Category: Baseball

After the pomp and circumstance that came from the Dodgers’ second consecutive ring night, the Dodgers had a close affair on Friday against the Arizona Diamondbacks, pulling away late to win 5-4.

Emmet Sheehan made his first start of the season, and he made quick work of the first three Arizona hitters by striking out the side in order. The final one of the inning was initially called a ball, but Will Smith issued a challenge and the Dodgers won their first ABS challenge in team history.

Arizona began the top of the second inning by putting their first two hitters on base via a single from Gabriel Moreno and a walk to Pavin Smith. Sheehan managed to strike out Nolan Arenado and get Carlos Santana to fly out, but Alek Thomas got the Diamondbacks in front early with an RBI double that could’ve scored two, but a great relay from Kyle Tucker and Alex Freeland caught Smith at the plate. Arizona padded their lead to two as Ketel Marte launched a line drive home run to right field in the top of the third inning on a 3-0 fastball from Sheehan.

Arizona right-hander Ryne Nelson was one out away from keeping the Dodgers at bay over the first time through the lineup, but Alex Freeland got one of the two runs back with a towering home run to right field— a little thank you to Dave Roberts for adding him to the opening day roster. Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Tucker both walked against Nelson to put the potential tying and go-ahead runners on base, and Mookie Betts, who homered twice on ring night last year, crushed a go-ahead three-run home run to right-center field to give the Dodgers their third four-run inning over their first 11 innings on offense.

Sheehan struggled again in his second time facing the bottom half of Arizona’s lineup, as he allowed his second walk to Smith and a double to Carlos Santana to put the tying run in scoring position. Sheehan was pulled after tossing 83 pitches over just 3 1/3 innings of work, allowing two earned runs on five hits and two walks while striking out six. Jack Dreyer came in relief of Sheehan, and Thomas once again made the Dodgers pay with his second double of the night, this time driving in two and tying the game, but Thomas overran the third base bag going for a triple and was tagged out.

Arizona threatened to retake the lead in the top of the sixth inning, as Ben Casparius allowed two baserunners while recording just two outs in the top of the sixth inning. Dave Roberts went to Tanner Scott for the second day in a row, needing him to put away Thomas with the go-ahead run at second base. The gamble paid off, and Scott struck him out to get the Dodgers out of the jam.

Both Alex Vesia and Edgardo Henríquez tossed a scoreless inning as the bullpen kept the Diamondbacks off the board after the second double from Thomas. The Dodgers couldn’t supply anything offensively after the home run from Betts, going hitless over their next 14 at-bats against Nelson and the Arizona bullpen. Freeland snapped the hitless skid to begin the bottom of the eighth inning with a ringing double to the right-center field gap. Ohtani moved him over to third on a groundout, and Tucker lined a ball into right field past a drawn in infield to put the Dodgers back on top by a run.

This set up the perfect opportunity for Edwin Díaz to make his Dodger debut, and emerged from the left field bullpen to the blaring sounds of “Narco” by Timmy Trumpet for the first time at his new home. Díaz put the tying run on base, but struck out two and tossed a scoreless inning to pick up his first save as a Dodger and help his new squad take the series from Arizona.

The Dodgers last season started the year 8-0. They are a quarter of the way there this time around.

Game particulars

• Home runs— Ketel Marte (1); Alex Freeland (1), Mookie Betts (1)
• WP— Edgardo Henríquez (1-0): 1 IP, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 1 strikeout
• LP— Kevin Ginkel (0-1): 1 IP, 2 hits, 1 earned run, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts
• SV— Edwin Díaz (1): 1 IP, 0 hits, 0 runs, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts

Up next

The Dodgers wrap things up against Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday before an off-day on Sunday, with a three-game series against the Cleveland Guardians beginning the following day. Tyler Glasnow makes his first start of the season against left-hander Eduardo Rodríguez.

Can’t win them all, I suppose. Although, tonight was a frustrating game in the fashion of the summer 2025 Guardians. Gavin Williams took the mound this evening and really struggled to find the zone. He threw a measly 31% of his pitches in the strike zone, per Statcast. The good news is he generated 15 whiffs! His stuff also looked fantastic across the board, just would’ve been nice if said stuff could’ve been located in that lovely white box that appears on the television. Gavin’s sweeper, especially, looked fantastic tonight. He seems to have tweaked that pitch this offseason, and is now more consistently throwing it east-west.

Some more good news as Chase DeLauter homered AGAIN in his first at-bat tonight, an almost exact replica of his first home run in the opening night game.

Per MLB researcher Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports on X), DeLauter is the third player since (at least) 1900 to record 3 home runs in their first two career regular season games. The most recent player was Trevor Story in 2016.

Anyway, Gavin’s command struggles eventually came back to bite him when he surrendered a 3-run homer to Cole Young (native Clevelander, of course) in the fourth.

Speaking of struggles, the Guardians loaded the bases in the top of the 5th with only 1 out. Hoskins and Naylor walked, and Rocchio was hit by a pitch. Kwan stepped to the plate, weakly flew out to left and, well, if you didn’t watch it live, I’ll let you watch it now.

Oops!

The Guardians offense was much less fun to watch than it was last night, unfortunately. All good things must come to an end.

DeLauter did have a weird play in the field in the 3rd. Leo Rivas hit a fly ball near the foul line in right, DeLauter seemed to have caught it in his glove, but then dropped it right after. Rivas was awarded a triple.

Newly minted Guardians reliever Colin Holderman came into the game in the 6th and promptly gave up a 2-run homer. Oops!

