Category: Baseball

Observations from Mets’ spring training on Saturday:

Good sign

Francisco Alvarez, whose early part of the 2025 season was marred by a fractured hamate bone, homered on a back field in a live batting practice session Saturday morning.

The catcher is trying to regain the form he showed in the second half of last year, when he had a .921 OPS following his return to the majors on July 21 after a rough first half.

Two bad

The Mets had some familiar faces in the top half of the lineup, but the team managed just a pair of hits against Miami.

Their first hit didn’t come until Austin Barnes’ single in the bottom of the fifth.

Caught my eye

Ronny Mauricio, who got the start at shortstop, also stole second as he looks to carve out a role for himself on the roster with Francisco Lindor out with a fractured hamate bone.

Sunday’s schedule

Who’s ready for the Subway Series?

Probably no one, but the Mets will travel to face the Yankees at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa on Sunday at 1:05 p.m.

Justin Hagenman is expected to make the start.

— Dan Martin

Justin Crawford shows ‘fire,' impresses in exhibition opener originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Justin Crawford giggled.

“I’ve got to hit the weight room a little more,” he told reporters on Saturday.

There wasn’t much to nitpick in Crawford’s first Spring Training outing in 2026. He collected two hits against the Blue Jays in Dunedin and showed why the Phillies feel comfortable giving him a real opportunity.

Crawford has spent plenty of his pro career at or near the top of the order, so batting leadoff in his first Grapefruit League action wasn’t new. What stood out was how composed it looked.

That’s part of the profile the 22-year-old has built, and not just from bloodlines. Yes, he’s the son of Carl Crawford. But Justin’s approach has stayed consistent: play fast, make contact, pressure the defense.

That showed up quickly against Toronto left-hander Eric Lauer, a seven-year big leaguer. Crawford worked the count, then on the sixth pitch drove a high fastball into the left-center gap. It banged off the middle of the wall and he cruised into second with a double that left the bat at 104 mph.

It was also a swing he felt good about right away.

“Definitely,” Crawford said when asked if he liked the swing and result. “That definitely feels good getting the first one, the first at-bat like that. So it’s kind of nice to be able to get that early and then just trying to hopefully build off of that.”

The left-on-left piece is what keeps his ceiling interesting.

In 2025, Crawford slashed .376/.411/.518 against left-handed pitching in Triple-A. When a left-handed hitter can handle same-side matchups, put the ball in play, and run, it changes how teams have to defend you.

Crawford talked last week on Phillies Talk about keeping things simple and trusting what got him here.

“Once I get out into the game, just go out there and just play,” Crawford said. “Whatever happens, whatever happens — just play hard and play fast, and I feel like good things happen off of that.”

Part of playing for the Phillies’ No. 3 prospect — per MLB Pipeline — is being a pest. That’s something this lineup could use more of, especially at the end. A tough out.

If Crawford’s bat can stick toward the bottom of the order, it creates more chances for Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber, and Bryce Harper — in no particular order — to hit with traffic. That’s a real way to change the feel of an offense without making a splashy addition.

And if the Phillies ever need a spark at the top, don’t rule out Crawford working his way into that conversation, too. In a situation where the club wants to keep alternating left-right, that’s a path as well.

Crawford also shared one small mechanical note from his offseason, saying he tweaked his setup late last season and stayed with it through the winter.

“I made some adjustments at the end of the year… playing with my hands, got them a little bit closer to around my ear now,” Crawford said postgame. “It just feels like it’s quicker to kind of get to the ball from there.”

Defense is the other side of it. Center field is one of the hardest spots to step into right away, and it hasn’t been the loudest part of Crawford’s profile. But the tools are obvious, and the instincts showed on his sliding grab in center against Addison Barger in the fourth inning.

He also addressed the outfield dynamic, with Brandon Marsh to one side and Adolis García to the other.

“They made it very clear to kind of get me comfortable and to kind of be like, ‘Yo, go take charge out there,’” Crawford said on Phillies Talk. “There’s no such thing as over-talking.”

The Phillies have also liked what they’ve seen from Crawford’s routine and consistency. He said Saturday that a strong support system helps keep him grounded as the attention ramps up.

