Category: MLB

Wednesday is the first game of the 2026 World Baseball Classic. All seven of the Padres involved left the team over the weekend. Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Wandy Peralta joined the Dominican Republic team for an exhibition in the DR. Xander Bogaerts joined the Netherlands team in Florida for their exhibition against Tampa Bay on Wednesday.

Mason Miller joined the USA team in Arizona for their exhibition against the Rockies on Wednesday. Pitchers Ron Marinaccio and Alek Jacob joined the Italy team in Arizona for their exhibition against the Angels on Wednesday.

Minor league players for the Padres are also involved in the WBC. RHP Michael Cienfuegos will be with Panama, LHP Omar Cruz and RHP Victor Lizarraga will join Mexico, Carter Loewen joins Canada and RHP Josh Mallitz will be on the Israel team.

The official first game of the Classic will be on Wednesday between Chinese Taipei and Australia in Tokyo. That game will be broadcast on FS1 at 7 p.m. PT. All the other games that day will be the exhibition games between WBC teams and spring teams for their MLB organizations.

Schedule and locations

Here is the link for the full WBC schedule: https://www.mlb.com/world-baseball-classic/schedule/2026-03-03/www.mlb.com

The WBC has four locations with five teams in each location. The tournament is a four-pool round robin with a single-elimination quarterfinal and a semi-final and championship round that will take place in Miami. Pool play will take place March 5-11 with quarterfinals March 13-14. The semi-finals will be March 15-16 and the championship game on March 17.

Team rosters

The information on each team and their rosters can be found here: https://www.mlb.com/world-baseball-classic/teams

The Padres will play Team Great Britain for their exhibition in Peoria on Wednesday and it will be televised on Padres.TV/MLB.TV at 12:10 p.m. PT.

Team USA features a loaded roster that includes Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes and Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal as well as Padres closer Mason Miller as their closer.

Padres third baseman Manny Machado is the captain of the Dominican team, an official designation that will be displayed on his uniform for the DR.

Power rankings

MLB.com polled 20 members of their staff to power rank the WBC teams. Over the previous five tournaments, there have only been three countries to win the championship. The Dominican Republic has won once, the USA have won once and Japan has taken the title three times.

Those three teams continue to rank in the top three for the current tournament, with Japan ranked first, the USA second and the DR third.

All games will be carried on Fox channels, including Spanish language game broadcasts. Fox Sports, Fox, FS1, FS2 and Tubi are all carrying games during the tournament. Refer to the schedule for specific games and times. The USA has their first game Friday versus Brazil and that will be on Fox at 5 p.m. PT.

How do you improve on the perfect ending?

Clayton Kershaw stood in the desert heat Monday, wearing a far darker shade of blue than the Dodgers do. He does not need a medal, or a chance to fail. His election to the Hall of Fame will be a formality.

In his farewell year, the Dodgers won the World Series, becoming baseball’s first back-to-back champions in 25 years. He secured a critical out. He bathed in adoration at the championship rally, and he told the fans he would be one of them this year.

“I’m going to watch,” he hollered that day, “just like all of you.”

Four months later, he was back in uniform.

Read more:'That's what I expect.' Dodgers' Mookie Betts seeks to regain his All-Star form

He wore a dark blue jersey with red and white piping. As Team USA ran through its first World Baseball Classic workout, Kershaw participated in pitchers’ fielding practice and shagged fly balls during batting practice. He could have been home with his five kids, and instead he was rushing off the mound to take a throw at first base.

That November night in Toronto, as it turned out, was not the last time we would see him in uniform.

“Feels good,” he said Monday. “I wouldn’t put on a uniform for anything else. This is a special thing.”

He put the World Baseball Classic into red, white and blue perspective.

“It’s a bucket list thing for me,” he said.

He is either self-deprecating or painfully honest about his capabilities right now, or perhaps a little of both.

The last World Baseball Classic came down to Shohei Ohtani pitching to Mike Trout. This one could come down to Kershaw pitching to Ohtani.

“I think, for our country’s sake, it’s probably better if I don’t,” Kershaw said.

Never say never. Team USA planned to run a tremendous rotation of Tarik Skubal, Paul Skenes, Joe Ryan and Logan Webb, but now Skubal says he will pitch just once in the tournament. Skenes says he’ll pitch twice. Ryan says he won’t pitch in the first round, at least.

Kershaw might be needed beyond the role he was promised: save the team from using the current major league pitchers in blowouts or extra innings.

In 11 career at-bats against Kershaw, Ohtani has no hits. Kershaw won’t duck the assignment if gets it, but he considers it so unlikely he is happy to share his game plan publicly.

“It’s throw it, pitch away, play away, hope he flies out to left,” Kershaw said. “Don’t throw it in his barrel.

“I can’t imagine, if it comes down to USA vs. Japan, with the arms that we have, that I’ll be needed. But I’ll be ready.”

