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MLB Franchise Valuations Ranking List: From Yankees to Marlins

The average MLB team is worth $2.82 billion, according to data compiled by Sportico. The New York Yankees rank first at $8.3 billion, while the Miami Marlins rank last at $1.3 billion. Below are the values of the league’s 30 franchises, whose collective worth is $84.5 billion.

To derive the market value of the 30 MLB franchises, Sportico calculated each team’s revenue relying on publicly available information and financial records—and interviews with those knowledgeable of team finances, including sports bankers and attorneys who actively work on MLB transactions. We traded candor for anonymity. This information was vetted by multiple team or parent company CEOs, presidents, chief financial officers and media relations personnel, as well as industry experts and investors. Below are definitions of some major metrics:

Total Value: The sum of the enterprise market value of an MLB franchise combined with the equity value of team-related businesses and real estate holdings.

Team Value: MLB franchise valuation, derived from metrics by which baseball team transactions occur, including aggregating local and national revenues and factoring in a team-specific multiplier. This represents the fair-market value of the team itself, excluding related businesses held by its owners. It includes the value of each franchise’s 3.3% interest in MLB Advanced Media, the league’s digital arm, which is acquired/dispossessed in tandem with the sale of a team, as well as its 3.3% interest in the league’s investment arm, Baseball Endowment L.P. (BELP).

Team-Related Businesses and Real Estate Holdings: The value of a franchise or franchise owner’s equity in team-related businesses—that is, both those on the team’s balance sheet and held in distinct corporate entities—as well as government-assessed real estate related to venue, practice facilities and adjacent developments. Examples include the Boston Red Sox parent entity’s 80% interest in the New England Sports Network (NESN), holdings through the Atlanta Braves’ six subsidiaries of all or a portion of 31 parcels of land adjacent to their ballpark, and minor league teams owned by the Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies.

Teams’ stakes in regional sports networks are included in the related business category. Historically, those equity stakes held significant value, but they have declined significantly in recent years as cash flows have deteriorated. Sportico only assigned value to the equity stakes in a handful of RSNs, including ones owned by the Red Sox, Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees.

For franchises that do not own their stadia, the value of a team’s lease—often with advantageous terms negotiated with municipal or state authorities—is captured in the Team Value category.

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MLB Team Values 2025: Yankees, Dodgers Worth Combined $16 Billion

Thirteen years ago, Mark Walter led a group that paid $2.15 billion for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The price raised eyebrows across the sports landscape, as it was twice as much as anyone had ever spent on a North American franchise, and the club had filed for bankruptcy the previous year.

No one doubts the deal now.

Walter, CEO Stan Kasten and baseball operations president Andrew Friedman have built a juggernaut on and off the field. The on-field resume includes 11 division titles in 12 years, plus two World Series wins. Off the field, the Dodgers’ gross revenue before revenue-sharing is estimated at $1 billion, a threshold previously only hit by the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys and LaLiga giants Real Madrid and Barcelona.

The Dodgers are now worth $7.73 billion, including their real estate and related businesses. It marks a 23% jump over last year. The club closed the gap with the New York Yankees ($8.39 billion) and ranks seventh among franchises in all sports. The $1.43 billion year-over-year value increase is greater than the total value of four MLB teams, with the Miami Marlins ranked 30th at $1.3 billion.

The Yankees’ value only trails the Dallas Cowboys ($10.32 billion) and Golden State Warriors ($9.14 billion).

The average MLB team is worth $2.82 billion, up 7% based on conversations with team executives, as well as bankers, lawyers and investors familiar with team transactions. Rounding out the top five are the Boston Red Sox ($6.03 billion), Chicago Cubs ($5.69 billion) and San Francisco Giants ($4.2 billion). These estimates are based on a “control” transaction with a new owner taking over—limited partner transactions, such as Sixth Street’s recent investment in the Giants for less than $4 billion, typically carry an LP discount.

Click for a ranking of all 30 teams or a data visualization comparing the teams.

MLB Economics

The Dodgers had high expectations when they signed Shohei Ohtani in free agency in December 2023 to a then-record 10-year, $700 million contract, but Year 1 of Ohtani in Dodger blue was a grand slam for both the team and the Japanese star, who is set to earn an estimated $100 million this year from endorsements, 10x the pre-Ohtani MLB record.

The Dodgers added a steady stream of new sponsor deals during the 2024 season, including Japanese brands All Nippon Airways, Daiso, Kosé, Kowa, Toyo Tires and Yakult. SponsorUnited estimated it meant $70 million in incremental sponsor revenue. The Dodgers would not comment on their financial results.

On the ticketing side, the Dodgers perennially lead baseball in attendance, but their pricing has kept them from the No. 1 slot in baseball’s gate revenue rankings, which typically have the Yankees on top. But last season, the Dodgers took the crown at $4.29 million per regular season home game, based on figures from MLB’s internal gate report shared with Sportico by a non-Dodgers team. The Yankees ($4.11 million), Cubs ($3.25 million), Red Sox ($2.93 million) and Houston Astros ($2.69 million) were next up. Meanwhile, teams at the bottom of the financial table are generating $500,000 per game, including premium seating.

The Dodgers’ biggest financial engine predates Ohtani. In 2013, the Dodgers signed a 25-year, $8.35 billion TV contract with what is now Spectrum. The deal highlights the sport’s revenue disparity even more starkly, with recent challenges in the regional sports network market causing many teams to take a haircut on their rights agreements or lose their deals completely.

Baseball’s new rules implemented in 2023 that shortened games and created more action have had their desired effect. Last year, MLB attendance rose again and hit 71.35 million, up 11% versus 2022. TV viewership had double-digit percentage growth among young adults and streaming viewership smashed its previous high. Teams are monetizing their stadiums more than ever with premium seating and non-MLB events. The Toronto Blue Jays hosted six Taylor Swift shows at the Rogers Centre last year, and their 2025 calendar includes Billy Joel, Metallica, Morgan Wallen, Post Malone and The Weeknd.

But the business momentum doesn’t paper over the major challenges facing the sport, which are intertwined with revenue disparity, media distribution and looming labor negotiations. The challenges have even big-market teams calling for change to the sport’s business model and pointing to the Dodgers’ economic might and bankroll of New York Mets owner Steve Cohen, who just landed baseball’s biggest free-agent prize—Juan Soto for $765 million—and is by far baseball’s richest owner with a net worth of $21.3 billion, according to Forbes.

The issues are causing a drag on MLB franchise value growth. The average club rose just 28% from Sportico’s first MLB valuations in 2021, while the least-valuable club rose 16% during that time. For comparison, the NBA “get-in” price is up 127% and the NFL’s is up 122%. The NHL had the greatest growth among its clubs at the bottom, up 159%.

Since 2022, three MLB clubs hired investment banks to conduct team sale auctions. The Los Angeles Angels and Washington Nationals pulled their clubs off the market, and the sale process for the Minnesota Twins that launched in October has been muted, according to most baseball insiders. The only completed control sale since Cohen’s 2020 Mets purchase was David Rubenstein’s deal for the Baltimore Orioles last year for $1.73 billion. Several big-market teams, including the Cubs, Giants and Philadelphia Phillies, have sold LP stakes at multibillion-dollar valuations.

Bankers and investors traditionally use revenue multiples to value sports teams, and MLB multiples continue to fall further behind the rest of the Big Five U.S. leagues with the NBA (11.9), MLS (9.4), NFL (9.3) and NHL (7.7) all ahead of MLB (6.6). MLB is the only one of those leagues without a salary cap.

The Boston Celtics’ $6.1 billion price tag is 13 times its 2023-24 total revenue and 16 times if you strip out playoff revenue.

What’s Next

Baseball’s 30 teams generated an estimated $12.75 billion in revenue last year, including revenue from non-MLB events at stadiums where teams own and/or operate the buildings. The $425 million average per team includes $106 million in gross revenue from MLB central revenue via leaguewide media, sponsorship and merchandise. Some teams show net revenue on their books after deductions for player benefits and leaguewide expenses, but gross league revenue is how most bankers present teams when up for sale and provides an apples-to-apples comparison to Sportico’s other sports team valuations.

