Category: Baseball

The Mariners lost the final game of spring training to their complex-mates the Padres today, 10-3, but that is not important. Here’s what’s important:

Luis Castillo strong in final appearance of spring

Castillo went five innings and gave up just one run on four hits with five strikeouts. He got the Padres hitters to put the ball on the ground a bunch for easy outs, got whiffs on his four-seamer, and threw 51 of his 76 pitches for strikes. It was a comfortingly familiar performance from Castillo that it’s not hard to imagine him repeating at T-Mobile Park in about a week.

Cal and Julio team up for an early run

As much fun as the WBC was, seeing Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodríguez combine to knock in a run in the first inning reminded us all of how much we didn’t get to see that this spring. Brendan Donovan, who is allergic to not getting on base, was hit by a pitch to start the game, then moved to third on a Raleigh double (114 off the bat!). Julio followed that up with a hard-hit (106 mph) single of his own to knock in Donovan. Unfortunately, Cal was left standing on third as the next three hitters all made outs, which is an issue I very much hope gets left in Peoria – too many times this spring it’s felt like the Mariners failed to add on when they had good opportunities to do so. One final note on Donovan: he ends spring as the Mariners hits leader, with 19. Cole Young, who didn’t play this game, ends up the leader for home runs, with six, and the RBI leader, with 18, just as we all predicted.

Randy Arozarena continues to heat up

The Mariners got their second run of the game off actual-starter Germán Márquez, who thought he could sneak an elevated fastball past Randy Arozarena. That was just his second homer of the spring, with his first coming five days ago in the game against the Brewers. Arozarena has been historically somewhat of a streaky player, so hopefully he’s headed back to Seattle on one of his heaters.

Leo Rivas: likely Opening Day shortstop

Leo Rivas made another start at shortstop today and it feels like that’s what the Mariners will be rolling out on Opening Day. There’s been no official update on J.P. Crawford’s status but he still wasn’t playing catch yesterday, per Daniel Kramer, so it feels like Rivas is being primed for an Opening Day start. It would be the first Opening Day start of Rivas’s career and his first time being on an Opening Day roster, so make sure to pack an extra tissue or two if you’re headed to the game.

Brash continues to search for command

It’s not Matt Brash’s fault there were two errors committed behind him in the infield that led to a run scoring, but there were some yellow flags in his performance beyond that. Brash, whose start to spring was slowed by a dental issue, still doesn’t quite seem like he’s got his command dialed in; the sinker and slider were both all over the place today, and he got lucky with some pitches that wound up way too much on the plate, including an inning-ending run-saving double play on a slider that came off the bat of Ethan Salas at 105 mph. The box score will tell you that Brash threw just nine of his 18 pitches for strikes; I will tell you that just because a Padres hitter swung doesn’t necessarily mean the pitch was a strike. Anyway, color me lightly concerned over Brash’s readiness for the regular season. I feel like that color is yellow.

Vargas sharp again

At the opposite end of the command spectrum we have Carlos Vargas, which is a weird sentence to type considering his history of wandering command. But Vargas again set down his assigned hitters 1-2-3, although he did have to battle with the lone major leaguer of the crew, fighting Ramón Laureano for eight pitches before getting him to go after an elevated sinker for a strikeout. I am still baffled as to why Vargas insists on throwing just the sinker-slider combo and essentially abandoning his cutter, a pitch I always thought was a good weapon for weak contact, but maybe the Mariners are having him edit his arsenal to try to tame the command issues. It doesn’t feel like the leash on Vargas is particularly long considering all the good depth they have squirreled away in Tacoma, but for now it seems pretty clear he’s been given a spot in the bullpen – and having José Ferrer around to slide Vargas into lower-leverage spots is definitely improvement.

But wait, Kate, if Castillo only gave up one run and Brash only gave up one run and Vargas went 1-2-3, how did the Padres win 10-3?

I feel very badly for Casey Hintz for getting saddled with the eighth inning in this one. Hintz was a 2025 draftee out of Arizona in the 16th round and from what I hear, the team likes him and thinks he’ll be a quick mover. Unfortunately being a polished collegiate who is also a recent draftee sometimes means you get thrown into situations like these, playing one of your early professional games in front of the biggest crowd you’ve ever been in front of with a shaky infield behind you and sometimes an outing just goes sideways, which is what happened to Hintz. He’ll bounce back. (The other fistful of runs was given up by Reese Lumpkin, who I am sorry to say I don’t know anything about other than he was signed as an UDFA this past July.)

A final thank you

If you’ve been reading these spring training recaps and participating in game threads, thank you so much. Spring training is always a tough one to talk about seriously with the radio-only delayed games and the parade of NRIs and the ridiculous desert conditions coloring performances, but this year was particularly rough with the wave of regulars out for the WBC and the general lack of position battles and the kind of spicy spring storylines that generate conversation. So if this is your first or your thirtieth spring training game of the year, thanks for being along for the ride.

Cactus League play has wrapped up, so the Royals begin their seemingly-annual exhibition trip to Dallas to play the Rangers at Globe Life in advance of Opening Day. It’s not spring training, it’s not the regular season, it’s…baseball purgatory I guess. I’ve heard you don’t want to be flying around Atlanta right now anyway. Huge lines.

For this exhibition game, the Royals will start Michael Wacha. We all know this guy and what he’s done.