Kershaw’s average fastball velocity dropped to 89 mph last season, but he led the majors in winning percentage. He could eat innings for some team — maybe even the Dodgers, with Blake Snell and Gavin Stone all but certain to be unavailable on Opening Day.

But, even with his success last year and even with the joy of wearing a uniform once again, he insists he isn’t interested in pitching beyond the WBC.

“I don’t want to,” he said. “You can’t end it better than I did last year. I had a great time last year. It was an absolute blast and honor to be on that team. I think that was the perfect way to end it. Honestly, I don’t know if I would have enough in the tank to pitch for a full season again. I’m really at peace with that decision.

“This is kind of a weird one-off thing, but you can’t really turn down this opportunity. It wasn’t easy to get ready for this, with no motivation for a season, but I actually am in a pretty good spot with my arm. I’ll be fine. If they need me, I’ll be ready.”

Kershaw said he has kept in touch with his old Dodgers teammates, with some connecting on video calls from the weight room or clubhouse at Camelback Ranch. He arrived in the Phoenix area two days before the workout, but he skipped a trip to Camelback Ranch.

“I’ve thought about it,” he said. “I miss the guys. I think it’s probably just better, at least for this first year, for me mentally to just stay away, just for spring training.”

Kershaw said he would be at Dodger Stadium for the championship ring ceremony March 27.

He is content with what he calls “Dad life.” He and his wife, Ellen, just welcomed their fifth child, and Dad life includes lots of shuttles to baseball and basketball practice.

Read more:Shaikin: In L.A. and in Cooperstown, Freddie Freeman will forever be a Dodger, not a Brave

“I run an Uber service,” Kershaw said.

This wouldn’t be a Dodgers story these days without some reference to the team’s big spending so, for what it’s worth, Kershaw spent some time Tuesday chatting with Skubal, who will be the grand prize on the free-agent market next winter, or whenever the likely lockout might end.

That’s a rational explanation, Kershaw says, for Skubal pitching just once in the WBC.

“Everybody knows the situation he is in, contract-wise,” Kershaw said. "Any innings we can get out of him is a huge bonus to this team. He’s great. Super competitive. We’re honored to have him.”

Should we assume Skubal will be pitching for the Dodgers next season? Kershaw laughed.

“No comment,” he said, then walked away to get ready for the first game of his post-retirement life.

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Aaron Judge attempted to fire up Team USA on Monday as it gets ready for the start of the World Baseball Classic this week.

The Yankees outfielder — donning a red, white and blue uniform — got up in front of America’s roster full of All-Stars and delivered a speech that was all about sacrifice and being there for one another.

“We’re going to lay it all on the line,” he said. “If we do that, we’re bringing the gold home, man. I’m telling you.”

Team USA will kick off its quest to win the WBC on Tuesday, when it plays in an exhibition matchup against the Giants in Scottsdale, Ariz. It will have one more tuneup in the desert on Wednesday against the Rockies.

The Stars and Stripes squad will then fly to Houston for its tournament-opening game against Brazil. Tilts with Great Britain, Mexico and Italy will then follow in the ensuing days.

Captain America

Aaron Judge makes a speech to Team USA ahead of the #WorldBaseballClassicpic.twitter.com/xeaiiAgRxF

— MLB (@MLB) March 2, 2026

America is loaded with talent — in addition to Judge, Cal Raleigh, Will Smith, Bryce Harper, Bobby Witt Jr., Kyle Schwarber and more will be available for manager Mark DeRosa.

On the mound, Paul Skenes, Tarik Skubal, Logan Webb, Clayton Kershaw and a host of others have each signed up to pitch for America.

The last time USA participated in the WBC was in 2023, when it fell to Shohei Ohtani and Team Japan in the championship.

The Arizona sun was blazing, Giants fans were howling (it was so obnoxious on the live stream), and the White Sox? Well, tally up another one-run loss. Despite 101 mph on the gun, a bomb by Luisangel Acuña, and Miguel Vargas flashing leather, none of it mattered. The Sox couldn’t hold on late and dropped another one, 6-5, at Camelback Ranch.

Davis Martin got the ball and looked every bit a guy still searching for his stuff. He survived the first two innings, mostly because Vargas bailed him out with a double play that screamed ‘best glove in camp.’

Then came the third, and it all unraveled. Martin forgot where the plate was, walking two with two outs. Then, the desert sky swallowed a routine fly for Jarred Kelenic, gifting the Giants a run-scoring double. Martin’s final line: three innings, four hits, three runs, two walks, two Ks. Not exactly a ‘remember me’ outing.

While the pitching was a bit of a mess, at least the bats and legs woke up. After sleepwalking early, the Sox finally got to Giants prospect Carson Whisenhunt in the third. Korey Lee kept his ‘hey, look at me’ spring rolling, ripping an RBI double and swiping a bag for good measure. He even gunned down Christian Koss, trying to steal, just to remind everyone he’s got a cannon.