Final calculations are still being made regarding revenue sharing, but roughly $550 million is expected to transfer from high-revenue to low-revenue clubs for 2024. The Dodgers’ final revenue-sharing bill will be around $150 million, shattering the previous record. The Red Sox kicked in roughly $70 million to the pot, and the Yankees’ bill was a tick higher.

The Dodgers also paid $103 million in luxury tax penalties for its high payroll. Nine teams paid a total tax of $311 million last year, and half of that goes toward the commissioner’s discretionary fund and is redistributed to teams that receive revenue sharing. The double whammy to these clubs meant significant operating losses for the Mets, Phillies and Giants, while most lower revenue clubs were cash-flow positive.

“The system they want to alter and change is because of the Dodgers,” leading baseball agent Scott Boras said in a phone interview. “No. They should want more teams to be like the Dodgers, and so don’t change the system, promote ownership to do what they do.”

Replicating the Dodgers’ model is not an option unless you have a bulletproof media deal, a 13-million-person metro area and the unquestioned biggest star in the sport. But baseball owners and the league office are mapping out the parameters of a new economic model for MLB that will be a delicate negotiation between the players union, big-market teams and small-market ones. The current CBA expires after the 2026 season, and the players union expects a lockout, as owners appear more unified than ever in pushing through a salary cap. MLBPA executive director Tony Clark reminded reporters last month, “No. We haven’t agreed to that in 50, 60 years.”

“There are ways of addressing the system that aren’t salary or cap related or require the restrictions of player salaries as the answer to every one of these questions,” Clark said.

Baseball leadership envisions a system where the league controls more game inventory to sell to media partners with wider distribution of games, versus the legacy model where RSNs restricted broadcasts outside of the local market. Most of the current national deals run through the 2028 season, and commissioner Rob Manfred hopes to package the streaming rights of as many teams as possible with domestic and international media rights for 2029.

Last year, MLB generated just over $4 billion in TV revenue, with local rights representing an estimated 53% of the total. Local TV revenue dipped slightly but was higher than the league expected when Diamond Sports Group, which held the rights to 14 MLB teams, filed for bankruptcy in March 2023.

For comparison, the NBA’s new national deals alone are worth $7 billion per year, and the NFL’s are more than $12 billion on average. The carrot for the big-market MLB teams to relinquish more local programming is a smaller revenue-sharing bill.

Diamond has been rebranded as Main Street Sports and retains rights to nine teams. Most of those teams had to take a haircut on their rights. An exception was the Atlanta Braves, which were Diamond’s most profitable MLB team on Bally Sports Sports Southeast, and received a rights fee bump on what is now FanDuel Sports Network Southeast. Seaport Research Partners analyst David Joyce expects local media rights for the Braves to rise 4.5% to $112 million in 2025.

“The business model is really not entirely in sync with the direction consumption is moving, but MLB has a great product and premium tonnage with six months of the calendar and 2,430 games,” Chris Bevilacqua, Rothschild & Co. media advisor, said in a phone interview. Bevilacqua sees this inventory and global streaming opportunity as real strategic advantages. “I do think they’ll figure it out,” he added, “but it will take a few years to pull this together.”

The international market is a key component for MLB to generate greater leaguewide revenue. The first game of the Tokyo Series between the Dodgers and Cubs averaged more than 25 million viewers in Japan—Game 2 topped 23 million. Merchandise sales were 320% higher than the previous record MLB international event. There were 23 sponsors for the series, with revenue 240% higher than the previous year’s Seoul Series.

The international revenue largely all flows through the league office and will help produce larger central revenue checks, which proportionally benefit the lower revenue teams.

While baseball sorts through its biggest leaguewide issues, it has likely found a solution for one of its problem franchises for the past decade. The Athletics, no longer known as the Oakland Athletics, kick off their first of three seasons in the Sacramento River Cats’ minor league stadium. The A’s made an estimated $276 million in revenue last year, including their league check and revenue-sharing. The team is expected to generate between $330 million and $340 million this year despite playing in a 14,000-person capacity stadium. Season tickets sold out with a waiting list established for 2026.

The A’s long-term health will be determined by their move to Las Vegas. Their $1.75 billion new stadium on the Las Vegas Strip is projected to open in 2028. Based on MLB’s current economic model, the club expects revenue to be around $550 million annually in its future Vegas home, which would have ranked fifth last year among MLB teams.

The A’s current value is $1.57 billion, up 15%, the second-biggest increase since 2024 behind the Dodgers, and it should continue to rise as the stadium opening nears.

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Most rostered players for 2025 fantasy baseball: Why I'm drafting a lot of Gavin Williams and Jason Adam

This isn't a typical analytical column for me or for our site; however, I've made it a point over the years to be transparent about the way I manage my fantasy teams. There's been a lot of talk in our industry about fantasy analysts not being good fantasy players, and while I do believe those are two separate skills, I also believe it's valuable for you to see how I use the insight I glean from my work to run my teams.

That's not because I will always be right. In fact, some of the value for you will likely be seeing what I did wrong. Breaking down data trends, player profiles, pitch mixes, etc. can give me a lot of information to use, but perhaps I held onto a player too long or I was too quick to move on a small data point I noticed.

This article will cover the players I drafted the most on my teams this year and a brief explanation of why. Maybe they're still available in your league, or maybe it will reveal how I feel about the player landscape overall. At the bare minimum, I hope it's an interesting discussion of players and draft strategy.

MLB: Kansas City Royals-Media Day
2025 Fantasy Baseball Draft Prep: Rankings, strategy, sleepers, mock draft results
Your one-stop-shop for Rotoworld’s preseason fantasy baseball content.

This season, I did seven NFBC drafts (three 12-team draft-and-hold, two 15-team mixed leagues, and two 12-team mixed leagues). I drafted a 15-team mixed team with OBP instead of AVG for Tout. I drafted two 12-team shallow bench Yahoo leagues for Pitcher List and NBC Sports, and I drafted a 12-team mixed team with OPS instead of AVG for my home league. Below you'll see the player shares for my NFBC leagues because they're all in the same place, but I'll also discuss some players I drafted in a lot of my non-NFBC leagues as well.

Eric's draft

Jason Adam - RP, San Diego Padres
This one is pretty simple: the Padres have been openly trying to trade Robert Suarez, and he has not looked good this year. His velocity is down 3mph, and I think there's a strong chance he is removed from the closer's role either because he's traded or because he struggles. Adam was drafted outside of the top 300 and was one of my favorite late-round relief pitcher picks. I'd snag a reliable top-end closer and then wait on my RP2 to grab a guy like Justin Martinez, David Bednar, Kenley Jansen before taking a flier at the end of drafts on Adam. That strategy has worked for me in the past, so I figured I'd keep it going.

Gavin Williams - SP, Cleveland Guardians
By now, if you read my work, you probably know why I'm interested in Gavin Williams. I wrote about him as a post-hype sleeper, and I wrote about him as one of my favorite late-round starting pitchers when he was going late, he was my choice for our Rotoworld staff breakouts article, and I interviewed him at spring training and wrote about the improvements to his mechanics in the off-season. I'm dangerously all-in this year.

Willson Contreras - C/1B, St. Louis Cardinals
A catcher who doesn't catch. What more do we want? In all seriousness, I have always been a fan of Willson Contreras. He is a solid hitter with good power and a good feel for the barrel. He's a consistent 20-homer bat with double-digit barrel rates and a .260 career batting average. You just don't find that much at the catcher position. Now, we're getting him as an everyday first baseman, which will mean potentially 600 plate appearances. I know the Cardinals' lineup is not that exciting, but they only lost Paul Goldschmidt from last year's team, and we could see steps forward from Lars Nootbaar, Victor Scott, Jordan Walker, and some of the other young(ish) bats. If you're giving me that many more plate appearances at catcher than my competitors, that's a major advantage for me.

Dylan Crews - OF, Washington Nationals
I covered Dylan Crews in my article discussing second-year hitters who were likely to far outperform their 2024 MLB debuts. In that article, I mentioned that Crews’ 34% hard-hit rate in Triple-A last year suggests that quality contact is well within his range of outcomes, and his overall Process stats were above average for almost the entirety of his MLB action. I like that he doesn’t chase out of the zone, with just a 29.5% O-Swing%, and his poor average had nothing to do with swinging and missing, since his SwStr% was just 9.9%. I also love that he plays for a Washington team that is embracing their young talent, so there really isn’t a scenario where Crews is taken out of the starting lineup this season. I think he has the potential to hit about .250-.260 with 18 home runs, 140 Runs+RBI, and 30 steals while getting over 600 plate appearances in Washington.