“Thankfully, I have a pretty good support system with my mom, my dad, my hitting coach, Mike Esler,” Crawford said. “They kind of help me stay in the moment… take it day by day, pitch by pitch, and kind of just controlling what you can control.”

There’s also an element clubs tend to value when young players arrive: how you go about it. Hustle, effort, and not playing scared. Crawford’s first game checked those boxes.

Philadelphia can be a tough place to grow up at the big league level. Bryson Stott and Alec Bohm are recent examples who stuck, but the list isn’t long. The key with a homegrown talent like Crawford is patience.

Rob Thomson has already said he’ll get the chances to play. If there are growing pains, the club will have to live through them.

It’s one Spring Training game. But the early signs matched his reputation — and the attitude did, too.

“Try to light some fire,” Crawford said on Phillies Talk. “Just do anything I can to cause havoc for the defense… any way I can to get on base, to score for our team.”

Saturday looked just like that.

TAMPA — Perhaps the next game Spencer Jones plays at Steinbrenner Field, traffic will be temporarily halted on Dale Mabry Highway when the Yankees slugger comes up to bat.

That way, the cars driving by beyond the right-field fence will be shielded from baseballs flying their way.

Jones had a spring debut Saturday typical of his tantalizing potential, clobbering a mammoth home run that cleared everything in right field and left the entire stadium before striking out in his next two at-bats.

The 6-foot-7, lefty slugger has been tinkering with his mechanics once again early in camp but found the right move for his homer that was estimated to travel 408 feet, which seemed incredibly light.

“Just trying to get some good feels with the hands, get those going and use that as a trigger,” Jones said during the 20-3 win over the Tigers.

On the YES broadcast, David Cone described Jones’ swing as “almost [Shohei] Ohtani-like,” pointing to the toe tap that he was using, which Jones later indicated is something he has looked at.

“[Ohtani] is a great reference of a really good mover with a great swing,” Jones said. “He’s one of those guys that I look at some of the stuff he does and try to apply it in whichever way I can.”

Jones has also leaned on Aaron Judge, his fellow 6-foot-7 Yankee, for advice on how to make the most of his big frame.

The two spent time in big league camp talking about it last spring and have done so again this year, with Jones coming off a strong year in which he clubbed 35 home runs but struck out 179 times in 506 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A.

“I think the biggest thing that I’ve noticed swing-wise is he’s just ready to hit,” said Judge, who also crushed two homers. “The minute he puts that foot down with the little toe-tap, he’s ready to hit. Maybe they might have got him with a lot of high heaters in the past or even last season. I think that’s just going to help him. He doesn’t have a big leg kick, he doesn’t have to worry about getting that down.

“That quickness, that readiness is really going to be a game-changer for him.”

Carlos Lagrange made his anticipated Grapefruit League debut and flashed his triple-digit fastball while giving up two runs (one earned) across 2 ²/₃ innings. The top pitching prospect scattered three hits and walked a pair while striking out two, both on his changeup.

“It’s a little bit of a dream coming true right there,” Lagrange said of wearing pinstripes and pitching in his first game in major league spring training.

The 6-foot-7, 22-year-old Lagrange has continued to impress Yankees officials and teammates with not only his stuff but his demeanor as well.

“Carlos’ potential, man, is to be a frontline starter for the New York Yankees,” Judge said.

Cam Schlittler threw a bullpen session Saturday that simulated two innings, which could be the final hurdle before he gets back to facing hitters, which he has not done since being slowed with mid-back inflammation at the start of camp.

Russell Wilson made a cameo in the Yankees clubhouse Saturday morning, walking through and shaking hands with players, some of whom were caught off guard to see the Giants quarterback.

