Category: MLB

Hello, friends.

There are now just four days remaining until Orioles Opening Day. It’s coming on Thursday! As of yesterday, the team has wrapped up its exhibition schedule in Florida, with a home-and-home pair of exhibitions in Baltimore (today) and Washington (tomorrow) still to come before everything starts getting finalized for the regular season. Today’s 1:35 afternoon game will be televised on MASN.

In yesterday’s Grapefruit League finale, the Orioles beat the Phillies, 10-8. Jhonkensy Noel hit a grand slam in the game, which is nice for him but is not going to make much difference in his roster chances. Several pitchers who will not be on the Opening Day roster were in action in the game and gave up runs. One guy who will be on the roster had a scoreless inning: Tyler Wells struck out three guys.

The Orioles made some news yesterday that still has me surprised. Dean Kremer was optioned to minor league camp. This was essentially the obvious move ever since the team signed Chris Bassitt, yet it still surprised me because I couldn’t believe they would actually do it. Kremer has been a remarkably consistent guy across the last three years – seriously, his three ERAs are within 0.09 of one another. They weren’t good ERAs, but they are good enough that he has earned a spot in a major league rotation. Just, you know, the back, not the middle or even the front.

Kremer might still get that spot. The Orioles could still be intending to go with a six-man rotation. The thing is that with the early off days on March 27 and April 2, they don’t even really need a fifth starter more than once over the first week-plus of game action. Perhaps they’ll try to bring up Kremer when they want to transition to six, and in the meantime he’s keeping his innings built up in Triple-A Norfolk. We’ll see what they end up doing. Somebody could get hurt before they try to go to six guys. Or they might have a different plan entirely.

Another angle to is it that Kremer has generally stunk in April, with last year’s 7.04 ERA being representative of what he’s done in his career. If it is possible to absorb the rocky April in the minors and then get him up to MLB after that’s out of his system for the year, that’s a plus for the fortunes of the 2026 Orioles. Your guess is as good as mine whether Kremer could come up to MLB in May and avoid his career-long April struggles. Maybe he’s just going to stink in the first month he’s facing MLB hitters, whatever month that ends up being.

The Orioles also delivered a variety of injury updates that could have had a potential impact on the Opening Day roster. Manager Craig Albernaz told reporters before yesterday’s game that the knee soreness for Dylan Beavers shouldn’t have him out for the start of the season. On the other hand, Heston Kjerstad, who was unlikely to make the Opening Day roster anyway, is getting an MRI done on his hamstring. It seems that injured reliever Andrew Kittredge is trying to keep his injured list stint to the minimum. We’ll see how that works out.

Although spring training is over, the Orioles have not cut down the roster to close to the 26-man limit just yet. There are 42 players remaining in camp, two of whom are certainly ticketed for the IL. The team has probably already made the choices, it’s just a question of when they will reveal them. Or if Mike Elias does another end of spring training waiver wire/cash considerations surprise. It’s happened before.

Orioles stuff you might have missed

Keegan Akin suffers hip injury, muddling bullpen picture (The Baltimore Sun)
One more bit of injury news from yesterday that could shake up the Opening Day roster. If Akin can’t go, will Elias decide it’s Anthony Nunez time? That’s what I’d do, but I don’t think he’s going to ask me.

Takeaways from Elias’s end-of-spring comments about Mountcastle, Eflin, and more (The Baltimore Banner)
“We believe in his stick,” said Elias of Ryan Mountcastle, particularly when it comes to hitting left-handed pitching.

Opening Day rotation appears set as Kremer optioned to minors (Orioles.com)
The Orioles still haven’t announced the order in which their starters will go after Trevor Rogers. Beat writer Jake Rill takes his best guess here. What do you think?

Albernaz on Eflin: “He’s checked every box” (School of Roch)
The fact that Zach Eflin has looked healthy and seemed to be pitching well through spring training, including in his most recent outing a couple of days ago, seems to be the thing that sealed Kremer being sent to the minors. If Eflin was two weeks behind schedule, Kremer is on the team. But he’s seemed to be in good shape, so that’s how it is.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

Today in 1981, Earl Weaver was suspended after removing the Orioles from the field during a spring training game and forfeiting the remainder of the game in protest that he was not provided a correct batting order after the opponent, the Royals, made a number of substitutions. I’ll go ahead and guess he was right about it.

There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2018 catcher Andrew Susac, 2013 outfielder Mike Morse, and 1957 super utility man Billy Goodman.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: Declaration of Independence signer and Marylander Charles Carroll (1723), actor Chico Marx (1887), Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim (1930), Broadway composer Andrew Lloyd Webber (1948), and actor Keegan-Michael Key (1971).

On this day in history…

In 1765, the Parliament of Britain passed the Stamp Act, levying taxes directly on the North American colonies. Over time they were rather famously unhappy about this.

