete. In fact, reporters like Jeff Passan are starting to carry water for this position.

Along these lines, the Dodgers’ recent financial success is why players like Max Muncy, Enrique Hernandez, and Evan Phillips get to enjoy reunions, and where players like Justin Turner and Cody Bellinger (with justification!) were shown the door. When you have built a sponsorship engine that literally is equal to half of the league, when you have built a franchise that likely brought in a billion dollars in annual revenue, a team can flex its financial muscle and avoid saying farewell to veterans who might have been allowed to leave before the Ohtani Age.

Not setting $102 million on fire for a signing that never made an iota of sense, even with the benefit of hindsight, causes positive dividends in the future? Who knew! The team is thought to be the first MLB team to bring in a billion dollars in annual revenue, even going so far as to sell naming rights to the field that no one other than Joe Davis, Stephen Nelson, et al. will ever use.

Yes, the Dodgers have arguably perfected an imperfect system, much to the annoyance of the 29 other fanbases. Yes, the Dodgers are the first repeat champions in 25 years. But it’s not as if the team has slapped the league with impunity over the past 24 months.

• The San Diego Padres led the best-of-five 2024 National League Division Series, two games to one (which some goober predicted that the Padres would win), before literally getting shut out for the rest of the year.
• The 2024 Dodgers’ playoff rotation included “rookie” Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jack Flaherty (who literally alternated from good and bad between starts), Walker Buehler (who was awful in 2024), and Landon Knack (bar trivia personified)
• Tommy Edman (’24 NLCS) and Freddie Freeman (‘24 WS) had the literal series of their lives to drag themselves to glory.
• The ‘24 New York Yankees managed to outmanage themselves (Game 1) and blow their legs off in historic fashion (Game 5) to ensure the Dodgers’ first full-season title since 1988.
• Orion Kerkering. That’s the bullet point. (Seriously, though, the Philadelphia Phillies were pretty good in 2025.)
• The ‘25 Dodgers were outhit and outpitched as a whole by the Toronto Blue Jays, who managed to outmanage themselves (Game 3) and outrun themselves (Game 6 and Game 7) to blow a 3-2 series lead at home in the World Series.
• Yoshinobu Yamamoto — bane of Toronto, bane of Canada, performing feats not seen since sports photographer Randy Johnson played baseball.

If any one of these bullet points zigs instead of zags, the Dodgers are not the kings of the league. Dave Roberts would not be a surefire lock for induction in Cooperstown, etc., etc. Lex Pryor of The Ringerpublished an essay that largely covers these financial points from the position of a scold, rather than my position as a Dodgers fan and writer.

The Dodgers are not interested in winning 120 games in the regular season, only to lay an egg in the Division Series. They took that terrible route in 2022, which was arguably the last time that the Padres were relevant. Even in situations where things are relatively equal (say, the Roki Sasaki sweepstakes), the Dodgers still prevailed over the league. The Dodgers won 93 games in 2025, good enough for the three-seed, and, as a bonus, just about everyone was in peak form.

Did those facts stop the offense from being largely absent after the Wild Card round? Not really, but from the way people carry on, one would have thought the Dodgers went 13-0 rather than being pushed to the brink against the Blue Jays. If the Dodgers romp to 120 victories (they won’t) and sweep the postseason (inshallah), I will revisit whether the payroll disparity is truly bad for baseball.

What baseball does have in spades right now is a perception problem, one that threatens to engulf the sport in quick order.

The Party is likely over this December

Ben Lindbergh of The Ringer aptly summarized the state of things in MLB:

Are the Dodgers bad for baseball? Maybe. More accurately, though, they’re becoming a bad look for baseball. And they don’t seem to care what they look like, as long as they win.

The sport is having a renaissance with steady upticks in attendance and ratings. Game 7 of the 2025 World Series was the most-watched baseball game in over 30 years, drawing in about 24.3 million viewers in the United States and Canada. When Japan is included, that figure rises to 51 million viewers.