MLB: Spring Training-Texas Rangers at Los Angeles Dodgers
2025 Fantasy Baseball Top 300 overall: Bobby Witt Jr. and Shohei Ohtani lead preseason rankings
Spencer Strider, Cristopher Sánchez, and Christian Yelich are on the rise while Thairo Estrada’s injury takes him off the board.

Nolan Schanuel - 1B, Los Angeles Angels
Schanuel was mainly a pick for me in deeper formats, particularly in draft-and-hold leagues where I took him as my third first baseman. I also drafted him in an OBP format. In that sense, I'm a big fan of his locked-in plate appearances and his elite plate discipline. He has a career .354 on-base percentage and 5.6% swinging strike rate, so you have a hitter who has a tremendous understanding of the strike zone and rarely swings and misses. That's a solid foundation for a hitter who is just 23 years old to build off of. This spring, Schanuel has been pulling the ball noticeably more and also swinging far more often, which tells me that being aggressive in the strike zone towards his pull side is something he is working on. He also started to lift the ball more in the second half last year, which led to a .756 OPS in 59 games after the break. I see a talented hitter who is continuing to grow and evolve, and I'm OK getting shares of that in deeper formats.

Michael King - SP, San Diego Padres
As I discussed in my article on my starting pitcher draft strategy, I'm a proponent of waiting to draft starting pitching. That often led to me not drafting a starting pitcher until the fifth or sixth round, and Michael King was my preferred choice to lead my pitching staff if I waited. I have King as my 9th-ranked starting pitcher, and I don’t believe we’re giving enough credence to the fact that he posted a 2.81 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, and 27.6% strikeout rate in his final 29 starts of the season. I’m expecting 180 innings of goodness from King this year, and I think he is talented enough to b the ace of a fantasy staff.

Justin Steele, SP, Chicago Cubs
Since my strategy was to wait to draft my ace, I wanted to make sure I landed a solid SP2, and Justin Steele was one of my favorite targets to fill that role. Steele hurt his hamstring on Opening Day last year and then struggled to get back into rhythm when he returned, which is typical for pitchers after a lengthy absence. However, from May 27th to the end of the season, he posted a 2.47 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, and 112/31 K/BB ratio in 109.1 innings. That’s pretty elite production. With the Cubs looking like a much-improved team, Steele should be a good bet for double-digit wins and 170 or more innings while producing solid ratios.

Max Fried - SP, New York Yankees
My starting pitcher draft strategy often led me to Max Fried. In leagues where I got sniped on Michael King, I waited even longer and made Fried my ace. However, in some leagues, Fried continued to fall, and I was actually able to draft him as my SP2 in the eighth round or later. I'm sure that he fell in those drafts (all 12-team leagues) because of his past forearm issues; however, I was happy to take the gamble when he dropped because he has been so consistent for the last four seasons, never posting an ERA higher than 3.25 or a WHIP higher than 1.16. Fried saw regression in his changeup in 2024, but that’s important for Fried since he’s a lefty, and that pitch is crucial for his success against righties. We have enough of a track record with that pitch that I think Fried can get it back on track, and his move to Yankee Stadium isn’t much of a downgrade from Truist Park, so I'm still in on the veteran.

Max Meyer - SP, Miami Marlins and Jack Leiter - SP, Texas Rangers
Once I fill my starting rotation, I'm looking just for upside with my bench starting pitchers. I want to take fliers on pitchers who have a pathway to elite upside. Those pathways don't always have to be easy, but I don't want safe and boring on my bench. I want to watch one or two starts of a starter and see if they're doing the thing I want them to do to unlock their upside. If not, I'm going to drop them and pick up a pitcher who looked dominant in their early outing. Meyer and Leiter were two of my favorite targets for that purpose, and I discussed both of them in detailin an article on pitchers being drafted late, who have top-25 upside.

Matt Shaw - 3B, Chicago Cubs
I drafted Shaw a lot early on when he was going around pick 250 and seemed like a good bet to open the season as the Cubs' third baseman. His minor league season last year showcased him as one of the most advanced hitters in the high minors. Add to that a power/speed combination that's alluring for fantasy, and I'm in. I do expect hiccups; transitioning to MLB pitching is a massive jump. However, Shaw has never struck out over 19% of the time at any level of the minors, so he's going to make contact. He also should run and will likely push for 20 steals this season since his walk rates have been high enough that he should continue to get on base even if the hits don't fall. Pencil in a .250 average and modest power in a rookie season, but you add 20 steals in a good lineup, and that makes him somebody worth grabbing for a bench role or CI role. The plus is that, in Yahoo formats (where a lot of my drafts were), Shaw is 2B/SS/3B eligible, which made him an ideal depth piece.

Jorge Polanco - 2B/3B, Seattle Mariners
Polanco was playing through a knee injury last year, but he's a career .263/.330/.435 hitter. Even in his poor year last year, he posted an 8.9% barrel rate, an above-average chase rate, and slightly below-average SwStr% and contact rates. His overall contact rates and swinging strike rates have been headed in the wrong direction for the last two seasons, but for the vast majority of his career, he has been a 77% contact rate guy or better. In spring training this year, he has an 85% contact rate and just a 7.2% SwStr%, so perhaps a lot of that regression was due to injury. Seattle is one of the worst offensive environments in baseball, so I don’t believe Polanco is getting back to his peak seasons; however, he could easily be a .260 hitter with 15+ home runs and 120 Runs+RBI in a decent lineup. Considering he will also be 2B/3B eligible early in the season after he starts the requisite number of games at third base, I think Polanco is a solid bench option in deeper formats.

David Bednar - RP, Pittsburgh Pirates
A lot of people were fading Bednar because the Pirates refused to name him as a closer, but I wasn't fazed. Who else were they really going to turn to? Plus, I was reading the great work at Reliever Recon, and they broke down each outing by Bednar this spring. He was solid early on and only had two bad outings, both of which were impacted by poor defensive plays behind him, which cost him outs and kept innings alive. His velocity has been good, and he started getting the fastball up in the zone, which has helped. He also spent the offseason tweaking the mechanical issues that he believed led to him tipping his pitches last year. Considering he was going around pick 190 in drafts over the last few weeks, I was happy to take some shares.

Bryson Stott - 2B, Philadelphia Phillies
I found myself waiting on 2B in some drafts when I locked up other positions earlier, and I had no problem turning to Stott as my 2B. He makes an elite amount of contact in the zone, has just a 6% swinging strike rate, and has stolen 30 or more bases in each of the last two seasons. We also know that he played through a knee injury last year, so I think we can attribute some of the massive dip in batting average to that. This spring, Stott has looked more patient at the plate, something he is admittedly working on, taking 13 walks to just six strikeouts in 17 games. Stott will likely push for a .260 average while hitting 15 home runs and stealing 30 bases in one of the best lineups in baseball and one of the best home parks for offense in baseball. I'm happy to have that profile on my team.

Yu Darvish - SP, San Diego Padres
Most of my Darvish shares were early in the draft season before he dealt with elbow inflammation, but I still believe there is a solid season coming from him. He battled through a few injuries in 2024 and also a mysterious personal issue that caused him to leave the team for an extended period and be placed on the exempt list. However, he had a decent year when he was on the mound, posting a 3.31 ERA and 1.07 WHIP in 16 starts. If you also take out the two starts in May before he went on the IL, where we know in hindsight that he was pitching through an injury, then he allowed 21 earned runs in 76 innings, which is a 2.47 ERA with 71 strikeouts. That’s a solid stretch of production. He has a deep arsenal of pitches that he can adjust depending on who he’s facing and what pitch feels good on a given day, which I like. I also like that he leaned into his slider more in 2024 because that’s been his best pitch. I’d have him ranked higher if he weren’t 38 years old and a bit of a health risk (which I can say because I’m 40).