In 1871, North Carolina’s governor, William Woods Holden, was impeached and removed from office. He was the first governor of a state to be removed from office in this way. If the Wikipedia article about this is accurate, there have been a total of six more governors removed from then to now.

In 1963, the debut album for The Beatles, titled Please Please Me, was released.

In 1972, the Equal Rights Amendment, which proposed to enshrine that equality of rights shall not be denied on account of sex, was sent to the states for ratification. This effort has to date proved unsuccessful, though many states, including Maryland, include such a clause in their state constitutions.

A random Orioles trivia question

I received a random book of Orioles trivia questions for Christmas. I’ll ask a question in this space each time it’s my turn until I run out of questions or forget. There are 100 questions and because I’ve skipped stupid ones, we are already on 65. Here’s today’s question:

How many Gold Glove winners did the Orioles have in 1996? Bonus: Name the players.

**

And that’s the way it is in Birdland on March 22. Have a safe Sunday.

With the announcement that Andrew Painter had made the starting rotation and that Justin Crawford had his contract selected, the team’s final roster is starting to take shape. We should know the fate of the 26th man on the roster soon enough (please don’t be Stubbs, please don’t be Stubbs…), at which point we will have the final team ready to open against the Rangers on Thursday.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• In case you were wondering, Justin Crawford will make the Phillies’ Opening Day roster. He’s earned the trust of the coaching staff ($).
• Some players have goals in the season that they look to hit. Bryce Harper’s goal: to draw 140 walks on the year. Bondsian numbers.
• Zack Wheeler’s health and Andrew Painter’s outlook gives this Phillies rotation, deep already, a lot of optimism.

MLB news:

• MLB players shrinking! This is not a science fiction movie. Rather, it’s more accurate thanks to ABS needs by MLB ($).
• You want bold predictions for the MLB season? Here are some by everyone’s favorite Ralph ($).
• It’s possible that it is done by the time you read this, but the Pirates and Konnor Griffin are in talks on a long term extension.
• Walker Buehler will be in the Padres’ starting rotation to begin the season. This is probably unsurprising news.

The Yankees’ Opening Day roster became a lot clearer yesterday, as the team made it official that Randal Grichuk would be traveling to San Francisco and Oswaldo Cabrera will begin the year in the minor leagues. They made a few other cuts to the roster, trimming down more of the infield depth options, and now the only question remaining is which pitchers will occupy the final couple of bullpen slots. It’s been far from a flashy spring with only minor competitions, but that was to be expected with how many returning starters they brought with them.

On the site we’ve got a chill Sunday lined up, with two Matt posts going back-to-back to start us off. The first entry wishes Rich Monteleone a happy birthday and remembers the early 90s reliever and his short but decent career in pinstripes, while the second looks at the Philadelphia Phillies ahead of their push for a third consecutive NL East title. Then, John stops by to deliver the latest social media spotlight featuring the end of the WBC.

Today’s Matchup

New York Yankees vs. Philadelphia Phillies

Time: 1:05 p.m. EST

Video: YES Network, Gotham Sports App, NBCSP, MLB Network (out-of-market, only)

Venue: George M. Steinbrenner Field, Tampa, FL

Questions/Prompts:

1. Who is your favorite Yankee reliever that didn’t serve as their closer during this decade?

2. Now that the WBC is in the rearview mirror, what do you think are the odds of MLB permitting a break midseason for players to participate in the Olympics in 2028?

The truth of this Dodgers season was recently found in a place where all sports truths are clipped and tapered and styled into reality.

The barbershop.

Of course, the barbershop, where ball talk is real talk, and where the expectations around the Dodgers upcoming quest for a three-peat recently smothered me like a hot towel to the head.

I was sitting in the chair in mid-shave when a bald gentleman barged into the shop searching not for a cut, but a promise.

“Say it!” he shouted to me from just inside the door. “Say what everybody around here believes!”

What, that LeBron James is not a real Laker?

“No, say it about the Dodgers!” said the man, and he was serious. “Say that they have the best team in history and they’re going to win another championship! Say it, because that’s what everybody thinks!”

The shop quieted, chairs swiveled, and suddenly everyone was looking at me, at which point I said the one word I’ve never written in any of the last dozen or so Dodger preview columns.

“No.”

“No?” the man replied.

“No, I don’t think the Dodgers are going to win a third consecutive World Series championship.”

The man was clearly taken aback, some of the other patrons chuckling in surprise, the Dodger pulse of this town clearly resonating in a completely unusual fashion.

For the first time in forever, the ever-doubting Dodger nation is convinced this team is destined for a title.

It’s not like it used to be, back in the bad old days of crumbles and collapses. For the previous several years, Dodger fans have spent all spring pondering ways this great team would blow it. The playoff defeats by San Diego and Arizona burned into memories, and even after the Dodgers won it in 2024, their fan base invented scenarios in which they could not possibly repeat it.

