Category: MLB

Toronto Blue Jays All-Star first baseman Vladimir Guerrero, one of baseball’s most popular stars, is hoping to make an impact off the field too, becoming the first brand ambassador for a premier youth sports experiential company.

Guerrero, 27, who signed a two-year contract, will be the face of FlexWork Sports’ baseball programming across Canada, USA and other global markets. He will host 11 youth events the next two years for youth and family, with the first two being held in Hamilton, Ontario on July 30 and Aug. 24 in Toronto.

“I was born in Canada, play in Canada, and want to give back to the kids who grew up watching me across the country and around the world,” Guerrero Jr. said in a statement. “This partnership gives me the platform to show them what’s possible.

“After hosting an incredible event with FlexWork Sports in Toronto last year, I knew I wanted to build something bigger with lasting impact.”

FlexWork Sports works with hundreds of athletes, but wanted Guerrero after seeing him work at their baseball camp a year ago and watching how the kids gravitated towards him. There were 1,200 kids who flocked to Guerrero’s double session camp a year ago in Toronto.

“Just the way all the kids lit up when he walked in," Adam Van Rees, FlexWork’s chief business offer told USA TODAY Sports in a Zoom call. “I mean, you're going to have that with most professional athletes. But it's just a different level when you bring that superstar level in, and layer that in with that personality."

Said Forrest West, founder and CEO of FlexWork Sports: “One of the reasons we choose Vladdy is that he’s kind of  a big kid himself. I mean, he’s running around the kids. He’s probably more excited than a number of them. He didn’t really know what to expect, but once he got out there, he just shined. He loved it."

Really, Guerrero, 27, was the prototype athlete and personality FlexWork has been seeking all along, and they’re now hoping their relationship lasts much longer than the two-year contract. They’re hoping to have camps featuring Guerrero in Canada, the United States and in the Dominican Republic, where he lives in the offseason.

FlexWork Sports has conducted more than 2,000 youth-sports experiential events in 44 states and 18 countries, featuring about 700 athletes, including Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, Kyle Schwarber and Fernando Tatis in baseball, as well as Saquon Barkley, Karl-Anthony Towns and Cameron Brink.

“I think the biggest thing is the investment we put into the quality of our events," West said. “There are other companies out there that have athletes that come out, wave to the kids, say a few things and leave. Our athletes come to the camps. They're there for the full length of the camp. They interact with all the families. We have them go through the stands to do high fives, do Q&A. We really focus on the experiential side, making sure that each kid gets to interact with that athlete.

“It's like we want our camps to be full of instruction, of sport and play, but we also wanted to have that feel of Disney where you show up and it's truly like a performance, kind of a major activation with the athlete. We want that to be reflected with the quality of athletes we work with."

FlexWork began with eight events in 2019, expanded to 24 events in 2021, which included four of the top five NFL draft picks. The company now is projected to have about 385 events this year.

“I think the right kind of momentum is the partner with the right one or two athletes across each major sport and create these ambassadors, multi-year partnerships" Van Rees said, “so we can build out some programming with them that can last well beyond even their playing days. Candidly, Vladdy's got a long time to go, but we're really excited about working with him for years to come, even extending into retirement.

“He's generational talent and personality, and we think there's one or two of those guys, maybe three, in each major sport. There's only a handful of guys that can really connect from a personality standpoint, as well as what their on-field ability is, and obviously, Vlad is at the top."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to host baseball camps for FlexWork Sports

MLB.com’s Anne Rogers has the latest on the Kansas City Royals stadium situation from CEO/chairman John Sherman.

Sherman confirmed again that the Royals are discussing site options in downtown Kansas City (Jackson County), North Kansas City (Clay County) and on the Kansas side of the state line, where the Kansas City Chiefs, whose Arrowhead Stadium is in the same lot as Kauffman Stadium, are set to move for the start of the 2031 NFL season.

Sherman said the Royals would want to have the site control and public financing in place before announcing where their new home would be. He also maintained that they are looking for a public-private partnership, which hasn’t changed since the team first launched its search efforts years ago.

“At the end of the day, the team will put a substantial amount of capital into the stadium and the development around it, but there will be a meaningful portion from – expected to be a meaningful portion – the public as well,” Sherman said.

The Royals want to build a new ballpark and a surrounding ballpark district, not unlike The Battery in Atlanta, where the Royals just opened the ‘26 season. Sherman and several business operations officials were there over the weekend and witnessed what it’s like to have approximately 40,000 people in and around the stadium with retail and restaurants booming with business.

Kansas City Star’s Rashad Alexander experienced their first Opening Day at The K, and had plenty of positive points.

I’m still loyal to my take that Wrigley Field is the best MLB stadium, but I feel like Kauffman can definitely be up there as well. Considering how pretty the ballpark is, its accessibility, and its activities to keep the fans engaged, I can see why people rave about this stadium and why there’s debate on what to do with it. Part of the aura of Kauffman did come from the fans, however, as the sold-out crowd created a great Opening Day energy for the team. We’ll see how well this crowd lasts from now until October. But for a crowd to show out like that for a team that missed the postseason last year, Kauffman Stadium will definitely see me again this summer.

David Lesky talks about Kansas City kicking off their home slate with a win.

To me, the story of the game was how the Royals won it. If you’re new to Inside the Crown this year, and maybe even well before that, oddities were sort of the thing I wanted to focus on. Back when I wrote for Baseball Prospectus, I wrote a weekly article where I’d pick out one thing from one game and expand on it in a way that I would be surprised if anyone else did. So here’s the oddity from this one. The Royals got home runs from Isaac Collins and Kyle Isbel, their eighth and ninth hitters.