Another newly minted Guardians reliever Peyton Pallette (Rule 5 pick from the White Sox) made his Guardians debut today, and it went far better than Holderman’s. Pitched 2 innings, struck out 2 (Donovan and Raleigh). Got both strikeouts in his first inning, and did surrender some hard contact in his second, but did not give up a hit. His stuff looked fantastic, per Thomas Nestico (@TJStats on X)

He seems to have spontaneously added almost 5 inches of ride on his fastball in his debut, which resulted in that stellar 114 stuff+ rating.

Anyway, the Guardians look to take the series lead tomorrow night with Cantillo on the mound. It’ll be Bryan Woo for the Mariners.

The Phillies are making a polarizing change.

Harry the K’s, an area in left field at Citizens Bank Park that opened with the stadium in 2004, had been serving as a tribute to longtime announcer Harry Kalas.

But, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer on Friday, the team has sold the naming rights of the area to Ghost Energy.

His widow told the outlet that her late husband, who called Phillies games for almost four decades, was “betrayed.”

“Taking down that sign takes away everything he did for the city,” Eileen Kalas told The Inquirer. “I think they betrayed Harry. It’s not about me. It’s about what they’re doing to Harry. I think they betrayed him for everything he did for them.”

According to the Philly outlet, the team declined to comment on the controversy.

Eileen Kalas told The Inquirer that the Phillies paid her $20,000 a year to use Kalas’ likeness.

She will be paid once more this season, since the Phillies missed their deadline to break the contract for 2026, but she will not be paid in 2027.

According to The Inquirer, the Phillies will continue celebrating wins by showing a clip of Harry Kalas singing “High Hopes” on the stadium video board, though Eileen acknowledges that the Phillies will not be able to play the song unless she is paid for 2027.

“They’ll say, ‘Eileen Kalas got rid of it. She’s money hungry,’” she said to The Inquirer. “That’s what they always said. Flip it on me … I don’t mind if they have things. They just have to pay for it. It’s intellectual property. They know that.”

She later added: “They go, ‘Oh, we’re still going to have the statue.’ What are they going to do with the statue? I’ll take it. I’ll send in a truck, pick it up, and get it out if they want that out, too.”

Harry Kalas was the team’s long-time play-by-play announcer from 1971 to 2009 until his death on April 13, 2009, months after the Phillies won the 2008 World Series.

The highly regarded San Diego Padres bullpen failed to live up to expectations when the Padres faced the Detroit Tigers at Petco Park on Friday. Jeremiah Estrada entered the top of the eighth inning with San Diego clinging to a 2-1 lead. He was unable to protect the one-run margin, instead he allowed three walks and a single, while recording two outs before manager Craig Stammen replaced him on the mound with the game tied, 2-2.

Wandy Peralta needed just one out to keep the game deadlocked with the Padres coming to the plate in the bottom of the inning. However, Peralta allowed a two-out, two-run double to rookie Kevin McGonigle, who was playing in just his second MLB game. Peralta then allowed a single to Dillon Dingler before finally recording the third out of the inning on a pop out by Matt Vierling, but the damage was done and San Diego dropped its second game of the season to Detroit by the score of 5-2.

Michael King started the game for the Padres and allowed just one run on one hit with four walks allowed and six strikeouts. King left the game with a runner on and a 1-0 lead. Adrian Morejon came in for King and allowed just one hit, but that led to a run for the Tigers which tied the game 1-1. Morejon got the final out of the sixth and worked a clean seventh to setup the eighth inning for Estrada.

The game started with a highlight play in center field by Jackson Merrill in the top of the second inning. Merrill went back to the wall and jumped to make the catch to take a home run away from McGonigle. The play ensured the game remained scoreless. Merrill then doubled to lead off the bottom of the second inning, but back-to-back lineouts from Miguel Andujar and Ramon Laureano, followed by a strikeout from Ty France left him stranded.

San Diego scored the first run of the game off Detroit starter Framber Valdez, who was making his first start with the Tigers. Manny Machado opened the inning with a double down the line and into the left field corner. Merrill then beat out a close play at first base on a ground ball, which allowed Machado to move to third base and put runners on the corners with no outs. Andujar came through with an RBI-single on a sharp ground ball that kicked off McGonigle’s glove at third base and deflected to Javier Baez at shortstop. Baez saw he did not have a play at first base and held onto the ball and the Padres took a 1-0 lead.

San Diego scored its second run of the game in the bottom of the sixth inning. Merrill worked a one-out walk and Andujar flied out for the second out of the inning. An errant throw by Detroit catcher Dingler trying to back-pick Merrill at first base, sailed into right field and Merrill advanced to second base. Laureano followed with a double off the base of the wall in right field that allowed Merrill to score from second base to give the Padres a 2-1 lead.

San Diego will look to avoid a season-opening sweep against Detroit on Saturday at 5:40 p.m.

The first game of the season was a smashing success: rookies mashing, pitchers dazzling, and a can of whoop-butt was opened right off the hop. Would the Tigers be able to duplicate their early success in San Diego on Friday night too? Well, it took a few innings to come to fruition, but just like we’ve seen in the past couple of years, these Tigers seem to have a taste for late-in-the-game comebacks at their best, with a clutch hit from a rookie being the fatal blow in a 5-2 Tigers win.

Making his regular-season Tigers debut was Framber Valdez, the biggest offseason pickup for Detroit. After eight solid seasons in Houston, the last four of which were very good, he came north to reunite with his former manager and maybe pick up a little more hardware, hopefully? In that four-year stretch he averaged a 3.21 ERA (127 ERA+, 3.29 FIP), 1.159 WHIP, a bit below 192 IP, 8.8 K/9IP and 2.3 BB/9IP. He’s also been great at keeping the ball in the park, averaging a scant 0.7 HR/9IP, even pitching half his games in whatever that park in Houston’s called these days, which has tended to favour the hitters a bit.

