Category: Baseball

There are a lot of unreliable things about this era of Yankees baseball, but there’s always one thing that they seem to do every year. While some teams are sluggish out of the gates, the Yankees always manage to go full speed to start the season.

For the third straight year, the Yankees have swept their opening series of the season and they’ve done it in three different ways. In 2024, they rode clutch plays on both sides of the ball to a sweep over the hated Astros. In 2025, they pummeled the eventual NL Central champion Brewers into submission with those newfangled torpedo bats. This year? Their pitching absolutely flummoxed the Giants.

While they came up short of the ever-elusive series shutout, the Yankees allowed just one run total in the three games in San Francisco, as Will Warren and the bullpen carried over good work from Wednesday and Friday en route to a 3-1 win against the San Francisco Giants. Ben Rice got things started with an early two-run double, Aaron Judge went deep again, and the Yankees’ infield turned four clutch double plays to continually deny the Giants’ offense.

Tyler Mahle started this game off by getting a pair of outs against Judge and Trent Grisham, but gave up a long triple to Cody Bellinger into Triple’s Alley to give Rice a chance for his first RBI of the year, but the Yankees’ first baseman chopped a ball to shortstop to end the inning.

Warren took the bump and looked to answer with a zero of his own and got off to a good start, but things nearly unraveled on him. Singles by Luis Arraez and Rafael Devers, along with the usually one-dimensional Arraez stealing third and nearly forcing a balk with his theatrics, put an amped-up Warren in a jam. In a lengthy at-bat with Heliot Ramos, Warren reared a 97 mph fastball by him in the 10th pitch of the at-bat to strike him out and end the inning.

Both teams got a baserunner in the second on a single by Giancarlo Stanton and a walk by Patrick Bailey, but the game was kept scoreless. In the third, Grisham was able to overturn a frankly horrendous strike three call with ABS and drew a walk. After Judge struck out, Bellinger lined a single up the middle to give Rice another chance, and the young slugger didn’t miss it, smashing a ball 105.5 mph off the right-field wall to open the scoring with a two-run double. It would’ve been a home run at Yankee Stadium… and 23 other parks.

Stanton lined another single shortly after to give Rice a chance to score, but a strong throw from Heliot Ramos gunned him down at the plate. San Francisco, whose scoreless streak was now up to a baffling 20 innings to start the season, finally got on the board with a Jung Hoo Lee double and Matt Chapman RBI single. Warren was struggling to put hitters away for much of his outing, but he was able to impressively strike out Arraez and Devers to get out of that mini-jam, keeping a 2-1 lead.

Mahle concluded his outing in the fourth with a sharp 1-2-3 inning that included a long flyout from Ryan McMahon, while Warren induced a nifty 3-6-1 double play to end the bottom half. Rice has looked a helluva lot more comfortable at first base in the opening series.

Ryan Borucki got the fifth for the Giants and was able to dispatch Wells and Grisham. Joe Davis openly wondered on the broadcast whether rookie skipper Tony Vitello would put Judge on intentionally due to the pair of lefties behind him with the lefty specialist on the bump. Well, despite striking out seven of his first 11 at-bats to start the year, the three-time MVP struck again in his homecoming, blasting his fifth career home run in San Francisco and second in this series to make it 3-1.

Warren, like Max Fried and Cam Schlittler before him, isn’t completely built up, so he faced two more hitters and was pulled after walking Lee with one out. Overall, it was a fine first outing for the sophomore starter. He had real juice in the first, maxing out at 98 and throwing several pitches harder than his season-high from last year, but he lost several ticks as the game went on and struggled to put guys away. Still, it’s not a bad season debut for someone trying to stay in the rotation long term as a pair of All-Stars rehab.

Brent Headrick was the one who answered the call to the bullpen and was able to retire Matt Chapman and Arraez to end the fifth. Matt Gage, who was a Yankee very, very briefly, sat the Yanks down in order 1-2-3 to start the sixth.