They didn’t have a game at all in 2025 when both of those lineup spots homered. They didn’t have a game in 2024 when it happened. The last time it happened was May 4, 2023 when Freddy Fermin and Isbel homered. Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter for a list of the 22 times the Royals had both their eight and nine hitters homer. It’s a long looking list because 22 times seems like a lot, but for a team in their 58th season, I’d say it’s a pretty rare list. What makes it even more interesting is it’s the first time that all the runs were accounted for in a game by the home runs from the bottom of the order.

How hot are the Royals in the World Series picture, according to ESPN?

Franchise temperature: 57 degrees. This feels like a good temperature for the Royals, who went into a period of rapid cooling after their contending rosters from the mid-2010s broke up. To the credit of J.J. Picollo and his staff, the Royals have curbed that decline and managed to settle in tepid waters. With a contention-worthy 26-man roster heading into 2026, they hope to wade a little closer to the warm sands of the shoreline ahead.

ESPN says fantasy owners should not give up on Carlos Estevez this season.

Regardless, it isn’t even April yet and Estevez, fifth among relief pitchers in fantasy points last season and a mid-round pick in most leagues, is already down to 51% rostered in ESPN. For shallow ESPN daily leagues, in which there are only seven active pitchers (and where holds figure into the scoring), sure, there may be little reason to wait for Estevez because free agency is littered with so many relief options. However, in standard industry formats, particularly roto/category-based ones in which saves are the key — and especially in AL-only formats — aim to be patient.

Royals Keep has some takeaways from the Royals home opener, including a closer look at starter Kris Bubic.

His whiff rate was excellent at 35.3%, and his chase rate and xwOBACON were above-average at 30.8% and .339, respectively. His zone rate was a little below average at 48%, but that likely was due to his lackluster control on the changeup and slider, which had zone rates of 25% and 20%, respectively. Despite those paltry zone rates, he still did generate a 66.7% whiff rate on the changeup and a 100% whiff rate on the slider.

It wasn’t the prettiest start, but it was the kind of grind-it-out affair that Bubic was known for in 2025, when he made the AL All-Star team. I also wonder if there were some nerves for Bubic, especially with him starting in his first career home opener. He talked about how different it was for him, especially when comparing it to his first career start at Kauffman during the 2020 COVID season when fans weren’t allowed.

What cameras make ABS possible? That and more in a closer look at the new wrinkle in MLB.

Twelve Hawk-Eye technology cameras installed throughout the ballpark track player and ball movement, feeding data into Statcast.

Seven cameras track player movement, while five are dedicated solely to the baseball’s movements. Those ball-tracking cameras capture up to 300 frames per second, allowing the system to precisely locate each pitch within the strike zone and reconstruct its path.

The Royals’ pitching wives were out in force on Monday.

Memo to the Royals: You’re missing a great opportunity if you haven’t signed Doona as a team sponsor. Doona makes trendy, high-end baby strollers and car seats and appears to be the $650 stroller of choice among Royals moms. As players’ wives reunited at The K Monday for the 2026 home opener, they shared photos of the kiddos they brought along for the big day. One picture in particular reflected how young this team is: a gaggle of black baby strollers parked outside the private UMB Diamond Club.

Town Village of Leawood made a lively scene for its residents, hosting an Opening Day even for more than 200 participants. Some fans recount their memories of the Royals’ first home in the city.

Kniepfel remembers her first Royals game when the team still played at Municipal Stadium near East 22nd Street and Brooklyn Avenue.

“It was so much fun, the atmosphere was something else,” Kniepfel said. “Finding a place to park was something else. You had to find a place sometimes in someone’s driveway.”

Years later, Kniepfel would step onto the field at Kauffman Stadium.

“Presidents and all kinds of famous people, and here I, little old me, got to throw the first pitch,” Kniepfel said. “I threw that ball, and it landed straight in the secretary’s glove. We just lived in that excitement for hours, maybe the next day, too. I still think about that.”

The latest episode of SportsBeat KC from the Kansas City Star.

What current and former Royals hail from the Kansas City area? Rogers has the list.

Vinnie Pasquantino needs to keep pulling the ball, namely over right field fences.

Sports Illustrated has the swings and misses from the first four starts of the Royals season.

Just how important is the bullpen for an October run?

The human element becomes entertainment thanks to ABS.

ESPN names the most polarizing teams right now in MLB.

The Seattle Mariners reportedly ink a historic extension with yet-to-debut prospect Colt Emerson.

Lance Brozdowski has his latest profile on four high-profile MLB starters.

Jos Posnanski has his take on ABS so far.

Toronto Blue Jays starter Cody Ponce will be sidelined after a knee ligament sprain.

Shane Baz’s five-year contract with the Baltimore Orioles has majoe escalators for Cy Young wins.

Los Angeles Dodgers Roki Sasaki steadied himself after a shaky spring a rookie season.

Robin DeLorenzo, one of the three first women to officiate an NFL game, sued the NFL for the “cited gender-based scrutiny, humiliation and open hostility” she faced from 2022 to 2025.

The Super Bowl is returning to Las Vegas in 2029.

Award-winning author John Green is making his first foray in adult fiction in his first book in nearly a decade.

How can Super Mario Galaxy live up to its record-setting predecessor?

From bathwater to Steph Curry to Tabasco-flavored vodka, there are plenty of out-there Webby Award nominees.

Today’s song of the day is World Apart by Bike Routes.

Good morning.