Xander Bogaerts - 2B/SS, San Diego Padres
I guess I'm higher on Bogaerts than many others, but I think he's in for a solid floor type of season, and I was happy to keep waiting in drafts and add him as my MIF option. I see that many projections and fantasy analysts have him hitting around .250-.260 this season, and I don't know why. I know his batting average dipped last year, but he also fractured his shoulder and had to come back from that, which impacted his swing and swing mechanics. He's still an elite contact hitter, and I think a good bet for a .270 average, even if we bake in regression for his age. He has also maintained a floor as a 15-home run hitter and stole eight bases AFTER coming back from his fractured shoulder, so I still believe he's a good bet to swipe 15-20 bases in 2025. That means, I think drafting Bogarets gets you a .270 hitter with a 15/15 floor in a good lineup. I'm all for that as my MIF if I wait to fill the position.

Josh Jung - 3B, Texas Rangers
In drafts where I waited on 3B, I was more than happy to take Jung as my starter or my CI to ensure I had a decent backup 3B option. Last season at this time, Jung was the talk of the town. People were anticipating a major power breakout, and he was locked into an everyday role in a good lineup. The only thing that has changed a year later is that Jung battled wrist injuries throughout last season. Now, that's not nothing, but isn't that baked into the cost if you're getting him near pick 250? He's still 27 years old and barreled the ball 12% last season. His 25 home run upside remains, and he's a career .257 hitter, so he's not going to hurt you in batting average either. I think the Rangers might have the best lineup in the AL, and Jung should hit somewhere near the middle of it, which will help his counting stats, so I think he's been criminally overlooked this year.

Pavin Smith - 1B/OF, Arizona Diamondbacks
My Smith shares are limited to draft-and-hold formats and deeper mixed leagues, but he's 1B/OF eligible in Yahoo formats, and he's going to start at designated hitter against right-handed pitching. He's hit .300 this spring with an .882 OPS and looks ready to build on his solid season from last year. As I wrote in my article discussing hitters entering their peak seasons: "He has elite plate discipline, rarely expanding the strike zone or chasing pitches he can’t do damage on. Of course, that’s mainly against right-handed pitchers, and the Diamondbacks know that. Last season, 85% of Smith’s at-bats came against right-hand pitching, and he hit .270/.348/.547 with nine home runs and a .896 OPS in those 158 plate appearances. While that’s a small sample size, that’s a pretty strong indication of what Smith is capable of doing in a strong side platoon."

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Phillies' first goal is to win the division and it didn't get easier

Phillies' first goal is to win the division and it didn't get easier originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Rob Thomson was manager of the National League team at the 2023 All-Star Game in Seattle, a residual perk of the Phillies making it to the World Series the previous year. One of the players on the roster was Juan Soto, who was already friendly with hitting coach Kevin Long from their time together with the Nationals.

“I’ve gotten to know him a little bit,” the Phillies’ skipper said in February. “I think he’s a really good guy.”

While Soto was trying to decide which team to sign with, though, Thomson didn’t use that inside connection to try to steer this year’s biggest free-agent prize away from the division rival Mets. “I didn’t have his number, unfortunately,” he said with a laugh.

The Phillies won the National League East last year, but two of the three postseason wild card slots were claimed by the Mets and Braves. Since then, New York bagged Soto with an astonishing 15-year, $765 million offer. And the Braves are getting back 2023 NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. (who didn’t play again after tearing his ACL on May 26) and All-Star right-hander Spencer Strider (who made only two starts before undergoing elbow surgery.)

“I always say, to win a division you’ve got to win within your division,” Thomson said. “And you’ve got to win at home. If you can do those two things, you’re in pretty good shape.”

It doesn’t figure to get any easier. Talking about how the competition has improved from last season is an overworked trope. At the same time, on paper at least, the East could be a beast.

METS

Owner Steve Cohen has won more dollar bill-stacking contests than pennants so far, but there’s a lot of realistic optimism in Queens heading into this season after winning a playoff round for the first time since 2015.

In addition to Soto, franchise fixture and fan favorite Pete Alonso will be back at first base after a prolonged soap opera of a negotiation. A lineup that finished seventh in MLB in runs scored in 2024 could be even more dangerous this year.

The biggest question is the rotation. Returning No. 1 starter Sean Manaea will open the season on the injured list after suffering a strained oblique. Right-hander Frankie Montas was signed as a free agent … then strained his lower back his first day in Port St. Lucie and is expected to miss the first two months.

Kodai Senga made only one regular season start in 2024 before missing the rest of the year with a calf strain. Clay Holmes is being converted from reliever to starter.

There’s also uncertainty over whether 2022 batting champ Jeff McNeil will remain the everyday second baseman or be replaced by Bret Baty, Luisangel Acuna or Ronny Mauricio.

Said Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski: “The Mets took a big jump forward last year. They’ve got a lot of werewithal and some smart people running their organization. I think they’re both going to be very good for years to come.”

So circle the dates June 20-21-22 and September 8-9-10-11 on your handy pocket schedule. That’s when the Mets will be at Citizens Bank Park and this ancient rivalry has never been hotter, especially after New York kayoed the Phillies in last fall’s NLDS.

BRAVES

Despite being without one of the best position players and one of the best starting pitchers in baseball last season, Atlanta made the playoffs. What else is new? The previous six years, the Braves won the division.

They lost left-hander Max Fried (11-10, 3.25), who signed as a free agent with the Yankees. But when Strider comes back — currently expected to be around May 1 — he’ll join Chris Sale, Reynaldo Lopez and Spencer Schwellenbach to give Atlanta a formidable rotation.

Acuña has said he hopes to return about the same time. And while general manager Alex Anthopoulos didn’t make many offseason moves, he made a splash by signing Jurickson Profar (3 years, $42 million) to play left field and stabilize the leadoff spot.

Bet against the Braves at your own risk. They’ve won their division 21 of the last 33 years while qualifying as a wild-card on three additional occasions. “The Braves are a good organization,” Dombrowski said. “They’ve won the division a bunch of times. Won a World Championship. They’re a very well-run organization from top to bottom. So you know they’re going to be good.”

NATIONALS

The Nationals won the World Series in 2019. It seems so much longer ago than that. The ceremonial hoisting of the trophy was followed by five straight losing seasons, five straight years in the baseball wilderness.

Thomson and Dombrowski, however, view the Nats as the stealth club of the NL East. Probably not ready to make the playoffs right now but coming up fast in the rearview mirror and good enough to create a lot of disruption in the meantime. “I think they’re going to surprise a lot of people,” the manager said. “They’ve got a lot of really good young players and they’ve added some pretty good veteran guys to put around them.”

Five starting position players who were 25 or younger (SS C.J. Abrams, CF Jacob Young, 2B Luis Garcia Jr.; LF James Wood, C Keibert Ruiz) are returning. So is No. 1 starter MacKenzie Gore, who just turned 26 in February, plus back of the rotation starters Mitchell Parker and DJ Herz.

To that base, general manager Mike Rizzo added former 29-year-old Gold Glove and Silver Slugger winner Nathaniel Lowe (in a trade with the Rangers) to solidify first base and 32-year-old power bat Josh Bell (signed as a free agent) to be the DH.

He also signed two starters: 2019 All-Star right-hander Michael Soroka and lefty Shinnosuke Ogasawara from the Chunichi Dragons of the Japan Central League.

Said Dombrowski: “They’ve got some really good, young players. You never know when it will come.”

MARLINS

It would be charitable to say that Miami is rebuilding. Again. It would probably be more accurate to depict it as starting over after yet another salary dump.

It began barely a month into the 2024 season when they sent their best hitter, Luis Arraez, to the Padres. They subsequently moved established reliever A.J. Puk and middle-of-the-order bat Jazz Chisholm Jr. before really backing the truck up at the trade deadline. On July 30, six separate trades gutted what remained of the big-league roster.

No team can be completely dismissed and the Marlins always seem to have emerging talent and some good arms. Catcher Augustin Ramirez, acquired in the Chisholm deal, is being promoted as a future star. Sandy Alcantara is expected to be 100 percent. The 2022 NL Cy Young winner is expected to be fully recovered from the 2023 Tommy John surgery that cost him all of last season.

The Phillies, of all teams, shouldn’t have to be reminded about not dropping their guard. After all, they went just 7-6 against the 100-loss Fish last year.

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Giants Notes: Bivens added to bullpen after breakthrough season

Giants Notes: Bivens added to bullpen after breakthrough season originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO — Bob Melvin has been revealing his Opening Day roster one piece at a time. After Monday night’s exhibition at Oracle Park, he was particularly happy to be able to give the latest name. 