Luisangel is turning ‘Acuña Matata’ into a South Side rallying cry. He stayed scorching, yanking a solo shot in the fifth to put the Sox up 5-3 for a hot minute.

Luisangel Acuna goes deep for the first time this spring. 104 mph and 419’. 5-3 White Sox. pic.twitter.com/Hg71nrVzR3

— FutureSox (@FutureSox) March 2, 2026

Between the power and the constant contact, he’s one of the at-bats you don’t want to miss this spring. There were also doubles everywhere as Sosa and Kelenic both smoked two-baggers, with Kelenic’s in the fourth putting the Sox ahead.

Jarred Kelenic stays through the ball to LCF for a RBI double bringing in Sosa for a 4-3 White Sox lead. pic.twitter.com/zjUtUUWt8n

— FutureSox (@FutureSox) March 2, 2026

The bullpen? A grab bag, as usual. Grant Taylor came in for the fifth and looked like he was hurling thunderbolts. Seven pitches, six strikes, and 101 mph on the gun. The kind of stuff that makes you wonder if there’s hope for the rotation someday.

However, the late innings were the same old pain. Jonathan Cannon ate up three frames, but the Giants kept chipping. Nate Furman tied it with a solo shot in the eighth, and the Sox offense faceplanted in their half with Dustin Harris, who was in for Hill, getting caught in a rundown between third and home.

By the ninth, the air was out of the balloon. Zach Franklin took over, and Braden Montgomery made a diving grab to keep hope alive for about five seconds. Unfortunately, next up, Buddy Kennedy crushed a 416-foot bomb to center. Sox went down with a whimper, and they’re now 7-5 on the spring.

The White Sox will try to scrape off the desert dust and maybe win one tomorrow. Sean Newcomb gets the ball against the Padres at Camelback Ranch. The first pitch is at 2:05 p.m. CST. We’ll be right back at it here at South Side Sox!

Spring Training entered week two as the Athletics took on the San Diego Padres at Peoria Stadium in Arizona today, the Padres Spring Training Facility.

Right-hander Mason Barnett got the start for the A’s today. He made five starts for the Athletics in 2025. logging 22+ innings. Righty Michael King got the nod for the Padres this afternoon. After an injury-plagued season he went 5-3 in fifteen starts for San Diego last year, finishing up with a 3.44 ERA.

The A’s bats continued where they left off after yesterday’s twelve-run barrage in the first inning when Tyler Soderstrom got them on the board with a 2-run blast to right field that was a no-doubt homer.

Show ‘em, Sodey! pic.twitter.com/QNFbkBn917

— Athletics (@Athletics) March 2, 2026

Two young prospects who may likely see some real playing time for the A’s this season showed why the team loves them. Henry Bolte singled and showed his speed going from first to third on a single to left field by Junior Perez. After a walk to Kurtz to load the bases, Shea Langeliers singled to drive in both Bolte and Perez. That gave the A’s a 4-0 lead with two outs in the top of the second inning. After 48 pitches, that was it for King.

Barnett, who threw strikes and stayed out of trouble in the first, lost control to start the second with two walks on just nine pitches. He got some help from a missed fair ball call that likely would have scored two. He coaxed a double play ball and then struck out the final batter to end the inning. He ended up with forty pitches over the first two innings.

Bolte continued to impress with an RBI single scoring Max Muncy and moving DeVries from first to third. DeVries scored on a throwing error by the Padres third baseman. Kurtz hit a ground ball to the second baseman, but Castellanos roamed too far off first base and the pitcher didn’t get there on time, scoring Bolte from second base. Nice hustle by a youngster fighting to make it to the bigs.

Barnett’s day was over after 2.1 innings and forty-seven pitches. He gave up no hits but allowed two runners via walks. Brady Basso replaced him and got four straight outs keeping the Padres off the scoreboard through four innings.

Luis Medina replaced Basso in the fifth inning. He gave up the first two hits of the day to Padres batters and one run but also worked out of a jam.

By the seventh inning the Padres had subbed all their starters, and the A’s were beginning the process. Wander Suero replaced Medina in the sixth with a 1-2-3 inning and escaped the seventh after giving up just one hit.

By the start of the eighth inning all starters but DH Brent Rooker had ended their day. Colby Thomas replaced him in the ninth, striking out on three pitches.

Nick Hernandez gave up one hit and struck out two in the eighth and returned to pitch the ninth. He gave up a leadoff homer to Jace Bowen to open the inning. That trimmed the lead to 7-2. Zane Taylor replaced Hernandez with two outs in the ninth and got the final batter to ground out to end the game.

The A’s scored all of their runs in the first three innings but held on to win their third game of the Spring 7-2 over the Padres.