Looking to play matchup, Aaron Boone left Headrick out there to face Devers, who roped a leadoff double to right. He made the move to go to Jake Bird, and it started poorly with a Ramos single to put runners on the corners, but Bird struck out Willy Adames, and the infield defense flashed again by somehow doubling up old friend Harrison Bader, 4-6-3, to end the inning.

Keaton Winn sat the bottom of the order down in order in the seventh for the Giants, but their offense remained flummoxed by a combination of Bird and Tim Hill. Austin Wells improved to 3-for-3 on the season in ABS challenges with a pair in the inning, including one to punch out Lee to end the frame.

Erik Miller started the eighth for San Francisco and gave up a single to Grisham and walked Bellinger, eventually being pulled for JT Brubaker, who induced an inning-ending pop-out from Stanton. Hill did what he does best in the bottom half, responding to an infield single by Arraez by getting Devers to hit into another double play. Now that he’s in the National League, this is the first time since 2016 that the longtime Yankee killer hasn’t hit a home run against the Yankees. Huzzah!

Ryan Walker had a 1-2-3 top of the ninth to set the stage for David Bednar. The Renegade walked Ramos to start the inning after ABS overturned a strikeout, and Adames singled to put the tying run on base. The story of this game, however, was clutch Yankees pitching and disastrous Giants situational hitting, as Bader struck out and Bailey hit into a game-ending 4-6-3 double play to lock down the series sweep for the Yankees.

After a rare Sunday offday, the Yanks travel up to Seattle to start a three-game set with the reigning AL West champion Mariners on Monday at 9:40 pm EDT. It’ll be Ryan Weathers’ Yankees debut up against former All-Star Luis Castillo, and for just the second time this season, it’ll be on YES.

Box Score

SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants are officially on the scoreboard. Now, how about the win column? One step at time: They can try holding a lead first.

The Giants pushed across their first run of the season Saturday. They needed to do it at least three more times to avoid being swept by the Yankees in their opening series of the season.

The Yankees were already leading when Matt Chapman singled home Jung Hoo Lee in the third inning, and the Giants wouldn’t claw any closer in a 3-1 loss that dropped them to 0-3.

The Giants doubled their hits (eight) from their total through two games (four), but Tyler Mahle’s team debut was over after four innings. He exhausted 81 pitches and exited down 2-1.

San Francisco got extra-base hits from Jung Hoo Lee and Rafael Devers, but Aaron Judge slugged the Yankees’ third home run of the series and Ben Rice doubled home more runs in one swing than the Giants mustered in 27 innings.

Heliot Ramos and Willy Adames reached to start the bottom of the ninth against Yankees closer David Bednar, allowing the Giants to bring the potential winning run to the plate. But Harrison Bader struck out on a foul tip and Patrick Bailey grounded into a game-ending double play.

The Giants put 12 men on base but failed to take advantage, allowing the Yankees to turn two three times.

What it means

Tony Vitello fell to 0-3 as a major-league manager, the worst start for a Giants skipper since Danny Ozark in 1984. The team’s 0-3 start at least comes with more encouraging history.

The last time the Giants failed to win any of their first three games? 2012. That turned out OK.

By getting on the board in the third, the Giants avoided setting a franchise record for their longest scoring drought to start a season. It took them 20 innings to finally score a run, the same number of frames as the 1909 New York Giants.

Who’s hot

Judge left the yard for the second time in as many games to give the Yankees’ lead some cushion after the Giants cut the margin to 2-1 with their first run of the season.

Judge punished the second pitch he saw from Ryan Borucki for a solo shot that made the score 3-1 in the top of the fifth. Vitello called on the left-hander to get the platoon advantage against Austin Wells and Trent Grisham, but it meant Judge got to face the lefty.

The Giants held Judge to two hits in 13 at-bats, but both were home runs.

---

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters

Vitello said he planned to shake up the Giants’ lineup after they were blanked in both their first two games, and he looked smart for moving Jung Hoo Lee into the leadoff spot.

Lee scored the Giants’ first run of the season after leading off the third with a double down the right field line. Matt Chapman singled him home a batter later.