• I feel like Oprah is about to show up and say “You get an extension and you get an extension!” In any case, the Brewers signed shortstop prospect Cooper Pratt to an eight-year extension. Pratt has yet to make his major league debut. Adam McCalvy reports.
• Brandan Gawlowski evaluates the Pratt deal, expected to be worth just over $50 million with some team options.
• But that deal is overshadowed by the eight years and $95 million the Mariners gave to shortstop prospect Colt Emerson, which is the largest contract ever given to a player who has yet to make his major league debut. There’s a club option for an ninth year and some escalator clauses that could bring the total deal to over $130 million. Daniel Kramer with the story.
• Michael Baumann evaluates the Orioles extension with right-hander Shane Baz. And yes, Baumann’s “Throwing good money after Baz” is an early candidate for pun of the year.
• Matt Kelly has nine players who signed extensions before making their major league debut.
• J.J. Cooper explains what the Pratt and Emerson deals say about how teams value prospects.
• Jake Mintz wonders who else could sign extensions this spring.
• Chad Jennings believes we are on the verge of a new golden age for MLB shortstops. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Tyler Kepner points out that rookies have made a huge positive impression so far this young season. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• David Schoenfield has some thoughts about the first weekend of the season.
• Mike Axisa has his takeaways from the first weekend.
• Jordan Schusterman wonders what some hot starts to the season can tell us.
• Jayson Stark has his weird and wild stat lines from Opening Weekend. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Gabe Lacques has the winners and losers from Opening Weekend.
• Speaking of weird starts to the season, Michael Baumann wonders how long could Nationals outfielder Joey Wiemer (or anyone else) have gone without making an out before we start to think something fishy was happening?
• Jeff Passan collects the everything you need to know about the Automatic Ball-Strike (ABS) challenges of the first weekend that it’s in use. Who did well? Who didn’t?
• Jake Mintz offers his thoughts on how ABS is working so far.
• Maitreyi Anantharaman points out how much entertainment value ABS adds to the game.
• Sam Blum looks at how ABS has shrunk more than half of MLB players. (The Athletic sub. req.) Many players who used to be listed as 6’1” or 6 even are now being revealed as actually around 5’10”. Blum also goes into detail as to how players get measured.
• Time to pay the butcher’s bill. Blue Jays starter Cody Ponce suffered a sprained ACL in his first start after returning to MLB. The Blue Jays just hope at this point the injury isn’t season-ending.
• Ryan Blake looks at Ponce and the start to the season of all the other players who made the jump from NPB and KBO to MLB this year. The sad part is that Ponce looked really good before he suffered the injury.
• Jay Jaffe looks at the ugly history the Giants made in their first series of the year.
• When the Giants did finally win, new manager Tony Vitello was celebrated by his team.
• However, there are some rumblings in Giantsland about the new manager. Retired Giant Mike LaCoss called up a radio station to criticize the Vitello hiring and slam longtime Giants executive Larry Baer.
• Justin Verlander’s first start back with the Tigers was ugly, but Bob Nightengale reports that the Tigers are confident the 43-year-old will be better soon.
• Cody Stavenhagen reports that Verlander’s Tigers teammates rave about his presence in the clubhouse. (The Athletic sub. req.) Also that he drinks a lot of coffee.
• Jake Mintz writes that the Dodgers were hopeful after Roki Sasaki’s first start of the year.
• The most polarizing teams in 2026.
• There was a trade already as the Brewers acquired outfielder Luis Matos from the Giants for cash.
• And another one! The Marlins picked up infielder Leo Jiménez in exchange for minor league infielder Dub Gleed. Gleed started playing baseball after his career as a bounty hunter went south after he failed to capture Han Solo and Chewbacca.
• He’s not officially retired, but J.D. Martinez has taken a job as a special assistant in the Mets front office.
• Mike Soroka had an immaculate inning and struck out ten in his Diamondbacks debut.
• Andrew McCutchen apologized to a Phillies fan after hitting his first home run for the Rangers. As Kennedi Landry reports, it was someone McCutchen knew from his time with Philadelphia.
• Kiri Oler has the 50 weirdest ballpark promotions coming in 2026.
• And finally, the Royals honored the late Terrance Gore before Monday’s home opener with Gore’s eldest son throwing out the first pitch. Anne Rogers reports.

Hens 5, Mets 1 (F/7)

The Mud Hens came out on top in the first of six against the Syracuse Mets on Tuesday afternoon. The Hens pounced on the Mets in the top of the first and cruised to victory as the game was called in the seventh due to rain.

Veteran Cubs’ closer Carl Edwards Jr. got the start in this one, and the Hens took advantage of some walks and poor defense. Wenceel Pérez led off with a walk, and second baseman Ji Hwan Bae botched a grounder off the bat of Max Clark, leaving both runners safe. A walk to Jace Jung loaded the bases with no outs.

Edwards Jr. froze Eduardo Valencia on a called strike three after winning a challenge, but a seeing eye ground ball from Trei Cruz found the outfield grass, plating two runs. A soft tapper from Max Anderson scored Jung as Edwards Jr. couldn’t make the play in time to get Anderson at first. Corey Julks pulled a grounder to third and the Mets got Anderson at second, but Bae threw wide of first, botching the possible double play and allowing Cruz to score. A double from Gage Workman brought Julks all the way around from first, and it was 5-0 when Ben Malgeri grounded out to end the inning.