The Cubs scored four runs in the first inning of this game and the game summary shows they hit three doubles in that inning, but all three of those baseballs could have been played had the Reds had a bit better defense.

In the end it didn’t matter, as Jameson Taillon and Ryan Rolison both got lit up for six runs and the Reds smashed the Cubs 17-6 on another very hot afternoon in the Phoenix area (86 degrees at game time, average high for today is 74).

Matt Shaw led off the game with a misplayed double and went to third on a wild pitch. Kevin Alcántara followed with a walk.

Moisés Ballesteros doubled in both runners [VIDEO].

As you can see, Reds left fielder Will Benson misplayed that ball. Still, it was well-struck by Mo Baller.

Dylan Carlson followed with another double. This single by Chas McCormick scored Ballesteros [VIDEO].

Jefferson Rojas followed by hitting into a double play, but Carlson scored to make it 4-0.

That lead didn’t last long. Taillon issued a walk in between getting a pair of outs in the bottom of the first, but after that it was a pair of doubles, making the score 4-2.

The Reds scored four in the second. Noelvi Marte led off with a home run off Taillon [VIDEO].

This was another pretty good pitch that the hitter went and got:

So, Jamo’s last start before heading to throw for Team Canada in the World Baseball Classic wasn’t a good one. He threw 53 pitches (31 strikes). Here’s his pitch breakdown [VIDEO].

The Cubs tied up the game in the third. One run scored on a ground out, the other on this RBI single by Pedro Ramirez [VIDEO].

The 6-6 tie didn’t last very long, because left-hander Ryan Rolison, who had a 7.02 ERA in 31 games for the Rockies last year, got torched for six runs in the bottom of the third. The big blow was a three-run homer by Matt McLain. Rolison has options so he’ll wind up in the bullpen at Triple-A Iowa this year, although it wouldn’t surprise me if the Cubs try to get him through waivers at some point this spring if they need room on the 40-man roster.

The Reds announcers were a bit confused in the fifth, saying that Grayson Moore was pitching for the Cubs, but it was another No. 52, Collin Snider, who got lit up for three runs — another three-run homer, this one by Sal Stewart.

Then both managers cleared the benches for minor leaguers. The Reds added a run in the sixth on their fourth homer of the game, by Rece Hinds. At that point most probably just wanted this game to be over. Cubs minor leaguer Kade Snell smacked a three-run homer in the eighth to make it 17-9.

The result obviously doesn’t matter, but the hard hits of Taillon have to be at least a bit concerning. On the other hand, Carlson’s two doubles give him a .538 BA for the spring. Small sample size and spring games, of course, but Carlson’s making his case to make the Opening Day roster. Mo Baller also had two hits, and his delayed arrival at camp has clearly not affected his bat. Hoby Milner threw a scoreless inning, so that was good.

The Cubs will have an exhibition game against a WBC team Wednesday at Sloan Park, the team representing Italy. Cade Horton will start for the Cubs. At the time of this recap posting, Team Italy had not announced a starting pitcher for the exhibition game. Their top two starters are Aaron Nola and Michael Lorenzen, though I don’t think we’ll see either of those two against the Cubs. Game time Tuesday is 2:05 p.m. CT. No TV or radio for Tuesday’s game.

The Dodgers are now 2-0 in the month of March this spring, as they connected for four home runs to defeat the Colorado Rockies 7-5 on Monday.

Ryder Ryan made his first start of the spring, completing two innings of work on 35 pitches (23 for strikes) while allowing one hit and one earned run and picking up a strikeout. Paul Gervase, Edgardo Henriquez and Jordan Weems each tossed a scoreless inning in relief after Ryan’s departure.

Dalton Rushing began the scoring with a 450-foot no doubt home run to center field in the top of the second inning against Jimmy Herget, his second home run in as many games.

Dalton with his second homer of #DodgersST! pic.twitter.com/XqX4wbRmTZ

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) March 2, 2026

James Tibbs III outmatched Rushing’s long ball with a two-run home run that traveled 458 feet to deep center field in the top of the fourth inning against Welinton Herrera, also his second home run in as many games.

James for the lead! #DodgersSTpic.twitter.com/cZAavSeM2z

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) March 2, 2026

Colorado would tie the game at three in the bottom of the sixth inning with two consecutive home runs from Mickey Moniak and Kyle Karros against right-hander Carson Hobbs. The D0dgers would get both those runs back and retake the lead in the top of the eighth inning on a two-run shot from Elijah Hainline.

Elijah Hainline 2-run shot! pic.twitter.com/0twOqQw884

— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) March 2, 2026

Joe Vetrano added another home run for the Dodgers in the top of the ninth to give them a three-run lead in the top of the ninth inning. Noah Miller drove home the final run of the game with an RBI single to plate Josue de Paula.