Facing Valdez tonight was Michael King, who’s in his third year in the Padres’ rotation after a few years spent mostly in the Yankees’ bullpen. He’s been no slouch lately either; in two seasons in a brown uniform he’s sported a 3.10 ERA (134 ERA+, 3.65 FIP). He’s also averaged just over 10 K/9IP, so let’s just say he’s been a solid acquisition for the Padres.

In the top of the second Kevin McGonigle hit a rocket to centre, but Jackson Merrill climbed the wall and took the rookie’s first major-league home run away.

I mean, that’s a pretty short wall, but you gotta tip your cap to any dinger-robbery. Merrill, of course, came up first in the bottom of the second and bashed a double to right, but a pair of lineouts and Valdez’s first strikeout got him out of the inning. He was giving up some solid contact, which isn’t exactly what you want to see.

The Padres got on the board in the fourth: Machado doubled to left, Merrill pushed him up to third with an infield single, and another infield single by Miguel Andujar scored him. A flyout put runners on second and third with one out, and Valdez was in his first jam of the night. Merrill took off from third on a grounder to Javier Báez and got cut down at the plate, leaving runners at the corners; Jake Cronenworth then struck out on a curveball in the dirt, ending the threat and the inning with limited damage.

In the top of the fifth the Tigers had two runners on with none out via a walk and a hit-batter. But then Parker Meadows struck out, Báez grounded out, and Kerry Carpenter struck out on some nasty changeups from King, and that was that.

Gleyber Torres walked to lead off the sixth, which was the end of King’s night. The very-tough Adam Morejon came on, and pinch-hitter Jahmai Jones grounded into what looked like a sure double-play, except a bobble by Machado put two runners on. But then Riley Greene actually did ground into the ol’ twin-killing, leaving Torres on third with two outs. Would the Tigers squander yet another opportunity? They actually would not, as Spencer Torkelson laced a single to left-centre to score Torres and tie the game.

But then Torkelson was thrown out trying to steal — you gotta be aggressive, I guess — and that ended the inning.

Colt Keith, who came into the game in the bottom of the sixth, made a nifty diving play on the first batter he saw on a screaming, 100-mph liner to third. With two outs and Merrill on first, Dillon Dingler tried to back-pick him after he stumbled, but Dingler airmailed the throw into right field; Merrill advanced to second and scored on a double by Ramón Laureano, the Padres retaking the lead 2-1. Ty France then struck out to end the inning, so yet again Valdez limited the damage after a run had scored with more quite possible.

Enmanuel De Jesus, who had a great WBC with Venezuela, took over for Valdez in the seventh, and gave up yet another Padres infield single. But then De Jesus got a pair of strikeouts and a flyout to right, and hey, that was a pretty nice return to the Major Leagues by EDJ after spending two years in South Korea. I’m going to call him EDJ whenever I can, and I hope it catches on.

Jeremiah Estrada, the second normally-lethal arm out of the Padres’ pen, came on in the eighth and with one out walked Carpenter, Torres and Keith to load the bases; his command was clearly off. That brought up Greene, who softly singled to shortstop — holy moly, how many infield singles can a game have?! — to bring home Carpenter and tie the game. Torkelson struck out, Estrada was dispatched in favour of Wandy Peralta, and McGonigle came to the plate for a lefty-lefty showdown. Peralta kept pouring fastballs inside and then a nasty slider down and away, but McGonigle kept fouling them off, one after another. On the tenth pitch of the at-bat he singled to right, driving in Torres and Keith to put the Tigers up 4-2.

What an epic at-bat by McGonigle in a clutch situation; this is his second game amongst the tall buildings, let’s not forget. Dingler then promptly atoned for his previous miscue by also singling to right, scoring Greene for a 5-2 lead. Vierling popped out to third to end the inning, but it’s worth noting that the Padres’ new manager, Craig Stammen, went to Peralta rather than the always-nasty Mason Miller. Who knows how that inning would’ve turned out if Miller was on the mound? Luckily, second-guessing managers is fun and absolutely free, so have at it, folks.

Kyle Finnegan was called upon for the bottom of the eighth, and Machado walked. But Merrill popped out to second, Andujar and Laureano struck out, and just think what a solid Finnegan could do for this Tigers bullpen. A fan can dream.

Kenley Jansen and his Fabulous Cutters made their Tigers debut tonight, to pitch the ninth and earn the save. What’d he do? Struck out Gavin Sheets, struck out Cronenworth, struck out Old Friend™ Nick Castellanos. I could get used to this.

Final score: Tigers 5, Padres 2

That McGonigle At-Bat

Let’s take a look at that.

Follow that pitch sequence: up and down, in and out. Six foul balls. One mistake in the zone, kaboom, game-changing hit. Plus, take a look at that video clip above; his swing is powerful but both controlled and balanced. I’m in luuuuurve, everyone.

Notes and Numbers

• Wenceel Pérez, who didn’t make the Tigers out of Spring Training, hit a home run in Toledo tonight. Where was that earlier in March? Sheesh.
• Did you see Mike Trout clubbed a monster home run on Thursday night, and crushed a screaming line-drive homer on Friday night? Did you know Mike Trout is still playing? I didn’t, but I’m glad he is. From 2012 through 2016, he averaged 9.4 WAR per season. That’s just absolutely bananas.
• On this day in 1845, Wilhelm Röntgen was born in what is now northern Germany (but was part of Prussia back then). You may know him as the discoverer of X-rays in 1895. Quite a handy guy to have around, I’d think.