Trei Cruz with an RBI single that just gets out of the infield, drives in two as Toledo is up 2-0 in the first. pic.twitter.com/ZRVTWLGOBH

— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) March 31, 2026

Gage Workman gets Toledo's first extra base hit of the day with a double, 106.9 MPH off the bat. pic.twitter.com/HIcVCgawO2

— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) March 31, 2026

Reliever Ricky Vanasco took the mound for the Hens and gave up a leadoff single to MJ Melendez, but set the Mets down 1-2-3 after that. He punched out Ryan Clifford on a changeup foul tipped into Valencia’s glove to send this to the second inning.

Pérez led off again in the top of the second, lacing a single, but he was erased trying to steal second. Max Clark lined out and Jung grounded out to end the inning. Vanasco spun a 1-2-3 frame, punching out Cristian Pache swinging over a changeup along the way.

An Anderson double play ball erased Trei Cruz after a walk in the third. Lefty Drew Sommers took over from Vanasco and promptly walked the leadoff hitter, but cleaned things up from there with a pair of swinging strikeouts, one on a high fastball and the other on a good, biting slider.

Sommers gave up a homer to Ronny Mauricio in the fourth, along with a second walk, but right-hander Burch Smith came on to clean up the inning without issue.

Having survived the first inning, Edwards Jr. had delivered three scoreless, and right-hander Jordan Geber took over in the top of the fifth. Max Clark singled with one out, but was picked off, and Geber punched out Jung with a high splitter fading away out of the zone to send this to the bottom half. Smith tossed a 1-2-3 frame, striking out Mets’ catcher Hayden Singer on a high fastball to send this to the sixth.

Geber set down the Hens in order, and the rains let loose, delaying the game for a half hour. When things calmed down, lefty Konnor Pilkington took over for the Hens in the bottom half. He gave up a bunt single to start the inning, but bounced back to strike out Mauricio and Clifford and got out of the inning without issue.

Geber got Julks on a flyout to open the seventh, but walked Gage Workman. Ben Malgeri smoked a ball to center that was caught, but Geber followed by walking Pérez after Workman stole second base. The Mets went back to their pen, but reliever Alex Carrillo walked Max Clark after Clark challenged a 2-0 fastball away correctly. However, Jung went down 0-2 in the count, and Carrillo dropped a slider on the bottom rail of the strike zone. Called a ball, catcher Senger challenged it and Jung was called out.

That was all she wrote for this one, as the rains really cut loose, and the game was officially called official.

Pérez: 1-2, R, 2 BB, CS

Cruz: 1-2, R, 2 RBI, BB, K

Clark: 1-3, R, BB

Vanasco: 2.0 IP, 0 R, H, 0 BB, 2 K

Sommers (W, 1-0): 1.1 IP, ER, H, 2 BB, 3 K

Smith: 1.2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K

Pilkington: 1.0 IP, 0 R, H, 0 BB, 2 K

Coming Up Next: The 1-3 Hens and the Mets will get going again on Wednesday at 1:05 p.m. ET.

They’ve talked about it for years now.

The Colorado Rockies would enter spring training with the prerogative of stealing more bases in the regular season, especially after the implementation of bigger bases in 2023. Players would run free during Cactus League action, particularly the speedsters, in the hopes that it would carry over into the regular season. Things appeared to be working as the Rockies placed in the top 10 in spring training stolen bases each of the last three seasons.

However, once the games actually started, the running game ceased to matter as much.

Over the last three seasons, the Rockies have ranked 28th in baseball with 248 total stolen bases. That’s 284 fewer than the Tampa Bay Rays, who swiped 532 bags. As for the Rockies themselves, only eight players had more than 10 stolen bases from 2023 to 2025, with Brenton Doyle as the only player with more than 30 bags, coming in with a hefty 70.

Cory Cohen explored some of the follies of the Rockies’ running in 2025. Despite having a fairly quick team, the Rockies ranked 23rd in stolen bases but were caught 39 times, resulting in a league-worst 68.5% success rate. Jumps were slow, and there was a hint of trepidation in the running of the bases.

It’s understandable why the running game would cease during the regular season. Being down big more often than not, the Rockies were hesitant to give away outs on the bases.

“The game has to sort of dictate what you do,” former manager Bud Black said in 2025. “You’ve got to be close in the score or have a lead. If you’re behind a few runs, running yourself into an out or running yourself out of an inning can be detrimental.”

It’s a sentiment that current manager Warren Schaeffer echoed this season.

“There were times last year where we were down early, so you shut the running game down — you can’t run them, and you have to take the risk down a notch,” Schaeffer said.

However, both managers alluded to the fact that keeping games close and staying ahead are the ideals to make sure the running game remains a factor. While that has much to do with how the pitching is doing, the offense has its role to play to keep things rolling.

The running game remained a factor this year in spring training more than in previous years. The Rockies finished third in all of baseball with 45 stolen bases, but they had more attempts than anyone with 68 total attempts. Twenty-three different players had at least one stolen base in camp.

Only five games into the 2026 season, and the Rockies are showing that running and being aggressive will play a factor. In 2025, the Rockies swiped eight bases through their first 12 games. This season, the team swiped eight bases through their first four games, a franchise first. The expected culprits of speedy players such as Jake McCarthy — who had three seasons of 20 or more bases in Arizona — Jordan Beck, and Brenton Doyle will get their bases. Still, there is also a noticeable difference in how the Rockies will approach base stealing.

No one is exempt from the steal signal.

Kyle Karros isn’t exactly a speedster. In his recorded baseball history on Baseball Reference, Karros’s career high in stolen bases is the 12 he swiped in 2024 in 17 attempts with the High-A Spokane Indians. In fact, you would probably have to go back to his high school days to see if he stole more than 10 bases in a season before that. And still, Karros has already swiped two bases this year, with more likely on the way.