In contrast, the 2026 World Baseball Classic Final drew 10.784 million viewers, a record for the tournament but still barely a fifth of what Game 7 pulled in. Baseball should be basking in this era of success, but, like an illness that has been ignored for too long, things are less than 260 days away from slamming to a dead halt.

Like a dog that catches a chased car, nothing good will come from the perception that the Dodgers somehow broke baseball. It takes eight owners to scuttle a deal, and I see at least a dozen owners would rather burn the sport to the ground in the name of short-term thinking rather than refine the system that currently exists.

Accordingly, ownership is on the precipice of unleashing a Pandora’s Box of self-inflicted harm and stupidity by catering to the perception of inequality rather than the roots of inequality. I would encourage everyone to savor every last drop of the 2026 season, because while colleagues like Eric Stephen believe that no games will be lost in 2027, I do not share their optimism.

The stupidity and greed run thick, and I would genuinely be shocked if we get even half of a season next year. I have not lost a single case or a single night’s sleep by underestimating people’s greed and stupidity. Next essay, we introduce the twelve franchises that will likely run the sport aground in nine months’ time. I would dearly love to be wrong, but after all, it’s not my money(ball).

Diamondbacks News

Soroka Sharp Against Sox
Michael Soroka looked to be in mid-season form in his final spring outing. The bounce back candidate had a strong outing against the lowly White Sox as he made his case for a place in the rotation.

Diamondbacks Game Pushed Back
At this point, it is mostly a reminder that all mid-day Cactus League games have been rescheduled due to the continuing heat wave hammering the Valley.

Gallen Discusses Final Start of Spring
Zac Gallen’s Friday start was the last outing he will have before the games start to count. The next time he takes the bump will be against Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the Dodgers in the season opener.

As Opening Day Looms Bullpen, Closer Questions Remain
It is hard not to believe that this winter’s drastic jump in the cost of pitching did not play a major factor in the roster that Mike Hazen wound up with. Paul Sewald continues to make fans nervous.

Eduardo Rodriguez Returns
Eduardo Rodriguez has returned from the Diamondbacks after leading his home nation of Venezuela to the WBC crown.

Other Baseball News

Padres Select Walker Buehler
The former Dodgers ace has managed to earn himself another chance to see if there is anything left in the tank after multiple Tommy John surgeries.

Marcelo Mayer Named Red Sox Starting Second Baseman
In what has been pretty much a foregone conclusion for a few weeks now, Marcelo Mayer has been named by the Red Sox as their Opening Day starter at second base.

Buster Olney’s Takeaways from Spring Training
No big surprises here, though some interesting predictions.

Andrew Painter Makes Phillies’ Rotation
The 6’7” right-handed Painter will break camp as a member of the Philadelphia rotation. The young man turns 24 on 10 April.

The Guardians gave up 20 runs to the Mariners last night. But it’s Spring Training so it doesn’t count. So there.

Logan Allen gave up 12 runs. I am always surprised when Allen doesn’t give up 12 runs, so nothing new here for me. Matt Festa got knocked around but hey it’s Arizona, it’s early, etc.

Jose Ramirez, Angel Martinez and Wuilfredo Antunez hit homers. CJ Kayfus doubled.

The team designated Nolan Jones for assignment to Columbus. MLB’s rules are opaque but I think he will either be claimed by another team or have to accept the assignment to keep his $2M contract because he is short of five years of service time. That Columbus team will be crowded with Jones, Johnathan Rodriguez, Petey Halpin, Kahlil Watson, Juan Brito and even potentially Stuart Fairchild in the outfield mix… with options like Antunez not far behind. Makes you wonder if we might see some small trades prior to Opening Day.

I think CJ Kayfus takes Valera spot as a right field option and Angel Martinez secures the fourth outfielder spot. With Gaddis on the IL, the Opening Day roster has come into focus, and I do think Parker Messick will beat out Logan Allen for the fifth starter role.

Jim Rosenhaus spoke to Chris Antonetti, Daniel Schneemann and Angel Martinez on the latest Guardians Weekly podcast.