That was fun. The pitching was mostly excellent, and interesting where not. The offence struggled but battled and got just enough done. That’s not how the Jays will hopefully do a lot of their winning this year, but it’s nice to be able to come through in multiple ways.

Kevin Gausman was phenomenal. He began his season by striking out the side, and didn’t allow a base-runner until Shea Langeliers opened the scoring with a one-out home run in the fourth. That would be his only blemish on the night. He got through six in just 83 pitches, but I think John Schneider reasonably concluded that that was enough for his first outing of the year no matter how easy he was making it look. His last pitch of the night was a 96mph fastball, which hopefully augurs well for his form for the rest of the season.

Luis Severino looked pretty strong himself early on. A Vladimir Guerrero jr. walk in the first was the only Jays runner through three. They threatened to tie it in the fourth, with Nathan Lukes working a lead off walk and Vlad recording the Jays’ first hit with a ground ball single, but an Addison Barger double play ball and another ground out prevented them from capitalizing. They finally took the lead in the fifth. Kazuma Okamoto walked and Ernie Clement lined a double to set the table. Tyler Soderstrom badly misplayed a soft Andres Gimenez liner, calling off centre fielder Denzel Clarke and then letting the ball get past him. It was ruled a triple, but really it was a three base mental error that put Toronto in front 2-1.

That score would hold for a while. Severino got out of the inning, and Scott Barlow retired the Jays in order in the bottom of the sixth. Louis Varland allowed a walk and a single to open the seventh, but escaped on a double play and a strikeout. Barlow got two more outs in the bottom half around a line single by Okamoto. Hogan Harris took over and walked Gimenez but then got Springer to ground out. Tyler Rogers and Harris traded scoreless eighths.

Jeff Hoffman had an eventful ninth. He got some help from a smart ball challenge by Alejandro Kirk to strike out Nick Kurtz leading off, but then Langeliers’ second bomb of the night tied it at two. Hoffman rallied to strike out Soderstrom swinging, but the third strike was on a slider that bounced in the batter’s box and got past Kirk. It was ruled a strikeout and wild pitch. He rallied, striking out Brent Rooker and Jacob Wilson to end the inning. Hoffman becomes the third Blue Jay to record four strikeouts in an inning, following Mike Bolsinger in 2017 and Steve Delabar in 2012.

Justin Sterner came on to try to preserve the tie, and it looked like he was going to do it after he got ground outs from the first two Jays batters. Luckily, it wasn’t to be. Okamoto started the rally with a ground ball single, his second hit and third time on of the night. Clement chopped one softly up the line into left field for his second double, and Gimenez finished it off with a sharp ground ball single to secure the win.

Jays of the Day: Andres Gimenez (0.58!!), Ernie Clement (0.15), Kevin Gausman (0.21), Tyler Rogers (0.12), and Kazuma Okamoto has to get a nod for reaching base three times in his North American debut.

Send em’ back to Dunedin: Addison Barger (-0.18), George Springer (-0.13), Alejandro Kirk (-0.14), Jeff Hoffman (-0.21).

We’ll be back tomorrow afternoon at 3:07pm ET. Jeffrey Springs will take on new Blue Jay Dylan Cease. See you all there.

Welcome to another year of the Minor League Wrap. Although for the first week, we’ll just be the Iowa Cubs wrap as they started the season this evening and the other three affiliates wait until next Friday.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs boarded and seized the Columbus Clippers (Guardians), 5-2.

Javier Assad got the Opening Night start for Iowa and maybe he wasn’t as sharp as he has been, but he definitely was effective. Assad did not allow the Clippers a run over the first three innings. Assad allowed three hits and walked three, so there were a lot of baserunners, but striking out five helped keep any of them from scoring.

Charlie Barnes, who pitched the last four years with KBO’s Lotte Giants, threw the next three innings and was impressive. He got the win after giving up just one hit and no runs. He did walk three but he struck out seven.

The Clippers got two runs off of reliever Ryan Rollison in the seventh inning. But Collin Snider threw the final 1.2 innings, did not allow a baserunner and got the save. He struck out two.

The Cubs took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when first baseman Jonathon Long singled, went to second on a ground out and scored after two wild pitches.

The I-Cubs put this game out of reach with a four-run sixth inning. First up was an RBI single for center fielder Brett Bateman. It was Bateman’s first Triple-A hit.

Next up, left fielder Justin Dean tripled home two.

Long came up to bat again and singled home Dean.

Long was 2 for 3 tonight with two walks. The four Iowa pitchers combined to strike out 17.

It was Opening Day for the baseball Athletics as they enter their second season playing in West Sacramento, a temporary stay after relocating from Oakland as they await their presumed move to a state of the art ballpark in Las Vegas.

To begin what will be the 126th season for A's, the green and gold bunch opened the season on the road. The Athletics take on the Toronto Blue Jays in a season-opening three-game weekend series at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada. They dropped the first game, 3-2, despite two home runs from Shea Langeliers. The Blue Jays won the game on a walk-off single by shortstop Andres Gimenez. The next game is Saturday, March 28 at 3:07 p.m. ET (12:07 p.m. PT).

Last year was kind of weird. It was the first time in 57 years that the Athletics didn't play in the Bay. The last game in Oakland was Sept. 26, 2024.

Athletics owner John Fisher wanted new facilities, fans said "sell the team" and Fisher relocated them to Vegas. Until his fancy new ballpark is ready, they moved eastward to Sacramento.

The Dodgers had an idea about the grandiose nature of their 2025 World Series rings.

“It is substantial,” manager Dave Roberts joked Friday afternoon.