But now that they have repeated it? Now that their roster has even gotten more stacked than the previous two seasons? The town is all in. The town expects more. The town is not only believing in a three-peat, they are counting on it.

As this barbershop bystander made clear, for the first time, only a prediction of another championship would be acceptable.

Sorry, but, um, no.

After all these years of picking the Dodgers to win, I’m formally picking them to lose. I don’t know exactly how, or precisely when, but it just feels like somebody, at some point, is going to finally end this run.

I know this whole theory sounds crazy. Who’s better than them? Who’s even close to them? That genius Andrew Friedman has seemingly perfectly and tightly sewn together another title team.

But stretch that fabric over six months and look close at its stitching and there’s enough tiny holes to eventually blow the whole thing apart.

Despite mounds of evidence to the contrary, I just can’t bring myself to believe they have all the ingredients to become just the third franchise in baseball history to three-peat.

“They’re not going to win again?” the man shouted as he spun on his heels and marched out of the barbershop. “How can you say that?”

Plenty of reasons, actually.

Start with age.

This is suddenly an older team. They’re seasoned, they’re savvy, but they’re increasingly vulnerable. Too much age can knock you flat with injuries and fatigue. Hangovers are a young person’s game. Hangovers are hell on the old timers.

Did you know a dozen of the Dodgers key players are in their 30s? It happened so quickly, right? Freddie Freeman is 36, Max Muncy is 35, Mookie Betts and Teoscar Hernández are 33, and nobody is getting any younger.

Case in point: For the first time ever, this spring Freeman acknowledged that against his wishes, the Dodgers may not allow him to play every inning of every game. That’s one tiny, huge example.

One of the older players is 33-year-old Blake Snell, which leads to another potential problem, that being the starting rotation.

Did you realize that the staff leader in games started last year, behind Yoshinobu Yamamoto, was that broken-down fighter Clayton Kershaw?

He’s retired, and the rotation is as tenuous as ever. Snell is starting the season on the injured list. Roki Sasaki has had a shaky spring. Tyler Glasnow still has never pitched more than 134 innings. Yamamoto added extra innings to an already battered arm by pitching for Japan in the World Baseball Classic.

That leaves Shohei Ohtani as the only starter with no baggage, yet he continues to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders and, now that he’s the ripe old age of 31, one only hopes Superman can continue to fly.

Here’s guessing the rotation will also miss the stability once offered by Kershaw, and that could be a problem, because here’s guessing the bullpen could be just as shaky.

Yes, they added the best free agent reliever in closer Edwin Díaz, and the fans will go wild at the first notes of Timmy Trumpet, but will the Dodgers have enough middle relief to get to him?

Tanner Scott is back. Blake Treinen is back. Potential chaos is back. The Dodgers will need more revelations like Will Klein and Justin Wrobleski to survive.

Speaking of survival, catcher Will Smith has played in 126 games or more four times in the last five years. Throw in 50 postseason games during that time and the physical toll on this World Series hero has been enormous. One can only hope that Dalton Rushing can improve on last year’s .204-hitting performance enough to allow Smith to take a break, because that becomes a big Dodger weakness if he doesn’t.

Rushing isn’t the only young Dodger with something to prove. After a strong regular season, Andy Pages managed just four hits in 51 postseason at-bats, an average which disappeared beneath his season-saving catch over Kiké Hernández in Game 7 of the World Series. One hopes he has rediscovered his swing, because that’s a problem if he hasn’t.

Same with Betts. Last year’s struggles, which ended with a .138 average in the World Series, have been blamed on an early-season stomach ailment and all-season adjustment to shortstop. It’s unfair to doubt those reasons or his commitment to fixing it.

But it is fair to note that he’s coming off the worst two-season OPS since early in his career and that he must become the old Mookie for his teammates to remain the great Dodgers.

Yet even if all those question marks are positively answered, even if every perceived weakness becomes a real strength, even if these Dodgers have the best regular season in baseball history as so many have predicted…

They’ll still need one thing that seems impossible to buy or teach.

They’ll need the sort of incredible good fortune and great breaks that allowed them to win each of their last two titles.

Can any team be that lucky three years in a row?

Even the Dodgers admit that there were many key plays in the last two postseasons that could have gone the other way and changed history forever. Seemingly every one of those breaks broke for the Dodgers. How can this keep happening?

Is Aaron Judge going to drop another fly ball? Will Gerrit Cole forget to cover first base again?

Will a Philadelphia Phillies reliever lose his mind again? Will the Toronto Blue Jays melt under pressure in consecutive home games again? Will they have the baserunning blunders, the bullpen breakdowns, the terrible at-bats?

Does Miguel Rojas have another miracle in him? For that matter, does Freddie Freeman?