Introduction

One of the many reasons for the disappointing D-Backs’ 2025 season? Their dismayingly ugly defense. It felt like a constant refrain throughout the season’s broadcasts when either Steve Berthiaume or Bob Brenly would remark on how defensive errors or miscues drive a manager like Torey Lovullo crazy. That ugliness caught my eye early and never really seemed to be resolved throughout the season. Frustratingly, none of Torey’s mental anguish or pleading seemed to make much of a difference. I don’t want to overstate the problem. It’s not as if their defense was terrible – depending on your preferred metric, they were anywhere from 11th in the majors by FanGraph’s defensive rating to 24th by Baseball Reference’s defensive runs saved. But those rankings are both significant steps backwards compared to the previous year when the D-Backs were first by the latter and seventh by the former en route to an 89-73 record. Obviously, it wasn’t the only factor in their slippage between the two seasons, but now that Spring Training is upon us, the team’s defense will be under intense scrutiny – especially since none of the projected rotation members are likely to be strikeout artists and will instead depend on a stalwart defense to keep runs off the board. So what improvements can be made to make sure that comes to pass?

Roster Improvement

There was always going to be at least some defensive regression by swapping Josh Naylor for Christian Walker at first base. While Naylor isn’t bad in the field – he clocked in at 13th in the league with 1 outs above average (OAA) in 2024 – he’s nowhere near the 13 OAA that Walker produced that year. Ironically, Walker took significant steps back both offensively and defensively last year – enough that he and Naylor were on par with one another for defensive value. Now that Naylor’s found his new home in Seattle (with his distractingly cute dog), the D-Backs needed another first baseman alongside Pavin Smith – enter Carlos Santana. While Santana’s most significant offensive contributions are likely behind him in his improbably long-lasting career, he and his 8 OAA represent significant improvements defensively over Naylor – and don’t forget (like I did) that he’s just two years removed from a Gold Glove-caliber season at the cold corner. On the diagonal side of the diamond, Nolan Arenado has long been a defensive wizard at the hot corner even as his contributions at the plate continue to decline with age. Contrastingly, Eugenio Suarez has been a minus-defender at third base for most of his career – including leading the league in errors in two separate seasons. That’s perfectly fine when he’s hitting four home runs in a game, but becomes less acceptable when he posts a measly .189/.255/.428 slash line. It’s a deliberate choice by the front office to trade offense for defense while banking on the combination of Geraldo Perdomo, Ketel Marte, and Corbin Carroll to pick up the offensive slack. That’s an understandable and perhaps worthwhile exchange, but it’s a bet predicated on that aforementioned trio maintaining their respective offensive ceilings – a bet that may be in danger already given Carroll’s hamate injury.

Individual Improvement

While the roster changes above should, on paper at least, improve the team’s defense, they alone likely still won’t allow the team to reach the heights they hit during that 2023-24 stretch. For that to happen, they’ll likely need some growth from some of their existing players – particularly the younger ones that are still looking to fully establish themselves. In my mind, this dynamic particularly applies to Perdomo and Gabriel Moreno. Last season was undoubtedly Perdomo’s unexpected (for me at least) breakout from solid major leaguer to legitimate star. And while he was good in the field, checking in at 16th for defensive WAR among shortstops last year and accumulating 5 OAA, there might still be room for improvement as he continues to gain confidence and additional comfort at the position. There probably isn’t as much room for improvement for Moreno who has been an absolute beast defensively since coming over from the Blue Jays in the 2022-23 offseason. For the young Venezuelan, it has more to do with his durability and ability to stay on the field as he’s played in 100 or more games just once – back in his inaugural season with the team. Obviously, catching is an inherently difficult and physically taxing position and the number of catchers who exceed that threshold isn’t incredibly long, but it is important. Sadly, Moreno has been absolutely snakebitten (pun intended) with injuries, losing time due to shoulder inflammation (three weeks), a thumb sprain (ten days), an adductor strain (six weeks), and last year’s finger fracture that ultimately cost him two-plus months of playing time. When he’s on the field, he can be a dynamic game changer with his bat and his arm cutting down baserunners – it’s just the first part that has been a struggle.

Well we officially have Braves baseball back in our lives, as Spring Training kicked off Saturday. Mike Yastrzemski had a nice debut, with a homer and a single, while bullpen candidates Hayden Harris, James Karinchak, and Dylan Dodd showed out nicely in one inning of work each.

We’ll be treated to a Chris Sale start today at 1:05 PM ET against the Twins, who are starting Taj Bradley.

Braves News

The Braves started their 2026 Spring Training games with a good performance from one of their top offseason additions.

MLB News

The Twins sparked a short-lived trade rumor, scratching Joe Ryan just before his first Spring Training start for what turned out to be back tightness.