Joe Vetrano extends the #Dodgers lead to 3! pic.twitter.com/5QP2QkgwVg

— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) March 2, 2026

After Myles Caba loaded the bases with only one out, Antonio Knowles came in relief, allowing a pair of bases loaded walks to Zac Veen and Braxton Fulford to cut the lead to two. With the running run at first base, Knowles was able to get T.J. Rumfield to ground out to Hainline at second, ending the threat and the game.

The Dodgers are now averaging 6.73 runs per game (74 in 11 games) so far this spring, tied with the San Francisco Giants for the most among cactus league teams.

UP NEXT

The Dodgers look to make it three consecutive wins as they take on the Cleveland Guardians at Goodyear Ballpark on Tuesday (12:05 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA). Roki Sasaki makes his second start of the spring against left-hander Joey Cantillo.

We’re in the full swing of spring training now, and the few roster spots that the Yankees have up for grabs have some good competition going on. Their retooled bullpen has several names that could make the roster or see themselves outrighted to Triple-A Scranton to start the year, as guys like Brent Headrick and Osvaldo Bido try to make their mark. The infield also has some hopefuls looking to make an impression, with Oswaldo Cabrera trying to make it back to the roster after missing most of last season and finding deadline additions Amed Rosario and Jose Caballero ahead of him on the depth chart now.

They’re not headline-grabbing competitions, but they often end up playing a part in enough games down the line to matter — especially in a division as stacked as the AL East. If the difference between being division champs or scrapping for a Wild Card spot comes down to how the middle of your bullpen performs in the middle of June, for instance, you want to have enough weapons to survive the 162-game marathon and avoid nosediving like the Yankees have in recent years. So who is best suited to win spots on the Opening Day roster? Which prospects might impress enough to get a shot midseason? And where is the team’s depth most lacking? If you have questions like these, or anything else on your mind, send ‘em in for a chance to be featured in our Yankees mailbag.

Answers will run on Friday afternoon. All questions received by the night of March 5th will be considered. You can leave your submissions in the comment section below or by e-mail to pinstripealleyblog [at] gmail [dot] com.

Since his first full season in 2015, Mookie Betts had either been named an All-Star or received votes for most valuable player every year.

That held true until last year. In his sixth season with the Dodgers, Betts posted career lows in batting average (.258), on-base percentage (.326), and on-base-plus-slugging percentage (.732) while playing 148 games at shortstop.

Betts, now 33, believes last year was an outlier and he can get back to his previous form.

Read more:For pitching prospect Jackson Ferris, Dodgers organization is 'a breath of fresh air'

“That’s what I expect,” Betts said after making his Cactus League debut Sunday. “I haven’t felt this way in a long time. So, the way I feel now, I’m healthy, my swing’s in a really good spot. My head’s in a really good spot. I haven’t had any bad days in the cage. I haven’t had any bad days [taking batting practice]. Usually by now, I would have taken a thousand swings, trying to fix stuff, trying to get game-ready, and now I’m just cruising. I’m just cruising and I’m ready to go.”

This spring, manager Dave Roberts offered an unequivocal vote of confidence.

“He will be in the MVP conversation this year,” Roberts said. “But again, I think, speaking for Mookie, his main goal is to help us win a championship. So, I think whatever falls out from there, I think that will happen.”

A stomach bug that caused him to lose a considerable amount of weight put Betts behind last spring, and he never quite caught up. Through his first 103 games, he batted .231 with a .302 on-base percentage and .657 OPS. Enduring the longest cold spell of his career, Betts was forced to retool.

“It’s really just going back to what I what I do best, and really just honing in on it,” Betts said. “Instead of trying to fix problems, I was more able to just hone in on what I do best. And kind of groove those patterns instead of trying to fix old habits.”

Read more:Shaikin: In L.A. and in Cooperstown, Freddie Freeman will forever be a Dodger, not a Brave

Betts says in a bizarre way, he enjoyed his season of soul searching.

“I learned a lot about myself,” Betts said. “I learned a lot about how I operate. I was able to get in the right headspace, and sustain the right headspace. And then once I was able to kind of get in the right headspace and stay there, I haven’t been searching, I haven’t been doing anything since I’ve been here outside of just working and preparing.”

Things started to click in late summer. Over his final 47 games, he batted .317 with a .376 on-base percentage and .892 OPS.

It wasn’t the stats that bothered Betts as much as his lack of production through the first four months.

“Once I was able to help the boys, I was fine," Betts said. But before that, I was really upset, not with the numbers per se, but not being able to help. Not doing my job, carrying my weight. Once I was able to do stuff, especially later on in the season, I was able to just take a step back and say, ‘You did pretty good.’"

Part of the plan for maximizing Betts’ abilities is minimizing his work in camp. Betts was the last healthy position player to appear in a spring game, starting Sunday after sitting for the first nine games. He was back in the lineup Monday, collecting his first hit with a single in three at-bats against the Colorado Rockies.

