Category: Baseball

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza provided some updates prior to Friday's game against the Marlins...

What Benge needs to do to secure spot

Carson Benge has been extremely impressive so far this spring in his bid for a roster spot.

While the right field competition is very crowded to this point, the team is simply looking for him to keep doing his thing in order to lock-up his Opening Day spot. 

“There are a lot of things out of his control, but he’s having a good camp,” Mendoza said. “He’s controlling the zone, I like the quality of at-bats especially against lefties -- we saw it the other day going the other way with two strikes -- the defense, the way he’s running the bases. Still a long ways to go, but he’s having a really good camp.”

Heading into Friday’s game, Benge is hitting .312 with a homer and a .357 OBP on the spring.

He also made a diving catch and has shown off his plus-arm in right. 

Ewing impressing, as well

Benge hasn’t been the only young standout earning praise early in camp. 

Outfield prospect A.J. Ewing has also been very solid so far on both sides of the ball.  

Asked about the 21-year-old on Friday, Mendoza simply described him as “a ball player.”

“There’s a lot of different ways he can help a team win baseball games,” the skipper said. “Whether it’s with the way he plays defense, the way he runs the bases, his good at-bats -- just putting the ball in play, driving the ball.

“He’s another kid who I don’t think people talk much about, but he’s another good one.”

Ewing didn’t crack SNY's Top 30 prospect list last season, but rose all the way up to No. 3 this year, and is already among the Top 100 prospects in the sport. 

So far, the youngster looks ready to continue his rapid rise.

Other surprises

Along with Benge and Ewing, there have been plenty of others who have caught Mendoza’s eye thus far in camp.

That includes both young talent and the vets.

“A lot of them,” Mendoza explained. “We mentioned Ewing, [Chris] Suero, [Ryan] Lambert, and then just a lot of our established players, the way they showed up to camp.

“[Kodai] Senga, I’m really looking forward to watching him pitch. Sean Manaea put in a lot of work, Luis Robert on the backfield continues to crush pitching, and just the professionalism from some of the new players -- there are a lot of good things we’re seeing in camp.”

LuBob leaves the yard

Speaking of Robert's backfield appearances, the skipper said he successfully completed another on Friday. 

The slugger again appeared in center, and he lifted a homer. 

Following the plan put together by the training staff, he’ll get back out there on Sunday, and play on alternate days leading up to the off day next Wednesday.

If he continues checking boxes leading up to that point, Mendoza said that there’s a pretty good chance he’ll be set to make his Grapefruit League debut. 

Robert could be a difference-maker for this lineup, if they can keep him healthy. 

Stock down at the WBC

Robert Stock will no longer pitch for Team Israel in the WBC.

The right-hander is officially back with the Mets after reporting right shoulder discomfort following his exhibition appearance against the Marlins earlier this week. 

He was set to undergo a series of tests on Friday so that the training staff can see what they are dealing with.

Stock faced an uphill battle for a roster spot in camp, but he’d gotten off to a relatively strong start, putting together back-to-back scoreless appearances. 

The 36-year-old was throwing noticeably harder, touching 98 on his fastball.

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Team USA’s 2026 World Baseball Classic run begins tonight in Houston, Texas.

The first of USA’s four games in five days will be against Brazil, with first pitch set for 8 p.m. ET.

The 2023 WBC runner-up, Team USA is bringing a stacked lineup to this year’s edition of the tournament, starting with “Captain America” and Yankees captain Aaron Judge, who will make his WBC debut after sitting out of the tournament in 2023.

The roster also includes Marines catcher Cal Raleigh, who hit 60 home runs and came second in MVP voting; Kyle Schwarber, who led the NL in home runs and RBIs for the Phillies; and MLB stars Alex Bregman, Bobby Witt Jr. and Bryce Harper.

Brazil enters the World Baseball Classic without a single MLB player on the roster.

Giants ace Logan Webb will get the start for Team USA tonight; Webb has a career 3.38 ERA with 180 MLB games to his name. The rest of Team USA’s starting pitching rotation includes two-time AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, reigning AL Cy Young winner Paul Skenes and Mets rookie phenom Nolan McLean.

Team USA vs. Brazil WBC start time

Team USA vs. Brazil at the World Baseball Classic is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. ET tonight, March 6.