Braves legend and likely future Hall of Famer Freddie Freeman has expressed his intent to play four more seasons, all for the Dodgers, with two years remaining on his current contract.

Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski passed away at the age of 89 on Friday.

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: Aaron Judge and Spencer Jones both went deep on Saturday as the Yankees steamrolled the Detroit Tigers 20-3. Jones’ homer was no cheapy, leaving the bat at 111.7 mph and traveling an official 408 feet (though the outfielder chided that metric as conservative). Judge expressed optimism about Jones’ reworked swing. “He doesn’t have a big leg kick and doesn’t have to worry about trying to get that down,” the Yankees captain said. “I liked the results I saw in that first at-bat. That quickness, that readiness, it’s really going to be a game-changer for him.”

For his part, Judge homered twice, quickly rounding into form as he prepares for the World Baseball Classic. “(With) the WBC, you don’t want to get exposed,” he said after the game in reference to his goal of ramping up quickly this spring. “You’re playing for your country. You’ve got to be ready to go.”

The Athletic | Brendan Kuty: ($) A sewage leak engulfed George M. Steinbrenner Field Saturday as the Yankees put a hurting on the Tigers. The unwelcome visitor intruded on the team’s clubhouse as well as its team store, public concourse, and decorative pond. In addition to an unfortunate odor, the leak provided some all-time quotes. “It’s not great. It’s all over the place,” said manager Aaron Boone, adding circumspectly, “Life gets you sometimes.” But it was the team’s official spokesperson who delivered the doozy of the day via a quietly philosophical thought: “It’s spring training for the toilets, too.”

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: Gerrit Cole looked sharp Friday in his first action against live hitters since undergoing Tommy John surgery last year. Facing Trent Grisham, Aaron Judge, and Jasson Domínguez, the 2023 Cy Young Award winner threw 20 pitches, topping out at 96 mph. “Everything felt good. I had a good bit of fun,” he said Saturday. “It was the first day where I was unregulated. The mindset was performance. It’s nice when you get to that point and your objective is to go execute and not think about anything else. It was rewarding and refreshing.” Cole also used a new over-the-head windup that he’s toying with carrying into the season.

The Yankees are also looking to get third baseman Ryan McMahon some action at shortstop so he’s available there to boost their flexibility during the season. “I’m a ballplayer,” the veteran, who made two appearances at short in 2020, said nonchalantly about the new position. “I’m a ballplayer. I think I can go out there and catch the ball, and we’ll see how it looks.”

PORT ST. LUCIE — Bo Bichette was back in a game for the first time since his Blue Jays lost Game 7 of the World Series to the Dodgers to end last season.

The goal with his new team is to get back to October and after years of coming up short in Toronto, Bichette believes he brings some successful postseasons to Queens.

“I learned it’s not too complicated,’’ Bichette said of winning in the playoffs. “It’s about having a group of more than 26 guys on the same page come together every day. You have conversations about what it looks like and what you want the identity of the team to be. It comes down to having the entire locker room here to win.”

That, he hopes, is already happening, but they will also need David Stearns’ plan of having four middle infielders often manning the entire infield come together.

The Great Infield Experiment began on Saturday, with Bichette at third base for their Grapefruit League opener against Miami at Clover Park, which they lost 2-1.

And naturally, Bichette was tested with a grounder down the line in his first game at his new position.

The former shortstop backhanded Connor Norby’s ground ball before his long throw tailed a bit as Jose Rojas tried to corral the ball at first.

The play was ruled an error by Rojas, who could have made the play — but after he exited the game, Bichette said, “The throw could have been better, for sure.”

Asked if it was a more difficult throw than the one he was accustomed to from hole at short, Bichette said, “I don’t know if it’s tougher. It’s different.”

Carlos Mendoza said Bichette was “fine” in his debut at third, adding he’s liked what he’s seen from his arm during camp.

He’ll be tested throughout the spring, as Bichette will get plenty of reps at third, as he breaks in there, with Jorge Polanco at first.

Polanco didn’t play Saturday, while Marcus Semien made his Mets spring debut at second, with Francisco Lindor out, recovering from hand surgery.

“Playing third was fun,” Bichette said of his debut. “I’m learning something new.”