“It’s intentional,” Roberts said last week. “It’s load management. I wanted Mookie to start a little bit later, as far as not getting into spring training ready to go and kind of use spring training to build up, given it’s six weeks.”

Gavin Stone suffers setback, Dodgers ‘pause’ his throwing

Six days after Gavin Stone made his Cactus League debut and threw a scoreless inning, Roberts said Stone suffered a setback and will pause throwing activities. Stone missed all of last season after undergoing shoulder surgery in October 2024.

“Stone threw the inning and then he had a bullpen the next day, and then his shoulder flared up and was sore,” Roberts said before Monday's game. “And so right now, we put him on ice, and trying to let the soreness dissipate. So, given everything that he’s gone through with the shoulder, we wanted to make sure that we kind of pushed pause, so I don’t know when he’s going to start throwing again, but I think it is a setback unfortunately.”

Roberts added that the setback was not expected.

Read more:Edwin Díaz is unquestionably the Dodgers' closer. How the rest of the bullpen shapes up

“He’s worked so hard to kind of get back to where he was pitching in a game," Roberts said. "We’re excited about that. He threw the baseball really well, and it was one inning, so it wasn’t too taxing. So, to come back in his 'pen and not feel good, that’s disappointing, and it’s not from lack of effort, but yeah, just disappointing.”

Roberts also confirmed right-hander Roki Sasaki would make his second Cactus League start Tuesday against the Cleveland Guardians, with the expectation he would go three innings, and right-hander Tyler Glasnow would start Wednesday's game against Team Mexico in a World Baseball Classic tuneup.

Etc.

The Dodgers announced they were reassigning pitchers Patrick Copen, Luke Fox, Jerming Rosario, Adam Serwinowski, Nick Frasso and Jose Rodriguez, catchers Nelson Quiroz and Chuckie Robinson, infielders Keston Hiura and Matt Gorski and outfielder Chris Newell to minor league camp.

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The 2025 San Diego Padres finished with a 90-72 record, driven by a pitching staff widely regarded as one of the best in the majors. The offense was another story. 

Collectively, the team batting average was .252, as they scored 4.33 runs per game. A sharp decline from the season before, with 4.69 runs per game.

Changes occurred at the managerial position, out went Mike Shildt, and in came Craig Stammen. Shortly after his announcement, Stammen reached out to an old teammate, Steven Souza Jr., to become the Padres’ new hitting coach. He accepted the challenge of resurrecting the offense. 

Souza Jr. offers a simple hitting philosophy

Souza Jr. has a simple hitting philosophy of controlling the strike zone. It is an approach that allows hitters to become more aggressive and capitalize on pitchers’ mistakes. Souza Jr. encourages his hitters to visualize their at-bat before stepping into the batter’s box. It helps them identify the holes in the opponent’s defensive alignment.

It removes the threat of the batter overthinking and swinging at pitches outside the strike zone. Now, they can relax at the plate, as their approach only changes with two strikes. All that needs to take place is putting the ball in play. 

Often, the result is that the pitch travels to the gap for an extra-base hit or possibly a home run. The Friars had trouble putting the ball over the fence. They hit 152 home runs, which ranked 28th in the majors last season.

Souza Jr. believes his hitting philosophy will limit batting slumps throughout the season. To reach this goal, his focus is raising the lineup’s confidence in the batter’s box.

2025 Padres offense: A big disappointment

The Padres’ offense was too inconsistent last season, especially with runners in scoring position. They left an average of 3.55 runners in scoring position per game, which ranked near the bottom of the majors. 

The highs and lows were too far apart between an optimal offense and a dreaded run-scoring drought. Yes, lineup stability was a challenge due to injuries sustained by key offensive contributors last season. Jackson Merrill, Jake Cronenworth and Xander Bogaerts all missed significant time, and the run production suffered. Still, the Friars ranked 18th in team scoring with 702 runs, despite being seventh in team batting average. 

They essentially have the same lineup that concluded the 2025 season. To boost production, Souza Jr. must improve their mindset when batting with runners in scoring position. He must take down their stress level that should generate more productive swings.

Improved offensive production must occur in 2026. While the process may have a slow start, this lineup is too talented not to turn things around.

Hopefully, the bats will come into their own this season.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. –– Last week, Gavin Stone was shaping up to be the feel-good story of Dodgers spring training.

Now, he has suffered a “disappointing” setback that raises renewed questions about the Dodgers’ opening day rotation.

As manager Dave Roberts announced Monday morning, Stone’s surgically repaired shoulder “flared up” on him last week, after the 27-year-old made his long-awaited return from an injury that sidelined him for all of last year. 

In his Feb. 24 outing, Stone looked promising during a scoreless inning of work, striking out two batters in what was his first game action since his breakout rookie season in 2024. He came away encouraged by the quality of his stuff, too, hopeful he was finally past the extensive shoulder surgery that repaired his labrum, rotator cuff and shoulder capsule two years ago.