How to watch Team USA vs. Brazil for free

If you don’t have cable, you’ll need a live TV streaming service to stream the World Baseball Classic for free.

DIRECTV is our favorite service for watching TV live for free — it has a five-day free trial and there are a ton of options for plans that include FOX, including genre packs that offer more flexibility at lower price points. FOX is part of the MyNews genre pack, which is currently discounted to $34.99/month for your first two months.

World Baseball Classic 2026: Team USA roster

• Pitchers: David Bednar (Yankees), Matthew Boyd (Cubs), Garrett Cleavinger (Rays), Clay Holmes (Mets), Griffin Jax (Rays), Brad Keller (Phillies), Clayton Kershaw, Nolan McLean (Mets), Mason Miller (Padres), Joe Ryan (Twins), Paul Skenes (Pirates), Tarik Skubal (Tigers), Gabe Speier (Mariners), Michael Wacha (Royals), Logan Webb (Giants), Garrett Whitlock (Red Sox)
• Catchers: Cal Raleigh (Mariners), Will Smith (Dodgers)
• Infielders: Alex Bregman (Cubs), Ernie Clement (Blue Jays), Paul Goldschmidt (Yankees), Bryce Harper (Phillies), Gunnar Henderson (Orioles), Brice Turang (Brewers), Bobby Witt Jr. (Royals)
• Outfielders: Roman Anthony (Red Sox), Byron Buxton (Twins), Pete Crow-Armstrong (Cubs), Aaron Judge (Yankees)
• Designated hitter: Kyle Schwarber (Phillies)

World Baseball Classic 2026: Team USA schedule

• vs. Brazil, March 6 at 8 p.m. ET (FOX)
• vs. Great Britain, March 7 at 8 p.m. ET (FOX)
• vs. Mexico, March 9 at 8 p.m. ET (FOX)
• vs. Italy, March 10 at 9 p.m. ET (FS1)

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Good afternoon everyone, it’s time to dive back into the mailbag and answer some of your questions. Remember to send in your questions for our weekly call by e-mail to pinstripealleyblog [at] gmail [dot] com.

Don H. asks:I’m just so tired of the Yankees letting players languish in the minors, until their play by or sell by dates are expired. Lombard Jr. is playing shortstop and hitting leadoff this spring, and reminds me a little of Derek Jeter when he first came up. And makes you wonder why Yankee insiders think he needs more seasoning in the minors.

George Lombard Jr.’s development is a far cry from languishing in the minors, having just three seasons as a pro with his age-21 season coming up this year. It’s an understandable concern given the team’s tendency to call up their prospects more towards 25-26 for a variety of reasons (development time, major league players blocking them, etc.), but the clock is nowhere near started on Lombard’s future and he should be around for quite some time should he make a push to the majors soon. On top of that, most scouts and insiders project Lombard to be with the Yankees sometime in 2027, with a few giving him an outside chance of making an appearance this year — Lombard has the potential to be a fast riser in the organization, a great sign for a top prospect.

As for the Jeter comparisons, while his spring has been phenomenal so far it’s important to remember that it’s just that — spring training. Lombard’s track record in the minors so far is a player with excellent defensive potential and a bat that has promise but needs refinement, with his .983 OPS in a 24-game stint in High-A Hudson Valley thus far being an outlier to the rest of his minor league career. The jump up to Double-A Somerset challenged him, and his bat came back down to Earth with a .695 OPS in a 108-game sample size, much more indicative that there’s work to be done still before rushing him into matchups with major league pitching. For all of the vitriol that Anthony Volpe has gotten from Yankees fans for largely being a glove-only shortstop, it’d be naive to rush Lombard into a similar fate when there’s plenty of time for him to figure things out at the appropriate level. And, just to give a look at what Jeter was doing with the bat at that same time, he was crushing the ball to the tune of an .873 OPS in his age-20 season that saw him jump from Single-A to Triple-A, before spending his entire age-21 season in Triple-A slashing .317/.394/.422 before getting a cup of coffee in New York.

NYCKING asks:Should LCS and World Series go to 2-2-1-1-1 format like NBA and NHL does?