The Rangers will start Mackenzie Gore, who is still somehow just 27 years old. I feel like he’s been talked about forever. He is on his third MLB team in his fifth season, and it’s the first with the Rangers, who gave up a ton of prospects to get him. Gore’s a good pitcher but has generally been worse than Michael Wacha the past few years. He’s just younger.

The game starts at 7:05pm US Central time. You can watch the game on MLB Network, though possibly only out-of-market. I’m a little confused as to what’s listed on MLB Gameday, which says “MLBN, MLBN (out of network)”. If you happen to live in the Rangers viewing area, you can watch on CW33. You can listen on 96.5 the Fan or the Royals Radio Network.

Lineups:

As the St. Louis Cardinals make their way toward Busch Stadium for Opening Day Thursday, they make a stop in Springfield for a game against the minor league Cardinals at Hammons Field starting at 6:05pm. According to the Cardinals, it will be Dustin May pitching for the big league Cardinals while Brycen Mautz will start for the baby birds.

St. Louis Cardinals starting lineup:

1. JJ Wetherholt (L) 2B
2. Masyn Winn (R) SS
3. Alec Burleson (L) 1B
4. Thomas Saggese (R) 3B
5. Jordan Walker (R) RF
6. Yohel Pozo (R) DH
7. Nathan Church (L) LF
8. Pedro Pagés (R) C
9. Victor Scott II (L) CF

Springfield Cardinals starting lineup:

1. Bryan Torres (L) 2B
2. César Prieto (L) SS
3. Joshua Báez (R) CF
4. Nelson Velázquez (R) RF
5. Jimmy Crooks (L) C
6. Blaze Jordan (R) 3B
7. Leo Bernal (S) 1B
8. Colton Ledbetter (L) LF
9. Bligh Madris (L) DH

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Orioles fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

Last week, I asked you to think about how many games the Orioles will win this season. The majority of people who responded see the team ending up in a win range that will get them back into the postseason after missing out last year. For this week, the question is more specific. How far do you think that the Orioles will get?

Much to the ongoing disappointment of Orioles fans, the team has not won a postseason game in more than a decade now. Neither the 101-61 AL East champions from 2023 or the 91-71 wild card team from 2024 proved to have enough juice to snap this streak. Then last year’s ongoing failure happened and they didn’t even get a third bite at the apple. Sheesh.

The team already has some challenges to contend with before the 2026 season has even begun with early spring injuries to Jackson Holliday and Jordan Westburg. It’s still unclear when or even if Westburg will be able to play this year. There are also things that look to be going much better for the Orioles, with a starting rotation that’s heavily revamped compared to the mess of last season. If you believe in some bounce-backs and some strong years from younger players, it’s not hard to picture better things.

Vote in the survey above and let us know what you feel in the comments below. Results will be posted later in the week.

The big, magic word for the White Sox this year is supposed to be “momentum.”

Momentum works both ways, folks.

To demonstrate without using video of a Russian dissident making the poor decision to stand by a an upper-story window, let us select this afternoon’s Cactus League finale.

The Sacramento or wherever they’re playing this year A’s tried as hard as they could to hand the game to the White Sox early. Starting pitcher Luis Morales walked the bases loaded in the first and then hung a sinker that Lenyn Sosa hammered for a three-run double. Reliever JJ Goss then gave up four runs in the fourth on a slew of hits, the key being a two-run double by Chase Meidroth.

Voila! White Sox up, 7-0! What could possibly go wrong, especially given the A’s pulled all their starters after two innings so they’d have plenty of time to pack for the flight home, inserting minor-leaguers?

Plenty, it turned out.

Anthony Kay, who had been having a good spring, didn’t exactly coast through the first three innings. But still, he had given up no runs until the small matters of a sac fly and then a grand slam by the mighty Drew Swift made it 7-5 after four. On one of those spring leave-the-game-but-come-back things, Kay then walked the first two batters in the fifth, both of whom scored when Morris Austin came in and couldn’t get much of anyone out. Morris then added two more runs on his own tab.

Make it 9-7, A’s, after five.

Sosa, who presumably would like to get some regular playing time when the games count, knocked in another run with a double in the sixth to make it 9-8. Grant Taylor, who has had a rough spring, gave up a run in the bottom of the eighth that turned out to be crucial, because a Darren Baker RBI single in the ninth could then only cut the A’s lead to 10-9.

If this game set momentum into the season for the White Sox, then look forward to lots of pure slop. Sox pitchers walked seven and hit three batters while giving up 12 hits. The batters were handed their own seven walks and went 6-for-14 with runners in scoring position, but still left 12 on base.

Ah, well, the good news is that as awful as this game was, it doesn’t matter, just gives the White Sox a 15-16-1 spring record no one will remember even a few weeks from now. The bad news is, games that matter begin in Milwaukee Thursday afternoon, and nothing is pointing the momentum arrow upward.

Oh, yeah … normally we’d include some videos from the game. Turns out nobody shot any. Good decision.

---

The Houston Astros announced today that they have optioned SP Spencer Arrighetti to Triple-A Sugar Land.

We have made the following roster move: pic.twitter.com/kGfRInfa62

— Houston Astros (@astros) March 23, 2026

This move would seem to indicate that Arrighetti will be the sixth starter for the team when they move to the expanded rotation in mid-April.