Bottom line, can any team create that many breaks three years in a row?

Los Angeles thinks the Dodgers can, and should, and will.

Sorry, barbershop, but I think not.

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Observations from Yankees spring training Friday:

Cam do

Cam Schlittler looked sharp in his final start of the spring, building up to 62 pitches across 3 ²/₃ scoreless innings while averaging 97.5 mph on his four-seam fastball.

No ‘Brough

Ryan Yarbrough got roughed up while piggybacking Schlittler, giving up three runs on five hits and two walks across 2 ²/₃ innings.

Caught my eye

Yovanny Cruz turned in his third straight scoreless outing while lighting up the radar gun with a fastball that averaged 100.6 mph.

The reliever probably does not have enough time to make the Opening Day roster, given that his spring was delayed by a shoulder issue, but he is putting himself in play to help at some point this season.

“It’s been exciting to see him in the strike zone as much as he has been in these three outings,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He’s definitely got our attention.”

Sunday’s schedule

The Yankees have their Grapefruit League finale against the Phillies at Steinbrenner Field, with Will Warren making his final tuneup at 1:05 p.m.

Observations from Mets spring training Saturday:

Veintos lives

Mark Vientos, who began the day 1-for-31 in the Grapefruit League, homered as part of the 3-1 split-squad victory over the Nationals in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Wide right

Jorge Polanco committed a throwing error in the eighth inning of the 7-5 exhibition loss to the Astros in Port St. Lucie.

Polanco threw behind the pitcher covering first base.

Caught my eye

Marcus Semien had a 3-for-3 performance against the Astros and raised his OPS this spring to .700.

Sunday’s schedule

David Peterson will get the start for the Grapefruit League finale in Jupiter, Fla., against the Marlins.

For a year-and-a-half starting in 2024, the White Sox ran out one of the worst offenses in modern history. Due to a combination of dumb luck and an influx of young bats, the club climbed out of its hitting tomb and started haunting MLB pitching in the second half last year.

Unfortunately, this coming summer could begin the era of morbid arms, or creepy control, or hiccuping velocity. Based on Saturday night’s split-squad of sorts, starting in 101° weather despite a move of both games from afternoon to night, any one of those ugly options are in play. And given that one of the split squads tonight was the Spring Breakout, featuring the best of the best arms in the system, help might not be on the way.

It was just two games, true, so let’s not lose our heads over the combined 24 walks in the two games. OK, maybe lose your head over 17 walks from the Spring Breakout game.

Before tonight, have you ever heard of five straight bases-loaded walks (and six in a row total) as the endcap of a seven-run second inning against the defending world champions? Me neither.

For a time, like, maybe 90 minutes into the never-ending Breakout Game, this was the headline I was running with:

Lucas wepf; five straight sacks-packed passes fuels White Sox Breakout rout

If you glance above, you’ll see that hed did not hold up.

For a hot minute, it seemed the White Sox prospects were going to run away with this one, simply by taking what was given by L.A. Perhaps it was a famous case of “Spring Breakout” jitters, but Dodgers reliever Lucas Wepf allowed four of those bases-loaded walks, all consecutive; the Double-A reliever managed just two strikes in his 17 pitches on Saturday, surely the very worst performance of his career under the very brightest lights.

BEFORE the walk parade, it was William Bergolla Jr. who gave the White Sox back a lead with a bases-loaded ground-rule double:

The seven runs scored in the second inning, which flipped the game from 2-1, Dodgers, to 8-2, White Sox, all came with two outs.

With such a massive lead early, it would take an awful lot of offense from the Dodgers to get back in the game, right?

Right?

Er, well, the young White Sox arms decided to give the game right back to Los Angeles, issuing walk after walk — no, not five straight with the bases full, but still — and turning the game completely around. The White Sox lead was shaved down to 8-6 by the end of the second, the game was tied 8-8 after three, and the lead lost 11-8 through just four innings. The White Sox staff walk total at that point? TWELVE (and with the Dodgers chipping in, 20 total in the game).

The Chisox youngsters rallied a bit, adding single runs on a Billy Carlson GIDP in the seventh and a solo blast from George Wolkow in the eighth:

In the ninth, Samuel Zavala led off with an infield single back to the pitcher and advanced to second on a throwing error. One out later, it was Kyle Lodise ripping a single so hard to center that Zavala could only hop to third. But with runners on the corners and one out, José Mendoza tapped into a 6-4-3 double play to end it, mercifully, after three hours and 45 minutes.

---

Over in Goodyear, it was another case of an early White Sox lead, lost.

The “Opening Day lineup” for the White Sox put up some big numbers early, leading 5-1 at the game’s halfway point. But the pitching staff walked it all away, and in particular swingman Sean Newcomb was atrocious. Coming on to finish the third and pitching into the fifth, Newcomb allowed five earned runs on four hits, adding an error into the mix. But the staff as a whole ginned up seven walks against just eight Ks, keeping traffic on the paths and insisting on a Reds comeback.