The NBA and NHL format is a more “fair” approach from a home field advantage perspective, but there’s a key difference in how the baseball postseason operates that makes the 2-3-2 format feel more fitting for the sport. Introducing more travel would necessitate travel days off as well, allowing more rest for pitchers to recover and potentially allowing for teams to run with just three starters in a series, not to mention the benefits that it would give to high-end relievers whose number gets called in every close game their team finds themselves in come October. That’s not to say that it’d be bad if MLB chose to adopt this format, but it comes with tradeoffs — do you want the biggest stars to get the ball no matter what, or do you want the postseason to test the depth of your roster? On top of that, schedule-wise it would almost assuredly push the World Series further into November, which isn’t the biggest deal to some but might be to executives eyeing how much baseball can compete with football during the late fall ratings-wise.

russell1256 asks:With the Yankees farm system currently ranked in the lower half of baseball, next year, do you see a marked improvement in their ranking? Maybe based on their minor league pitching? They have multiple “studs” everyone is talking about. Carlos Lagrange, Elmer Rodríguez, Ben Hess, Bryce Cunningham, Chase Hampton, Brendan Beck to name a few.

It largely depends on how many of them are still in the system come next season — the group at large looks promising enough to catch the eyes of scouts if they continue developing, but they might also get dangled in front of general managers for upgrades at the deadline. It’s unlikely that the majority of the prospect core gets dealt out unless the team makes wholesale changes, but given the Yankees’ propensity to deal in quantity over quality because of how their top prospects rank relative to other organizations it might still be enough to prevent a major leap from the farm system overall. There’s also the chance for one or two names to end up playing a role in the 2026 campaign and graduating from the system, though there’d either need to be a remarkable run through the minors by them or a chaotic mess going on with the major league team for that to happen.

Spring Training is well underway and the World Baseball Classic pool play has also begun. It’s always a good idea to exercise some caution with early stats because players are frequently working through a few things as they prepare for the regular season. That said, there are early indicators we do keep an eye out for, especially for pitchers, like velocity and new pitches. With the obvious small (and early!) sample size caveats in mind, let’s take a closer look at what the Cubs have seen from Shōta Imanaga two starts into Spring Training.

Cubs fans will recall that the 2025 season ended with Imanaga struggling with pitch location and giving up a large number of home runs as a result. To put that in perspective, you can see some of Shōta’s key stats split by season and month below:

Admittedly, some of these samples are minuscule. The 10.2 innings Imanaga threw between May and June last season while dealing with injury are too small to be meaningful. But there are trends here that are notable. Imanaga’s strikeout rate has declined during his time in MLB. His walk rate is still elite. Say what you will about Imanaga, he throws strikes. Unfortunately, the other thing you can see is that those strikes have been more hittable over time, which is a problem.

During his first two spring training starts there is both good and bad news out of Mesa for Imanaga. The good news is that the velocity on Shōta’s pitches has been up a couple of ticks for both starts. In 2025 Shōta’s fourseam averaged 90.8 miles per hour, his splitter was at 83.0 and his sweeper was 80.3. On February 24, Shōta’s fastball sat around 92 miles per hour and hit 94.1, hist splitter mostly sat at 84 and hit 85.5. He threw one sweeper, it was 82.6 miles per hour. This approximately two mile per hour bump persisted in his second start against the White Sox on March 1 — unfortunately, another problem that reared its ugly head during the 2025 season was on display during the March start: a highly elevated home run rate. Of the four hits Imanaga surrendered in that start against the White Sox, three went over the wall.

Obviously it’s early. Imanaga has only thrown 4.2 innings so far this spring, which is an even smaller sample than either of the tiny months I told you to ignore in the table above. His HR/FB rate will not be 37.5 percent for the spring and unless there is a small sample during a month in the regular season, he won’t post a split like that in the regular season. Pitchers are frequently working on their pitch arsenal and approach during the spring in ways that can radically shift their results from start to start. However, if Shōta is still missing middle-middle when Opening Day rolls around an extra two miles per hour might not be enough to get him back to his 2024 results.

The much-anticipated Battle of the Braves between Venezuela’s Ronald Acuña Jr. and Ozzie Albies of the Netherlands saw a decisive winner, as Venezuela came out on top 6-2 in Pool D of 2026 World Baseball Classic action.

From a Braves perspective, this was a one-sided affair as Acuña hit the ground running in helping his team to victory in this one. Venezuela manager Omar López made the smart decision to have Acuña lead off and he was rewarded for that decision by seeing his leadoff hitter smack one into the gap in left-center field for a leadoff double on the very first pitch that he saw.