Having Arrighetti pitch in the starting rotation for the Space Cowboys will allow the Astros to keep him stretched out so that he is ready to go 90-100 pitches when he is recalled and they go to the 6-man rotation. They can also make sure he stays on schedule for when they intend to pitch him in the rotation.

Both of those would be much harder to do with him in the Astros bullpen.

The Astros begin a stretch of 13 straight games on April 10.

The Houston Astros will play the first of two exhibition games against their Triple-A team, the Sugar Land Space Cowboys today.

RHP Tatsuya Imai will get the start tonight for the Astros in his final tune-up before the season opposite LHP Colton Gordon and the Space Cowboys.

TONIGHT’S ASTROS STARTER: RHP Tatsuya Imai is back on the mound after last pitching in an intrasquad simulated game on March 17 at the Astros Spring Training complex in West Palm Beach, FL.

Imai has been stellar in his three official Spring Training appearances, working a combined 6.0 scoreless innings…in January, the Astros signed Imai to a three-year deal.

In 2025, he was an All Star for the Seibu Lions in the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization (NPB), where he went 10-5 with a 1.92 ERA (35ER/163.2IP) in 24 games.

TONIGHT’S SPACE COWBOYS STARTER: LHP Colton Gordon, who was optioned to minor league camp on March 5, is coming off a productive rookie season with the Astros, in which he recorded a 5.34 ERA (51ER/86IP) in 20 games, including 14 starts.

Gordon entered the 2025 season as one of the Astros top pitching prospects and finished the 2025 season with the third most starts in the Astros rotation.

Among AL rookies in 2025, he ranked first in walks per nine innings (1.99) and first in strikeoutto-walk ratio (3.79).

YESTERDAY’S ROSTER MOVES: Prior to yesterday’s game, the Astros informed four players that they would not make the Astros Opening Day roster in IF/OF Cavan Biggio, RHP Peter Lambert, C Carlos Pérez and OF Taylor Trammell.

ASTROS RADIO: Tonight’s game can be heard on the radio on KTRH 740 AM with Space Cowboys broadcasters Garrett Green and Gerald Sanchez joined on air with Astros pre- and postgame analyst Brian Bogusevic. The trio will also call tomorrow night’s game before giving way to the popular duo of Robert Ford (play-by-play) and Steve Sparks (color) on Opening Day.

ON THE TUBE: Tonight’s game will not be televised, but the Astros will be back on the air tomorrow night on Space City Home Network. SCHN will also televise the Astros Opening Day matchup vs. LAA.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Monday, March 23, 7:10 p.m. CST

Location: Daikin Park, Houston, TX.

TV: none.

Streaming: none.

Radio: KTRH 740AM

I-45 on the mound.

⚾️: 7:10pm
🏟️: OPEN ROOF
📺: none
🎙️: 740AM#ChaseTheFight x @PalmBeachesFLpic.twitter.com/IXF8bYx8iB

— Houston Astros (@astros) March 23, 2026

Here at dad's house 🤘

⚾️: 7:10 PM pic.twitter.com/a0zHYeqZoR

— Sugar Land Space Cowboys (@SLSpaceCowboys) March 23, 2026

The 2026 Major League Baseball season begins in about 48 hours and, for reasons still unbeknownst to me, the San Francisco Giants have drawn the opening assignment. A brand new season, full of brand new baseball, kicks off on Wednesday at Oracle Park, with the Giants hosting the New York Yankees, while the rest of the baseball world tunes in, eagerly awaiting their turn on Thursday (when the Giants get the alway-annoying Day 2 off day).

You know what to do. This isn’t your first rodeo, unless it is, in which case, hello and welcome, we hope you enjoy your first date with baseball.

But in case you’ve forgotten — last Opening Day was a year ago, according to my calendar — well, here’s a refresher. Here’s 10 things you need to do before yet another season of baseball begins.

1. Stock up on beer and snacks

The older I get, the more I find myself gravitating to baseball over other sports. I only recently realized one of the main reasons: what sport has such a strong relationship with food?

You can’t go to the ballpark and not get a large, cold, overpriced beer, unless you don’t like beer, in which case you can’t go to the ballpark and not get a large, cold, overpriced margarita, unless you don’t drink, in which case you can’t go to the ballpark and not get a large, cold, overpriced lemonade. Or a water, I guess.

Cracker Jack? Baseball food. Garlic fries? Baseball food. Hot dogs? Baseball food. Dippin’ Dots, peanuts, frozen lemonade, cotton candy, gloopy nachos, and sunflower seeds? Baseball foods.

Most of us don’t make it to the ballpark often, for which our tailbones are appreciative. But over the years, I’ve learned that the couch experience of baseball-watching is greatly amplified by ensuring that baseball foods are exactly that: baseball foods, not ballpark foods.

And if you don’t eat baseball foods on Opening Day, when will you?

So my fridge is full of beer and hot dogs, and my pantry’s got enough sunflower seeds to ensure that my sodium levels stay delightfully in the red. Please join me.

2. Read Alex Pavlovic’s book

There’s still time to get and read Alex Pavlovic’s book, at least if you live in the Bay Area. Most bookstores within 50 miles of the ballpark should carry The Franchise: San Francisco Giants: A Curated History of the Orange and Black, and it’s a quick read. You can go get it tonight, read it tomorrow, and be ready to go on Wednesday.

