Category: Baseball

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Just how important is the bullpen for an October run?

The human element becomes entertainment thanks to ABS.

ESPN names the most polarizing teams right now in MLB.

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

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

Jos Posnanski has his take on ABS so far.

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

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

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

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

The Super Bowl is returning to Las Vegas in 2029.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

More Braves News:

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

MLB News:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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

Today in baseball history:

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

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

Today in History:

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

Thanks for reading. À bientôt.

Good morning Birdland,

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

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

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

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

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

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

Links

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

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

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

Orioles birthdays

Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!

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

This day in O’s history

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

Now THAT is how you debut.

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

On to the links.

Phillies news:

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

MLB news:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Around baseball

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today’s Matchup

New York Yankees at Seattle Mariners

Time: 4:10 p.m. EST

Video: YES Network, Mariners.tv

Venue: T-Mobile Park, Seattle, WA

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PHOENIX — One day, he’s waking up in Reno, Nevada, and is told he’s going to the big leagues.

The next, Jose Fernandez is celebrating the greatest day of his 22-year-old life, with his teammates dousing him with beer and everything else they could find for their overnight hero, who Tuesday night produced the finest major-league debut in Arizona Diamondbacks history.

Fernandez, ranked as only the 27^th-best prospect in the Diamondbacks organization, became the eighth player in major-league history to hit two home runs in his debut, with the last one a game-winning, three-run homer in the eighth inning off future Hall of Famer Kenley Jansen in the Diamondbacks’ dramatic comeback 7-5 victory over the Detroit Tigers.

“Grateful, grateful to God,’’ Fernandez said. “More than I could have expected. ... Just a dream come true.’’

This is a kid who was signed as an international player out of Venezuela at the age of 17, spent the past four years in the lower minor leagues, never advancing past Class AA until spending one day at Triple-A this year. He had a strong enough minor league season last year, slashing .272/.321/454 with 17 homers to be placed on the 40-man roster, and opened eyes this spring hitting .280 with an .840 OPS, and three doubles, a triple and three home runs in 25 at-bats.

“He was impressive this spring,’’ Diamondbacks starter Brandon Pfadt said, “so we figured we’d see him at some point.’’

Just not in the first week of the season, playing in place of Nolan Arenado, and putting on one of the greatest hitting exhibitions in a debut in baseball history. He stepped to the plate in the second inning and reached base on an infield single off Tigers starter Casey Mize. He took Mize deep in the fourth inning on a 408-foot homer. And in the eighth, with two outs and two runners on with the D-backs trailing 5-4, he started to walk to the plate. He stopped when Tigers manager A.J. Hinch went to the mound and summoned Jansen, who has 477 career saves, just one shy of Lee Smith for third-place on the all-time saves list.

“I thought it was a unique look against a very young hitter,’’ Hinch said, “who I know was going to be in swing mode would be a tough matchup for him.’’

Fernandez walked back to the dugout and was summoned by D-backs veterans Carlos Santanta and James McCann. They told him to watch out for Jansen’s funky delivery.

“I just tried to talk to him about what kind of movement on the ball Kenley would be throwing,’’ Santanta said. “He’s tough. I just told him to be calm. He can do it.’’

Said D-backs manager Torey Lovullo: “They prepared him the best way they could. And the thing about Jose is that he wasn’t panicking. He wanted to see a pitch, see what they were talking about, and then zeroed in on it. That’s a very mature approach.’’

Fernandez watched Jansen throw a first-pitch cutter over the plate for strike 1. He watched the second pitch for ball 1, another cutter below his knees. Jansen threw another cutter, this one up in the strike zone, and Fernandez sent it 409 feet over the left-field fence for a three-run homer.

JOSE FERNANDEZ'S SECOND HOMER IN HIS MLB DEBUT 🤯

The @Dbacks have taken the lead with a six-run inning! pic.twitter.com/53J5pZmAWR

— MLB (@MLB) April 1, 2026

“Not the location I wanted,’’ Jansen said, “but sometimes you come in with no room for error, it’s tough. Give credit to him. He put the ball in play and the ball went out."

The Chase Field crowd erupted, and Pfaadt was back in the clubhouse screaming with the players and clubhouse attendants.

“Everybody in here was jumping up and down,’’ Pfaadt said. “Special day for the whole team, especially him and his family. We all cheered for him when he came in. It was really cool.’’

The celebration was so emotional and lasted so long that D-backs manager Torey Lovullo had to tear himself away just to attend the press conference. They were down 5-1 entering the eighth inning, and then a guy who was called up only because first baseman Pavin Smith went on the injured list with elbow inflammation, fulfills a childhood dream.