“I heard the ring is pretty over the top,” added now-retired pitcher Clayton Kershaw a little while later.

Indeed, when the club unveiled the jewelry for Friday night’s pregame ring ceremony at Dodger Stadium, there was nary a detail that went unnoticed.

For their third World Series ring in the last six years, no gem was spared.

On the face of the ring, the words “WORLD CHAMPIONS” are spelled out by 86 diamonds and 14-karat gold, while the team’s signature “LA” logo is formed by 17 blue sapphires –– representing the 17 games the team played during last year’s postseason.

The background of the display is filled with 79 more diamonds and 48 round sapphires. Another 50 diamonds glitter around the bezel, while 15 additional round sapphires are embedded along the edge of the piece between the dates of all nine years the Dodgers have won the World Series. If that wasn’t enough, 70 more round diamonds were included to frame the centerpiece.

The bling doesn’t end there.

On one side of the ring, each player’s name is etched above a row of 15 sapphires. On the other, the words “Back 2 Back” highlight another collection of 33 diamonds.

Like last year, the top of the ring is also removable, with home plate dirt from Game 7 of the Fall Classic included in a glass window display.

And lastly, the exterior band shows the number 4,012,470 for the total fan attendance the Dodgers had at home games in 2025.

If you lost count, that’s more than 250 diamonds and nearly 100 sapphires.

Substantial, over the top, yet deservedly decadent indeed.

The Dodgers’ ring ceremony was equally extravagant, with actor Anthony Anderson announcing each player from an infield stage while the USC marching band performed in the outfield. 

There were raucous ovations for everyone from World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto to Game 3 extra-inning hero Will Klein, from Game 7 savior Miguel Rojas to Game 3’s walk-off winner Freddie Freeman, and from two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani to left-handed reliever Alex Vesia (who missed the World Series following the death of his newborn baby, and tapped his chest sentimentally on Friday as he was serenaded walking onto the field).

The last player to receive his ring was Kershaw, who emerged from the dugout following the ceremony to throw out a surprise first pitch.

Freeman went behind the plate to catch his throw (a perfect strike). Then, the rest of the Dodgers joined them to hand Kershaw his third and final World Series keepsake.

Kershaw put it on, held his fist high for the crowd to see, then received a thunderous reception; closing the book on his playing career, and the Dodgers’ 2025 victory.

SAN FRANCISCO — When the Yankees traded for Camilo Doval from the Giants last year, they expected the closer to transition into a setup role as part of a deep, new-look bullpen that also added David Bednar. 

Instead, Doval was mostly a train wreck early in his Yankee tenure and clearly had a hard time getting accustomed to not finishing games. 

He improved toward the end of the regular season, but with Devin Williams and Luke Weaver now with the Mets, the Yankees were again planning for Doval to be a primary setup reliever with Bednar closing, as he did Friday. 

Perhaps it’s the return to Oracle Park, but Doval has been effective in his first two outings of this season — particularly in Friday’s 3-0 win over the Giants. 

He struck out the side in order in the bottom of the eighth in a one-hit shutout that was closed out by Bednar. 

Aaron Boone called the outing — and Doval’s sinker — “dominant.” 

“That’s what he’s capable of,’’ the manager said. “He kind of overmatched them.” 

Doval entered with a three-run lead Friday and whiffed Heliot Ramos, Casey Schmitt and Patrick Bailey — hardly Murderer’s Row, but something he failed to do often last season, when he had a hard time adjusting to non-save situations. 

He managed to finish the regular season on a strong run. Doval pitched five scoreless innings in his final six appearances after a horrid start to his Yankees tenure (10 earned runs in 13 ²/₃ innings in his first 16 games with the team). 

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

Doval said through an interpreter Friday he’s become “comfortable” in his new environment and role. 

“I felt really good,’’ the right-hander added of Friday’s outing. 

Doval saved 39 games for San Francisco in 2023, but looked far from that version for much of the second half of the season. 

Now, Doval will be one of the relievers Boone turns to before getting into high-leverage settings. 

Doval followed Fernando Cruz and lefty Tim Hill, as the duo pitched 1 ²/₃ scoreless innings in relief of the outstanding Cam Schlittler. 

With plenty of question marks in this year’s bullpen, as the team still has Jake Bird and Rule 5 acquisition Cade Winquest among their right-handers, Doval will look to be more of a setup man if all goes according to plan. 

There’s always the chance that young phenom Carlos Lagrange, who the Yankees want to keep as a starter for as much of the season as possible, could be brought up to The Bronx as a reliever if he logs too many innings in the minors. 

For now, though, the Yankees hope they get the Doval they thought they were acquiring from San Francisco last season.

All the World Series memories and emotions came flooding back for the Los Angeles Dodgers and their fans on March 27 at Dodger Stadium.

The remaining members of the 2025 team were individually called from the dugout and onto the stage to receive their rings before the game against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Shortstop Mookie Betts received his fourth career World Series ring, the most of any active player.

“It's super special and this day never gets old,” Betts told Spectrum SportsNet in the moments after receiving his ring. “It shows the accomplishments we made and hope we can do it again.”

Pitcher Clayton Kershaw retired after the World Series, but was also in attendance at the stadium for a second straight night to follow up his broadcasting debut on NBC.

Kershaw was not initially announced among his former teammates, but received a thunderous ovation nonetheless.

Dodgers legend Orel Hershiser was headed to the mound to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before manager Dave Roberts got on the microphone to announce a pitching change, calling on Kershaw from the dugout.

Kershaw stood on the familiar hill to throw the ball to Freddie Freeman before the pitcher was handed his ring and embraced by his teammates, who made their way back out of the dugout.