Cincinnati had rallied for a 7-5 lead by the fifth, and two innings later a two-run single from Everson Pereira (who’d already clocked a two-run homer earlier in the game) knotted the game back up, 7-7.

The score remained the same until the bottom of the ninth, when Cincy turned a single, walk and HBP into a two-out, bases-loaded situation for reliever Frankeli Arias. Arias battled with P.J. Higgins to a full count, and the deciding pitch was going to end the game, swing or no:

Yes, it appears that Higgins could have taken a sayonara base on balls, but instead he swung at a juicy fastball at his eyes and drove it out to right for an oppo slam. Case closed, Reds win, 11-7.

---

If there was much to be seen in tonight’s game, it came early. Ironically, in a match up that was moved to the night time so as to mitigate the record heat wave scorching nearly the entire American West, the only things of major consequence came while the sun was still up.

A sloppy first inning for Seattle starter George Kirby set a troubling scene in the righty’s final tune-up before the regular season begins in under a week. Thankfully, while Kirby does continue to be an enigmatic arm as he continues tweaking and refining his repertoire, by the time he departed the game in the sixth inning, he’s yielded just a single run. Kirby’s velocity sat between 96 and 98 mph all evening on his fast ball and wow, his slider was intermittent in its efficacy, he threw a number of impressive change ups and/or splitters.

This was not the most potent version of the Chicago Cubs, with no Ian Happ, Alex Bregman, or Nico Hoerner. But these were largely big league hitters, and ones Chicago expects to play every day or significant roles this year. That estimation holds true for Colin Rea as well, who’s start went disappointingly smoothly against a mostly opening day Mariners lineup. Josh Naylor scattered some singles as he is wont to do, but on the whole it was a quiet night offensively.

Of the rest…

• Gabe Speier got roughed up once again. Nothing particularly seemed awry for the southpaw, so I’m not inclined to fret. It’s just been a tricky spate in spring and in the World Baseball Classic for Seattle’s lefty.
• Cole Young looked fine at shortstop, albeit without too much high-strain work.
• Cole Wilcox continues to impress, with another sharp inning in the 9th that has me considering his capacity to help this club in the very near term.
• Yosver Zulueta could not record an out, which is why the final total looked so grim. After some solid location to start his outing, things fell apart swiftly and he was getting rocked by the time Michael Rucker came in to mercifully retire the side.
• Nothing entirely standout for Luke Raley, but he did a number of little things that reminded me just how nice of a player he is when properly healthy, something Seattle rarely if ever got in 2025 out of him.
• Cal and Randy appear to have fully made nice, with Arozarena delivering an apology and related it to the press.
  

If action was what you sought, action you found as prospects of the Dodgers and White Sox engaged in a slugfest to wrap up Saturday evening on one of five MLB Spring Breakout games on the docket. Despite trailing 8-2 at one point in the middle of the second inning, the Dodgers crawled back for a thrilling 11-10 win, putting on a show with some of their more exciting young hitters.

One of the standout performers in spring training, James Tibbs III, had the biggest hit of the game. Facing Nick Weyrich and his funky throwing angle in the second inning, the left-handed hitter had no reservations about swinging 3-0. Fed the pitch he was looking for, Tibbs III got a hold of a tasty fastball and crushed it to the opposite field for a three-run blast.

James Tibbs III shows off his opposite-field power 😳 #SpringBreakoutpic.twitter.com/1nMtaMVwrM

— MLB (@MLB) March 22, 2026

Counting his spring numbers as well, this was Tibbs III’s eighth extra-base hit and fourth home run. Acquired from the Red Sox for Dustin May last season, Tibbs III ended the year strong in Tulsa, and if his spring stats are any indication, he is a name to watch out for.

Much higher up on the Dodgers’ prospects leaderboards, Josue De Paula might not have had quite the flashy moment that Tibbs III did, but he made his presence known. The young outfielder reached base on three of four plate appearances, scoring twice and driving in someone. De Paula, who is 9 for 24 in spring, went 1 for 2 with a couple of walks and stole a base.

Moving over to the pitching side of things, we can say Cristian Zazueta did not allow an earned run, and that would be true, even if a misleading affirmation when it comes to the quality of his performance. For starters, the first run he allowed came largely because of a throwing error from himself on a failed pickoff attempt. An inning later, when the White Sox scored seven in the second, one defensive error doesn’t justify the frame snowballing quite so rapidly and radically as it did. Zazueta left the game with three runs having come across and the bases loaded—Lucas Wepf couldn’t strand any of them. Luckily, the offense was there to back him up. Eight for 18 with runners in scoring position, the Dodgers didn’t need a whole lot of extra-base hits to score these 10 runs, only two total.