An RBI single from singles machine Luis Arraez eventually brought Acuña home for the first run of the gameand Acuña wasn’t done there, either. He followed up a leadoff hit-by-pitch taken by Andrés Giménez with a walk that eventually turned into a bases-loaded situation. Acuña then scampered home again for his second run of the day on a single from Willson Contreras that made it past Didi Gregorius at third base and into the outfield for a two-RBI knock.

Acuña’s exploits weren’t just limited to his plate appearances or on the basepaths as well. The Netherlands attempted to respond to Venezuela’s four-run fifth inning by loading the bases up with nobody out to start the sixth inning. Braves catcher Chadwick Tromp hit a soft blooper to right field that could’ve easily been one of those Bermuda Triangle-type hits that do a ton of damage without a ton of exit velocity. Fortunately for Venezuela, Tromp’s Braves teammate in right field made it clear that he wasn’t going to give his fellow Brave any easy hits. Acuña made a long run to get under the ball, make the catch and then flip the ball on one hop to home plate in order to save a run.

While Acuña was all over the place in a good way for Venezuela, it was a quiet day on the diamond for Ozzie Albies and Chadwick Tromp. Albies went 0-for-4 at the plate and Chadwick Tromp went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts in this one, as the Netherlands went into this one as clear underdogs and proved those prognostications correct. Braves Hall-of-Famer (and future Baseball Hall-of-Famer) and Netherlands manager Andruw Jones did have something to smile about in this one, as the two runs that Honkbal did score in this one off the bat of his son, Druw Jones. Druw tied things up in the second inning on an RBI double and then he hit a sacrifice fly to Ronald Acuña Jr. for the second run of the game.

That was as good as things got for the Netherlands in this one, as Venezuela ended up cruising to a four-run victory in this one. There wasn’t really a ton of drama in this one and the only Acuña/Albies interaction that we saw was the two pals goofing off at second base in the first inning after Acuña made it there on the leadoff double.

Outside of that, it was all Acuña and Venezuela as one of the dark horse candidates to win the whole thing got off to a good start in this one. Venezuela will return to the field tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. ET against Israel on Fox Sports 2, while the Netherlands will be facing off against Nicaragua at 12:00 p.m. ET on tubi. If you’re trying to keep an eye on Ozzie Albies, Chadwick Tromp and Andruw Jones then make sure you’ve bookmarked tubi because you aren’t done with the land of low-budget movies just yet.

Meanwhile in Houston, Nacho Alvarez Jr. is also making his presence felt for Mexico as he hit a dinger in the second inning during his first at-bat of the game in order to give his squad the initial lead. As of writing, Mexico is currently in a serious fight with Great Britain as they’re deadlocked 1-1 in the seventh inning, so keep an eye on that one. Hopefully we’ll see Nacho Alvarez Jr. continue to show out for Mexico and we’ll update this post if he does add to his tally in this one.

I am running around all day, but feel free to discuss the game below! Sorry this is late

There is one thing I would suggest Phillies fans, myself included, do more of this year.

Zoom out.

Here in Philly, we can be a bit myopic when it comes to our sports teams. We are immersed in the day-to-day, week-to-week, monthly and yearly frustrations that come with following a baseball team with great intensity, and it is easy to lose the forest for the trees.

Like you, I was not happy with the off-season. After a second straight first round playoff exit and three consecutive highly disappointing postseasons overall, the 2026 Phils are largely the same squad as the ‘25, ‘24 and ‘23 teams, at least in terms of its core.

The starting rotation still features Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola and Cristopher Sanchez. The best players in the lineup remain Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto, Bryson Stott, Brandon Marsh and Alec Bohm. The bullpen changes on a yearly basis, but that’s largely true for most teams. Everyone’s a year older, with yet another postseason frustration on which to chew.

We wanted change because it feels like this particular group has hit a brick wall. Teams that stick together this long don’t usually suddenly break through in Year No. 5. But it’s fair to note the Philadelphia Phillies are the two-time defending NL East champions and have been to the playoffs four straight years. This group did advance to a World Series in ‘22 and nearly got back there again in ‘23. And they won the NL East by a whopping 13 games a year ago.