In the days after that outing, however, Stone threw a bullpen session that left his shoulder feeling sore. Thus, the Dodgers have “put him on ice” and shut him down from throwing for now, Roberts said. The team has not set an immediate timeline for when Stone could resume pitching activities. But Roberts indicated the development will likely rule the right-hander out for the opening day roster.

“Given everything he’s gone through with the shoulder, we wanted to make sure we push pause,” Roberts said. “I don’t know when he’s gonna start throwing again. But it is a setback, unfortunately. With the shoulder soreness, we’re just trying to be thoughtful and mindful for Gavin. And right now, he’s trying to get everything to calm down.”

Before Monday’s development, Stone seemed to be in strong position for an opening day roster spot.

With Blake Snell still working back from his own shoulder problem, and Shohei Ohtani unlikely to be fully built up as a pitcher by the time the season begins, the Dodgers appeared to have at least one spot up for grabs that Stone was competing for.

Now, the process of filing it could be trickier.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto is ahead of schedule, and off to represent Team Japan at the World Baseball Classic. Tyler Glasnow and Roki Sasaki are also ramping up in camp, and set to make their second starts of the spring the next two days.

Add in Ohtani –– who is still expected to be in the Dodgers’ season-opening rotation, but might be on a stricter workload as he returns from his DH duties in the WBC — and the Dodgers have four names penciled in to what could be either a five- or six-man group.

How they round out the rest of it will now be a central question for the rest of this spring.

Emmet Sheehan figures to be a leading candidate, but is a bit behind schedule after dealing with a sickness at the start of camp, having yet to appear in a Cactus League game. River Ryan and Justin Wrobleski are in the mix as well –– though Ryan is still dialing in his command as he returns from Tommy John surgery.

“River is still trying to make his way back, find his way back,” Roberts said. “I was talking to him on the bench a couple days ago, where he said there’s a timing mechanism that he and the guys … in our (pitching development) department kind of figured out. So I want to see how that looks. But he’s still gotta pitch well. He hasn’t pitched a whole lot for us.”

One pitcher who isn’t a rotation candidate: Kyle Hurt.

Like Stone and Ryan, he is coming back from a lost season in 2025 that was spent recovering from Tommy John. And while he is “one of the guys that has stood out for me early in camp,” Roberts said, the Dodgers are viewing him as more of a multi-inning relief option than traditional starting pitcher.

Another name to watch could be 32-year-old left-hander Cole Irvin. He is a six-year MLB veteran (with a 4.54 ERA in 134 career outings) who signed a minor-league deal with the team this spring after pitching in South Korea’s KBO last season.

“We’re gonna look at the guys we have,” Roberts said. “We’ve got some good candidates for starters.”

Just, with Stone now hurt again, one less than they were hoping to.

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As the third week of Spring Training gets underway, the San Diego Padres have continued to show promise in their Cactus League play. They have remained competitive in games they had no business being competitive in. As hard as it is to gauge the weight of spring performance, it has been exciting to watch.

Now that players’ roles have become slightly more concrete, it might be time to take a look at lineup projections for left-handed starters versus right-handers. How will the lineup math work when facing lefty Tarik Skubal on Opening Day in comparison to righty Jack Flaherty a few days later?

Against lefties

1. Xander Bogaerts SS 
2. Jackson Merrill CF 
3. Manny Machado 3B 
4. Fernando Tatis Jr. RF 
5. Miguel Andujar DH 
6. Jake Cronenworth 2B  
7. Ramón Laureano LF 
8. Nick Castellanos 1B 
9. Freddy Fermin C 

Week one of Spring Training found San Diego with an interesting order for the Padres’ starting four. Manager Craig Stammen stated that it’s uncertain whether or not this will be a part of the Opening Day lineup but also argued for the logic behind the change.

This lineup utilizes newcomers Andujar and Castellanos for their strengths against left-handers, putting the latter at his new position of first base. Andujar would likely be taking the starting reps at DH most of the time, except to give one of the starting outfielders a day off.

The rest of the lineup is pretty straightforward, with it being balanced between lefty and righty bats, it could make for a markedly better year against left-handed pitchers.

Against righties

1. Xander Bogaerts SS 
2. Jackson Merrill CF 
3. Manny Machado 3B 
4. Fernando Tatis Jr. RF 
5. Gavin Sheets 1B 
6. Ramón Laureano LF 
7. Miguel Andujar DH 
8. Jake Cronenworth 2B  
9. Freddy Fermin C 

Sticking with the top four from the last lineup (since that’s much less likely to change due to pitching), this supplants Castellanos at first base for Gavin Sheets. The 2025 breakout player for San Diego mashes against righties, and can play passable defense at the cold corner.