Hunter Goodman is also a candidate to run in the right situation despite not being a speedster. On Monday night against Toronto, Goodman attempted a steal of a second, and while he got thrown out, he had a good jump and was just beaten by a good throw. But if the Rockies’ All-Star catcher is going to try swiping bags, nothing is off the table for the running game.

Being aggressive base runners, particularly in the steals department, is something the Rockies can finally make good on in 2026. As they try to develop their new brand of baseball, using speed and aggression to create havoc on the bases is going to go a long way in helping this team score more runs.

Willi Castro said it best in spring training: “The mentality is to score because that’s how you win ballgames.”

The archetype of how base stealing can make a difference was on full display in Miami by the Marlins as they swept the Rockies. The Milwaukee Brewers lead the league with double-digit steals already, and they had the best record in baseball last season. When trying to win in the margins, the “Running Rockies” have to keep the foot on the gas pedal and run without fear. Only then can the strategy manage to stick around as they hope.

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On the Farm

Triple-A: Reno Aces 8, Albuquerque Isotopes 1

What began as a pitcher’s duel ended up being a blowout in the home opener for the Albuquerque Isotopes. Gabriel Hughes (No. 12 PuRP) made the start for the Isotopes and was excellent through five innings as he allowed two runs on three hits with two walks and eight strikeouts. He actually came out to start the sixth inning, but surrendered a leadoff triple to end his evening. Things got out of hand in the eighth inning for the Isotopes bullpen after Ryan Miller and Patrick Weigel surrendered a combined six runs on four hits. Zac Veen (No. 9 PuRP), making a rehab appearance, went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, while Blaine Crim went 1-for-3 in his rehab. Cole Carrigg (No. 4 PuRP) had a good night, going 2-for-4 with a double, while veteran Vimael Machín had three hits, including a triple. The offense managed just one run on eight hits with 11 strikeouts and just two walks.

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Affected by Altitude Episode 204: FacePalm Sunday | Rocky Mountain Rooftop

On this week’s episode, Evan Lang and I talked about the first series of 2026 against the Marlins and broke down the first weekend of play for minor league baseball.

Topes Notes: Prospect Cole Carrigg embracing versatility as Isotopes home opener arrives | Albuquerque Journal

There are plenty of interesting things to watch for with the Rockies’ Triple-A affiliate, one of which is the versatility of Cole Carrigg. The Rockies are stretching Carrigg out to play multiple positions after he spent 2025 as a primary center fielder, and he is continuing that journey with the Albuquerque Isotopes.

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Good morning, baseball fans!

As we discussed yesterday, I am living in the past on these so I am going to take a second to give the San Francisco Giants a polite golf clap for getting their first win of the 2026 season on Monday night!

But today, I wanted to take a look at the latest in the Giants’ social media team’s YouTube series “Mic’d Up” this time featuring one of the newer members of the team and WBC Champion, Luis Arráez! The video follows along with Arráez as he goes through his day during the team’s Spring Training in Scottsdale, AZ!

What time do the Giants play today?

The Giants wrap up their series against the San Diego Padres this afternoon at 1:10 p.m. PT.

The Atlanta Braves suffered their second loss of the season during Tuesday night’s matchup with the A’s. The Braves fell 5-2, and though they had an early lead, it was squandered by the starting pitching. José Suarez got the nod, and in 3.2 innings, he gave up four runs on five hits. He walked three and struck out six.

Suarez’s struggles in spring training carried over into Tuesday night. He allowed six runs and 11 hits across two appearances this spring.

The Atlanta offense was also lackluster, tallying just six hits on the night. The Braves have yet another chance to turn things around and win the series Wednesday afternoon at 12:15 ET.

More Braves News:

New City Connect uniforms have been unveiled, mirroring the 1980s threads.

MLB News:

The Seattle Mariners signed their top shortstop prospect, Colt Emerson, to an eight-year extension. He is guaranteed $95M. 

Baltimore Orioles right-hander Zach Eflin is likely headed to the injured list after exiting his start early. He was dealing with elbow discomfort and will undergo further imaging. 

The Toronto Blue Jays have placed righty Cody Ponce on the 15-day injured list with an ACL sprain. Fortunately, there is still a chance he returns this season.

The New York Mets have hired J.D. Martinez as a special advisor to baseball operations. 

The Suppan name is well known in West Hills. Jeff Suppan was a superstar at West Hills PONY baseball before moving on to Crespi and having a 17-year career in MLB. His sister, Karen, was once the girls' volleyball coach at Chaminade. Brother Mike has been a longtime teacher at Chaminade. Jeff still helps at West Hills PONY baseball.

Now there's a new Suppan making a name for herself. Jeff's daughter, Finley, is the star pitcher as a sophomore for Chaminade (10-2-1).

Asked about her father's contributions, Finley said, "He’s helped me a lot. We’ve had many car rides together. He told me a lot about the mental side of softball. Also how important it is to just focus one pitch at a time as a pitcher and to control the controllable."

Dad is learning it's much harder to watch his daughter pitch than pitch himself.

"I have to admit I don’t know how my parents and my family watched me pitch for all those years," Jeff said. "I guess that’s why my mom always kept score and now I do to."

Finley's complete interview will be on Thursday's edition of Friday Night Live at 5 p.m. via X at LATSondheimer.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

Sign up for the L.A. Times SoCal high school sports newsletter to get scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Free of charge for the discerning reader.Unrest on the horizon and some of baseball’s sad passings. Also, a homer that wasn’t, and other stories.