Nationally, baseball analysts and the public are much higher on the Phils than the hardcore fanbase. This week, ESPN released their ranking of the Top 100 players in the league, and the Dodgers led the way with 8 players in the Top 100. But guess which team had the second-most? Yep, your Phils, with 7 (Sanchez, Schwarber, Turner, Harper, Luzardo, Jhoan Duran, Wheeler). That’s a lot!

MLB’s Mike Petriello released his Tier Rankings of all 30 teams, and while the Dodgers were in the top tier all by their lonesome, guess which tier the Phillies fell into? Yep, Tier 2, along with the Cubs (the only other NL team mentioned), Blue Jays, Mariners, Red Sox, Tigers and Yankees. That’s pretty great!

On my Hittin’ Season podcast from WHYY this week, MLB.com’s Mike Petriello joined me to offer his thoughts on why the Phillies largely chose to “run it back” in 2026, and why it’s important for us, as fans, to zoom out a bit and observe the rest of the league, too.

“You know, it’s funny. So I live in New York, but I’m not a Yankees fan, but I hear a lot of Yankees chatter and it’s the exact same conversation. Yankees and Phillies, right? We’re running it back and this is terrible. And it’s like, well, you’re running back a 96 win team in Philly and a 94 win team in New York. And every Phillies fan demanded Kyle Schwarber come back and every Yankees fan demanded Cody Bellinger come back. And at a certain point, if you’re bringing back players you wanted on a very good team, how many more moves are there to be made?

Yankees fans were furious. ‘We need a new shortstop.’ It’s like, shortstops don’t exist! You literally cannot go and find a shortstop right now. For the Phillies, I think it’s a little bit different just because I don’t mind them bringing back Schwarber, I don’t mind them bringing back JT Realmuto, because there just weren’t any other good options.”

And while Petriello did not like the Phillies’ plan for the outfield, specifically the move to acquire Adolis Garcia in free agency and place Justin Crawford in center without a real back-up plan, he called Brandon Marsh and his 2025 second half “underrated” and noted Bryson Stott’s outstanding second half after making a mechanical adjustment.

Things to consider.

While we’re nervous about a seemingly less stable starting rotation, Petriello believes the Phillies’ cadre of starters appear to still be the best in the division.

“The team that I’m out the most on rotation-wise is Atlanta, for sure. Just because of the pitching injuries. And I don’t know what [Spencer] Strider is and Chris Sale has been amazing, but he’s also going to be, what, 38? And [he] doesn’t exactly have a long track record recently of staying healthy. So that scares me the most. I think there’s huge disaster risk right there.

And between the Mets and the Phillies… I guess I’m still going to take the Phillies because it sounds like Wheeler won’t miss that much time. You know, it’s hard to know if he’s going to be “ace” [Zack] Wheeler, or just pretty good. I’m cautiously optimistic about [Aaron] Nola. I think Cris Sanchez is great and always underrated. I really like [Jesus] Luzardo. You know, even if [Andrew] Painter is only a number five, you’re not asking him to be an ace, right? The Pirates are asking Connor Griffin to be Bobby Witt right now and the Phillies are not asking that of Painter.

So I guess I would take the Phillies, then the Mets, then the Braves.“

This is perspective that gets lost when everyone is neck-deep in the echo chamber. Like you, I have a tendency to zero in on the minutia of what’s happening with the Phils, which is why it’s always great to get an outsider’s perspective, something I try to do a lot of on Hittin’ Season.

It’s easy to be down on the Phillies after a disappointing October and off-season. So let’s all make an effort to zoom out a bit more in 2026 and listen to folks who aren’t as emotionally invested in this team as we are.

It might save our sanity and maybe, just maybe, make us smarter baseball fans, too.

Double your pleasure, double your fun! More taste! Less filling! And other appropriate advertising jingles of the seventies. For Arizona plays two games this afternoon. Attention will probably be focused on the White Sox game, because you can at least listen to that, through a dbacks.com livestream, hosted by Chris Garagiola alongside Jake Lamb. The Brewers game is in Maryvale, which is basically the “Here be dragons” of Spring Training venues [Look, I used to live near 35th Avenue, I’m not judging], and so results will be transmitted back to the outside world through semaphore flags.

Here are the two line-ups.

Couple of bits of good news out of camp regarding our injured list this morning. Nick Piecoro says “Corbin Carroll is already taking live at-bats as he works his way back from hamate surgery.” And Alex Weiner reports, “Merrill Kelly came out of his bullpen session feeling good, and he will throw live batting practice on Sunday, per Torey Lovullo.” Finally, this:

The Texas Rangers welcome the hated Seattle Mariners to Surprise for an Arizona-flavored AL West battle.