Among the realizations: “I noticed right away the viewpoint is different [than shortstop]. You can’t really look at the hitter. You look at the contact point. There’s definitely a lot of stuff I can learn in the game.”

There will be plays throughout the spring — and into the regular season — that Bichette has never seen before, with Polanco experiencing similar challenges at first base.

But the Mets are confident the ex-middle infielders are up to the challenge of moving to the corners, with their bats helping make up for whatever learning curves they go through defensively.

And they’ve talked extensively about what both veteran players bring to the roster in terms of experience and culture.

For Bichette, he’s confident having seen it finally gel last season in Toronto helps translate to similar results with the Mets.

“It’s about the process,’’ Bichette said of what he figured out in Toronto, along with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. “The organization was kind of put in Vlad’s and my hands at a really young age and we went through a lot of ups and downs. We had some really good times and not so good times that shaped us to get to the point that it was just really about winning. It’s not that we didn’t think it was about that from the beginning, but we had to get to the point where it really was the main focus and the only thing we cared about. We had to set that culture.”

It will be a different challenge with the Mets.

“I think I can bring who I am and how I play on the field and what matters to me,’’ Bichette said. “Hopefully that turns into conversations about winning — and that’s already happening.”

Sure it’s early, and we’re only two games in, and the Colorado Rockies are at a promising .500 after trashing the Arizona Diamondbacks earlier today.

I get it: Spring training doesn’t matter. But this is — at least for Rockies fans — an interesting team because anything could happen. (And whatever does happen, at least it won’t be what happened over the last five years.)

So here’s tonight’s question: Which Rockie will take a leap in terms of improving his performance this season?

There are so many possibilities . . . .

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

TAMPA — It may be time to bubble wrap Aaron Judge until Opening Day, or at least until the World Baseball Classic.

Making his Grapefruit League debut much earlier than normal, because he is leaving camp next week to captain Team USA in the WBC, the Yankees slugger wasted no time looking like he was in midseason form. 

Judge crushed a pair of home runs Saturday afternoon at George M. Steinbrenner Field, delighting the sellout crowd early in a 20-3 win over the Tigers in the spring home opener.

“It’s spring training,” Judge deadpanned.

But this is unlike any spring that Judge has had before.

He is usually easing into fairly meaningless Grapefruit League exhibitions by the first week of March, but this year, he will be playing in high-stakes games with Team USA, with pool play set for March 6-10 and the knockout rounds to follow.

“Even going back to last year, [I was] trying to get more at-bats early on so that I could be ready in April,” Judge said. “Felt like that worked out for us and I’m trying to do the same thing that we did last year. 

“But also at the WBC, you don’t want to get exposed, man. You’re playing for your country so you got to be ready to go.”

Two years ago, Judge got off to a quiet start in April before turning red-hot the rest of the year, the opening month the only blemish on his dominant MVP campaign. So he came into camp last year with the goal of getting more exhibition at-bats under his belt, hoping that it would parlay into a stronger start. 

The result? Judge hit .427 with 10 home runs and a 1.282 OPS in March and April on the way to a second straight MVP. 

This guy is pretty good, huh? pic.twitter.com/XmRwP6rVOE

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) February 21, 2026

Now, Judge’s ramp-up for the season is beginning even earlier, set to play again on Sunday against the Mets (as designated hitter), with Aaron Boone planning to start him in four or five games before he heads to Team USA’s camp next Sunday.

“It’s all about getting ready. But if I don’t get results, I get asked questions about what happened to the power. So I’m glad I don’t have to talk about that,” he said with a grin. “It’s about getting ready. At this point in my career, I got things I need to work on, things I need to do that are going to help us put the best team out there. I’ll figure out the results and stuff playing real games.”

For proof that spring results don’t matter, Judge did not hit a single home run in the spring of 2024, before crushing 58 during the regular season.

But the Yankees, who are about to go two-plus weeks without seeing any of Judge’s at-bats up close, liked what they saw on Saturday.

After flying out in his first at-bat, Judge drilled a cutter at the bottom of the zone 420 feet to the batter’s eye in his second at-bat. And in his third, he turned on a 92 mph up-and-in fastball and smoked it 395 feet down the left-field line that he was somehow able to keep fair.