SCARY THOUGHT FOR MLB: Dynastic Dodgers might have their best team yet

SAN FRANCISCO — Aaron Judge hasn’t needed any help at the plate, having won three of the past four AL MVP awards with some of the most productive seasons in history. 

But for years, he’s been the victim of more than his fair share of called strikes that have appeared to be below the zone. 

So the automated ball-strike system figured to be especially valuable for him. 

On Friday, Judge used it for the first time and — not surprisingly — it resulted in a home run. 

The key hit in a 3-0 win over the Giants at Oracle Park, the homer was set up after Judge got ahead of lefty Robbie Ray 1-0 in his third at-bat, and Ray followed with a slider that was called a strike by home plate umpire Chad Fairchild. 

With Paul Goldschmidt on second in a scoreless game in the top of the sixth, Judge challenged the call and it proved to be a fraction of an inch low. 

He eventually worked the count full before slamming a 405-foot homer to left to give the Yankees the lead. 

“I thought the call was gonna stand,” Judge said. “It was a close one.” 

But he believed the challenge was worth it, with a runner in scoring position in a tie game and Ray — along with Cam Schlittler — rolling. 

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“I’m not gonna sit here and challenge every one I think is close, but in a big spot, if I’ve got a chance to flip the count, I’m gonna do it,’’ Judge said. “I’ve still got to go up there and do the job as a hitter. All it takes is one pitch — like we saw in that at-bat.” 

Cody Bellinger knows better than most how often pitches below Judge’s knees have been called strikes, at least since last season. 

“He’s so tall, sometimes he gets rung up on that,” Bellinger said. “I see it since I hit behind him all the time. [ABS] is gonna be good for him. He knows the [strike] zone really well.” 

As Judge noted, though, simply winning the challenge was no guarantee of success in the at-bat. 

But it didn’t hurt. 

Still getting accustomed to the ABS system, Judge called it “weird” to use it for the first time in a regular-season game. 

“It’s a part of the game and you’ve got to get used to it,’’ said Judge, who went hitless and struck out four times in the opener and was 0-for-2 with another strikeout in his first two at-bats Friday. “I’m a hitter. I’ve got to focus on hitting.” 

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

It worked well Friday, as Judge got the fourth hit of his career against Ray, all of which have been home runs. 

And it was Judge’s fourth homer in five career games in San Francisco — against the team he grew up rooting for in nearby Linden, Calif. 

This one, of course, was different and showed how much more dangerous he may become. 

“We can use it as a weapon, but you’ve still got to play the game,’’ Judge said. “To have a challenge in your back pocket is nice in certain situations, [like] high-leverage. We’ll see how it goes.”

The Colorado Rockies opened the 2026 season in Miami with a lineup that looked nothing like the one that started 2025 — between debuts and new additions, this felt less like a continuation and more like a reset.  

Kyle Karros made his first Opening Day start, following in the footsteps of his father Eric, who made nine in his career.  

TJ Rumfield made his MLB debut, becoming the first rookie to start Opening Day for Colorado since Trevor Story in 2016. 

Jake McCarthy and Edouard Julien also made their first Opening Day starts for the Rockies, underscoring just how much this roster has turned over. 

Even Warren Schaeffer was managing in his first Opening Day game. 

The result? A competitive game that ultimately slipped away, 2–1, with just a hint of familiar frustration on offense. 

Freeland battles, bullpen delivers 

Kyle Freeland took the loss, falling to 1–3 with a 7.01 ERA in five Opening Day starts — a number skewed to an extent by one rough outing.

This wasn’t ace-level dominance, but it was veteran pitching. 

Freeland bent, but didn’t break. He worked through traffic, issued a couple of walks, and gutted his way through 4.1 innings, allowing two earned runs while keeping the game within reach. 

He handed the game off with a chance. 

And from there, the bullpen was awesome. 

Jimmy Herget, Brennan Bernardino (making his Rockies debut), and Juan Mejia combined for 3.2 scoreless innings—no walks, two strikeouts, and a key escape in the eighth. Mejia stranded a runner at third with a full-count strikeout on a back-up slider that froze Caissie. 

Alcantara in control 

Sandy Alcantara was everything you expect from an ace. 

His fastball touched the upper 90’s, his secondaries had sharp depth, and he worked efficiently — seven innings, four hits, one unearned run, five strikeouts. For long stretches, the Rockies looked eager against him, pressing early before settling in late. 

But they never fully solved him. 

Manufacturing one, missing more 

Colorado’s lone run came in the fourth — and it came the hard way. 

The inning started with Jake McCarthy dropping a drag bunt and using his speed to create some chaos and reach first base. McCarthy then stole second base, but his aggressiveness backfired as he was cut down at home after a Hunter Goodman single.

Willi Castro beat out a double-play ball. Tovar followed with a topped ball that forced a tough play. Rumfield showed discipline with a four-pitch walk in his second MLB plate appearance.  Beck added an infield hit driving in Castro.

It was a textbook manufactured run. It was also the only one. 

The inning that got away 

The Rockies had their best chance in the eighth, and couldn’t cash in. 

Hunter Goodman, who led the team with two hits, put together a strong at-bat against Anthony Bender, fighting off multiple sweepers before lining a two-out single to left. Karros moved to third, and suddenly Colorado had runners on the corners. 

Willi Castro stepped in. 

An ABS challenge flipped a ball to a strike. Castro worked the count full as Bender struggled to land his off-speed. 

Then Bender went back to the sweeper. 

Castro chased one down and in — out of the zone — for strike three. 

Threat neutralized. 