RHP Jack Leiter will take the mound for Texas opposite fellow notable former first-round SEC hurler Kade Anderson. The lefty for Seattle is fresh off leading LSU to a championship last summer, while Leiter made his name with Vanderbilt earlier this decade.

The Mariners have a radio feed, otherwise you can follow along on Gameday. First pitch from Surprise Stadium is scheduled for 2:05 pm CT.

Go Rangers!

We got another game today, a quick turnaround from last night’s massacre at Camelback Ranch. Matchups and injuries later in March aside, the top two-thirds of this lineup could be close to what you see on Opening Day in Milwaukee:

Anthony Kay, top lefty on the staff at least for the moment, gets his third shot at the Cactus League.

Ballgame is at 2:10 p.m. CT, and is another Gameday event, unless you subscribe to MLB radio feeds that will deliver you the Giants’ broadcast.

In other developments, the White Sox re-upped everyone on the 40-man roster not already under contract for 2026, basically all the pre-arb guys playing for (relative) pennies:

And finally, the WBC is underway, with White Sox infielder Curtis Mead (three-run homer) playing a major role in Australia’s 5-1 win over Czechia.

As graybeard Alexei Ramírez sat on the bench, Yoán Moncada hit a two-run homer to provide the winning margin for Cuba in its 3-1 win over Panama.

Munetaka Murakami, hitting sixth, went 1-for-3 and scored three times in Japan’s 13-0 “10-run rule” win over Chinese Taipei.

In today’s Moose Tracks, poster chicagomariner shared an instant classic quote from Josh Naylor on his new teammate, Brendan Donovan.

“He has, like, a boring game, but he’s so elite at it.”

Rarely has 12 words captured the essence of what has made baseball hum for generations for many fans. While the last 30 years has seen a very gradual shift in the acceptance of boisterous celebrations and allowing players to express their individuality more, baseball culture still has a large place in its heart for the no-frills, lunch-pail type ballplayer who quietly excels at their position, with the bat, or both. Yes, these descriptors often fall along racial lines and have a long, long history of coded racism, which we will not be discussing in the comments, but I feel obliged to mention here because otherwise I’m part of the problem of normalizing the narrative.

I digress! So, Josh Naylor, who himself is politely Canadian off the field and occasionally very demonstrative on the field, has recognized and tagged Donovan as one of those elite yet boring type of ballplayers. Disgraced former Mariners Team President Kevin Mather once infamously described pitcher Marco Gonzales as “boring” in the Rotary Club meeting Zoom video that got him removed from the organization. While I don’t think Marco was quite elite during his time with the Mariners, he was certainly effective for a few seasons and one of the better pitchers the team had during a tough stretch of rebuilding.

So my question for y’all is, what other Mariners players come to mind as “boring, yet elite” ballplayers? Let’s hear some picks in the comments, and feel free to stray from the Mariners because I can already think of plenty of other MLB players, most notably that guy in Anaheim who loves weather.

The Miami Marlins are somewhat like cicadas. Every couple years, they emerge and make the playoffs, only to then immediately go back underground for a while. Unfortunately, the Yankees caught one of the worst years of that cicada infestation in 2003.

Recently, the Marlins made the playoffs in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, and then somewhat more legitimately in 2023. Those appearances didn’t end up leading to anything substantial and the Marlins dipped to below .500-dom, sending Jazz Chisholm Jr. to the Yankees in the process.

Going into 2026, it’s tough to expect that this will be a year where the cicadas emerge.

Miami Marlins

2025 record: 79-83 (3rd in NL East)
2026 FanGraphs projection: 75-87 (4th in NL East)

At least prior to the new season, it sure does appear like the 2026 season will be a year of the Marlins seeing what they have. For position players, all but two of their expected Opening Day roster (at least according to FanGraphs) are under 27, and the two that aren’t are only 28. The pitching side of things has a bit more experience and guys you’ve heard of, but a bunch of them are probably candidates to be flipped in a trade if they’re good and the team isn’t going anywhere this season.