“Just some really good swings, good at-bats,” Boone said. 

Soon, Judge will be taking them for Team USA, getting to fulfill a longstanding goal by representing his country for the first time in his career. Besides wanting to win the WBC, he is not surprisingly looking at the tournament as a chance to get better by being around the best of the best.

“That’ll be the coolest part,” Judge said. “[There’s] very few chances — All-Star games you get an opportunity to be around the best players in the world, but this room’s going to be different. You got some of the best players in the U.S. all in one room. It’s going to be exciting, fun. 

“Getting a chance to pick some guys’ brains a little bit and see how — more preparation. That’s the one thing I always look at any guy we get here is how do they prepare? How do you prepare to be great? All those guys in that room are going to be great, so it’ll be fun.”

PORT ST. LUCIE — A.J. Ewing might not make an impact in the majors this season, but he took advantage of his presence in the Mets’ Grapefruit League opener on Saturday, hitting a sacrifice fly and showing off his speed and baseball IQ in center field in a 2-1 loss to Miami at Clover Park.

Known as one of the organization’s quickest players, Ewing was in center field when he alertly chased down an errant throw by Kevin Parada on a stolen base attempt by Miami’s Colby Shade.

Ewing got to the ball and made a strong throw to third for the out.

The 21-year-old, who finished last season with Double-A Binghamton, has impressed Carlos Mendoza.

“There’s a lot to like,’’ Mendoza said. “I like him as a hitter at the plate. And his defense, he gets great jumps and made some good plays with reads off the bat.”

Ewing entered spring as one of the top three position player prospects in the organization after swiping 70 bases last season in the minors. If he can hit well enough, Ewing could make an impact down the road.

“His ability to give you a really good at-bat from the left side and speed is pretty encouraging,’’ Mendoza said.

As Jorge Polanco works to acclimate himself with first base, he’ll have a pair of other infielders with little experience as his primary backups.

Mendoza said prior to Saturday’s Grapefruit League opener that Brett Baty and Mark Vientos would likely get plenty of reps there, especially as the veteran Polanco is expected to get significant time at DH.

“We’ve got options,’’ Mendoza said of first base. “It depends on matchups and the schedule. We feel really good with the guys when it’s not Polanco.”

The split could make sense, with the right-handed Vientos pairing with the lefty-swinging Baty, who is still taking things slow this spring after experiencing right hamstring discomfort early in camp.

“He continues to progress,’’ Mendoza said of Baty. “He’s trending in the right direction.”

There remains no timetable on when Baty, who is now mostly working at first base to protect the hamstring, might begin work in the outfield.

Marcus Semien was at second base and in the leadoff spot for Saturday’s opener, but Mendoza said they would monitor the 35-year-old’s workload in the spring.

“He wants to play,’’ Mendoza said of Semien, who has appeared in at least 155 games eight times in his career, but was limited to 127 last season due to a left foot injury.

“He takes pride in being available, posting [and] being in the lineup,’’ Mendoza said. “We will have to watch him closely and communicate once we get going.”

Mark Vientos and Luis Torrens are among the veterans expected to make the trip to Tampa on Sunday, along with Carson Benge.

Clay Holmes will make his Grapefruit League debut when he starts Monday’s game against Toronto in Dunedin, Fla.

Twins right-hander Joe Ryan has gone down with a back injury which could jeopardize his participation in this year’s World Baseball Classic.

Ryan, 29, was scratched from his scheduled spring training start on Saturday because of lower back tightness, and was set to undergo an MRI exam to find out more about his condition.

“It happened during his prep work,” Twins manager Derek Shelton told reporters, according to The Athletic. “We sent him for imaging just to be sure. … There is day-to-day soreness with everybody, but this is something that came up.”

The exact details of Ryan’s injury and a potential timeline to return still remain unclear.

Ryan’s apparent injury also raises concern about if he would be able to pitch for Team USA in the WBC in March. He is expected to join the team in Houston at the end of the month.

Despite Ryan needing to be ready earlier in the offseason to account for the WBC, he has previously said that he did not make many changes to his preparation.