Chapman was the only Giant to reach base in all three games of the series. Lee, Devers, Luis Arraez and Heliot Ramos all reached base multiple times in Saturday’s loss.

Who’s not

Adames finally notched a hit off Bednar in the bottom of the ninth, but the notoriously slow-starting shortstop had gone hitless in 13 at-bats to start the season with five strikeouts. 

Adames struck out with a runner on third and less than two outs for the second time this series, eventually stranding Devers on third in the sixth inning. His single in the ninth gave the Giants runners on first and second with nobody out, but the rally didn’t result in any runs.

Up next

The Giants are off Sunday before heading out for their first road trip of the season against the Padres. They hit the road still in search of their first home run.

Logan Webb is lined up to make his second start of the season on Tuesday. Adrian Houser will make his Giants debut in the first game on Monday, and Landen Roupp will start the series finale on Wednesday.

Box Score

The Brewers didn’t quite put on the show that they did on Opening Day on Thursday in defeating the White Sox on Saturday evening. But what they did do was demonstrate the difference between teams that do do the little things right, and teams that don’t do the little things right. But behind a good-enough outing for starter Chad Patrick, a good night for the Brewer bullpen, and a whole bunch of singles, walks, and stolen bases, the Brewers came away with a comfortable 6-1 victory.

William Contreras used a Brewers challenge—unsuccessfully—during the first at-bat of the game, when Chase Meidroth took a 2-0 pitch from Patrick just high that was upheld on review. Patrick did come back to get Meidroth to ground out, but starting the game down a challenge wasn’t great. Patrick got the second out with a strikeout of Colson Montgomery, but then two batters reached with two outs when Andrew Benintendi hit a single to left and Munetaka Murakami walked. But a Lenyn Sosa popout ended the inning with no further damage done.

Brice Turang led off the bottom of the first by giving a ball a ride to the opposite field off of Chicago starter Sean Burke. For a minute it looked like it might make it out, and then it looked like it was going to be caught, but instead it landed near the base of the wall and near left fielder Andrew Benintendi’s feet and resulted in a double (though that’s tough for Burke, as it should’ve been caught). After a near-miss on a foul ball (on a pitch about five inches above the zone), Contreras hit a grounder back to Burke that resulted in an out but advanced Turang to third with one out. Chicago pulled the infield in against Christian Yelich, who took advantage and hit a grounder through the hole between Murakami at first and Meidroth at second that scored Turang for the game’s first run.

The White Sox’ questionable defense continued to rear its head when Jake Bauers hit another single through the right side and the throw came to third (too late to get Yelich) instead of second, allowing Bauers to move up to second base and give Milwaukee two runners in scoring position with one out. It paid off right away when Garrett Mitchell jumped on the first pitch and drilled a two-RBI single through the middle, the first really hard hit ball of the game for the Brewers, knocking in the game’s second and third runs.

Oh baby we're off and running

→ https://t.co/eycfmE2vgmpic.twitter.com/pEIkEQTh5b

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) March 28, 2026

Mitchell stole second during a classic, pesky Sal Frelick at-bat, but Burke won that battle when Frelick flew out to shallow left on the 10^th pitch. Burke struck out Joey Ortiz to end the inning, but Milwaukee sent seven batters to the plate, saw 29 pitches, and scored three runs in the first inning.

Former Brewers draft pick and farmhand Tristan Peters (who was traded for Trevor Rosnethal once upon a time) struck out looking to start the second, unsuccessfully burning a challenge in the process. Everson Pereira grounded out on a check swing blooper to first base, and Reese McGuire struck out on three pitches, giving Patrick a three-up, three-down second inning.

After Burke quickly got the first two outs in the bottom of the second, Turang snuck another double into left field, this one a blooper down the line that landed just out of Benintendi’s reach (and, according to Statcast, should certainly have been caught). Contreras drew an eight-pitch walk to put two on for Yelich, who hit a dribbler to third base that would’ve been an infield hit, but the throw from Burke—which would’ve been late anyway—was in the dirt, and while Murakami kept it in the infield, Turang was able to score from third. Yelich stole second with Bauers at the plate, and Bauers worked the count back full from 0-2, but he struck out looking to end the inning. Burke, though, needed 34 pitches in the second after throwing 29 in the first, putting him in critical pitch-count condition through two innings.