At the top of Miami’s rotation will still be 2022 NL Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara. Between injury and a bit of a decline, he hasn’t been close to that pitcher since winning the award in 2022, and has been below average in general since 2023, when he was pretty good. He’s set to be a free agent after this season, so it’s hard to imagine any scenario where he ends the year in a Marlins jersey. If he looks good again, he probably becomes a top trade target. Even if he’s not great, there will probably be some team who tries to take him on a low risk deal and figure out if they can unlock the former All-Star that he was.

Elsewhere, the Marlins already cashed in on one particular rotation trade piece in sending Edward Cabrera to the Cubs. They signed Chris Paddack to the one-year contract, so if he shows anything, he could be another one that gets flipped if he’s even somewhat good.

As far as position players go, as mentioned this’ll probably be a year of development. Of the young players on their roster, Otto López and Xavier Edwards have both shown promise in the field, but the Marlins will hope they can show something at the plate, while they hope for improvement of a little bit of everything from former Yankees prospect Agustín Ramírez. In the aforementioned trade with the Cubs, Miami picked up Owen Cassie, who debuted for Chicago last year and is still making appearances on top 100 prospect lists. Besides him, several of the Marlins’ highest rated prospects are in the higher levels of the minors, so we could see several of them get callups this year.

The best hitter the Marlins had last season was outfielder Kyle Stowers. Age-wise, he falls outside of that group of 26 and below players, but he’s still early enough into his service time that they don’t have to make any decision yet. That being said, he’s nearing arbitration, and it wouldn’t be shocking given the Marlins’ history if they do something with him before a potential pay rise. Other than him, Miami doesn’t have a ton of position players you’d want to spend big on, but maybe someone can play themselves up in esteem.

At least as of now, I can’t say that there will be many Marlins games I’ll be intrigued to watch, but as a former Yankees radio broadcaster would say “you can’t predict baseball,” so who knows.

More Pinstripe Alley MLB team season previews can be found here.

The Cincinnati Reds will roll out lefty Andrew Abbott for another tune-up start today when they take on the San Francisco Giants at their stadium over in Scottsdale, Arizona. They’ll also be up against an old friend as righty Tyler Mahle takes the mound for the Giants.

The Reds, who still refuse to post anywhere but on the cesspool that is Twitter, posted their lineup earlier this afternoon, and we’ll get to see Sal Stewart play 2B on the day.

See is a bit dishonest, actually. This game will not be televised anywhere, so you’re going to have to simply use your imagination to glean anything from how Sal looks defensively out there today. You will be able to listen to the game courtesy of 700 WLW and the Reds Radio Network, so task your ears with doing the heavy lifting if you can find the time.

First pitch is set for 3:05 PM ET.

Go Reds!

Phillies' rotation is set, but depth concerns persist originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

BRADENTON, Fla. — Foundation. That’s what the back end of the Phillies’ starting rotation could use.

Developed, organizational pitching depth, to be exact.

MLB Pipeline recently released their Top 30 prospects for each club. They ranked the Phillies’ system 20th.

Outside of Andrew Painter, the club has just two starters in that top 30 who have thrown a pitch at Double-A or higher: Moises Chace (No. 10) and Friday’s starter against Pittsburgh at LECOM Park, Jean Cabrera (No. 15).

If one of their five starters goes down — or six when Zack Wheeler returns — there is no clear, definitive option waiting in the wings.

Enter Cabrera?

He threw 50 pitches against the Pirates, striking out three over 2 1/3 innings. He’s not overpowering. His fastball sits in the low-to-mid 90s.

The concern last season was his control, which ballooned to a career-high 4.0 walks per nine innings, and it’s what he’s keenly focused on this spring.

“I felt pretty good today,” Cabrera said. “We tried to work on the sweeper a little bit, and when I saw I wasn’t getting there, I was able to go to my secondary pitches and command them. So I could attack with those too.”

His best season came in 2024 as a 22-year-old, split between High-A and Double-A. He posted a 3.80 ERA, issued just 33 walks in 106 2/3 innings and struck out 110. Friday was another chance to see what the Venezuelan right-hander can do.

“I feel like it’s time,” Cabrera said. “Spring training is well under way and I feel like they want me to ramp up and progress with my arm.”

Listed at 6-foot, 145 pounds (which may be outdated at this point), Cabrera doesn’t carry the typical frame of a big-league starter, something his Phillies teammates have jokingly pointed out.