Up next

It’s Freeway Series time as the Dodgers get ready for Opening Day by traveling to Angel Stadium for a date with the Angels. Youngster George Klaasen and the ultratalented Tyler Glasnow make up the starting pitcher duel; the first pitch is set for 6:07 p.m. PT.

The Spring Breakout game may be the most fun game of Spring Training and the Cubs prospects hit four solo home runs to beat the Padres prospects, 7-5 at Sloan Park.

Will Sanders started for the Cubs and he was impressive, throwing his fastball at an average 95 miles per hour, which is about 2.5 mph harder than he threw it last year. Yes, it’s expected that pitchers throw harder in early in the season and when they know they’ll be on a low pitch count, but he was still hitting 94.8 in his third and final inning.

The Cubs broke out to an early 1-0 lead when DH Owen Ayers golfed a low fastball 419 feet to dead center. [VIDEO]

Ayers was the big Cubs story of the Arizona Fall League last year, so he’s definitely one to keep an eye on this year.

But the Padres tied the game up in the top of with a solo home run by Kale Fountain off of Sanders. But that’s about all Sanders would give up. He would leave after throwing three innings and allowing just the one run on two hits. He struck out three and walked no one.

The Cubs would go back up in the top of the fourth. First baseman Cole Mathis doubled with one out, went to third on a ground out to second and scored on an infield single by pinch hitter Carter Trice.

Brooks Caple replaced Sanders to start the fourth inning and he pitched around a leadoff single and an error in that inning. But in the fifth, he got rocked by a three-run home run by top Padres prospect Ethan Salas. [VIDEO]

Caple finished with having allowed three runs on three hits and two walks over two innings. He struck out four.

The Cubs re-took the lead with a four-run sixth inning. First, last year’s fifth-round pick Kade Snell clobbered one 449 feet to dead center to make it 4-3 Padres. [VIDEO]

That’s Cubs prospect James Triantos going “Wow, that’s really far” on the call. Triantos went 1 for 3 in the game.

Two batters later, catcher Ariel Armas tied it up with a 398-foot home run. [VIDEO] As Triantos said, “Oh my gosh!”

The Cubs would plate two more runs later in the sixth. Trice, who stayed in the game, singled after Arias. Next, last year’s second-round pick Kane Kepley doubled to put runners on second and third. Two wild pitches would score both Trice and Kepley.

Both teams had just one more run in them after that. Trice hit the Cub’s fourth solo home run in the eighth inning. [VIDEO]

The Padres scored once in the top of the ninth off of reliever Luis Martinez-Gomez, who gave up a leadoff double. The runner then went to third on a flyout to right field and scored on a sacrifice fly. Martinez-Gomez got the save after giving up one run on one hit over one inning. He did not walk or strike anyone out, but he did hit one batter.

Yenrri Rojas threw two innings of relief and got the win. Rojas gave up no runs on two hits. He struck out two and walked one. Last year’s fourth-round pick, Kaleb Wing, pitched the eighth inning. He issued a two-out walk, but no other baserunners. Wing struck out one.

Trice didn’t even start this game, but he ended up as the big bat, going 3 for 3 with the home run.

Mathis was 2 for 3 with a double.

Kepley played the entire game in center field and went 2 for 4 with a double, a walk and a stolen base.

Didier Fuentes has indeed made the Braves’ Opening Day roster and that is an exciting development for Braves fans, as the 20 year old has looked phenomenal this spring. There have been shades of vintage Spencer Strider from Fuentes this spring, but he may still need that third pitch to be able to consistently be effective multiple times through major league batting lineups. There is hope that his splitter can be that effective third pitch, but that fastball-slider combo with his command could be quite deadly. It will be interesting to see if he can earn his retention on the major league roster beyond the period when a six-man rotation is needed, though an injury or two could easily pave the way for that. Either way, Fuentes will be one of the most exciting players to track early this season in Atlanta.

Braves News

The Braves more or less finalized the back end of their pitching staff and position-player crew, as Jeff Passan later confirmed Didier Fuentes’ presence on the Opening Day roster.

The Braves’ Spring Breakout squad had a strong showing in a 8-3 win against the Yankees prospects, as John Gil homered and the pitching staff showed out well.

Chris Sale and Austin Riley performed well in Saturday’s big league spring training game.

MLB News

Mets’ Freddy Peralta is reportedly unlikely to agree to an extension before Opening Day.

Pirates’ top prospect Konnor Griffin has been reassigned to minor league camp and will not begin the season on the Opening Day roster.

Phillies’ top prospect Justin Crawford has made their Opening Day roster.