Today in baseball history:

• 1914 – Rube Waddell dies from tuberculosis in San Antonio, TX, at the age of 37. One of the top lefthanded pitchers in major league history, Waddell led the American League in strikeouts for six years in a row, collected four consecutive 20-win seasons from 1902 to 1906, including the Triple Crown in 1905 with 27 wins, 287 strikeouts and a 1.48 ERA, leading the league in all pitching categories. Waddell, who dies in a sanitarium, had seen his condition weakened by his efforts to contain a winter flood in Kentucky. He will be selected to the Hall of Fame by the Special Veterans Committee in 1946.
• 1949 – The St. Louis Browns, owners of Sportsman’s Park, move to evict the St. Louis Cardinals in order to gain a rent increase.
• 1957 – Called by Les Biederman of The Sporting News ”one of the most unusual games in modern spring training history,” Kansas City and Pittsburgh battle through 18 innings to a scoreless tie “before probably one of the smallest crowds of the season anywhere, only 432 paid admissions.” Starting at 1:30 p.m., the game is called by mutual agreement at 5:27 because of impending darkness and high winds. Each team uses three pitchers, with the Athletics managing eleven safeties and the Bucs held to seven. Of the latter total, Roberto Clemente accumulates three, including the contest’s only extra-base hits, a leadoff double to begin the game and a one-out double in the top of the 18th. Clemente then saves the game in the bottom of the frame by gunning down Clete Boyer trying to go from first to third on Vic Power’s single with none out.
• 1970 – An ownership group headed by automobile dealer Bud Selig buys the Seattle Pilots for $10.8 million. Selig will immediately move the Pilots to Milwaukee, WI and rename the team the “Brewers.” The Pilots lost $1 million during their lone season in Seattle, WA.
• 1972 – The Major League Players Association, led by Executive Director Marvin Miller, stages the first strike in major league history. The strike will last 13 days and lead to salary arbitration being added to the Collective Bargaining Agreement and to owners increasing their contribution to the pension fund. The 86 games that are eventually cancelled as a result of the labor action will not be replayed. 
• 1980 – After failing to come up with a new collective bargaining agreement with the owners, the Executive Board of the Players’ Association votes unanimously to cancel the 92 remaining exhibition games and to strike on May 22 if a deal has not been reached by then. During spring training, the players had voted 971-1 in favor of a strike. The lone dissenter was Kansas City’s Jerry Terrell, who voted no for religious reasons.
• 1985 – Today’s issue of Sports Illustrated contains a fictitious article about a New York Mets pitching prospect named Sidd Finch*, whose fastball has been timed at 168 miles per hour. Author George Plimpton offers bogus quotes from real-life members of the Mets, as well as several staged photos, and fools readers nationwide. 
• 1996 – Home plate umpire John McSherry collapses and dies from a heart attack on Opening Day at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium, in the 1st inning of a game between the Reds and Expos, which is cancelled. The 51-year-old McSherry had umpired in the National League for 26 seasons. Reds owner Marge Schott hits a low point with her insensitive remarks, blaming the late umpire for spoiling the team’s opening day celebrations.
• 2012 – The Cardinals’ Lance Berkman plays an April Fools prank on teammate Adam Wainwright. Before the third inning of a Grapefruit League game, Wainwright’s white Chevrolet Silverado pick-up truck is driven on the warning track at Roger Dean Stadium as the public address announcer states that it will be given away to a lucky fan. A stunned Wainwright watches from the bench as the supposed prize winners, a father and his son, climb into the bed of the truck when it stops in front of the home dugout and Berkman, who is driving, pokes his head out of the window, waves to everyone, and drives away.
• 2021 – In one of the strangest plays today, the Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger connects for an apparent home run with Justin Turner on first base in the third inning of their game against the Rockies at Coors Field. The ball goes in and out of leaping LF Raimel Tapia’s glove to land in the stands, but Turner, who was running on the play, thinks it has been caught and sprints back to first base. On the way, he crosses paths with Bellinger, who is running in the opposite direction. Bellinger is called out for passing a baserunner, and his homer becomes a long single, but once the confusion has been cleared, Turner is allowed to trot around the bases, so at least Bellinger gets an RBI. The play helps the Rockies win the game, 8-5. 

Cubs Birthdays:Cubs birthdays: Hal Reilly, Jake Jaeckel, Frank Castillo, Daniel Murphy. Also notable: Phil Niekro HOF.

Today in History:

• 374 – Comet 1P/374 E1 (Halley) approaches within 0.0884 AUs of Earth.
• 1748 – Ruins of Pompeii rediscovered by Spaniard Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre.
• 1867 – International Exhibition opens in Paris.
• 1891 – The Wrigley Company is founded in Chicago, Illinois.
• 1927 – First automatic record changer introduced by His Master’s Voice.
• 1948 – ”Big Bang” theory proposed in scientific journal “Physical Review” by American cosmologists Ralph Alpher, Hans Bethe, and George Gamow.
• 1976 – Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs found Apple Computer in the garage of Jobs’ parents house in Cupertino, California.
• 1989 – A. Bartlett Giamatti replaces Peter Ueberroth as the seventh commissioner of Major League Baseball; dies suddenly of a heart attack five months later.

Thanks for reading. À bientôt.

Good morning Birdland,

You remember all of that starting pitching depth that Mike Elias was excited about? It’s probably going to be put to the test right away. That’s because Zach Eflin made it through just 3.2 innings of his season debut on Tuesday night before he had to leave with an apparent injury. We learned after the game that he was experiencing “elbow discomfort.” Not good!

Elbow discomfort is often the first step down the road towards Tommy John surgery. That would, of course, shelf Eflin for the year and likely mean the end of his time with the Orioles, although he and the team do have a mutual option for 2027.