Spencer Bivens will be in the bullpen, Melvin announced, adding another chapter to one of the best stories on the roster. The right-hander made his big-league debut last season at the age of 29 after years of pitching in independent leagues and the minors.

“The story is great, but the performance is what got him to the big leagues and kept him here,” Melvin said. “And the versatility is something that you don’t often get. We saw him go five innings in a start last year, he came in with guys on base at times, he’s basically done everything for us and has had a good spring on top of it. It’s always rewarding to be able to tell guys that are just great guys and great stories. From the point last year when we gave him a spring training roster, which he was appreciative of, finally (being) in a big league clubhouse, to where he is now, it’s pretty cool.”

Bivens is the seventh known member of what will be an eight-man bullpen. Earlier Monday, Melvin announced that Hayden Birdsong will be part of that group, as well as Randy Rodriguez. They join closer Ryan Walker, Tyler Rogers, Camilo Doval and Erik Miller. It appears the final spot will go to veteran right-hander Lou Trivino.

In Birdsong, Bivens and Rodriguez, Melvin should have three length options early in the year. Bivens threw 40-plus pitches multiple times last season, including a spectacular outing against the Los Angeles Dodgers in which he stunned even Melvin by lasting five innings. 

The plan is to keep Birdsong stretched out early on and then reevaluate. The 23-year-old said he had hoped to be a starter, but he’s excited that he’ll take part in his first Opening Day on Thursday. The Giants are confident there will be plenty of opportunities to slide Birdsong back into the rotation.

“I’m still going to probably try to get that at some point,” he said.

Ready For The Astros

The fifth starter competition actually was not as heated as everyone thought. Roupp revealed that Melvin gave him the news last week, a few days after he struck out 13 in a minor league start. He kept his poker face but it was hard, especially with Birdsong, his locker mate and friend. 

Roupp always has wanted to return to starting and he began to think the Giants felt the same way when they gave him four starts at the end of last season. That cameo showed the staff what Roupp was capable of, and this spring he further elevated his case by adding a new changeup and cutter and using the four-pitch mix to dominate the Cactus League. 

“Coming into camp, I knew I had to compete and pitch well to make the team, let alone make it as a starter,” Roupp said. “That’s kind of what I did, and here we are.”

This is the second straight year that Roupp has won a job in camp. When Melvin delivered the news, he asked him to keep it quiet, but also to start preparing for the Houston Astros. Roupp will take the fifth spot in the rotation next Tuesday. 

The 26-year-old threw just 76 2/3 combined innings last season, so if he pitches well enough to stay in the rotation, the Giants could run up against a cap at some point. That never was part of the spring competition, though, and Roupp isn’t concerned. He threw 100 innings in his final college season and 107 1/3 in the minors in 2022. 

“I’ve done it before,” he said. “It won’t be an issue.”

Where Does He Fit?

It was a bit of a surprise when Sean Hjelle was optioned over the weekend. The tall right-hander quietly had become one of the longest-tenured members of the pitching staff and he had a 3.90 ERA and 3.62 FIP in 58 appearances last year, but the Giants felt they ran out of spots after Birdsong became part of the bullpen mix and Bivens — who has a similar profile — won a job.

Melvin said he understood that the news would sting a bit for Hjelle, but he told him that part of the decision was about keeping as many guys in the organization as the Giants could. Trivino, in particular, stands out. Assuming he gets the final spot, the Giants will have to add him to the 40-man roster this week. 

“And sometimes it comes down to results in spring,” Melvin said. “Some other guys that are here right now had better springs, but you know what, you go through so many pitchers over the course of the season. The message (to Hjelle) was to make sure you stay ready because it can happen quickly.”

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Mookie Betts has 'turned a corner' with stomach virus, could play in Dodgers' home opener

Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts warms up prior to a spring training baseball game.
Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts warms up before a spring training game against the Athletics on March 9. (Ross D. Franklin / Associated Press)

Mookie Betts might be ready for the Dodgers’ home opener after all.

Despite being scratched from the team’s Freeway Series exhibition game Sunday, and held out of the lineup again Monday at Angel Stadium, the converted shortstop reported improved symptoms following a workout at Dodger Stadium on Monday afternoon, manager Dave Roberts said, raising hopes that Betts will make his season debut in Thursday’s home opener against the Detroit Tigers.

“Really encouraged,” Roberts said. “I do think that Mookie has turned a corner.”

Betts missed the Dodgers’ opening two games in Japan last week while battling a stomach virus, one that is believed to be a case of norovirus, according to multiple people with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly. Betts said he had lost almost 20 pounds over the course of his illness, which began a few days before the team left for Japan earlier this month. He was scratched shortly before first pitch Sunday, he said, because he needed to throw up after trying to eat solid food.

Read more:How does Freddie Freeman process his place in World Series history? Ask Kirk Gibson

“I’m tired of sitting, tired of just throwing up, tired of doing all this,” Betts said Sunday. “Every time — literally, every time — I fuel my body, I throw up.”

On Monday, however, Roberts said Betts was not only able to keep down solid food, but felt good after a workout that included both defensive drills at shortstop (the position Betts is returning to on a full-time basis this season) and batting practice.

Betts is now scheduled to play in Tuesday’s Freeway Series finale. If that goes well, he should be in the lineup Thursday, when the Dodgers’ regular-season schedule resumes.

“I think it was getting to be pretty concerning, because there really isn’t something to compare what he was going through,” Roberts said of Betts’ illness, which lingered so long that the 32-year-old went for bloodwork to rule out anything more serious. “But talked to him on his way home today. He said he feels great. And expect him to play tomorrow. So right now, we’re in a good spot.”

The Dodgers are also confident that first baseman Freddie Freeman, who also missed both Tokyo games after a flare-up in the same area of his ribs he suffered torn cartilage during last year’s postseason, is past his issue.

Read more:Plaschke: If Dodgers want to be a dynasty, they must win the World Series again

Freeman has played in both Freeway Series games this week, and said Monday he believes that his rib discomfort was simply the result of breaking up scar tissue that had built up where last October’s injury had healed. He made enough progress by the time returned home from Japan, he added, that he didn’t even need to go for an MRI scan.

“Hopefully it will be an afterthought by Thursday,” Freeman said. “I was able to hit in the cage and do whatever I wanted to on the day of Game 2 [in Japan]. But just didn’t know, game-speed, if it would make it come up again. So I thought we ultimately made the right decision.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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Mets' Juan Soto, Yankees' Aaron Boone playfully trade jabs: 'I told him he looks terrible in that uniform'

For the first time since Juan Soto traded in his Yankees pinstripes for Mets’ blue and orange, the two crosstown rivals went head-to-head on Monday, and while it was only a spring training game, it was also a shot for both sides to take a couple of light-hearted jabs at one another.

“I told him he looks terrible in that uniform,” Aaron Boone said with a laugh prior to the game. “It’s good to see him. Obviously, Juan was great for us, but just as important, he was a great guy in our room, a great guy in our clubhouse. Honestly, it was actually really good to see him and just catch up for a minute.

“But yeah, I thought he looked terrible in those colors.”

While Boone was clearly joking (at least for the most part), there’s surely some frustration from the Yankees side that Soto, who helped lead the Yankees to the American League pennant last season, moved across town to the Mets on the largest contract in professional sports history.

“You know, it's just Booney,” Soto, with a smile, said after the game of his former manager’s ribbing. “You know he probably don't like the orange and blue. But, it is what it is.”

"For me, it's a different feeling facing those guys out there who we went through last year. It was really fun experience, because, you already know their mindset and how they are. And facing [Marcus] Stroman, a guy who I was in touch with last year and we have good conversations in the past, so it was pretty cool."

Soto went 0-for-2 at the plate as the Mets and Yankees ended up playing to a 6-6 tie. And while the game was in Port St. Lucie, there were plenty of Yankees fans on hand, and Soto heard a mixed reaction from the crowd when he came up to bat for the first time.

"I think it was a lot of cheers out there, so I take all that and I was happy for my fans,” Soto said.

While there were more than 8,000 fans on hand at Clover Park on Monday, Soto knows the reception will be a bit different the first time he goes back to the Bronx, which will be a weekend series in mid-May.

“You know, Yankees fans, they can surprise you with anything, so I'm expecting the worst," he said with a laugh.