At this point each season, everything is fresh and new, and nearly anything seems possible. For the Red Sox infield, the mystery of what the season holds is even more intriguing because the Red Sox have an almost completely new-look infield.

For the most part, the players are new to each other and to Fenway: Willson Contreras, Caleb Durbin, Isiah Kiner-Falefa (bench), and Andruw Monasterio (bench) are all new to the Sox. All but Kiner-Falefa have arrived from the National League. Durbin and Marcelo Mayer, the starting third and second basemen, are still new-ish to MLB, with both returning for just their second year in the big leagues. Mayer, in particular, is an unknown quantity since his first season was cut short by injury.

Trevor Story holds a special place in the infield; at this point, he’s the only infielder who returned from the 2025 team and is not on the IL or in the minors. As such, he’s the anchor, though even he brings some question marks with him related to health and age.

What are these infielders capable of, individually and as a group? With as many unknowns as there are, it would be foolish to make predictions but there are certainly goals.

Stabilize the Infield Defense

This is foundational goal and must be considered a bare minimum for the season. Veterans Story and Contreras will lead the way here, facilitating the transition out of the chaos of recent seasons.

The organization’s new focus on defense will be stabilizing in its own right because it’s given the front office a mission. By signing a number of glove-first utility players, the team should be able to significantly reduce the errors that have plagued them for too long, and shut the revolving door on the procession of Quad-A players who were needed due to poor roster construction and lack of depth.

Stay (or Get) Healthy

This might be considered a stretch goal, as injuries are a way of life in professional sports and the Red Sox have had their share recently.

Romy González and Triston Casas could be contributors this season but they begin the season on the IL, recovering from their respective surgeries (shoulder and knee). Brendan Rodgers, who wasn’t likely to make the MLB roster anyway, is likely out for the season due to surgery.

With Story and Mayer, who have been defined in many ways by their injuries in recent years, fingers are crossed. For Mayer especially, finishing the year on the field—something he hasn’t done since 2021, the year he was drafted—is crucial. He has never played more than 100 games in a season as a professional and needs to prove what he’s capable of. He will surely want to shut down the speculation, which only reignited when he experienced “soreness” late in spring training.

Unlike recent years, there is a versatile bench to draw from—to allow Alex Cora to execute his matchups, to keep starters fresh, and to step in when infield injuries arise.

Manufacture Enough Runs to Quiet the Talk About the Missing Power Bat

This is absolutely a stretch goal.

This task doesn’t fall only to the infield, of course, but since first and third base are typically seen as power-hitting positions, the battle lines are drawn. Contreras has amassed 172 HRs in his career, though never more than 24 in a season. His bat is one of the strongest on the entire team, not only among infielders, which speaks to the lack of overall power. There are other ways to score runs, of course, but in working to create those opportunities throughout the batting order, they find themselves operating outside of the long-time Red Sox identity. Contreras has decent power and hits to the gaps. His goal is to hit close to 20 homers and consistently drive in runners with doubles off the wall, or other well-placed hits.

Durbin (.256/.334/.387) is known for slapping singles, not for pop. He has speed and baserunning smarts, with 18 stolen bases in 2025. His part of this collective goal? Continue to get those hits, work walks, and turn on the speed to stretch some of those hits into another bag. Once he’s done that, the mission becomes swiping bases and racing home to score. He seems like a player who would find his groove in this hard-working, keep-the-pressure-on style of play.

Story rebuilt trust with Red Sox Nation and resurrected his career in 2025, as he hit 25 homers, drove in 96 runs, and stole a career-high 31 bases. At 33 and with his injury history, it’s unclear if he can maintain that pace, though he has spoken about managing his routines as a means of staying healthy and fresh. He will need to do just that and be a major offensive contributor, as he was last year.