Associated Press: The Yankees took a giant step into finalizing their roster on Saturday, letting outfielder Randal Grichuk know that he made the team despite a .308 spring OPS (no, not OBP) in limited action. His ability to mash lefties (career 118 wRC+ vs. LHP) ended up earning him a place. It was a busy day of roster moves for New York, as they reassigned big-league veterans infielder Paul DeJong and utilityman Seth Brown to minor league camp and optioned utilityman Oswaldo Cabrera and infielder Max Schuemann to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Bryan Hoch | MLB.com: The aforementioned moves helped clear the Yankees’ bench picture, as we now have more clarity about personnel and roles. Barring a huge surprise, New York will go with J.C. Escarra, Paul Goldschmidt, Amed Rosario, and Grichuk as their reserves. All of them will play a lot: except for Escarra, they are all right-handed hitters who perform better while facing lefties giving New York plenty of platoon options to deploy.

NJ Advance Media | Randy Miller: Speaking for the first time since learning he will open the season in Triple-A on Friday, Yankees outfielder Jasson Domínguez reiterated that the decision didn’t catch him off guard. “They said it first thing, before we even started,” he said Saturday.

Instead of complaining, the switch-hitter had a great game on Saturday, going 2-for-3 with three batted balls over 100 mph, including a three-bagger. The Martian did most of his damage against southpaw Framber Valdez, proof that he has done very well facing lefties and hitting right-handed in the 2026 Grapefruit League. He has a 1.000 OPS with a triple and a homer.

“This spring, my right side has been pretty good,” Dominguez said. “Even when I wasn’t getting many hits, I was hitting the ball well and seeing the pitches well.”

---

Following today’s game, the Yankees reassigned RHP Yovanny Cruz to minor league camp.

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) March 21, 2026

In another roster move, the Yankees sent right-hander Yovanny Cruz to minor league camp, ending his unlikely bid for a roster spot. Cruz tossed another scoreless frame on Saturday, giving him three in spring training with five strikeouts. The flamethrower, who can hit the triple digits but has below-average control, could potentially be a summer asset if he can throw strikes consistently in the minors.

Major League Baseball’s new Automated Ball-Strike System (ABS) already has umpires pleading.

Midway through the Giants’ 10-7 spring training win over the Guardians on Saturday, San Francisco pitcher Robbie Ray threw a low sinker to Sean Mooney which was initially called a ball by home plate umpire Bill Miller before catcher Patrick Bailey challenged the call.

Miller then announced Bailey’s challenge of the call to the crowd in Scottsdale, Ariz., but while his mic was still on, the umpire had a hysterical gaffe.

The home plate umpire got caught on hot mic saying “please be a strike” pic.twitter.com/U71E64xOYT

— IcyVert (@IcyVert) March 21, 2026

“Please be a strike,” Miller said before realizing that the crowd was able to still hear him.

Bailey, who was standing in front of Miller, snapped around in shock before later smiling and laughing.

Miller was actually hoping for his original call to be overturned, but given the scorching-hot weather in Scottsdale at that time, perhaps he wanted to cool off.

Nevertheless, his call was proven by the ABS system to be correct by three-tenths of an inch.

After being introduced during last year’s Spring Training following multiple seasons of testing in the minor leagues and Arizona Fall League, ABS will be brought to MLB’s regular season this year.

Some teams have been able to utilize the challenge system better than others, with the Dodgers in particular struggling so far in Spring Training.

Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts admitted earlier this month that his team’s “idea of the strike zone individually, collectively just hasn’t been great.”

“I honestly don’t know the answer right now,” Roberts told reporters when asked about the cause of the struggles.

First baseman Freddie Freeman also noted the difficulty of figuring out the correct zone, saying that a lot of the players are still adjusting to it.

“Even if we’re wrong, we need to use it just to figure out the tops and bottoms of the zone,” Freeman said earlier this spring. “A lot of us are still trying to learn it … Spring training is the time to figure it out, figure out your zone and see if you have a better idea of it [before the start of the season].”

It was another unseasonably warm day up in the valley, perfect (not) for the Diamondbacks to host the Texas Rangers at Salt River Fields in the penultimate spring training game of 2026. The starting lineup was comprised of pretty much what I think we can expect to see breaking camp with the team in a few days: it was mainly the usual suspects, aside from Brian McCann catching and Tim Tawa playing third base, with Nolan Arenado hitting in the DH spot and Corbin Carroll getting the day off. Ryne Nelson took the mound against former Rockie Austin Gomber in his last tuneup before the regular season gets underway.

It went quite well, all things considered.

Nelson pitched five shutout innings, striking out seven, walking none, and surrendering only four hits along the way. He threw 76 pitches overall, 45 of them for strikes, as he brought his spring ERA down to a nice, eminently respectable 3.18. Taylor Clarke and Paul Sewald followed with a scoreless inning apiece, and the only pitching blemish came from Isaiah Campbell, who gave up two runs in the top of the eighth on two hits and two walks. Lefty farmhand Ryan Giestling pitched a scoreless ninth to notch his second save of the spring.