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Juan Soto: Mets ‘expecting’ to be at top of NL East

Juan Sotospent the first four and a half seasons of his big league career in the National League East. During that stretch with the Nationals, he won a World Series title in his first full big league season, but had just two winning years and never captured a division title.

Back in the division and facing the prospect of a healthy Atlanta Braves side, a retooled Philadelphia Phillies unit, and a young and developing core in Washington, the superstar has high expectations for his first year with the Mets.

“You always gotta be expecting to be on the top,” Soto said Monday afternoon. “It doesn't matter who is in the division, we expecting to be at the top all the time.”

The Mets finished six games behind the Phillies and lost out on second place in the division on a tiebreaker with the Braves last year. With Soto aboard in the first year of a 15-year deal, the Mets' are primed to make a push to capture the NL East for the first time since 2015, but the PECOTA projected standings still have New York 2.2 games behind Atlanta for first place.

But after his first spring training, which ended Monday when his new club and old club played to a 6-6 tie, Soto sees a deep squad.

“I think we’re in a good spot,” Soto said. “I think we have a really talented group… we are really a loaded as a team. Can’t wait to see these guys that are going out there.

“Definitely we had to go through some adversities in spring training, deal with some injuries and stuff like that, but I think we’re gonna be fine.”

Earlier in the spring, Soto said he was looking to improve his defense, an area he struggled with in the past, especially at times last year with the Yankees. The slugger said that after working with Antoan Richardson the two “did a really good job” in improving in right field.

“We worked on a lot of things,” Soto said, “we work in our mechanics go to the balls and everything, definitely feel more faster in the outfield like taking better jumps to the balls and getting to the balls quicker.

“So I'm really happy with what we did through spring training. In that way, I feel like we did a really good job, so now we just gotta go out there and perform.”

A.J. Minter ready for regular season workload

The veteran left-hander was “happy” with how he responded after throwing on just one day of rest in the Mets’ final outing of the spring.

“Continued to throw strikes today and, I think, we've finally checked that last box,” Minter said after a two-strikeout inning in which he threw 16 strikes out of 20 pitches, but did allow a solo home run. “Hopefully, show up these next few days if, obviously something sore comes up. I think we checked all the boxes we need to check.”

A hip injury that required surgery limited Minter to just 39 games and 34.1 innings a year ago, but he believes that he’s ready for a regular season workload.

Of course, the lefty said that he needs more repetitions “more than anything."

“I need to just keep throwing,” he said. “Like every outing I go out there, I feel like I get more and more confident. So, I'm really happy.”

The 31-year-old who spent the first eight years of his big league career in Atlanta said the goal of the entire offseason was to be ready for Opening Day.

“I think it was gonna come down to, literally, today, the last day to make that decision, because you never want to go into the season just not feeling confident, but also just not to rush back an injury,” he said, before adding that he “kind of shocked” himself with his progress even knowing how hard he worked during the offseason to make sure he was ready for the start of the season.

Minter is still ramping up the velocity – his average velocity on the fastball and cutter was down a touch in Monday's outing - but they will tick up as the season starts and he threw those pitches in addition to his changeup the way he wanted to this spring.

"Definitely got some good usage," he said.

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Top 50 most important MLB people in 2025 + Elly De La Cruz interview | Baseball Bar-B-Cast

Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

Opening Day week has finally arrived and the Baseball Bar-B-Cast pod is ready with a jam packed pod to kick off the week. Jake Mintz shares his top 50 most important MLB people of the 2025 season with Jordan Shusterman and highlights a handful of people that will define the upcoming year in baseball. The two also sit down with Cincinnati Reds superstar shortstop Elly De La Cruz to discuss being on this year's cover of 'MLB: The Show' video game. The two end the show catching up on all the baseball news they didn't cover during the division preview weeks.

(4:30) - The Opener: Jake reveals his top 50 most important people in MLB this season

(6:45) - No. 42 - Munetaka Murakami

(8:50) - No. 50 - Chandler Simpson

(10:40) - No. 35 - Jed Hoyer

(13:35) - No. 32-24 - S. Alcantarra | L. Robert Jr. | N. Arenado

(15:45) - No. 31. Jasson Dominguez

(18:45) - No. 27-30  - J. Merrill | J. Chourio | J. Jobe | J. Holliday

(21:30) - No. 22-23 - Jose Altuve | Cam Smith

(23:45) - No. 9 - Roki Sasaki

(24:45) - No. 7-8 - Spencer Strider | Ronald Acuna Jr.

(26:45) - No. 2 - Vlad Guerrero Jr

(29:20) - No. 6 - Paul Skenes

(34:10) - Elly De La Cruz interview

(43:00) - Baseball news catchup

[Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Baseball league for the 2025 MLB season]

Opening Day week has finally arrived and the Baseball Bar-B-Cast pod is ready with a jam packed pod to kick off the week. Jake Mintz shares his top 50 most important MLB people of the 2025 season with Jordan Shusterman and highlights a handful of people that will define the upcoming year in baseball. The two also sit down with Cincinnati Reds superstar shortstop Elly De La Cruz to discuss being on this year's cover of 'MLB: The Show' video game.
Opening Day week has finally arrived and the Baseball Bar-B-Cast pod is ready with a jam packed pod to kick off the week. Jake Mintz shares his top 50 most important MLB people of the 2025 season with Jordan Shusterman and highlights a handful of people that will define the upcoming year in baseball. The two also sit down with Cincinnati Reds superstar shortstop Elly De La Cruz to discuss being on this year's cover of 'MLB: The Show' video game.
Jason Jung

Follow the show on X at @CespedesBBQ

Follow Jake @Jake_Mintz

Follow Jordan @J_Shusterman_

🖥️ Watch this full episode on YouTube

Check out the rest of the Yahoo Sports podcast family at https://apple.co/3zEuTQj or at Yahoo Sports Podcasts

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Marcus Stroman solid on the mound as Yankees and Mets play to 6-6 tie

The Yankees and Mets ended Monday afternoon's matchup in a 6-6 tie.

Here are the key takeaways...

-Marcus Stroman made his final start of spring training, and it was a solid outing for the right-hander, who will now play a much bigger role in the rotation, given the injuries to Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil,and Clarke Schmidt.

Though he allowed a pair of solo home runs to Brett Baty and Pete Alonso, that was the extent of the damage. Stroman went 3.2 innings, allowing two earned runs on six hits with four strikeouts and two walks.

Stroman finishes his spring with a 4.73 ERA.

-Ben Rice’s power has been on full display this spring, as he came into this final game with five home runs. He was kept in the ballpark on Monday, but he did fly out to the warning track in right against Max Kranick in the fifth.

Rice went 0-for-3, but he did drive in a run with a bases-loaded walk.

-Jasson Dominguez was one of the few 2025 regulars in the lineup on Monday. Though he struck out in the third inning, the ball got away from Luis Torrens, allowing Dominguez to reach. He then showed off his wheels, stealing second and scoring from there on a Jazz Chisholm Jr. RBI single.

Dominguez went 0-for-3, but he scored a run and later drove in a run with an RBI groundout.

-Pablo Reyes had a cup of coffee with the Mets in 2024, appearing in one game as a pinch-runner and scoring a run, and he got a small measure of revenge against his former team in the top of the second inning when he lined a solo home run to right off of A.J. Minter.

Reyes went 3-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI.

-Spencer Jones homered to left field in the eighth inning, lifting a towering solo home run off of Douglas Orellana, who allowed four earned runs over his 2.0 innings of work.

Jones is still probably a good ways away from the major leagues, but he's posted a .986 OPS this spring.

-Devin Williams and Luke Weaver, the Yankees' one-two punch for the end of games, combined to pitch 2.0 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit while striking out two.

Who was the game MVP?

Reyes, who had a three-hit day.

Highlights

What's next

The Yankees have one final spring training game on Tuesday when they face the Marlins in an exhibition game at loanDepot Park in Miami. First pitch is set for 1:10 p.m.

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Brett Baty, Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo homer as Mets conclude spring training with tie against Yankees

The Mets tied the Yankees, 6-6, on Monday afternoon as their spring training slate concluded.

Here are the takeaways...

- Brett Baty launched a solo homer to right-center field in the second inning after falling into an 0-2 count. It was Baty's fourth home run of spring training.