Mayer has plenty of room to grow at the plate, slashing .228/.272/.402 with eight doubles, a triple and four home runs in 44 games. In the small sample size of 136 plate appearances over 44 games, he struck out 41 times (a rate of 30%) and walked eight times (a rate of 5%). Alex Cora has challenged him to improve his batting eye and plate approach, and in many ways, Mayer can only improve from here.

When González returns later in the season, he will hopefully be ready to do his share by mashing off the bench. Casas’ future in the infield or on the roster is unclear at this point, but if there’s any hope that he can resume the production he’s showed flashes of, he’ll be welcomed back with open arms.

Later this week, the infield will get the chance to prove itself in real games that matter. The foundation is there to build on, and the infield looks better, on paper at least, than any the Red Sox have rostered in several years.

Roki Sasaki has struggled with command this spring training, all while adding new pitches to his repertoire. The Dodgers have been exceedingly patient with the 24-year-old right-hander, insisting all spring that he will start the season in the starting rotation, rather than get optioned to the minors to continue his work in progress.

Bill Plunkett at the Orange County Register talked with manager Dave Roberts and president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman about the plan for Sasaki:

“There’s obviously a big gap between Triple-A and the big leagues,” Friedman said. “With certain really talented young players that we really believe in, we think that last mile of player development is generally better served at the major-league level.

“That said, even with our established guys it’s one of continued player development. Now for some guys, that’s more on the margins. For other guys there’s more involved. But we believe very strongly that he is going to be a very successful major-league starter. Just how quickly that comes to be is a fair question. Obviously we’re going to pour everything we can into making that happen sooner rather than later and we’ll go from there.”

Friedman talked with Maddie Lee of the Los Angeles Times about a number of topics, including organizational goals:

I wouldn’t say our mindset is all that different. But obviously, when you’re in a moment in time with an incredibly talented roster, I think the mindset is, ‘Don’t sit back on your heels, be aggressive, and don’t be nonchalant about the opportunity that we have in front of us.’ And so it’s more the idea of pressing an advantage and being aggressive on that front.

Santiago Espinal, who was selected to the Dodgers roster on Wednesday, will earn a $2.5 million salary this season, per Fabian Ardaya at The Athletic.

Alden González at ESPN wrote about how restrictions on pitcher usage constrain the potential of the World Baseball Classic, and that the Olympics potentially providing a road map for moving the WBC to midseason wouldn’t necessarily solve those restraints.

Janie McCauley at Associated Press previews the National League West.

Major League Baseball on Thursday announced that Polymarket is now the league’s official prediction market exchange, which is definitely a group of words that make complete sense together. Gabe Lacques at USA Today wrote about the potential pitfalls:

Manfred himself even has some control over the market.

The No. 2 search result after “2026 win totals” on Polymarket is “New MLB (collective bargaining agreement) by Dec. 1?” While Manfred has telegraphed a lockout by that date, the market believes there’s a 49% chance a deal will be struck between MLB and the players’ association by then.

It is time for my favourite post of the year. It is fun to read about where everyone who comes here is from and their answers to the various questions.

Your mission, if you choose to accept, is to copy and paste these questions into the comment thread and give us your answers.

Name:

Location:

Favourite Current Jay:

Favourite All-Time Jay:

Favourite Non-Jay:

Favourite Blue Jays Prospect:

Metaphysical Position on the Diamond:

Ballpark I’d Most Like to Visit:

Favourite Baseball Movie:

What was the best thing about your past year:

When Not Bantering, I:

On Twitter or BlueSky, I am:

Baseball Card Back Fun Fact:

Walkup Music:

Name: The One and Only Billy Shears

Location: Calgary. Surrounded by guitars and a mess. Or a mess of guitars.

Favourite Current Jay: Addison Barger

Favourite All-Time Jay: Depends on the moment. Let’s go with Jesse Barfield

Favourite Non-Jay: Former Red Sox outfielder Dwight Evans

Favourite Blue Jays Prospect: JoJo Parker, if his walk-up music isn’t ‘Get Back’, I’ll have to pick someone else. Jojo was a man who thought he was a loner, But he knew it couldn’t last

Metaphysical Position on the Diamond: Second base. Moved over from short since my arm isn’t good enough to make that Metaphysical throw from the hole. Me and Bo, if we stand close together, you couldn’t tell us apart.