Meidroth hit a one-out single in the third, but Chicago got nothing else off of Patrick. Burke got back-to-back strikeouts on Mitchell and Frelick to start the bottom of the inning, and Frelick burned the Brewers’ second (and final) challenge trying to overturn the pitch he looked at for strike three. Ortiz extended the inning with a two-out single up the middle, and he stole second base to give Hamilton a shot with a runner in scoring position. Hamilton nearly beat a dribbler to third for an infield hit—he was called safe on the field, but the play was overturned on a Chicago challenge and the White Sox were out of the inning.

Murakami got a 92 mph fastball right down the pipe to start the fourth inning, and if there’s one positive thing we’ve seen in these two games for the White Sox, it’s that that guy has some real power if he gets a hold of one. This one ended up 409 feet away, and the Brewers’ lead was cut to 4-1. With one out, Peters had a nice moment when he dumped a fly ball into center that Mitchell couldn’t quite get to—it came off the end of his glove—and Peters ended up at second for a double, his first major-league hit in the ballpark of the team that drafted him. But Patrick struck out Pereira and got McGuire to fly out to left, and Peters was stranded at second.

The Brewers went down in order in the bottom of the fourth (though Turang nearly doubled again on a ball that went just foul, and then hit a 106 mph, 398-foot fly ball that was caught on the warning track in dead center).

The White Sox were on Patrick to start the fifth. Luisangel Acuña hit a fly ball at 106 mph that Mitchell made a nice play on for the first out, and Meidroth hit a ground-role double into the right-field gap with one out. With three lefties due up, Pat Murphy opted to move for Aaron Ashby at that point. Ashby walked the first batter, Montgomery, but he got pinch-hitter Austin Hays on a weak comebacker to the mound and struck out Murakami to end the inning.

Big K for Aaron Ashby to get the Crew out of a jamhttps://t.co/68EQQYUZ6Zpic.twitter.com/L9lxy2w6D3

— Brewers.TV (@BrewersdotTV) March 29, 2026

Patrick finished with 4 1/3 innings pitched and, with the assist from Ashby, one run allowed on five hits, a walk, and four strikeouts. He threw 74 pitches and wasn’t always sharp, but mostly got away with it today.

With four lefties due up in the bottom of the fifth, the White Sox moved to the left-handed Chris Murphy, ending Burke’s (somewhat unlucky) day. Yelich struck out, and in a rare opportunity against a lefty (which might be more numerous with Andrew Vaughn on the shelf), Bauers nearly had an extra-base hit down the right-field line but Murakami made a diving stab and tagged first for the second out. Mitchell walked, but Frelick grounded out to end the inning.

Ashby was back out in the sixth and issued a one-out walk but otherwise struck out the side. After a bit of a lull from the Brewers’ offense from the third through fifth innings, they got something going again in the sixth against the new pitcher Grant Taylor. With one out, Hamilton walked and stole second—Murphy stuff—then scored when Lockridge hit a ground ball into right center for an RBI single that made it 5-1. Turang followed with a single to left, his third hit. After a visit to the mound, Chicago elected to stay with the right-handed Taylor instead of switching to lefty old friend Bryan Hudson to face Yelich, but they got away with it—Yelich struck out swinging at a 1-2 curveball that appeared to bounce in the grass in front of home plate, and Taylor was out of it with just one run in.

Brandon Lockridge picks up an RBI knock in his first start of the year 🔒 pic.twitter.com/oHRy8bI6yZ

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) March 29, 2026

Brewer fandom got its first look at Ángel Zerpa in the seventh when he came in to relieve Ashby. After a slight pitchcom delay, he got two quick outs on ground balls. Montgomery lined a two-out single to right for his first hit of the season and Hays followed with another hit, and when Lockridge misplayed the ball in left, Montgomery tried to score from first. But Lockridge recovered in time to start a perfect 7-6-2 relay that nailed Montgomery at home for the third out.

DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT

→ https://t.co/eycfmE2vgmpic.twitter.com/ByO3chJTwK

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) March 29, 2026

Hudson did indeed enter for Chicago in the seventh, and struck out Bauers looking on a 3-2 pitch to start the inning. Mitchell slapped a single through the left side of the infield for a one-out hit, his second. With Frelick battling again, Mitchell stole second for the second time on the night, but Frelick struck out when he couldn’t check his swing on a 3-2 pitch way off the plate. Ortiz still had a shot with a runner in scoring position and two outs, and he came through with another single up the middle, his second hit of the night and third RBI of the season.

Joey O is putting on a clinic right now pic.twitter.com/YmtqgjB2jx

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) March 29, 2026

A balk advanced Ortiz to second with Hamilton at the plate, and Ortiz stole third on a pitch that Hamilton watched for ball four, putting runners on the corners with two out for Lockridge, and after another stolen base and another walk, the bases were loaded and Hudson was out of the game after 33 pitches. The batter was Turang, who was already 3-for-4 with two doubles and a very loud fly out, and the pitcher was Jedixson Paez, who the Brewers got for three runs in 1 1/3 innings on Thursday… but Turang got under the first pitch, and while he hit it 102 mph, he hit it too high to do any damage and it was caught in center for the third out.

Abner Uribe was on for his first appearance of the season in the eighth. He got the first out when Murakami hit a ground ball in front of the plate, but during the second plate appearance Uribe acted like something tightened up on him somewhere around his waist, but after the training staff checked on him he stayed in the game. Mildly concerning, and we’ll keep an eye on it, but he looked no worse for the wear, as he struck out Sosa with a 98 mph sinker and got pinch hitter Miguel Vargas looking with a slider that may have been successfully challenged had Sosa not burned the White Sox’ second challenge in the previous at-bat.

The White Sox got some work for their new closer, Seranthony Dominguez, in the bottom of the 8th. Contreras nearly hit an opposite-field homer to start the inning, but it was caught on the warning track by Pereira for the first out. Yelich lined a solid single into left with one out, his third hit, but Bauers flew out to center and Mitchell popped out in foul territory.

With a five-run lead, the Brewers went to DL Hall in the ninth, and he committed did what you don’t want in that situation and walked the leadoff hitter, Pereira. But Hall struck out pinch-hitter Edgar Quero looking, and Acuña grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, and the game was over.

The Brewers finished with 12 hits and five walks today in a balanced attack. Turang and Yelich both went 3-for-5 (with Turang’s two doubles as the team’s only extra-base hits), and Mitchell and Ortiz were both 2-for-4, with Mitchell adding a walk. Milwaukee also ran wild today and went 7-for-7 in stolen bases, just the fifth time in franchise history they’ve stolen that many, with two of those to Mitchell, two to Ortiz, two to Hamilton, and one to Yelich.

Milwaukee will go for the sweep tomorrow afternoon in the series finale at 1:10 p.m. when Brandon Sproat makes his Brewers debut against Chicago lefty Anthony Kay.

The Yankees pitching staff worked in and out of trouble against San Francisco's lineup, as New York defeated the Giants, 3-1, on Saturday night to complete the three-game sweep.

Ben Rice drove in two runs and Aaron Judge mashed a homer for the second straight game to provide the offense, while Yankees pitchers induced four double plays to keep the Giants hitters off the board. The Yankees outscored the Giants, 13-1, in the three-game sweep.

New York has now started 3-0 for the third straight season. 

Here are the takeaways...

-The Yankees had a chance early on in this one. Cody Bellinger hit a two-out triple, but was stranded whenRice grounded out to end the threat. Rice would get his chance again in the third, which was set up by ABS.