“It didn’t feel like this crazy overhaul in any way,” Ryan told reporters earlier this month. “We just started things a little bit earlier and let the program and the process take care of the rest.”

Ryan is coming off of his best season in the MLB in which he pitched to a 13-10 record with a 3.42 ERA and 194 strikeouts through 30 starts, earning him his first career All-Star appearance.

His injury also comes just a day after fellow Twins righty Pablo Lopez announced that he will be undergoing season-ending Tommy John surgery.

“I don’t think its hit me yet,” López told reporters on Friday. “It’s sitting definitely heavy. … I think it’s going to hit me harder next week when (surgery) happens and all of that. We knew what we were looking at. I think I’m a pretty realistic person.

“I know what’s in front of me.”

Observations from Yankees’ spring training on Friday.

Looking Golden

In his spring debut, Paul Goldschmidt went 2-for-3 with a pair of singles and a lineout.

The 38-year-old first baseman had exit velocities of 108.3, 107.5 and 97.9 mph, an encouraging early sign.

What’s that smell?

There was a sewage problem outside of George M. Steinbrenner Field, which seeped into the bathroom inside the Yankees clubhouse and surrounding areas.

A brutal stench emanated from the clubhouse throughout the afternoon. “It’s spring training for the toilets, too,” a Yankees spokesman said.

Added Aaron Boone: “It’s not great. And it’s all over the place. Hopefully they get it cleaned up here overnight and back in business [Sunday].”

Apparently, two sewer lines broke outside the main GMS Field entrance just before today’s game.
Things got progressively worse.
“It’s not great…it’s all over the place,” Aaron Boone said of areas of the Yankee clubhouse.
Hoping for a quick cleanup before tomorrow’s game v NYM pic.twitter.com/5L23TM6frH

— Pete Caldera (@pcaldera) February 21, 2026

Caught my eye

Ryan McMahon, showing off his narrower stance, went the other way in his first two at-bats, one a double into the left field corner and the other a flyout.

Sunday’s schedule

Luis Gil will make his first start of the spring against the Mets at Steinbrenner Field.

Still undefeated!!! The Sox are a mighty 2-0, with total runs of 19-3. Can we call it a season now?

The A’s decided not to play any major league regulars in their Cactus League opener and the White Sox took advantage, scoring five runs in the first three innings, mainly thanks to Edgar Quero having an excellent sense of direction. He came up with the bases loaded in the first, thanks to a Chase Meidroth double and two walks, and hit a little looper to left:

That was good for two runs, then he came up in the third with runners on second and third and decided if one blooper is good, two are even better:

Hence, four RBIs on two bloops that were barely 83 mph but, as coaches teach kids, you put the ball in play and good things can happen. Quero did have one solid knock, a 98 mph double, but that was with the bases empty. He also threw out a would-be base thief and correctly challenged a ball-strike call. OK, so he maybe misplayed a pitch that led to a A’s run, but let us not quibble when he has a day like this.

The only other Sox run thanks to a player apt to be in the majors this year came via Brooks Baldwin flexing his mighty power in the second:

John Schriffen, brilliant as always, repeatedly referred to it as Baldwin’s first homer of the spring; that was pretty inevitable, because it was Baldwin’s first at-bat of the spring.

Luisangel Acuña struck out looking his first time up as a member of the White Sox, but later slashed a double. There were no plays in center that could determine whether he can play there, the only one being a double to the wall there was no way to get to.

Chicago’s other six runs came late, when Sox hitters who will mostly play Double-A to start the season faced A’s pitchers who will be lucky to make Single-A. The minor-leaguers got half of the club’s 14 hits, with William Bergolla Jr. and Dru Baker knocking two apiece. The A’s also tossed in some lousy fielding and bad base running to keep the score well spread.

On the pitching side, Chris Murphy was the first of seven Sox hurlers who got out of the game with just two runs, only one earned, despite giving up 11 hits and walking four. That was no doubt helped by the total lack of major league opposition, and very little upper minors opposition. Plus the aforementioned bad base running.

The White Sox stay at Camelback Ranch tomorrow to host Milwaukee. That game will also be televised, giving fans the first chance to watch Munetaka Murakami. First pitch is scheduled for 2:05 p.m. Central.