Ballpark I’d Most Like to Visit: Right now? Tokyo Dome. And I hope to get to in a few days.

Favourite Baseball Movie: Still Bull Durham. “Don’t think, it hurts the team”

What was the best thing about your past year: We had a vacation to Africa, that was amazing.

When Not Bantering, I: been playing tennis a lot, squash some and trying badminton, because why not.

On Twitter or BlueSky, I am: @bluebirdbanter

Baseball Card Back Fun Fact: I have my name on a bowling trophy. And no, it wasn’t for a record low score.

Walkup Music: Oh I don’t know, how about All Just To Get To You

Name: Tom M

Location: Calgary

Favourite Current Jay: Vlad

Favourite All-Time Jay: Jose Bautista

Favourite Non-Jay: Francisco Lindor

Favourite Blue Jays Prospect: I’m about to list 40 of them

Metaphysical Position on the Diamond: Crafty junkballing lefty starter

Ballpark I’d Most Like to Visit: Fenway

Favourite Baseball Movie: Bull Durham

What was the best thing about your past year: I got published as lead author on an academic paper for the first time

When Not Bantering, I: take pictures, develop pictures, sometimes run marathons.

On Twitter or BlueSky, I am: silent

Baseball Card Back Fun Fact: I can tell the difference between butter and I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter 

Walkup Music: Work to Do, Average White Band

Name: Colin C

Location: Edmonton

Favourite Current Jay: Alejandro Kirk

Favourite All-Time Jay: Carlos Delgado

Favourite Non-Jay: Bobby Witt Jr

Favourite Blue Jays Prospect: Gage Stanifer

Metaphysical Position on the Diamond: Guy who sits on the ball bucket and heckles the ump

Ballpark I’d Most Like to Visit: PNC Park

Favourite Baseball Movie: Major League 

What was the best thing about your past year: vacation to Mexico 

When Not Bantering, I: Run around with my kid to all her different activities, play baseball and travel back and forth to Winnipeg a lot. (Editor: Because the mosquitos in Edmonton aren’t big enough??)

On Twitter or BlueSky, I am: A lurker 

Baseball Card Back Fun Fact: Have played baseball in 3 different Arizona Spring Training complexes.

Walkup Music: Bone Cracker

Kyle Freeland will take the ball for the Rockies on Opening Day in 2026 — the fifth Opening Day nod for a pitcher who has quietly built one of the most unique résumés in franchise history. By Baseball-Reference, he is already the Rockies’ all-time leader in WAR among starting pitchers (19.2), a reflection of both longevity and effectiveness in baseball’s most difficult pitching environment. 

And yet, that same metric — WAR — is part of why Freeland is so often misunderstood. 

Because here’s the reality: WAR doesn’t always evaluate pitchers at Coors Field particularly well. And Freeland is one of the clearest case studies of that disconnect. 

His 2018 season is the most extreme example. FanGraphs credited him with 4.1 WAR. Baseball-Reference credited him with 8.4 WAR. Same performance, radically different value depending on the model. 

That season stands out — an outlier peak — but it doesn’t stand alone. Freeland has put together multiple solid seasons in Colorado, just not always at that elite level. 

Why Coors breaks clean metrics 

Most public pitcher WAR (Wins Above Replacement) models rely on two approaches: 

• FIP-based WAR (FanGraphs) — built from strikeouts, walks, and home runs.  

• RA9-based WAR (Baseball-Reference) — based on actual runs allowed.  

Both work well in most environments. At Coors, they don’t. 

At altitude, air density is roughly 15–20% lower than at sea level. Pitch-tracking research shows fastballs can lose roughly 2–3 inches of movement in Denver. 

Movement isn’t just reduced: It’s altered. That makes generating swing-and-miss more difficult and increases reliance on contact. 

So pitchers adapt. 