Don’t let the double-colon insisted by the publisher trick you into thinking Pavs wrote anything other than a stellar book. I’ll be honest: I’m normally not a fan of this popular style of sports book, where writers are tasked with distilling a team into 20-something medium-length chapters. But Pavlovic wrote the best one I’ve read yet. While most of the books in this ilk are overly-formulaic, and read like someone curated 25 of the author’s articles from over the years, that’s emphatically not the case with this one. Pavs put in the work with countless interviews, and the result is that the book is filled with information that isn’t available elsewhere, and stories that haven’t been told.

If you haven’t read it yet, read it. You’ll have a good time, you’ll remember some great times, and you’ll learn a whole lot.

3. Check your subscriptions

Yes, it’s true: the streaming era has fully reached baseball, with countless “exclusive” options branching from the sport like snakes from Medusa’s head. Opening Day, as you’ve surely heard, is on Netflix, making it easier than ever to watch Love is Blind during commercial breaks. Saturday’s game eschews the local broadcast as well, going straight to FOX. Sometime next month, you’ll have to subscribe to Apple TV to watch the Giants play the Baltimore Orioles … while you’re there, I suggest binging Severance, unless the state of the world is bringing you down, in which case I recommend Ted Lasso.

What you shouldn’t do, is what I have a knack for doing with my accounts: waiting until 30 seconds before game time to make sure you’re logged in, and missing the first inning as you try to use your phone to send a code to your computer to let you in on your TV.

Technology, baby. Life’s never been more convenient.

You don’t just need to log in to Netflix and whatever platform you use for NBC Sports Bay Area broadcasts. Now’s also the time to check your written subscriptions, so you can digest as much Giants baseball as you’d like. I’m begrudgingly reporting that Vox Media still won’t allow me to take your money, so McCovey Chronicles will remain free to you. But we only cover so much: if you want reports from behind the scenes and the locker room, you’ll need to subscribe to Susan Slusser and Shayna Rubin at the San Francisco Chronicle, or Andrew Baggarly and Grant Brisbee (who?) at The Athletic, or Justice delos Santos at the Mercury News, or Kerry Crowley at the SF Standard.

Want to follow the Minor Leagues closely? You’ll needRoger Munter’s newsletter, which is second-to-none in Giants prospecting … or Baseball America and/or Baseball Prospectus if you want to follow prospects beyond those in Sacramento, Richmond, Eugene, San Jose, Papago, and Boca Chica. And if you want in-depth analytics and breakdowns, you’ll surely run through your monthly dose of free articles at Fangraphs.

If you’ve got a lot of money to spend and want to ingest as much Giants content as possible, you could easily spend triple digits monthly on subscriptions. Each one is well worth it, though you’ll probably want to pick and choose.

Also, if you’ve got a lot of money to spend, shoot me an email. I just want to talk. Got some questions.

4. Catch up on old friends

Sure, the Giants are your team, but we always end up watching extra baseball. And the best baseball, other than Giants baseball, is old friends baseball. Which means now is the time to see where those old friends are, so you can follow them this year.

Kyle Harrison is starting the year in the Milwaukee Brewers’ rotation. Mike Yastrzemski had a first Spring Training with the Atlanta Braves that would make Barry Bonds drool (seriously: he hit .400/.526/.900). Mason Black pitched well for the Kansas City Royals, though he’s beginning the year in AAA. Marco Luciano has been knocked down to AA for the New York Yankees. Wilmer Flores is headed to Mexico.

There are many, many others. We all have the players we’ve grown attached to over the years, even though they ultimately left. So see how they’re doing and where they are, so you can follow them.

Speaking of which…

5. Pick a second team

Having a second team is a rite of passage in baseball. If you don’t have a second team, who are you going to watch at night when the Giants play during the day? Who are you going to watch on Thursday and Sunday, when the Giants inexplicably don’t play? How can you be expected to survive on 162 games instead of 324?

My second team is the Houston Astros, because love makes you do things you previously thought were inconceivable. But if I’m recommending a second team to you, might I suggest the Seattle Mariners? They’re a fellow west coast squad, making them easier to follow. They have one of the most joyful players in baseball in Julio Rodríguez. They have a brewing intrasquad feud from the World Baseball Classic. Their best player is an MVP candidate with a nickname formed entirely due to his fat ass. They’ll likely make three or more trades with the Giants over the next 12 months.

But we all must choose our own journey, so pick the second team that makes sense to you. There are no wrong answers.

Except the Los Angeles Dodgers. That is emphatically a wrong answer.

6. Make sure your hat fits

Look, this one is very simple. You might be watching Opening Day from your couch, but you still need your gear. Hats have a way of magically changing size. Sometimes your head does a bit of Bruce Bochy wizardry and gets bigger. Sometimes you cut your hair and your size shrinks.

You can’t watch the first game without your memorabilia. Make sure your hat fits. Make sure your shirt is at the front of your closet. Make sure your lucky underwear is clean. I shouldn’t have to explain this to you.