Meanwhile, the offense staked Ryno an early lead in the bottom of the third, thanks to a one-out Jordan Lawlar single, a Ketel Marte double, and an Alek Thomas three-run homer over the fence in right center field. Lawlar, I’m pleased to say, really does seem to have figured out something with the bat, though of course it’s spring training so we probably shouldn’t read too much into that. Likewise Alek Thomas, who’s been raking this month and is making a reasonably convincing case that he was the outfielder to keep and that Jake McCarthy was the one to send away. Anyway, Nolan Arenado homered to left to lead off the sixth inning against old friend Jalen Beeks, who is trying to win a spot in the Texas bullpen, and the good guys scored their fifth run in the eighth thanks to back-to-back one-out doubles by Ildemaro Vargas and some creature named Jean Harvin Walters who was manning the hot corner for us at that point in the game.

Meanwhile, there was a bit more game action earlier this evening, with the Diamondbacks prospects going up against their counterparts for the Rockies. Our prospects are clearly better than their prospects, as we stomped them to the tune of 10-3. I’m not sure there’s anything terribly noteworthy from that game—LuJames Groover had a hit, Druw Jones had a couple, Jose Fernandez had three. Our offense, as it often does these days, definitely offensed. Beyond that, the only thing from the box score that caught my eye, was that Wellington Aracena, one of the pitching prospects we got from Baltimore in the Blaze Alexander trade, pitched three innings of one-run ball, so that’s kind of cool.

We’ll be in Peoria tomorrow for the final game of spring training, facing off against the Padres at 6:10pm AZ time. Non-roster invitee Joe Ross starts for us, going up against Walker Buehler, who I saw the other day made the San Diego team and will be breaking camp with the Padres.

Thanks for reading, and see you all next Saturday for some actual baseball that counts! Go Diamondbacks!

A contingent of Colorado Rockies prospects faced off against a contingent of Arizona Diamondbacks prospects in the third annual Spring Breakout game, and the heat ended up being a little too much for the Rockies prospects to handle. It was 104 degrees at first pitch, and 93 by the time the game ended around 7pm local time.

The first-pitch heat nearly foreshadowed the final score, with the Arizona team ultimately coming out on top in the duel in the desert.

Brecht got wrecked

Brody Brecht (No. 3 PuRP) got the start for the Rockies prospect crew, and he did not have a good outing. Things unraveled early, as an error by Charlie Condon (No. 1 PuRP) allowed JD Dix to reach. Then, Jansel Luis singled, followed by back-to-back walks by LuJames Groover and Ryan Waldschmidt to put the Snakes up early. Brecht came back and struck out Gavin Conticello, but then Jose Fernandez and Druw Jones hit back-to-back singles to score three more runs. However, Carlos Virahonda struck out to end the inning after Jones was caught stealing.

Brecht would come back for the second and got a quick ground out of Kayson Cunningham. However, Dix and Luis walked again and Groover drove in Dix as Groover was out at second. After that, Brecht’s day would come to an end.

Final line: 1.2 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 2 K

Extra! Extra! (Bases)

Roldy Brito (No. 11 PuRP) had an excellent day at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored. He also attempted to steal a base, but was throw out by catcher Carlos Virahonda to end the second inning.

Ethan Holliday (No. 2 PuRP) went 2-for-3 at the plate with two RBI, a walk and a strikeout, also knocking a double. He scored Brito and Wilder Dalis (No. 24 PuRP) in the first inning to put the Rockies up 2-0 early before things fell apart on the pitchers mound (see above).

Dalis went 1-for-3 with a double, a run scored and a walk; while Andy Perez went 1-for-3 with a triple, a run scored and strikeout. Condon didn’t have any hits, but he did walk twice.

Walks still haunt

In total, Rockies pitching gave up 10 walks. The only relievers who did not give up a walk were Fidel Ulloa (0.1 IP), Jackson Cox (2.0 IP, 2 H, 3 K), and Welinton Herrera (No. 17 PuRP; 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER)

In the seventh inning, JB Middleton (No. 7 PuRP) came in relieve Antoine Jean, and he immediately issued three-straight walks to start the inning. He got Jose Alpuria to ground into a force out at second, but then an error by Sebastian Blanco put Anderdson Rojas on and allowed Angel Ortiz to score and put the Snakes up 9-3.

Cade Denton entered in relief of Middleton, immediately walking Cristofer Torin. But then he induced an inning-ending double play to get out of the jam.

Up Next

The Major League Rockies will finish up their regular spring training schedule tomorrow against the Athletics. They then host the Detroit Tigers in two exhibition games on Monday and Tuesday before heading to Miami for Opening Day.

First pitch is at 2:10pm MT, and hopefully we don’t all melt.

See you (on MLB Gameday) then!

---

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