It should be said, we do not know what the exact injury is at this moment. Everyone outside of the Orioles organization would simply be speculating. But, we have all seen this movie before. An injury to the UCL is most likely, and that usually requires surgery. However, that isn’t always the case. Back in 2014, Yankees ace Masahiro Tanaka partially tore his UCL. He received PRP injections, rested for six weeks, and then returned to the team. He never needed surgery on the injury at all. But that is a unique case, and not what any of us should expect.

Fortunately, the Orioles did plan on absorbing at least one injury like this. Dean Kremer is standing by in Triple-A Norfolk. The 30-year-old was surprisingly demoted to begin the year, more as a roster maneuver than a reflection on his performance. He would be the obvious next man up to join the rotation if Eflin’s injury is serious.

Kremer is as dependable as they come. Over the last three seasons his ERA has hovered between 4.10 and 4.19. He has eclipsed 170 innings in two of the last three seasons. And the 3.97 FIP he posted in 2025 was his best mark since 2022 (3.80). He is what you would get if you built a number five starter in a lab, and that is a valuable player to have on your roster. For now, it seems the team will add Albert Suárez to beef up the bullpen (which is having its own issues), but Kremer still looks like the favorite to take Eflin’s spot in the rotation longer term.

The odds of a starting pitcher going down at some point this year were always going to be high. To have it happen in the first week of the season, though, is absolutely brutal. You have to imagine the Orioles were hoping to buy a little more time so that the likes of Trey Gibson, Cade Povich, and Brandon Young could get into their seasons a bit more, refine their approaches, and be in a better position to contribute. That trio won’t be called on yet, but each could just be one injury away from a trip to Baltimore.

Links

Eflin to undergo imaging after departing ’26 debut; IL stint likely | MLB.com
This is the first time that Eflin has had an elbow issue during his career. Most of his other IL stints have come because of his back, which he had surgically repaired last summer. The way manager Craig Albernaz was talking after the game, it certainly doesn’t sound like Eflin will be coming off of the IL anytime soon.

Orioles To Select Albert Suárez | MLB Trade Rumors
It is nice to have someone like Suárez to call on from Triple-A. When the Orioles have needed him in each of the last two seasons he has been quite good. Injuries limited him to just five big league appearances in 2025, and he did not have the best spring. But ultimately you have to trust the 36-year-old to figure it out. If he pitches well enough the Orioles might just hang onto him and demote one of the optionable bullpen arms when it comes time to call up Kremer.

Pete Alonso hits first Orioles home run: ‘It was good to see him get into one’ | The Baltimore Banner
Alonso is off to a nice start at the plate with the Orioles. His 2-for-4 night on Tuesday improved his batting average to .316 and his OPS to .855. His first home run coming against former teammate Jacob deGrom probably wasn’t the easiest watch for Mets fans.

Orioles birthdays

Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!

• Keegan Akin turns 31 today. Since fully transitioning to a reliever a few years ago, the lefty has been a rather reliable piece of the Orioles bullpen. He is currently on the IL, but is expected to slot right back into the middle innings once healthy.
• Rich Amaral is 64. He was a backup outfielder for the O’s during the 1999 and 2000 seasons, known more for his glove than his bat.
• Mike Kinnunen turns 68. A southpaw, he tossed 27 total innings for the Orioles between 1986 and ‘87.

This day in O’s history

2010 – The Orioles acquire infielder Julio Lugo from the Cardinals. He would become a utility option for them, spending most of his time at second base as Brian Roberts battles a herniated disc in his lower back.

Now THAT is how you debut.

It’s a rather nice feeling that both of the players that the Phillies are entrusting with important roles this year – Justin Crawford and Andrew Painter – got off to good starts in their first game rather than the duds that could have happened. We’d have all been fine expecting both to fall flat on their face in their first ever MLB games, but both came out and performed.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• Andrew Painter was marvelous in his debut. He talked about it and all the emotions that came with his first start.
• On his way to the major leagues, Painter had a lot of struggles he had to endure. What he learned can help him continue finding success ($).
• Tucker Davidson has seen a lot of baseball in a lot of places. Now, he’s back in the United States with the Phillies, er, the Ironpigs.

MLB news:

• It’s apparently extension season for all prospects that aren’t in the majors. Cooper Pratt was the first one to agree to a deal Monday with the Brewers.
• Then, on Tuesday, Colt Emerson broke a record by getting $95 million guaranteed from the Mariners.
• J.D. Martinez got a job with the Mets as a special assistant now that no teams will give him a playing contract.

The Guardians offense remains completely invisible, and in the first inning last night, they lost 100% of their home run output.

Chase DeLauter fouled a ball off his foot and could not run to first base later in the AB. CJ Kayfus replaced him in the lineup and was an easy out for the 8 innings that followed.

Tanner Bibee was able to make his start as scheduled, but went just 4 innings because the team was rightly cautious in the steady light rain.

Shohei Ohtani was Bibee’s opponent, and did nothing special, but looking merely decent is enough when your’e facing Cleveland’s “offense.”

In addition to being bad at hitting, the Guardian position players are really bad at challenging balls and strikes. 0-for-2 yet again.

It’s a shame this organization is never going to figure hitting out. It would seemingly be impossible to always be this bad. Really depressing to watch. They just refuse to find a competent hitting coach. Every year we think “Well, they have to be better THIS year because it would be impossible to be worse”—and then they find a way to be worse. By xBA, 9 of the 10 batted balls most likely to be a hit were batted by Dodgers.