“What a day for him,’’ Mize said. “It’ll be a part of his story for his whole life, which is unfortunate for me.’’

But one that could be remembered for an awful long time in D-backs folklore.

“What a good moment for this team, this organization,’’ Lovullo said, “for all the people that have been around Jose pushing him, teaching him, and then ultimately it falls on Jose to go out there and let it all shine.

“We’re so proud of him. He’s a player that came through or system, through our academy, and it’s a great story.

“It’s a great baseball story.’’

One that Fernandez can’t wait to share with his family back home in Venezuela, knowing that for a country who took great pride in winning the World Baseball Classic, they now have another reason to celebrate.

“Thankful for the opportunity," Fernandez said. “It's a dream I've had ever since I was five years old, and just thankful for the opportunity that was given to me.’’

He was hoping that he could have shared the joy of being on that WBC championship team, but he wasn’t invited. Instead, he spent the spring opening a whole lot of eyes, paving the way for the most glorious night of his young baseball career.

“Not yet,’’ Fernandez said, “hopefully ..."

Yet, before he could even finish his answer, Diamondbacks teammate Eduardo Rodriguez, and the starting pitcher in Venezuela’s 3-2 championship victory over Team USA, jumped in and provided the answer.

“Oh, he’ll be at the next one all right,’’ Rodriguez said.

Hey, with nights like these, Fernandez just might find himself playing third base for Venezuela in the 2028 Olympics, too.

And, if you’re Fernandez, why stop dreaming now?

Follow Bob Nightengale on Bluesky and X @Bnightengale.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jose Fernandez has incredible MLB debut in Diamondbacks win vs. Tigers

If you’re new to these parts — “these parts” being the generic internet space surrounding the San Francisco Giants — then you’ll need to familiarize yourself with the lingo. Namely, one phrase: a “Webbing.”

A Webbing is the tragic sequel to a Caining, wherein a star Giants pitcher — first Matt Cain, now Logan Webb — pitches excellently, suppresses runs, and loses thanks to an inept offense. Last year, for instance, Webb allowed two or fewer runs a staggering 21 times, yet the Giants managed to lose seven of those games … and he was even tagged with the losing decision on three occasions.

That did not happen on opening day. San Francisco’s anemic offense was spared the embarrassment of a Webbing due to Webb’s uncharacteristic struggles against the New York Yankees. So Webb’s second start of the year, on Tuesday against the San Diego Padres, offered an opportunity for redemption and equilibrium. It seemed we were destined for our first Webbing of the year.

Instead, we were treated to something much rarer, and so much more delightful: the Reverse Webbing.

A Reverse Webbing, if you couldn’t deduce it, is when Webb doesn’t pitch to his brilliant standards, but it doesn’t matter because the offense displays so much vim and vitality* that the Giants cruise to victory nonetheless.

*I just wanted to see if my CMS would allow me to follow “vim and” with a noun other than “vigor.” WordPress wouldn’t let me pick a non-V word, but once I got the V in there it let me pick a new noun to pair with vim. Just workshopping. Like and subscribe for more experimental word pairings. And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

San Francisco’s offense, which was non-existent in their first two games, lifeless in their third game, and just barely functional enough to survive in their fourth game, finally broke out properly. And they wasted positively no time doing so.

On just the second pitch of the game, Willy Adames — mired in another early-season slump — put the Giants on the board. Old friend — and I really do mean “friend,” given his bloated ERA when facing San Francisco — Germán Márquez dropped a meek curveball right into the zone where hitters salivate, and Adames made him pay, with the first home run of the year for the reigning 30-homer streak buster (working title).

But the Giants were not done. On Monday, they had their first multi-run inning of the year, and the taste was fresh in their mouth. Armed with the knowledge that such an activity was legal, the Giants set about rallying. With one out, Heliot Ramos drew a walk. With two outs, Matt Chapman hit a single.

And then came Jung Hoo Lee who, like Adames, has been stuck in a painful slump to start the year, and who, like Adames, broke out with a superstar game. It started with a dose of two-out magic, on a virtually identical pitch to the one Adames had punished. It wasn’t an identical result, as Lee’s fly ball to right field stopped a foot or seven shy of clearing the wall, but it did clear the bases, and left the lefty standing on second with a two-run double.

The Giants had scored three runs in a single inning, after entering the game with just four runs in as many games.

But it became clear in the bottom half of the inning that three runs — unlike on Monday — probably wouldn’t be enough. It was clear that Webb didn’t quite have full control of his pitches. He kept runs off the board in the first inning — no small thing, given that opening frames are his Achilles heel — but it wasn’t particularly pretty, as he worked around a Fernando Tatis Jr. double and a Jackson Merrill walk, while missing the strike zone on 10 of his 21 pitches.