Trent Grisham challenged a called third strike and won, working a one-out walk two pitches later. Bellinger followed with a single to put runners on the corners for Rice. The first baseman lined a down down the right field line to score two runs. Giancarlo Stanton followed with a hard-hit single to left fielder Heliot Ramos, who gunned down Rice trying to score from second base. Stanton finished 2-for-4 and has had two hits in each of his first three games.

-Will Warren entered his first start of the season after an impressive spring. It looked to carry over early, with the young right-hander getting the first two batters rather quickly. However, back-to-back singles from Luis Arraez and Rafael Devers -- with an Arraez steal of third thrown in -- the Giants had runners on the corners with two outs, but Warren bounced back to strike out Ramos to end the threat.

After a ho-hum second for Warren, the Giants finally broke through in the third. Jung Hoo Lee led off with a double and Matt Chapman singled up the middle to score a run. It's the first run the Giants have scored this season after being shut out in the first two games. It snapped a streak of 20 scoreless innings to start the season, tying their longest such stretch to start the season (1909). Warren would get out of the inning, but he wouldn't last long because he wasn't efficient enough.

Under a strict pitch count, Warren could only get one out in the fifth before he walked Lee. At 83 pitches (54 strikes), Warren allowed one run on five hits, two walks, while striking out three batters. 

-Judge, after homering in his last game, would have an encore, blasting a shot in the fifth inning to put the Yankees up 3-1. The longball went 383 feet with an exit velocity of 102.1 mph. Judge finished 1-for-4 with a strikeout. He's now 2-for-13 with seven strikeouts. Both hits this season are home runs.

-In relief of Warren, the Yankees' bullpen faltered a bit. Brent Headrick was the first one out and got the final two outs of the fifth, but allowed a leadoff double to Devers in the sixth. Jake Bird was called on to limit the damage, but he allowed a single to Ramos to put runners on the corners with no outs. Bird bounced back by getting Willy Adames to strike out swinging and Harrison Bader to ground into a doubleplay, helped by the tandem of Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Jose Caballero -- and an outstretched Rice -- to end the threat.

The rest of the Yankees bullpen did its job. The combination of Tim Hill -- who got Devers to ground into an inning-ending double play in the eighth -- and David Bednar got the final seven outs to complete the sweep. The ninth wasn't easy for Bednar, however. 

The closer walked Ramos -- helped by an overturned strike-three call -- and gave up a single to Adames. Bednar then got Bader to strike out and Patrick Bailey to ground into a doubleplay as the Yankees held on for the win.

Here's how the bullpen broke down on Saturday...

• Headrick: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 K
• Bird: 1.2 IP, 1 H. 2 K
• Hill: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 K
• Bednar: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K

Game MVP: Jake Bird

With the Yankees only up by two runs, Bird worked his way out of a tough situation to preserve the lead. Without that, the game is completely turned on its head.

Highlights

Ben Rice with a 2-RBI double to put the Yanks on the board first 🍚💪 pic.twitter.com/AHOu4rBtfY

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) March 29, 2026

ALL RISE!

Aaron Judge with the solo shot to extend the lead! 😤💪 pic.twitter.com/B0U3iYpujP

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) March 29, 2026

What's next

The Yankees have a day off Sunday before heading up to Seattle to start a three-game series with the Mariners on Monday.

Ryan Weathers makes his Yankees debut and will be opposed by Luis Castillo.

Dylan Cease is already dominating at his new home up north.

During his Blue Jays debut on Saturday, Cease fanned 12 batters across 5⅓ innings while giving up just one earned run in Toronto’s 8-7 walk-off home win over the Athletics.

Cease’s 12 strikeouts set a new record for most by a Blue Jays pitcher in their debut for the franchise, topping southpaw David Price’s 11 during his debut back in 2015.

The 30 year old also struck out seven straight batters in one stretch during Saturday’s game, sitting down Athletics catcher Tyler Soderstrom to end the third inning before striking out the side in the fourth and fifth.

“That was a blast,” Cease told reporters following the game, according to MLB.com. “The minute I walked out, there was cheering and they were being extremely supportive. That was really cool. It’s just an electric atmosphere. I think that really does make a difference.”