Baty is expected to not only make the team, but be the regular second baseman while Jeff McNeil is out.

- Pete Alonsoalso went deep, scalding a solo homer to right field in the third.

- With the Mets trailing, 6-3, in the ninth inning, Brandon Nimmo blasted a three-run homer to right field to tie things up.

- A.J. Minter, pitching for the second time in three days, allowed a solo homer in his inning of work. But his stuff was sharp, as he struck out a pair swinging during his 20-pitch outing as he threw 16 strikes and four balls.

As long as Minter feels good following his outing, the expectation is that he'll be in the Opening Day bullpen.

- Max Kranick worked a perfect inning in the fifth, inducing a fly out to right field and a soft grounder back to the mound before striking Jazz Chisholm Jr. out looking with a 96 mph fastball.

Kranick, who is in competition with Huascar Brazoban for the final spot in the bullpen, has more than earned a spot on the Opening Day roster. He finished spring with a 1.46 ERA.

- Pitching the inning after Kranick, Brazoban also twirled a perfect frame with one strikeout. He finished spring with a 1.69 ERA.

- Luisangel Acuña entered in the middle of the game. He smacked a single and drew a pair of walks.

- Hayden Senger, who is expected to be the backup catcher until Francisco Alvarez returns, nailed two runners trying to steal second base in the fourth inning.

At the plate, Senger had a run-scoring infield hit.

- Ryne Stanek worked around a pair of walks in 1.0 scoreless inning. He did not allow a hit or run in five Grapefruit League outings.

Highlights

Upcoming schedule

The Mets break camp and travel to Houston on Monday night.

Opening Day is Thursday at 4:10 p.m. on SNY.

Clay Holmes will get the start for New York, opposed by Framber Valdez for the Astros.

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Mookie Betts’ domestic opening day status uncertain after he misses exhibition with ongoing illness

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts is still dealing with an illness and his return remains uncertain.

Betts, who missed the Dodgers’ first two games of the regular season at the Tokyo Dome and was sent back to Los Angeles to continue recovering, was a late scratch for an exhibition win against the Los Angeles Angels.

Betts told reporters he hasn’t been able to keep down solid food without vomiting for two weeks and has lost about 15 pounds during that time.

“I mean, I feel great,” Betts told reporters in Los Angeles. “Like, my body feels great. I’ve been able to work out. I’ve been able to do pretty much everything but eat, which is strange. So the symptoms have kind of gone away, I just have to figure out how to get my stomach to kind of calm down.”

The perennial All-Star said so far all his blood work and other routine testing have been normal. Betts won’t play in another exhibition at Angel Stadium, and he’s a long shot for the Dodgers’ opening day game on American soil against Detroit.

“It’s just hard to fathom not eating and going to play a game,” Betts said. “So it looks like I’m just going to be light for a little bit. Maybe I play uphill a little bit for the beginning of the season. But no, I just want to play, man. I’m tired of sitting, tired of throwing up, tired of doing all this. I really just want to play.”

Betts is making the full-time transition to shortstop after playing most of his career in right field and second base. The 2018 AL MVP hit .289 with 19 homers and 75 RBIs last season, helping the Dodgers win the World Series.

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Roupp wins Giants' fifth rotation spot; Birdsong makes bullpen

Roupp wins Giants' fifth rotation spot; Birdsong makes bullpen originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO — A year ago, Landen Roupp pitched his way onto the Opening Day roster. This spring, he pitched his way into the rotation. 

Manager Bob Melvin revealed Monday that Roupp was the surprise winner of a spirited competition for the fifth starter spot. He edged out Hayden Birdsong, who will make his first Opening Day roster but will begin the season as a reliever. 

“We saw it last year, especially at the end, he’s a pretty determined young man,” Melvin said of Roupp. “Both of them had great springs so really we could go either way with it. Both of them are kind of made to be starters, but I think [Roupp] pitched a little bit more towards the end [of the spring]. Yesterday, [Birdsong] had a cracked nail that kind of affected stretching him out. That’s how we’ll proceed.”

Left-hander Kyle Harrison entered camp as the favorite to fill out the rotation, but the Giants determined pretty early on that it would be a two-horse race. Harrison spent most of the offseason rehabbing an inflamed shoulder and lost significant weight just before camp because of a virus. Roupp and Birdsong were neck and neck all spring, and both threw well enough to lock up a rotation spot. 

Roupp pitched 22 innings across Cactus League games, minor league games and the exhibition in Sacramento on Sunday night. He posted a 2.45 ERA, and five of his six earned runs all spring came during one poor performance in early March. Roupp struck out 35 in those 22 innings, with just five walks. On Sunday, he allowed one hit to the River Cats and struck out eight in five innings. 

Birdsong followed Roupp on Sunday, but a cracked nail on his middle finger limited him to one-third of an inning. Overall, he had a 3.68 ERA in the spring with 21 strikeouts to three walks in 14 2/3 innings. Birdsong said he wasn’t concerned about the nail and that it happens to him often. He’ll be ready to go on Thursday in Cincinnati if needed. 

The Giants are close to setting their entire roster. Roupp joins Logan Webb, Justin Verlander, Robbie Ray and Jordan Hicks in the rotation. Birdsong joins Ryan Walker, Tyler Rogers, Camilo Doval and Erik Miller as bullpen locks, and the Giants seem poised to round that group out with Randy Rodriguez, Lou Trivino and Spencer Bivens. Joel Peguero is also in camp and is trying to crack that initial bullpen after a huge spring. 

On the position player side, Sam Huff will be the backup catcher and Luis Matos likely will be the fourth outfielder and get some DH at-bats. The Giants still are trying to finalize their bench, with Brett Wisely, Casey Schmitt, Grant McCray, David Villar and Christian Koss in the mix. Koss, in particular, has made a strong push lately to be a backup infielder. 

The most interesting competition in camp, though, was with the rotation. Roupp wasn’t supposed to make the initial roster last year, but he was too good in the spring to be left out. He had a 3.58 ERA as a rookie and looked comfortable in four starts at the end of the 2024 MLB season. 

Birdsong is the one who now will have to adjust, but the Giants are confident they can keep him stretched out. The hope is that they can find multi-inning outings for him early in the season, and given the rhythms of 162 games, it’s a lock that Birdsong will be in the rotation at some point. 

Melvin said that at the start of the season, the front office and staff wanted to reward both young pitchers and go “with what we feel is our best” roster. That means a rotation slot for Roupp, a serious worker who nearly kept his emotions in check when Melvin delivered the news. 

“He was pretty stoic. I think I saw a little hint of a smile,” Melvin said. “That’s kind of the way he is.”

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Roki Sasaki, Dylan Crews, Jasson Dominguez are among baseball’s most intriguing rookies for the 2025 season

CHICAGO — It sure looks as if another impressive group of prospects could have a major impact on the majors this year. Baseball’s next big star could be part of this year’s rookie class.

Here is a closer look at some of the majors’ most intriguing rookies this year:

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki

The rich got a little richer when the World Series champions signed Sasaki to a minor league contract in January that included a $6.5 million signing bonus. The 23-year-old right-hander with a fastball that tops 100 mph had a 29-15 record with a 2.10 ERA over four seasons with the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan’s Pacific League. The star-studded Dodgers could employ a six-man rotation during parts of the season to help with Sasaki’s transition to the majors.

New York Yankees outfielder Jasson Dominguez

Juan Soto’s departure in free agency should clear the way for regular playing time for Dominguez with New York. Nicknamed “The Martian,” Dominguez was signed for a $5.1 million bonus as a 16-year-old in 2019. He made his major league debut in 2023, but his development has been hampered by elbow and oblique injuries. He hit .314 with 11 homers and 35 RBIs in 58 games over three minor league stops last year.

Washington Nationals outfielder Dylan Crews

The sweet-swinging Crews was taken by Washington with the No. 2 pick in the 2023 amateur draft, right after his LSU teammate Paul Skenes went No. 1 overall to Pittsburgh. Crews can do it all, batting .270 with 13 homers, 68 RBIs and 25 steals in 100 games in the minors last year. He was brought up by Washington in August and swiped 12 more bags while hitting .218 with three homers in 31 games in his first stint in the majors.