But those same teammates have been a resource. On the pitching side, he’s leaned on Jesús Luzardo and Cristopher Sánchez, absorbing how they prepare and building a routine of his own.

“It’s been more about creating the habit of having a routine and being ready for games,” Cabrera said. “You never know when you’re going to be needed, and whenever you are, you have to be ready.”

The veteran arms have also encouraged him to add some physical weight to handle the rigors of a full big-league season.

“They feel like I’m a good pitcher and that I have what it takes to pitch at that level,” Cabrera said. “They want me to gain some weight in order to be ready and healthy for 30 starts and 200-plus innings. Who doesn’t want that?”

Rob Thomson has seen the growth.

“Cabrera is a guy that’s getting better and better,” he said. “His changeup was excellent and his fastball just keeps improving. He has pretty good command out there.”

It remains to be seen where Cabrera breaks camp, but it may be too early to pencil him in as a reliable back-end option.

Where else can the Phillies turn?

It won’t be Chace. After a strong start to his 2025 campaign with a 3.24 ERA in six starts at Reading, he underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery in June.

Their ten other pitchers in the Top 30 are not close to being big-league ready. The closest?

Gage Wood.

Their first-round pick a year ago has the makeup and confidence of an arm that could move quickly. The issue is that Wood made just 13 starts in his collegiate career at Arkansas, with his other 42 appearances coming out of the bullpen.

The organization won’t rush him into a rotation role this year, though he could pitch his way into a bullpen spot.

The Phillies are looking to stretch out Bryse Wilson as a swingman. The eight-year veteran has found most of his success in long relief. The last time he made more than ten starts in the majors was 2022, when he posted a 5.52 ERA with Pittsburgh.

He’s made a pair of scoreless two-inning outings this spring, and Thomson has taken notice.

“I like Bryse Wilson,” Thomson said. “He can really pitch. He’s not gonna break a radar gun, but he can put some command on the baseball and keep people off balance.”

Thomson also mentioned Alan Rangel as another name, who made a number of appearances out of the bullpen last season.

In other words, it’s thin.

At the onset of the offseason, Dave Dombrowski mentioned the club was still prioritizing starting pitching depth. No moves have been made, and Thomson is noncommittal on whether that will change.

“I don’t know,” Thomson said. “We’ll see how things go the rest of the way. If we’ve got eight right now, I feel fine about that.”

There is a notable positive on the horizon, though.

All indicators suggest Wheeler is ahead of schedule. He has looked strong in his bullpen sessions and remained optimistic about his recovery from thoracic outlet syndrome decompression surgery.

A timeline still hasn’t been set, but when he returns, the Phillies will have a competition for the fifth rotation spot between Taijuan Walker and Painter.

That doesn’t change the lack of developed arms behind them. Signing a veteran like Nestor Cortes to a league-minimum or minor league deal addresses this season, nothing more.

When the draft comes around, the conversation about investing in pitching will only get louder.

A trade for a young, controllable starter, one that wouldn’t significantly add to their luxury tax burden, currently sitting at the 110 percent penalty threshold, wouldn’t be a surprise.

That should still be a priority.

The Brewers return to Cactus League action Friday after an exciting 10–8 victory over the Colorado Rockies. Today’s game pits Milwaukee against the Arizona Diamondbacks for the first time this spring.

Chad Patrick is on the mound for the Brewers on the heels of Pat Murphy’s declaration that Patrick “will be in the rotation” to start the year. The right-hander showed up when called upon last year, putting up a 3.53 ERA in the regular season and a 2.00 ERA in six playoff games. Also scheduled to pitch today for the Crew are Jared Koenig and Peter Strzelecki. Pitching for the Diamondbacks is lefty Mitch Bratt, who had a 3.38 ERA in Double-A last year.

Today’s lineup is one you’ll probably never see in the regular season. Jake Bauers is leading off followed by Brandon Lockridge and Christian Yelich, who homered and reached base three times in his spring debut on Wednesday. A trio of offseason acquisitions — Akil Baddoo, Reese McGuire, and David Hamilton — will follow Yelich. Prospects Luis Lara and Jesús Made are hitting seventh and eighth, respectively. Hitting ninth and playing second base today is Greg Jones, who the Brewers signed to a minor league contract in the offseason.

Today’s game will be broadcast via radio on WTMJ 640 and the Brewers Radio Network. First pitch is set for 2:10 p.m.