To make matters worse, the Giants spent the next half-inning trying to convince you that their first-inning showing was merely a ruse. Casey Schmitt, Adames, and Rafael Devers strung together back-to-back-to-back one-out singles to load the bases, putting a runner 90 feet away from home with less than two outs. The Giants were staring at a glistening opportunity to prove to you that they were not back on their 2025 BS, and instead had metamorphosed into a team capable of basic situational hitting competency.

Instead, Ramos popped out and Luis Arráez flew out, and the Giants went home empty handed. Webb, meanwhile, returned to the mound for a fairly similar second inning: no runs, but 22 pitches thrown, 10 of which were balls (well, technically, all 22 thrown pitches were balls, but only 12 of those balls were strikes).

The third inning tore us in both directions. It started the way the first did: with a leadoff home run from a scuffling star. This time it was Chapman, who worked the count in his favor before Márquez crossed the plate with a fastball right in Chappy’s happy zone, and it was launched deep into the Southern California air.

With that, the Giants had matched their season’s run total in just the opening third of the game, and gifted their ace a 4-0 lead. But it was in that same inning that Webb’s lack of sharpness finally caught up to him.

After retiring Jake Cronenworth to open the inning, Webb issued back-to-back five-pitch walks to Tatis and Manny Machado, as life returned to Petco Park. Merrill, who possesses the type of ownage against Webb that makes you question everything you know about baseball, blistered a single into right field, scoring a run and getting San Diego on the board.

What followed was the rare baseball play where you can see, in real time, an exact moment where a manager helps his team in a quantifiable way. After Xander Bogaerts worked the count full, first-year manager Craig Stammen had Merrill take off for second. Bogaerts rolled the ball directly to his counterpart Adames, but with Merrill on the move, the only play was at first. Rather than an inning-ending double play, it was an RBI fielder’s choice, and one that kept the line moving so that Miguel Andujar could cap a three-run inning with an RBI single.

The Padres had pulled within a run, and it was another long, ball-filled inning for Webb, who missed the zone on 12 of his 25 pitches. He just didn’t quite have it, and it would be up to his offense to star.

His offense starred. They didn’t stop with those four runs, and instead added four more in the sixth inning. First they flirted with another frustrating inning, after Harrison Bader led off with a double and Patrick Bailey drew a walk, but Casey Schmitt failed to get down a bunt before ultimately striking out.

But Adames would not let it be. The shortstop was deep in his bag, as the basketball writers say (not that I know anything about them), and singled home a run as part of a 4-5 day that finished a triple short of the cycle.

The insurance run was in, but the Giants weren’t done. In a comical but mesmerizing scene, Devers absolutely tore down the first base line to leg out an infield single, which brought up a situation that can either be tragic or deeply satisfying: the revenge at-bat.

Yes, for the second time in the game, Ramos stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and just one out. There would be no soft pop-out this time. Instead, Ramos jumped on a Bradgley Rodriguez sinker that found the heart of the plate, skillfully taking it the other way and through the hole, plating a pair of runs with a single.

The route was on, but not over. Thanks to Devers making it to third on Ramos’ single, Arráez could — and would — knock in the fourth run of the inning with a sacrifice fly, and then start a final rally in the ninth inning, when he bopped a leadoff single, and was pinch-run for by Jared Oliva. Doing exactly what he’s on the roster to do, Oliva easily stole second base, prompting a throw into center field that allowed him to take third. With two outs, Lee missed his third double of the day by about two feet … then settled right back in and blooped an RBI single.

San Francisco’s offense had done what it set out to do, and it had taken all the pressure off of Webb, giving him nine runs — something they achieved in just three of his 34 starts a year ago. And yet, while the offense justifiably was the star of the show, Webb quietly went about reversing his own fortunes as well.

After those three stressful innings in which he gave up three runs, struggled to find the strike zone, and saw his bullpen get loose in the third inning, Webb settled back into the ace that we all know and love. He set down the side in order in the fourth inning, needing just 13 pitches. He showed off his newfound strikeout stuff (Est. 2025) with a thoroughly dominant fifth inning, in which he struck out Tatis on four pitches, struck out Machado on four pitches, and then struck out Merrill on three pitches, finishing just two balls shy of an immaculate inning.

And in the sixth — an inning it once seemed impossible that he’d make it to — he got back to his old tricks, forcing three ground balls and giddily watching as the left side of his infield casually and artfully ate them all up.