7. Catch up on your lingo

Baseball has become a great sport for math nerds and linguistic nerds alike. There are acronyms and initialisms and phrases galore. If the future follows the recent past, you’ll hear some, like OPS (on-base plus slugging) and WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched), on the broadcast. You’ll hear a lot more, like FIP (fielding independent pitching), IVB (induced vertical break), and WAR (wins above replacement), on the radio and the podcasts. You’ll get deeper still, with things like wRC+ (weighted runs created plus), xwOBA (expected weighted on base average), and TOOTBLAN (thrown out on the bases like a nincompoop) in these articles, and with the ever-present FYMM (f*** you, Max Muncy) in the comment section. You’ll venture into territory I can’t even prepare you for if you geek out at Fangraphs.

No time like the present to get caught up on your lingo. Unless you don’t want to, in which case a well timed YOU SUCK when sitting in the bleachers still works wonders.

8. Familiarize yourself with the roster

Spring Training is a joyous time, but everyone utilizes it differently. Obsessing over the minutiae of the roster isn’t for everyone. There are plenty of you reading this who don’t have a great idea as to who will be on the Opening Day roster, and that’s completely fine. We all fan differently. Again: there’s no wrong way. Except rooting for the Dodgers.

Fangraphs has a great tool called RosterResource that you can look through to get a feel for the team’s depth chart, and familiarize yourself with the names you’ll see on Wednesday … and in April, May, and June. Get to know your guys: they’re about to break your heart, after all.

9. Make some bold predictions

Now is the time for bold predictions: we’re late enough into spring that they carry meaning, but early enough that they can easily be forgotten. Which means you can go wild. Making bold predictions in late March is like buying scratch-off tickets with someone else’s credit card: you get to enjoy the spoils of victory should things break your way, with no cost for the far-more-numerous defeats.

Head to the comment section, or to social media, or call your friends, and tell them your bold predictions for the season. If you predict that Patrick Bailey hits 20 home runs, the Giants win the World Series, and Casey Schmitt reinvents himself as an All-Star closer, you’ll look like a genius if PB somehow puts 20 balls over the fence, and no one will remember anything you said if the Giants win 70 games and Schmitt continues along as an infielder.

All glory, no accountability. Have at it.

10. Go toss a baseball around

This reads like the baseball equivalent of telling you to touch grass, but I really mean it. If you’ve got a ball, a mitt, and a friend, family member, or neighbor, go toss a ball around. Stand in the sun. Smell the grass. Take some Advil when your shoulder flares up after throwing 20 heaters at 45 mph. You’re not as young as you used to be. Don’t worry; I’m not either.

Baseball’s back. Enjoy it.

With the Yankees already heading out west for the opening series of the regular season against the Giants, they decided to make a little pit stop along the way. On Monday, the Yankees were in Arizona to end their spring season, stopping for a pair of games against the Cubs.

As for the opener of those two games, well, at least this one didn’t count (and wasn’t televised). Starting pitching prospect Carlos Lagrange and pretty much everyone else the Yankees threw on the mound had a less-than-stellar day, as Chicago piled on the runs. The final tally ended up being a 15-6 Yankees loss.

The game actually started on a decent note, as the Yankees scored first. In the top of the first inning, Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a two-out single to score Paul Goldschmidt, who had led off the game with a walk. In the bottom of the first, Lagrange allowed two singles to the first two Cubs hitters, but then got Alex Bregman to ground into a double play. While he was on the verge of escaping, Lagrange then allowed a walk to Ian Happ and then another single to Carson Kelly to tie things up. That started a very long day for the Yankees’ pitching staff.

The Cubs really got to Lagrange a couple innings later. After Nico Hoerner led off the inning with a single, Michael Busch and Bregman hit back-to-back homers. Following another hit from Kelly, Lagrange was replaced by Will Brian. Before Brian eventually got out of the inning, he allowed a three-run shot of his own to Matt Shaw.

As it’s still essentially spring training and things are a bit looser, the Yankees did bring back Lagrange for the fourth inning, but Chicago picked up another couple runs, which ended up on his final statline.

Lagrange’s final line ended up being eight runs allowed on nine hits and two walks in 2.2 innings. He did strike out four batters, and his overall spring was impressive enough that we’ll write this off as a bad day against a good MLB lineup. There’s a reason why he’s not yet a finished product, for as tantalizing as his stuff can be at his best.

After giving up 10 unanswered runs, the Yankees finally go one back in the fifth. With Paul Goldschmidt on third after a double and an Aaron Judge single, Cody Bellinger got one in the air, allowing Goldschmidt to tag up and score.

This was just not a day for the Yankees pitchers in general. In the sixth, Cade Winquest and Yerry De los Santos combined to allow another five runs in the sixth. The Cubs didn’t even kick the extra point, they went for two and got to 15 runs on the day.

One good thing did happen before the end of the game, though. Spencer Jones hit his fifth and sixth home runs of the spring, coming off a pair of MLB relievers in Phil Maton and Jacob Webb. Jones did help lead a brief rally in the ninth, but that did come up way short.

Eventually, Kervin Castro and Osvaldo Bido came in and put in some good efforts, making the day not a complete waste on the pitching front. The good news about the pitching situation is that no one of importance right now — Lagrange is obviously somewhat important, just not to the MLB team yet — pitched in this won. The likes of Winquest and De los Santos could end up on the roster, but they’re not going to be relied on for big innings at the moment.