TEMPE, Ariz. –– Saturday might have only been a symbolic first step in their quest for a third straight World Series title.

But the dynasty Dodgers already looked like a juggernaut. 

Even in a meaningless spring training contest that included only a few of their big-name stars, the Dodgers kicked off their 2026 campaign with a 15-2 rout of the Angels in their Cactus League opener, hanging nine runs on the Tempe Diablo Stadium scoreboard before nine outs had even been recorded in the game.

“It was a very good overall day for us,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Scored a lot of runs and got a lot of guys at-bats.”

The last time the Dodgers were in action, they were lifting the Commissioner’s Trophy after their Game 7 win in the World Series against the Blue Jays.

In 112 days since then, expectations have only been raised.

The team once again boasts a $400 million payroll, easily leading the sport and raising the spectre of a lockout next season. It added Kyle Tucker and Edwin Díaz to its collection of superstar talent over the winter, making anything less than another World Series this year a failure for the two-time defending champions.

For now, however, the Dodgers’ task is simple: try to get their aging, but also rejuvenated, roster through this spring unscathed.

And on a sunny Arizona afternoon Saturday, they made a positive first impression in their return to the diamond.

While Tucker, Díaz and most of the team’s other stars weren’t in the lineup, Shohei Ohtani was still leading off as designated hitter, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto was back on the mound after a quick offseason turnaround.

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Ohtani began the game by chopping an infield single to third base, his lone hit in three at-bats. That sparked a three-run first inning, which was also keyed by a single from Teoscar Hernández (who went 3 for 3), walks from Santiago Espinal and Alex Freeland, and a two-run bases-loaded knock from Hyeseong Kim at the end of an eight-pitch battle.

Yamamoto then retired the side in order with two strikeouts in the bottom of the first, before the Dodgers struck for six more runs while batting around in the top of the second. That rally was highlighted by another RBI single from Kim, whose swing has looked improved in the early days of camp this spring, and a two-run double from outfield prospect Zach Ehrhard.

When Yamamoto returned to the mound for the second inning after a long break in the dugout, he didn’t look as sharp, allowing two runs on three hits and a dropped ball from Hernández at the wall in left field that got lost in the sun.

Yamamoto said the layoff between innings affected him but still came away pleased with how he felt over his 30-pitch performance –– a good sign for a pitcher who led the team in innings last year and was pushed especially hard during their elongated postseason run.

“I thought he looked good,” said Roberts, who pulled Yamamoto with two outs in the second. “Thirty pitches was enough. I didn’t feel like we needed to push him today.”

Afterward, Yamamoto also noted that he’ll have one more spring outing with the Dodgers next Friday before leaving camp to join Team Japan for next month’s World Baseball Classic. 

That evidently came as news to Roberts, who told reporters this week that Yamamoto would only make Saturday’s start before departing –– and even wished his pitcher luck in the WBC as he took him out of the game.

“At first, I didn’t know what he was talking about,” Yamamoto said with a laugh in Japanese afterward. “But as I was coming off the mound, I thought, ‘He must think this is my last game.’”

So go things for the Dodgers right now, balancing ever-changing workloads and ramp-up schedules in preparation for the regular season.

It’s still early days, and there remains a long way to go this spring. But they’re officially off and running, looking dominant as ever just one game in.

Dodgers make claim

The Dodgers added to their outfield depth Saturday, claiming 27-year-old Jack Suwinski off waivers from the Pirates. Suwinski is only a .199 career hitter in four MLB seasons, but he hit 26 home runs in 2023. He has also been a surprise Dodgers killer, batting .314 with five home runs in 15 games against the team.

Suwinski joins Ryan Ward and Michael Siani as left-handed-hitting outfield options on the 40-man roster. In a corresponding move, the team placed Kiké Hernández on the 60-day injured list.

After losing their spring training home opener, the Colorado Rockies came back to soundly defeat their Salt River Fields roomies, the Arizona Diamondbacks, 11-6. For more details, go here.

We’re not yet to the point in the season where we’re doing game recaps, but we wanted to share manager Warren Schaeffer’s postgame comments and some other Rockies comments.

First, here’s Schaeffer:

And here’s Tanner Gordon on his outing today as well as his evolving pitch arsenal:

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