It was a remarkable display of turning things around, as Webb, despite giving up three hits and four walks, retired the final 10 batters he faced. Webb said after the game that he made mechanical tweaks late in the start, while Tony Vitello summed it up nicely, stating, “That’ll be one of my favorite outings of the year even though you could take a step back and say it was one of the uglier ones too.”

In the end, the 9-3 victory was the best-case scenario. The offense broke out, and showed Webb that they can carry him. He doesn’t need to do all the heavy lifting. And yet, along the way, he rediscovered his ability to do so.

Can’t ask for much more than that.

Cold weather? Rainy conditions? And a lineup that provided little run support until late?

For Shohei Ohtani, none of it was a problem Tuesday.

In his official return to full-time two-way duties, the four-time MVP didn’t disappoint.

Ever since his signing in Los Angeles, Ohtani and the Dodgers have been waiting for this moment –– when, now more than two years removed from a second-career Tommy John surgery, he will finally be available to pitch and hit over the course of a full season.

And in a 4-1 win over the Cleveland Guardians, he kicked the campaign off in dominantly promising fashion, spinning six scoreless, one-hit innings on the mound while also reaching base three times as a hitter.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to that,” teammate Max Muncy said. “It’s pretty special. It’s really hard to put into words when you see it in person.”

Last year, the Dodgers (4-1) didn’t get to see this version of Ohtani, even after he returned to pitching midway through the season.

He was still building up slowly. His arsenal was often restricted to two or three pitches. And while he was superb in his 47 total innings, striking out 62 batters with a 2.87 ERA, he didn’t complete six frames in a game until his final outing of the regular season.

This year, he did it right out of the gate, striking out six batters in an 87-pitch gem.

Despite making only two pitching starts this spring while being away from camp for the World Baseball Classic, Ohtani came out firing, retiring his first seven in a row and allowing no hits until the fourth.

He kept the Guardians (3-3) guessing by mixing six different pitches, collecting two strikeouts each with his sweeper, splitter and curveball.

It didn’t matter that most of the game was played amid a continuous drizzle, or that he raced between a wet mound and damp batter’s box as the team’s leadoff hitter.

One start in, he was already stoking Cy Young expectations that had been building during spring training.

“I expect nothing short of almost a Cy Young out of him,” Muncy declared.

“He’s just unflappable,” manager Dave Roberts added. “Not a whole lot kind of affects his mind.”

What it means

That every time Ohtani takes the mound, the Dodgers will be tough to beat.

How often that happens remains somewhat unclear. While Ohtani will make regular turns through the starting rotation, the Dodgers will also look to bank him extra days off between some outings. Anything more than 25 starts or 140-150 innings is likely to be unrealistic.

The Dodgers could ride Ohtani’s arm harder, of course. They could maximize his Cy Young chances by giving him a more traditional starter’s workload.

However, they will be playing the long game with the 31-year-old this year, remaining mindful of his workload and prioritizing his late-season availability.

“First and foremost, he’s shown that he’s team-driven,” Roberts said pregame. “But also there’s some individual things that he certainly wants to achieve, which is a good thing.”

Who’s hot

Many of the Dodgers’ biggest bats have yet to get going. Muncy, however, has been an exception.

The veteran slugger is getting on base like usual, drawing what was already his fourth walk of the season in his first at-bat Tuesday. Then, he went deep for the first time this year with a key solo homer in the sixth, winning a lefty-lefty matchup against Guardians reliever Kolby Allard to double what was only a 1-0 lead.

“He was facing a lefty and just trying to put a good swing on it, and homered,” Roberts said. “So “That’s a good sign.”

Muncy was involved again in the eighth, lining a single as part of a two-run rally that put the game away.

With that, the third baseman is now batting .364 (4-for-11) and has reached safely in eight of his 15 trips to the plate.

“I feel really comfortable up there,” Muncy said. “Some of the stuff we worked on is sticking really well right now, and just got to keep progressing into the season.”

Who’s not

On Tuesday? Quite literally, the newly-named Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium, which was drenched by a steady drizzle of rain from the fourth inning on.

The showers were expected, with the ballpark’s grounds crew towing a rarely-used tarp out of storage in the afternoon in preparation for the rain fall.

And while the cover wasn’t ultimately needed, the playing surface clearly suffered. At the end of Ohtani’s outing in the sixth inning, Roberts walked out of the dugout following a four-pitch walk to request new dirt be applied to the bump.

In the ninth, closer Edwin Díaz also struggled with the conditions. He hit his first batter, walked the next and eventually gave up a run, before settling down to finish the game without further drama.