The Guards scored a meaningless run in the 9th. Dodgers 4, Guardians 1.

Around baseball

•  The Tigers had a 5-0 lead after 3 and a 5-1 lead after 7. They gave up 6 runs in the 8th. This division looks terrible yet again.

• Aaron Civale picked up a win for the Sacramento A’s—their first W of the season.

• The Mariners, possibly getting ahead of a new CBA, locked up prospect Colt Emerson for 95M.

• FG hyped DeLauter earlier in the day before his injury.

Long-term deals for top prospects are all the rage. Yesterday morning, news broke of the Mariners and minor-league infielder Colt Emerson agreeing on an eight-year deal worth a minimum of $95 million, a record for player who has yet to make his MLB debut. This, just hours after reports emerged that the Brewers were nearing an eight-year, $50-million deal with infielder Cooper Pratt, who only made his Triple-A debut in the last week.

Of course, this pair of deals represents a longer trend toward extensions for players who either had yet to debut or only had a smattering of MLB service time. The Brewers themselves pulled the trick just two years ago with Jackson Chourio, while a multitude of other players, such as Corbin Carroll and Jacob Wilson, put pen to paper very early in their careers, if not quite as early as Emerson and Pratt. It forces one to wonder: should the Yankees be doing the same?

Extensions of any kind have been pretty rare under the Brian Cashman regime. Luis Severino’s four-year extension, signed in 2019, is one of the few cases of the Yankees extending a young player, and even that came well into Severino’s career and after a pair of campaigns that saw the right-hander earn Cy Young votes. The last major extension of any kind New York handed out was to Aaron Hicks, and, well, we all know how that one turned out (Aroldis Chapman’s 2019 contract technically counts too, though that was more a case of the Yankees tacking on an extra year to prevent the closer from opting out).

Zigging while everyone else is also zigging could be in the Yankees’ best interests. While the team has never been shy about signing free agents to long-term deals, opportunities to sign stars in free agency are slowly dwindling precisely because other teams are locking up their best young talent early. It stands to reason the Yankees could do the same, committing to their own young talent as a way to spend money that is becoming increasingly more difficult to spend on top players in free agency.

If the Yankees were to take this tack, who would you like to see them sign long term? A few years ago, Anthony Volpe seemed like a prime candidate, which serves as a good reminder that these early extensions, while largely pretty team-friendly, are not always a slam dunk for the organizations signing them. Still, there are a number of options on the farm.

When George Lombard Jr. starts to near the majors, perhaps the club should gauge his interest in signing long-term. Any numbers of pithing prospects, from Carlos Lagrange and Elmer Rodriguez, to Ben Hess and Bryce Cunningham, could be candidates as their call-ups grow closer. And, while he’s not a perfect example for this discussion given he’s exhausted his rookie eligibility, Cam Schlittler’s elite performance certainly entices one to sign him up for as long as reasonably possible.

What do you think? Should the Yankees be using this strategy, and who should they consider if they did?

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Today on the site, Sam remembers Phil Niekro on what would have been his 87th birthday, and Josh discusses how MLB has run a few gimmicks into the ground. Later, John takes inspiration from the NBA’s controversial 65-game minimum rule to examine how many games MLB players typically need to play in order to be considered for major awards, and Maximo compares the discontent of the Yankees and Phillies fan bases.

Today’s Matchup

New York Yankees at Seattle Mariners

Time: 4:10 p.m. EST

Video: YES Network, Mariners.tv

Venue: T-Mobile Park, Seattle, WA

SNY | Phillip Martínez: The Yankees hoped to have left-hander Carlos Rodon back at some point in April, but those plans might have hit a snag. On Tuesday, manager Aaron Boone revealed that the southpaw, who had a 3.09 ERA and struck out 203 batters last year before encountering some elbow issues in the postseason that resulted in surgery, reported hamstring tightness in his most recent throwing session.

The team is unsure about the severity of the ailment, and making guesses about how long he will be sidelined would be premature. What we do know is that an April return is now unlikely.

New York Daily News | Gary Phillips: The ‘reverse framing’ strategy, believe it or not, might become a thing as we go deeper into the ABS era. The term basically means that catchers can make strikes look like balls as they try to lure opposing teams into wasting a challenge. The Yankees, as an organization, are excellent framers behind the plate, but Tanner Swanson, the team’s director of catching, doesn’t seem so open about trying psychological games just yet.

Swanson did say that he has “thought about these things, and we’ve had discussions around them,” but he isn’t quite ready for the risk that the strategy carries with it.

“A large majority of borderline calls still go unchallenged,” Swanson said. “To take a strike and try to turn it into a ball, you’re banking on either forcing the hitter to challenge it, or having to challenge it yourself.”

New York Yankees Stats on X: Giancarlo Stanton drove in a run in the first inning of Tuesday’s game in Seattle in the ugliest way you can think of: with a blooper near the right field line. It counts anyway, and it was the slugger’s 500th RBI in pinstripes. He became the seventh-fastest Yankee, in terms of games played, to reach the mark: it took him 745 games.

Foul Territory on X: Former MLB general manager Jim Bowden, now an analyst and writer, weighed in on the alleged trade proposal the Yankees made to the Pittsburgh Pirates last year involving Paul Skenes. He said that if the Bombers indeed put names such as Cam Schlittler, George Lombard Jr., Carlos Lagrange, and Spencer Jones on the table, the Bucs should have taken the deal.

“If I’m Pittsburgh and I got offered those four guys that I could control for six years and not have to pay any of them for three years, I have a better chance of winning with those four guys, and I have a better chance of winning longer with those four guys,” Bowden said.