Bullpen escape keeps it close 

Miami immediately applied pressure in the bottom half. 

Connor Norby led off with a double, and after a groundout moved him to third, the infield came in. Mejia induced a pop-up in foul territory for the second out, then delivered the biggest pitch of the night: 

Full count. Two outs. Runner on third. 

A back-up slider that froze Owen Caissie. 

Inning over. 

Last chance, same result 

The Rockies had one more shot in the ninth. 

Facing Peter Fairbanks, they couldn’t break through. Tovar struck out chasing, Beck popped out, and after TJ Rumfield collected his first MLB hit — a broken-bat blooper into shallow right-center — Brenton Doyle lined out to shortstop to end it. 

Ballgame. 

Final thoughts 

The Rockies lose their opener, 2–1. 

There were some familiar frustrations — the inability to sustain innings and cash in with runners in scoring position had a bit of a 2025 feel. 

But it’s too early to spiral there. The hitters were overly aggresive in swing decisions early, but settled in a bit as the excitement of Opening Day dissipated. Colorado struck out nine times — an improvement from Opening Day 2025, when they struck out 12 in another one-run loss in Florida. 

This team looked more athletic. More versatile. More aggressive. The bullpen was excellent. Freeland kept them in it. 

They were competitive. Gutty. A game within reach all night. 

Sandy Alcantara was simply better — and the Rockies couldn’t quite capitalize. 

Up next 

The Rockies will look to even the series tomorrow at 2:10 p.m. MDT. 

Michael Lorenzen is scheduled to start for Colorado, with Miami countering with Eury Pérez. 

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LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers got their 2025 championship rings on Friday night before their game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium.

Anthony Anderson emceed the event, introducing players as they got their rings. Before the festivities, Anderson said, “Mookie Betts is now on the verge of having an infinity gauntlet,” referencing Betts’ four career championship rings, more than any other active player in Major League Baseball.

Players and coaches were tight-lipped about the rings before the ceremony.

“I heard rumblings, it’s sort of layered. I guess I could kind of tease it with that,” said manager Dave Roberts, who admitted he keeps his rings in a safe and doesn’t wear them. “It’s substantial, I’ve heard that.”

“I’ve seen a picture of it, but pictures don’t really do anything justice until you actually see it in person, and you get that kind of wow factor to it,” third baseman Max Muncy told Kirsten Watson of SportsNet LA in the dugout earlier Friday.

In person, here are the rings, with photos by The Champions Collective.

Here’s the description of the rings, from a press release:

The ring top is a statement of victory. Embellished around the face in 14K yellow gold, the title WORLD CHAMPIONS is written in a spectacular array of stones: 32 diamonds for WORLD and 54 for CHAMPIONS. At the heart of the design, a singular, immaculate diamond symbolizes the Dodgers’ spot as the No. 1 team in baseball. The iconic LA logo hosts 17 custom-cut blue sapphires, representing the 17 hard-fought games of their postseason journey. Behind the logo is a backdrop of 79 diamonds with 48 round sapphires surrounding the display. The Dodgers’ nine championship dates and 15 sparkling round sapphires encircle the ring top, while an additional 50 diamonds decorate the top and bottom of the bezel. Completing the ring top, a total of 70 round diamonds frame the centerpiece. 

The story of the Dodgers’ season continues with a brilliant reveal located beneath the ring top: a glass window, etched with the Dodgers’ logo, protecting genuine dirt gathered from home plate during Game 7 of the World Series. Below this feature, a bespoke band wraps around two World Series trophies — each set with a gleaming diamond — and a championship banner commemorating the franchise’s back-to-back achievements. The band itself boasts a stunning array of sapphires and a prominent princess-cut diamond, finished with an interior engraving of the dual Commissioner’s Trophies and the player’s unique signature.

The left side of the ring honors the individual with the city he represents. LOS ANGELES is proudly displayed above the player’s last name, with a striking row of 15 round sapphires underneath. Each player’s jersey number is meticulously set in diamonds. The classic MLB logo completes the left side of the ring.

The right side celebrates the franchise’s historic year. DODGERS is declared above the year 2025, which is adorned with 33 round diamonds. The BACK 2 BACK title is boldly displayed between two Commissioner’s Trophies and the Dodgers’ script logo in blue.

A stunning array of diamonds cascades from the ring top down the edges, creating a continued brilliance that wraps around the entire piece.

The interior of the ring also features the player’s signature and is etched with the playoff series scores, opponents and the date of Game 7 — the date the Dodgers clinched their World Series title. Finally, the exterior band features the number 4,012,470 as a permanent tribute to the millions of fans who filled Dodger Stadium throughout the season and fueled the team’s second consecutive journey to the top.

The ceremony itself had a few highlights, including thunderous roars for the various superstars, plus Miguel Rojas and Kiké Hernández. Will Klein got a very nice ovation for his Game 3 heroics, and Alex Vesia received a wonderful and emotional response from the crowd when he got his ring.

The ceremony ended without Clayton Kershaw getting introduced. But he wasn’tbusy off doing his special assistant duties. Rather the Dodgers executed a ruse by announcing Orel Hershiser would throw out the ceremonial first pitch.

Joe Davis from the announcing booth called down to Hershiser, saying he needed to get back to the press box to call the game for SportsNet LA. Roberts then “called to the bullpen” for Kershaw, who got his own loud ovation before throwing the first pitch. Then, his teammates all came onto the field to give him his ring.

“I’m just really excited,” the now-retired Kershaw said about the ring ceremony earlier Friday. “I know they gotta move on to this season, but I don’t have to. So I’m just gonna keep relishing it.”