Up next

The Dodgers will get their first rubber-match contest of the season on Wednesday, trying to take two of three from the Guardians in what will be an early 5:10 p.m. start. Yoshinobu Yamamoto will get the start against right-hander Gavin Williams.

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The Yankees got exactly the response they needed Tuesday night, bouncing back from their first loss of the season with a 5-0 win over the Mariners in Seattle. After Monday’s frustrating walk-off defeat, New York handed the ball to Max Fried on normal rest thanks to Sunday’s rare offday, and the ace delivered exactly the kind of outing you hope for coming off a defeat.

The Yankees wasted no time jumping on M’s Opening Day starter Logan Gilbert. With two outs in the top of the first, Cody Bellinger singled up the middle and came all the way around from first when Ben Rice ripped a double down the right-field line and off the wall.

Giancarlo Stanton kept the rally alive by dropping a lazy fly ball into no man’s land around where Rice’s ball ended up, plating Rice from second (pun fully intended) and giving New York a quick 2-0 lead, already topping their Monday output. The early traffic immediately put Gilbert under pressure, forcing the Mariners’ right-hander to throw 28 pitches in the opening frame.

The Yankees put the leadoff man on in both the third and fourth innings and had chances to create separation, but Aaron Judge and Stanton each grounded into inning-killing double plays that allowed Seattle’s starter to keep the deficit manageable.

That changed in the sixth.

Trent Grisham sparked the inning by bouncing an automatic double over the wall in right. After Gilbert got Judge to chase for a strikeout, Cody Bellinger punched a single up the middle to put runners at the corners and keep the pressure on.

The Yankees then forced the issue. Bellinger broke for second, and a rare throwing error by Platinum Glove defender Cal Raleigh allowed Grisham to score, stretching the lead to 3-0.

A walk to Rice brought Stanton back to the plate, and the Yankees’ designated hitter ripped a double into left field, scoring Bellinger and moving Rice to third. The hit chased Gilbert from the game after 5.2 innings. Stanton has now registered multi-hit games in each of the Yankees’ first five contests of the year — a rarity in franchise history. Fittingly, he ended the night hitting .500 across 20 PA in the season’s first road trip.

The Seattle pitching change did little to slow the Yankees’ momentum.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. immediately greeted Cole Wilcox with a line drive single to right, bringing Rice home to make it 5-0. Jazz then swiped second, giving New York its second stolen base of the inning and putting even more pressure on Seattle before Wilcox finally escaped the jam.

While the offense gave him plenty of support, Fried did not need any more than what the offense gifted him to start the game. He was in complete control from the jump, carving through the Mariners lineup for seven shutout innings. Through six, Seattle managed just one hit while Fried piled up six strikeouts and consistently stayed ahead in counts, even calling for an ABS challenge himself to get a ball-one call overturned in the fourth.

Fried’s biggest challenge came in the seventh. Julio Rodríguez opened the inning with a single, but Fried immediately erased the threat by getting Josh Naylor to bounce into a crisp 6-3 double play. A hit batter and Brendan Donovan single suddenly gave Seattle its best chance of the night, putting two aboard with two outs.

Fried calmly reset, tapped the PitchCom on his belt, and worked Victor Robles into a routine fly ball to Aaron Judge in right to end the inning and slam the door on Seattle’s last real threat. His final line was everything the Yankees could have asked for: seven innings, three hits, no runs, one walk, six strikeouts, and 90 pitches, 60 for strikes.

Through Fried’s first 13.1 innings this season, he has now allowed just five hits, two walks, and zero runs while striking out 10, looking every bit like the ace southpaw the Yankee front office dreamt he would be when he signed.

And maybe the only pitcher capable of slowing down Aaron Judge right now is his own ace. Judge is now 0-for-9 with six strikeouts in Fried’s first two starts, a funny little side note to what has otherwise been total Yankees dominance. New York has now outscored opponents 12-0 in Fried’s two outings.

Brent Headrick followed Fried with a relatively clean eighth inning, allowing a single to Cole Young before blowing a fastball past the Monday night hero Raleigh for a strikeout to end the frame. Tim Hill then took care of the ninth, working a clean inning to officially lock down the Yankees’ 5-0 bounce-back win.

The Yankees now hand Wednesday’s getaway-day finale to Cam Schlittler, who will face George Kirby in another premium pitching matchup. Schlittler was electric to open the year, with eight strikeouts in 5.1 innings. Kirby impressed in his first start striking out six in six innings of one-run ball. Will the Yankees bats get to Kirby and let Cam take the series tomorrow? First pitch is at 4:10pm ET.

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