Detroit Tigers pitcher Jackson Jobe

The 22-year-old Jobe steps into Detroit’s rotation after tossing four scoreless innings over two relief appearances in his first big league stint in September. He also worked 1 2/3 innings of three-run ball in the playoffs. The right-hander was selected by the Tigers with the third overall pick in the 2021 draft.

Chicago Cubs infielder Matt Shaw

Shaw takes over at third base for a Cubs team hoping to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2020. The 23-year-old Shaw was selected by the Cubs with the No. 13 pick in the 2023 draft. He hit .284 with 21 homers, 71 RBIs and 31 steals over two minor league stops last year.

Boston Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony

The Red Sox have a solid outfield with Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu, but the 20-year-old Anthony — one of baseball’s top prospects — is pushing for a spot. He finished last season with Triple-A Worcester, batting .344 with three homers and 20 RBIs in 35 games, to go along with a .982 OPS. He could make his big league debut this summer.

Arizona Diamondbacks infielder Jordan Lawlar

Lawlar, the No. 6 overall pick in the 2021 draft, was hampered by thumb and hamstring injuries last season. But there is still a lot to like about the 22-year-old shortstop. He played in just 23 minor league games last year, but he hit .318 with two homers and 20 RBIs. He is going to begin the season with Triple-A Reno so he can receive regular playing time.

Athletics infielder Jacob Wilson

The son of former big league infielder Jack Wilson is a key building block for the A’s in the runup to their planned move to Las Vegas. Jacob Wilson made his major league debut in July, and the 22-year-old shortstop hit .250 with three RBIs in 28 games. The No. 6 overall pick in the 2023 draft also batted .433 (90 for 208) with seven homers and 39 RBIs in 53 games in the minors last year.

San Diego Padres outfielder Tirso Ornelas

Ornelas is coming off an impressive season with Triple-A El Paso, hitting .297 with 23 homers and 89 RBIs in 128 games. The Mexico native was signed by San Diego as part of its 2016 international signing class. He was sent down to minor league camp late in spring training, but he could make his big league debut this summer.

Baltimore Orioles pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano

The 35-year-old Sugano agreed to a one-year, $13 million contract with Baltimore in December. He is coming off his third MVP season in Nippon Professional Baseball’s Central League, going 15-3 with a 1.67 ERA for the Yomiuri Giants. With Corbin Burnes’ departure in free agency, the Orioles are hoping Sugano can provide a lift for their rotation.

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If baseball wants its pitchers focused on durability, the rules of the game might have to change

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Bold decisions to change Major League Baseball’s longstanding rules quickened the pace of games and revived the popularity of stealing bases over the last few years.

A similarly creative move may be needed to help starting pitching regain the relevance it enjoyed as recently as a decade ago.

Only four pitchers (Seattle’s Logan Gilbert, Kansas City’s Seth Lugo, San Francisco’s Logan Webb and Philadelphia’s Zack Wheeler) threw as many as 200 innings last season, down from 34 in 2014.

During that same 2014 season, all 30 major league teams got over 900 innings from their starting pitchers and five had over 1,000. Last year, only four teams had their starters pitch at least 900 innings, led by Seattle with 942 2/3.

While this shift has been years in the making, the numbers themselves provide a cold slap of reality to longtime fans who remember seeing Bob Gibson throw three complete games in the 1967 World Series or Jack Morris pitching 10 shutout innings in Game 7 of the 1991 Fall Classic.

Going back to the days of Cy Young and Walter Johnson, part of the game’s beauty was watching a pitcher work his way through a lineup three or four times.

With every team having multiple relievers who can come out of the bullpen and throw in the high 90s, what could prompt teams to let their starters work deeper into games?

Managers and players struggle to come up with a solution.

“Outside of just changing rules to incentivize managers to keep guys in games longer,” Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

Roberts’ Dodgers exemplified the bullpen emphasis during their run to the 2024 World Series title. Their starting pitchers worked as many as six innings in just two of their 16 postseason games.

Texas’ Nathan Eovaldi went 5-0 with five postseason quality starts (defined as going at least six innings while allowing no more than three earned runs) a year earlier while helping the Rangers win their first World Series championship. Yet even he understands how much things have changed for starting pitchers since he made his big-league debut in 2011.

“Bullpens are a lot different now than they were back then,” Eovaldi said. “You’ve got a lot more guys who aren’t just eight- and ninth-inning guys. They can come in, in the sixth or seventh, go multiple innings. They all have multiple pitches now as well. I think that’s one of the fascinating things about the bullpen. You don’t have guys who are just a two-pitch mix anymore. They’ve got three or four pitches coming out, and two of them are really, really elite.”

And that’s why there seems only one way to get starters working more innings.

“Putting in rules that you have to,” San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “We’ve created our own monster. It is what it is.”

What rules could MLB create to promote starting pitching?

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred says it’s too early to explore rules changes.

“Our focus right now is training methods, particularly offseason training methods,” Manfred said. “It’s going to be somewhere between education and recommendations. It’s very hard to tell people you can’t do X, Y and Z, right? They’re grown men and there’s no way to monitor it during the offseason.”

One problem is the lack of a clear consensus on what rule changes could work best.

For instance, MLB had the Atlantic League experiment in 2021 and 2023 with a rule change that would force a team to lose its designated hitter if its starting pitcher didn’t finish at least five innings.

Instituting that kind of rule could be a tough sell in the majors, where some of the league’s most bankable stars such as Shohei Ohtani and Bryce Harper have received ample playing time at DH the last few years. Fans paying to see those stars likely wouldn’t be happy to see them get removed as collateral damage from an early pitching change.

MLB hasn’t announced any similar types of rules experimentations in the minors this season.

The maximum number of pitchers allowed on MLB rosters was lowered from 14 to 13 in 2022, though that limit rises to 14 when rosters expand from 26 to 28 on Sept. 1. A more extreme rule change would be to require starters to work at least five or six innings unless they get injured, throw a certain number of pitches or allow a particular number of runs.

Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said he wouldn’t mind seeing the minor leagues try out more rule changes designed at lengthening starting pitchers. He wants those pitching prospects to get accustomed to working deeper into games.

“That’s the way it used to be with starters,” Bochy said. “Now I think the mentality can be, ‘Hey, I’ve done my job. I’ve thrown four or five innings.’ “

Giants pitcher Robbie Ray says the history of the game shows that starters can adapt to longer outings.

“I think starting pitchers are capable of doing it,” said Ray, who won the 2021 AL Cy Young Award with Toronto. “It’s just a matter of kind of training our bodies to do that again because what’s been expected of us has changed over the years.”

Restoring endurance as a valued skill

A 62-page MLB study released in December showed how the focus on rising velocities and maximum effort on each pitch had resulted in more injuries among pitchers. That study also revealed that starts of five or more innings dropped from 84% to 70% in the majors from 2005-24 and from 68.9% to 36.8% in the minors.

“Because we’re trying to create this engine and this repetitive thought of just pure stuff each and every pitch, yeah, starters are going to fatigue sooner,” Cleveland Guardians pitching coach Carl Willis said. “And at the same time, we’re training them that way. We’re training them to do so.

“Everybody still talks about wanting to go out for the sixth, wanting to go out for the seventh and getting deep into games. I don’t know that we’re training them to do that, and I don’t know how we are kind of teaching nowadays can allow that to happen.”

A change in approach could allow those starters to get that endurance. Right now, it’s the older guys who seem more used to that workload.

The MLB leader in quality starts last season was the 34-year-old Wheeler, who had 26. Lugo, 35, had 22 quality starts to tie for second place.

Even so, the 2024 season did offer some encouraging signs for the future of starting pitching.

MLB pitchers threw 5.22 innings per start last season. That represented the most since 2018, though it was still far off the 2014 average of 5.97.

The 2024 season also featured an MLB average of 85.5 pitches per start, the highest since 2019. Starters haven’t thrown as many as 90 pitches per appearance since 2017.

Perhaps it’s inevitable that the pendulum swing at least a little more toward getting starters to work longer. The recent focus on relievers puts more pressure on them, causing bullpens to break down.

There’s one obvious method to change that.

“I don’t think necessarily the game is going to all of a sudden turn back the other way, but there’s a huge push to understand how you can keep a bullpen healthy,” Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “And one of the biggest ways is those starters getting through that first bulk and getting you into the sixth or seventh.”

Now it’s just a matter of figuring out how those starters can pitch deeper into games more often.