The Yankees will wrap up their 2026 spring slate tomorrow with another game against the Cubs in Arizona. Gerrit Cole is scheduled to get the start in that one, with first pitch coming at 3:05 pm ET.

Box Score

Real baseball is so close that it’s back in our home ballpark. The big league Brewers are back in Milwaukee, set to take part in the first of two final tune-ups against the Cincinnati Reds at American Family Field (the big one).

As far as newsy items today, the Brewers confirmed who will start in each of their first six games, giving us a clear picture of what the rotation will look like to begin the season. Before today, the question still remained whether Kyle Harrison, who has been dealing with a blister, or Brandon Woodruff, who is being treated cautiously after finishing last season with a lat injury, would be healthy enough to start the season with the team. Today, we got that answer: yes, Harrison and Woodruff are scheduled to start the fourth and fifth games of the season, respectively. They’ll follow Jacob Misiorowski, Chad Patrick, and Brandon Sproat, who will start the games in the White Sox series to open the year.

Also, yesterday’s announced optioning of Shane Drohan and Robert Gasser and the impending injured-list designations for Quinn Priester, Rob Zastryzny, Craig Yoho, and Akil Baddoo mean that the Brewers’ Opening Day roster is essentially finalized, barring an unexpected injury between now and Thursday afternoon. (It has happened before! Knock on the nearest wooden object.) A quick rundown, with more analysis later this week:

Catchers: William Contreras and Gary Sánchez

Infielders: Andrew Vaughn, Jake Bauers, Brice Turang, Joey Ortiz, Luis Rengifo, David Hamilton

Outfielders/DH: Sal Frelick, Jackson Chourio, Brandon Lockridge, Garrett Mitchell, Christian Yelich

Starters: Misiorowski, Patrick, Sproat, Harrison, Woodruff

Relievers: Trevor Megill, Abner Uribe, Aaron Ashby, Jared Koenig, Ángel Zerpa, DL Hall, Grant Anderson, Easton McGee

As for tonight’s game, the Brewers are fielding a strong lineup — not unexpected, given that I assume most of the minor leaguers stayed behind or traveled elsewhere — a lefty-heavy group which could be a preview of the lineup they’ll use Thursday against Chicago’s Shane Smith. (If that’s the case, it looks like we might be in for more platooning between Ortiz and Hamilton than we may have expected.)

Defensively, though, there’s one curious note that I would not expect to see on Thursday, and that’s Christian Yelich in left field and Jackson Chourio as the designated hitter.

On the mound, it looks to be a big “final tune-up” day for a bunch of the guys in the Brewers’ bullpen: Aaron Ashby is scheduled to start, but all of McGee, Hall, Anderson, Koenig, Uribe, Zerpa, and Megill are listed as scheduled to pitch after Ashby. For those keeping track at home, that’s all eight of the roster’s projected relievers.

Brady Singer will start on the mound for Cincinnati. Speaking of odd DH decisions, Ke’Bryan Hayes — one of the league’s best defensive players and worst hitters — is the designated hitter for the Reds tonight. It might be in Milwaukee, but it’s still spring training.

First pitch at 6:40 p.m. No TV tonight, unfortunately; catch the game on the radio.

American Family Field 📍

📻: ESPN Milwaukee#ThisIsMyCrewpic.twitter.com/RhzlE8qbiK

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) March 23, 2026

Couple days of exhibition games in Milwaukee! pic.twitter.com/LmIvbnkFXw

— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) March 23, 2026

The 2026 Dodgers are already setting records, even before the first official pitch of the season.

According to the ticket site TickPick, prices for the team’s Opening Day game on Thursday against the Arizona Diamondbacks are hitting record highs, with an average purchase price of $392 on the resale market.

That marks the highest price for an MLB home-opener on record, according to TickPick.

It is also the most expensive price ever for a regular-season game played at an MLB ballpark.

The only game in league history that featured a higher average ticket price was the “Field of Dreams” game in 2022 between the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds, but that was played before a capacity of less than 8,000 fans at the iconic Iowa cornfield used in the movie of the same name.

Tickets for this year’s home-opener, in which the Dodgers will raise a banner for their 2025 World Series championship during a pregame ceremony, are also 55% more expensive than the team’s home-opener a season ago, when they celebrated their 2024 championship.

The “get-in” price for the game is currently $196, as well, far surpassing the next most expensive home-opener for this season ($119 for when the San Francisco Giants host the New York Yankees on Wednesday).

Thursday will kick off a weekend-long celebration of the Dodgers’ 2025 title.

On Friday, there will be another pregame ceremony in which members of last year’s team are awarded their World Series rings. 

The games will also feature the unveiling of the Dodgers’ new presenting field sponsor, Uniqlo. The team has a press conference scheduled for Wednesday to officially announce the partnership, which is expected to include the renaming of the stadium’s playing surface as “Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium.”

The Cubs met the Yankees in an Arizona spring game for the first time in 75 years and left the visitors wishing they hadn’t bothered.

In front of a full house at Sloan Park that included many Yankees fans, the Cubs exploded with three home runs in an 18-hit attack that defeated the visitors 15-6.

The Yankees scored first, off Shōta Imanaga in the first inning, though Imanaga struck out both Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger.

The Cubs matched that in the first. Nico Hoerner and Michael Busch led off with singles, but Alex Bregman hit into a double play with Hoerner taking third. But after that, Ian Happ walked and Carson Kelly singled in Nico.