One game won’t exorcise all the demons of yesteryear, but the Atlanta Braves made a huge first step in turning things around on Opening Day, dominating the Kansas City Royals to the tune of a 6-0, wire-to-wire victory. Chris Sale was uncharacteristically shaky in the early going, but the bats (three dingers!) and gloves (lots of flash!) showed up in full force — sprinkle in a little luck, and you have a recipe for a feel-good Friday night.

Things even looked auspicious early. After a Maikel Garcia single started the game, Sale pumped in a get-me-over fastball to Bobby Witt Jr., and was “rewarded” with a hard-hit but routine double play ball to Mauricio Dubon at shortstop. Though Royals ace Cole Ragans and his defense got two outs on two grounders in three pitches, Ozzie Albies jumped all over a 2-1 floating changeup and yoinked it into the left-field corner for the Braves’ first homer, and run, of the season. It was a cheapie, coming off the bat at less than 97 mph and traveling less than 370 feet, but we’re exorcising demons here. Ragans probably didn’t intend to float a 2-1 changeup, and he looked shaky afterwards. Matt Olson yanked a pitch way below the zone for a hard single, and then Ragans walked Austin Riley on four pitches. Unfortunately, Eli White had a weak bounceout to end the rally.

Sale’s second inning was a mess, but it cleaned itself up. A hard single, a hit-by-pitch, a strikeout, and a four-pitch walk loaded the bases and brought up Isaac Collins. Sale got ahead with a slider, and then threw a fastball that ended up considerably lower than where it was likely called for… but Collins didn’t do anything with the pitch and instead bounced it right to Dubon for another bacon-saving double play.

Ragans bounced back, striking out the side (but also walking Jonah Heim) in the bottom of the inning. Sale continued to wobble in the third — two walks and two strikeouts, but was bailed out by White’s diving catch of a liner to left that would’ve tied the game.

And then the Braves more or less took over the proceedings. Drake Baldwin swung at and barely tipped what would’ve been fall four from Ragans to start the bottom of the third, but then got a misplaced fastball that he sweetly hoisted over the brick wall in right. Ragans is actually a bizarre reverse splits guy (are they real? If so, Ragans would be a paragon of the cause), but had been taken deep by lefties all of three times in his entire career, and none since September 2024… at least until Drake Baldwin had his say in the matter. Albies followed by lacing another floating changeup for a single up the middle. The Braves kind of took the wind out of their own sails a bit by having Albies try to steal with Olson at the plate — not only did Olson take a strike when Albies was thrown out, but then he struck out on the next pitch. Riley followed with a bloop single, and White struck out.

By the fourth, we were done with Shaky Sale and had progressed back to the expected, Smooth Sale(ing). He threw a 1-2-3 frame, with two groundouts and a strikeout. After Heim drew another walk off Ragans, it was Michael Harris II’s turn to go off, as he took a hanging first-pitch slider and bashed it for a two-run homer. So, just to be clear: Cole Ragans pre-facing the Braves tonight — three career homers yielded to lefties; Cole Ragans tonight — two homers yielded to lefties. Go figure. At this point, while it wasn’t inconceivable that the Royals could rally, the game started to feel like a fait accompli. Sale ended up with just one more baserunner (a Witt leadoff single) as he completed six frames. The defense continued to help him out — Olson, Ronald Acuña Jr., and Riley all made nice defensive plays to keep the outs tally growing.

Ragans departed after four in favor of Bailey Falter, who was fine for two innings before the Braves got him in his third frame of work. At one point, there was a near-surreal sequence where Acuña struck out looking and challenged the call, with it being confirmed by the slimmest of margins, only for Baldwin to follow and get thrown out trying to beat out a slow roller by a similarly-microscopic sliver. But, in the seventh, a combination of what were essentially bloops by Olson, Riley, and Dubon scored two more runs. The first two bloops were donut holes, but Dubon’s was basically a routine fly ball that just so happened to split the defense in right center, capping the scoring at 6-0.

The Braves’ bullpen had no adventures. Dylan Lee had a nine-pitch inning with three outs in the air. Robert Suarez had a couple of bloop hits go against him in his Braves debut, but collected a strikeout and got a groundout to escape. Tyler Kinley wrapped the game up while looking somewhat unrecognizable, peppering the zone with breaking pitches in a way that baffled the Royals and exhausted their remaining outs.

Overall, it was hard to ask for an easier, more relaxing win — after Sale settled down, anyway. Good enough pitching, some flashed leather, and, oh yeah, homers. We don’t yet know if that’s how the Braves will do it in 2026, but it’s what they did tonight, and it was great.

Walt Weiss got his first win as Atlanta’s skipper. Sale’s line was only okay in the end (6/3 K/BB ratio, and a hit by pitch), but he improved as the game went on and no one’s gonna complain given the game itself. The Atlanta side of the box score generally looked pretty sweet, with Albies and Olson each collecting two hits, and Riley having a perfect 3-for-3 night with a walk, though two of his three hits were bloops and the third was an infield hit not cleanly handled by the defense. The only guy that didn’t have a good time, on paper, was Acuña, who struck out three times, and had a couple of weak balls in play otherwise. Ah, well, he can have the spotlight another day.

Ragans had his worst start by FIP ever and his worst start by xFIP since August 2024, as he managed just a 5/4 K/BB ratio and gave up three bombs. Falter saved the Kansas City relief corps with three innings and a 4/0 K/BB ratio, though he did suffer bloop damage in the seventh.

The series continues tomorrow with a Reynaldo Lopez-Michael Wacha matchup, as the Braves will try to add some old priest/young priest action on top of tonight’s soul-cleansing win.