Freeland doesn’t overpower hitters — and that’s exactly what WAR tends to undervalue. 

2018 shows the disconnect 

Freeland’s 2018 line: 

• 202.1 innings  

• 2.85 ERA  

• 3.67 FIP  

• 4.1 fWAR  

• 8.4 rWAR  

That gap between fWAR and rWAR isn’t small — it’s philosophical. 

One model saw a pitcher without dominant strikeout numbers. The other saw elite run prevention. 

At Coors, Freeland threw 93.2 innings with a 2.40 ERA — not just surviving, but thriving. 

Coors isn’t just hitter-friendly 

Coors is often called “hitter-friendly,” but that undersells it. 

Park factors are averages — one adjustment applied broadly. 

Coors isn’t average. 

It interacts with pitch shape, contact quality, and decision-making in ways that don’t scale cleanly. Two identical pitches can produce completely different outcomes depending on where they’re thrown. Even the humidor reduced but didn’t eliminate these effects. 

In Colorado, the numbers rarely tell the whole story.

The skill that gets missed 

Freeland’s profile won’t jump off the page: 

• Modest strikeout rates  

• Solid command  

• Heavy reliance on contact  

But his value shows up differently: 

• Weak contact  

• Ground balls  

• Avoiding letting one inning break everything  

At Coors, that last skill might be the most valuable. 

WAR rewards outcomes that translate cleanly across environments. Freeland’s value comes from handling one that doesn’t. 

The Coors credibility tax 

There’s also a perception gap — call it the Coors credibility tax. 

A 4.30 ERA in a neutral environment looks like back-end production. At Coors, that same performance can resemble mid-rotation value or higher. 

If the Rockies are building around pitchers like Freeland, the question isn’t just whether they’re good enough: it’s whether we’re measuring them correctly. 

So what is he actually worth? 

On paper, a ~2 WAR pitcher looks replaceable. 

In reality, it’s not that simple. 

Freeland is owed $16 million in 2026, with a vesting option tied to innings in 2027. That reflects something the numbers struggle to capture: reliability in a uniquely difficult environment. A pitcher with similar “true talent” elsewhere might not translate to Coors at all. Freeland already has. 

Kyle Freeland isn’t an ace in the traditional sense. 

He’s something more specific: 

A pitcher built to survive — and occasionally thrive — in baseball’s most difficult pitching environment. 

Until metrics better capture environmental context and contact management at altitude, pitchers like Freeland will continue to look ordinary on paper and essential in reality. 

So the next time you see a WAR total next to a Rockies pitcher, ask: 

Is that number telling the whole story — or just the part that survives outside of Coors Field? 

What We Got Right and Wrong About the Rockies in Spring Training | SI.com 

The Rockies’ spring training offered a mix of optimism and reality — some encouraging performances, but familiar concerns still lingering. A few players showed growth, especially on the offensive side, yet questions about pitching depth and consistency remain. In the end, the biggest takeaway is that spring can hint at progress, but proving it in the regular season is a different challenge entirely. 

Venezuelan WBC champion Ezequiel Tovar makes triumphant return to Rockies after ‘goosebump’ moments | The Denver Post ($) 

Ezequiel Tovar returned to the Rockies fresh off helping Venezuela capture a World Baseball Classic title, bringing both momentum and confidence back to Colorado. The young shortstop embraced the emotional weight of the moment, calling the experience meaningful not just for himself but for his country. Now back with the Rockies, the question becomes whether that energy — and his strong international performance — can carry over into a bounce-back season at Coors. 

Rockies see top prospects Condon, Carrigg take next steps in solid spring | MLB.com 

The Rockies reassigned top prospects Charlie Condon and Cole Carrigg to minor league camp, a move framed less as a setback and more as the next step in their development. Both impressed during spring training, with the organization emphasizing their strong performances and long-term upside. Ultimately, the decision reflects timing rather than talent — and reinforces that both remain firmly in the Rockies’ plans for 2026, even if their debuts will have to wait. 

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