The Cubs exploded with six runs in the third. Hoerner led off with a single and Busch followed with a home run, his first of the spring. Three pitches later, Bregman homered, his third. One out later, Carson Kelly doubled and went to third on a single by Michael Conforto. Dansby Swanson struck out, but Matt Shaw followed that with a three-run homer, giving the Cubs a 7-1 lead.

Three more Cubs runs crossed the plate in the fourth. Nico singled and went to second on a ground out by Busch. Bregman doubled in Nico to make it 8-1, then Happ walked. After Kelly struck out, Conforto tripled in a pair of runs and it was 10-1.

Most of this was off a Yankees pitcher named Carlos Lagrange, and I’m sure you can find some sort of movie script that has a guy like that as the anti-hero. (Though it’s pronounced “La-GRAN-hay” and not as it’s spelled.)

Imanaga allowed one more run to the Yankees in a good five-inning outing in which he threw 81 pitches (54 strikes). He struck out five, and here’s more on his outing [VIDEO].

Best of all, Imanaga did not allow a home run in this outing. He will likely start Saturday or Sunday against the Nationals.

As for the bullpen: Daniel Palencia threw a 1-2-3 sixth in what is likely his final tune-up before Opening Day. Phil Maton allowed a solo home run to Spencer Jones in his only inning, the seventh. Hunter Harvey threw a scoreless eighth. Jacob Webb served up two homers, one to Jones, his second of the game, and wound up being replaced with two out having thrown 20 pitches. Hopefully, Webb’s results beginning Thursday will be better. Minor leaguer Zac Leigh finished things up.

The Cubs put together another crooked-number inning, scoring five in the sixth. Conforto doubled in one of those runs.

Conforto had a big day as the DH, going 3-for-4 with a single, double and triple and had four RBI. Personally, I’d put Conforto in right field on Opening Day, not Matt Shaw. But that’s just me.

And ICYMI, Seiya Suzuki will in fact miss the opener:

Seiya Suzuki (knee) will open the season on the injured list, Cubs manager Craig Counsell confirmed. The club also informed pitcher Ben Brown that he will make the Opening Day roster. Javier Assad will be optioned to Triple A and start the season in the Iowa rotation.

— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) March 23, 2026

It’ll be interesting to see how Craig Counsell deploys Ben Brown in relief. I’ve always said I thought Brown was better suited to relief, with his somewhat limited repertoire and the ability to throw 98 miles per hour. He could do multi-inning relief, or possibly be a useful setup man.

The Cubs will wrap the spring schedule Tuesday with another game against the Yankees at Sloan Park. Don’t expect any of the Yankee regulars to play as they have likely departed for San Francisco for the MLB season opener on Wednesday. Cubs regulars, if they play, probably won’t play more than four innings or so. Edward Cabrera will start for the Cubs and Gerrit Cole will go for the Yankees, so that’ll be interesting. Game time is 2:05 p.m. CT. No TV Tuesday and the radio broadcast will be via the Yankees flagship WFAN 660.

The Yankees fell to the Chicago Cubs, 15-6, on Monday afternoon at Sloan Park in Mesa, Ariz. 

Here are the takeaways...

-- After an impressive spring, Carlos Lagrange had a tough Monday, allowing eight runs on nine hits across 2.2 IP. He struck out four and walked one on 66 pitches (38 strikes).

The 22-year-old let up two straight hits in the bottom of the first inning and nearly got out of the jam thanks to a double play. However, he surrendered a two-out knock to Carson Kelly that tied the game up at 1-1. Lagrange bounced back and struck out the side in the second inning, but couldn't maintain the momentum in the third. 

The righty let up back-to-back home runs -- a two-run homer to Michael Busch and a solo shot to Alex Bregman that put Chicago up 4-1. He struck out Ian Happ following a mound visit, but then allowed a double to Kelly. The results didn't change when he came back out to pitch the fourth inning, allowing a single, an RBI-double, and a walk before getting pulled again.

-- Will Brian came in for relief in the third inning and things didn't get better for the Yanks. Brian let up a single to Michael Conforto, and after a strikeout, gave up a three-run blast to Matt Shaw that made it a 7-1 game. Cade Winquest later entered for Lagrange in the fourth, allowing a two-run triple to Conforto before getting a flyout to end the frame.

-- New York took a 1-0 lead in the first inning against Shota Imanaga thanks to some two-out hitting as Giancarlo Stanton and Jazz Chisholm Jr. had back-to-back singles, with Chisholm driving in Paul Goldschmidt from second base. The Yanks had another scoring chance in the third inning after Goldschmidt was hit by a pitch and Aaron Judge singled, but the 3-5 hitters went down in order.

-- Goldschmidt and Judge continued to provide the offense, as the first baseman doubled and the reigning AL MVP singled in the top of the fifth inning. Cody Bellinger drove in Goldschmidt on a sac-fly to make it a 10-2 game.

-- Yerry De los Santos allowed three runs on five hits in the sixth inning as the Cubs scored five runs overall in the frame to push the lead to 15-2.

-- Spencer Jones hit a solo home run off veteran Phil Maton in the top of the seventh inning. The slugging prospect blasted another HR in the ninth, this time a two-run shot to give him six home runs this spring. Max Schuemann joined in on the fun and went back-to-back with Jones, hitting a solo homer to cut the Cubs' lead to 15-6.