The rest of the lineup is likely about the same. The problem is the lack of left-handed bats in the lineup. There’s only three lefty bats (Merrill, Sheets, and Cronenworth) with the rest being right-handed batters. 

It’s possible that it won’t affect too much as long as they’re spread throughout the lineup. But the lineup math could get difficult if you move one of them and then the Friars are struggling to solve for a streak of right-handed bats. 

Who’s warming up the bench?

1. Luis Campusano C
2. Samad Taylor/Jose Miranda INF
3. Sung-Mun Song INF
4. Bryce Johnson/Alex Verdugo OF

These players are the ones likely on the bench no matter who’s on the mound. Apart from them, San Diego would probably have Sheets benched against lefties and Castellanos and Andujar versus righties. 

Campusano is currently the favorite for the backup catcher role behind Fermin. It’s incredibly unlikely that he gets beat out for that role since he is out of options and needs to make the major-league roster or else clear waivers to be sent down to Triple-A. 

Song has been battling back from a minor oblique injury that has slowed his emergence into MLB, but has still managed to log two hits across his first five games. He’s likely to fill a versatile utility role for the club, playing wherever is needed.

The fight for the last spots is now between Taylor and Miranda for the infield, and Johnson and newcomer Verdugo for the outfield. The former have been destroying baseballs so far in Cactus League play, hitting .462 and .412, respectively. 

Johnson is the likely candidate for outfield depth, given his tenure and consistency with San Diego. That said, if Verdugo manages to turn it up in the next few weeks, he could make his way onto the big-league roster.

How the lineup math works out will be a matter of scrutiny on Stammen’s part, and it’s likely it won’t be figured out for the next few weeks. Whatever happens, the Friars have a great problem on their hands: too many good options.

Red Sox 7 Blue Jays 6

I know it is spring, but it would be nice to win occasionally.

Cody Ponce threw 2 innings, allowed 4 hits, 1 earned with 2 strikeouts. Not bad for his first time out there.

Other pitchers:

• Tyler Rogers: 1 inning, 2 hits, 1 earned, 1 k. 6.75 ERA.
• Brandon Little: 1 inning, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts. 0.00 ERA this spring.
• Jorge Alcala: 1 inning, 2 hits, 2 earned, 1 k, 1 home run. 9.00.
• Spencer Miles: 2 innings, 2 hits, 1 earned, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts. 4.50 ERA. Got as high as 96.4 mph on the fastball, but most were around 95.
• Devereaux Harrison: 2 innings, 2 hits, 2 earned, 3 strikeouts, 1 home run. 7.71.

Hitters, Starters:

• George Springer: 1 for 2, walk, k. .500.
• Nathan Lukes: o for 2, RBI, k. .077.
• Davis Schneider: 0 for 2, walk. .083.
• Addison Barger: 1 for 3, grand slam home run, 4 RBI, k. .133.
• Jesús Sánchez: 1 for 2, walk. .188. And he stole a base.
• Tyler Heinemann: 0 for 2. .250.
• Myles Straw: 0 for 2. .167. Plus a throwing error.
• Josh Kasevich: 1 for 3. .462.
• Riley Tirotta: 0 for 2, k. .143.

Others:

• Eloy Jiménez: 1 for 2, double. .412. I wonder if Lukes is starting to consider going all Jeff Gillooly on Eloy yet?
• Eddie Micheletti Jr.: 0 for 1, walk. .250.
• Cutter Coffey: 0 for 2. .000.
• Charles McAdoo: 1 for 1, home run. ..375. He’s impressing.
• Carlos Mendoza: 1 for 2, k. .556.
• Aaron Parker: 1 for 1. .400.
• Jake Casey: 0 for 1. .250.
• Josh Rivera: 0 for 1. .143.

Tomorrow the Jays host the WBC’s Team Canada. Kevin Gausman and Logan Allen are the starting pitchers.

The St. Louis Cardinals Spring Training roster is now down to 39 after 11 players were just reassigned elsewhere.

A press release just shared by the St. Louis Cardinals says right-handed pitcher Tekoah Roby has been sent to Memphis while Jurrangelo Cijntje, Pete Hansen, Ixan Henderson, Austin Love, Hancel Rincón, Sem Robberse, Jared Shuster and Zack Thompson, catcher Graysen Tarlow and outfielder Mike Antico are now headed to the minor league camp.

If you’re keeping score, that means the St. Louis Cardinals now have 39 major league roster players and 18 non-roster invitees still on the Spring Training roster.

Noah Cameron day!

Today's starters in Tempe. pic.twitter.com/DzHVb8Pvt1

— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) March 2, 2026

Old friend Adam Frazier in the lineup for the Angels.

Another day in Tempe 🏜️

📻: @AngelsRadioKLAA#LAASpring x @FBMSupplypic.twitter.com/bQ11xCA7t1

— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) March 2, 2026