What's next

The Yankees will stay in Mesa, Ariz. for their final spring training game against the Chicago Cubs at 3:05 p.m. on Tuesday.

After that, Max Fried will take on Logan Webb and the San Francisco Giants to open the 2026 regular season on Wednesday at 8:05 p.m. 

The Cincinnati Reds got bogus news early in spring camp when Hunter Greene needed elbow surgery to remove bone spurs, setting back their ace until the All Star break in July. Aside from that doozy, though, things had mostly been OK on the injury front (aside from Caleb Ferguson’s oblique issue).

As the heat ramped up down in the desert, though, a plague of blisters descended upon Goodyear. Yesterday we found out Nick Lodolo had one (that was bad enough to need popping), and that came on the heels of Brady Singer dealing with one, too – not the kind of news you want on the eve of Opening Day when things had already been seemingly set with the pitching staff.

As things stand, though, it appears Singer dodged any blistering that was bad enough to set him back, and he’ll get the ball tonight in Milwaukee as the Reds face off against the Brewers in a pre-season exhibition game at American Family Field.

(It’s Miller Park. It’ll always be Miller Park.)

Cincinnati has effectively set their Opening Day roster, so there aren’t really any position battles still ongoing in camp. That said, there are still a handful of non-roster players who made the trip with the big league club, as each of Michael Chavis, Garrett Hampson, Hector Rodriguez, Tejay Antone, and Michael Toglia are available off the bench tonight.

Doug Gray of Redleg Nation once again was kind enough to relay the travel roster on Bluesky, which features a conscious decision by manager Terry Francona to let Ke’Bryan Hayes DH for the night from the #2 spot in the lineup.

If you’d like a reminder of how old you are, I’ll point out that lefty Aaron Ashby is on the mound for the Brewers tonight, and the Reds have put together a lineup featuring TJ Friedl (in LF) and an entire fleet of right-handed hitters behind him to counter. Ashby, of course, is the nephew of longtime big league righty Andy Ashby, who last pitched two years after Joey Votto’s professional career begin in the Reds system.

Sal Stewart will start at 2B, Dane Myers gets CF for the night, and Eugenio Suarez will man the hot corner with a glove for a turn.

First pitch is slated for 7:40 PM ET, and to answer your question…no, you cannot watch it on television. 700 WLW will have the radio feed, however.

You just don’t want to read too much into spring training results. The ball flies in the desert air, pitchers are building up arm strength and sometimes even working on secondary pitches they haven’t mastered, the adrenaline isn’t pumping like it will be on Friday.

Then again, when a pitcher comes to camp showing the exact weaknesses that have plagued him prior, it can be informative. Such was the fate of the talented-but-wild Jack Perkins who came into camp with the question of “Will he be put into the rotation or maybe slotted in as the closer?” The answer, as it turns out, is “No.” Perkins has been optioned to AAA to continue working on throwing more strikes.

Still standing, and presumed to be in the A’s rotation when camp breaks, is another highly talented, but also raw, RHP in Luis Morales. Now 23, Morales got a taste of the big leagues in 2025 and generally acquitted himself well putting up a solid 3.14 ERA albeit it with less gushing underlying metrics (4.42 xERA, 4.54 xFIP).

Morales has a plus fastball and a wicked slider, but not always the ability to throw them where he wants to. This leads both to high walk totals and also centered pitches that can get whacked around. The hope, of course, is that with experience Morales can throw more and more quality strikes and harness the terrific arm he brings to the mound.

So far so bad.

Morales got knocked around again today, mostly thanks to a bases clearing double that followed 3 walks to load the bases. His final line today? 2.1 IP, 1 hit, 3 ER, 4 BB, 2 K. To get just 8 outs, Morales threw 61 pitches of which only 34 were strikes.

This only continues a trend from throughout the Cactus League. Here’s where Morales’ numbers stand at the end of spring training:

2-2, 7.58 ERA, 19 IP, 21 hits, 16 ER (3 HR), 14 BB, 17 K. For those of you scoring at home that BB/9 IP rate is 6.63.

Here’s where if the A’s had “too many starting pitchers” (a baseball oxymoron) they would probably send Morales to join Perkins at AAA to start the season. But with the only alternatives being JT Ginn, who faded terribly the second half of spring training, and Luis Medina, who has returned from Tommy John surgery electric and wild as ever (7.1 IP, 9 BB), it appears that Morales’ spot is safe and that he will most likely face the Toronto Blue Jays or Atlanta Braves on the first road trip.

Watching Kade Morris carve up the #1 farm system yesterday, he looked far more ready to toss 6 quality big league innings than Morales currently does. Morris threw just 56 pitches in his 4 innings, 37 for strikes (that’s 2/3).

Without question Morales has big time talent and stuff — there’s no question you would want him in your organization over any of the alternatives that could make starts in April. But whether that means he’s going to be at all effective in the big leagues now? You wonder.

Hopefully the natural talent wins out, but far more electric arms have been taken to the cleaners because they couldn’t find the strike zone or couldn’t stay out of the middle of it. Count me as one fan who will watching anxiously as he (presumably) toes the rubber in Atlanta. He doesn’t look ready to me — but ready or not here he comes.