Blue Jays skipper John Schneider said he was impressed with Cease’s debut outing, adding that he bested teammate Kevin Gausman’s 11 strikeout Opening Day performance.

“He one-upped Kevin [Gausman] in terms of strikeouts,” Schneider said.

Gausman said he believes that this year’s Blue Jays staff is the most powerful since he arrived in Toronto in 2022.

“I really love our pitching staff this year,” Gausman said. “I think it’s the best, stuff-wise, since I’ve been here, and we’ve had great pitching staffs since I’ve been here.

“That’s what’s exciting for me. The swing-and-miss is probably more than we’ve ever had.”

Despite Cease’s performance, Toronto was trailing in the ninth inning before catcher Alejandro Kirk blasted a game-tying solo homer to send the game to extra innings.

Third baseman Ernie Clement was the hero for the Blue Jays with a game-winning single in the 11th inning, marking the team’s second straight walk-off to start the season.

“We’re battling. We’re fighting back. We’re picking guys up,” Clement said. “That’s what was special about last year’s team, and that’s what will be special about this team.

“We’re never out of it. We’re going to battle, and we’re going to get it done.”

By the end of last season, 0-70 had become as much of an indictment of the 2025 Mets as an ugly statistic. Steve Cohen even made a point of referencing it in his press session at spring training in February, as if still finding it hard to believe his ballclub had gone the entire year without winning a game in which they’d trailed after eight innings.

Such futility demanded some examination: was the absence of dramatic comebacks fluky or did it hint at some lack of esprit de corps on the '25 Mets?

David Stearns and Cohen clearly decided on the latter, overhauling the roster and, as Cohen noted on that day in February, bringing in proven clutch hitters in part so 0-70 didn’t happen again.

And so as the Mets pulled off the unlikeliest of comeback wins on Saturday night at Citi Field, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-2 on Luis Robert Jr.'s 11th-inning three-run home run, both the owner and president of baseball operations had to feel as warm and fuzzy, wherever they were watching, as the players were bitterly cold on the ballfield.

As it turned out, the win wouldn’t have changed the 0-70 stat last year, as the Mets were tied 0-0 after eight innings on this day.

But suffice it to say that coming back not once but twice in extra innings, on a day when they couldn’t get a big hit for nine innings, made for a memorable comeback and perhaps reason to believe this indeed will be a team with more grit, more toughness than whatever happened to last year’s ballclub.

Especially considering it seemed the Mets had blown their opportunity to win the game in the 10th, when their best hitters, Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto, and Bo Bichette all failed to get the winning run in from third base after Mark Vientos and Luis Torrens had delivered clutch singles to get the game tied.

All Lindor and Soto needed were fly balls to get the run in, but couldn’t deliver. And Bichette, who has been hailed as something of a clutch-hitting savant with the numbers to prove it, lifted a routine fly ball to right for the third out, three innings after striking out in the eighth with the go-ahead run on third.

But that’s baseball, of course. Everybody fails. It’s the good teams, or perhaps the best ones, that find ways to overcome it, find a way to win games late when the money is on the table, even on days when there’s not a hint of a win in the air.

That’s what Saturday felt like for the Mets. After all the praise heaped on them on Opening Day regarding their new-look, high-contact lineup, they couldn’t do much of anything at the plate, especially against Mitch Keller, who has been tough on them historically.

They had three hits through nine innings, all singles, and four walks. They were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

Maybe it was just too freezing cold for anybody to hit. Yet when it counted most, Robert changed everything with his three-run home run, making him the early favorite for X-factor of the year and making for a feel-good Mets’ clubhouse as well.

David Peterson, who got big outs when needed to pitch out of trouble and deliver 5.1 scoreless innings, kept changing the subject from his own performance to the nature of the victory as he talked to reporters.

“Awesome win,” he said. “A total team win. We needed everybody to win this game and everybody played a role. Just awesome.”

Ok, ok, I can hear the skeptics, or even many reasoned fans out there saying this is making too much of one win, improbable or not, against the less-than-imposing Pirates in the second game of this new season.

And that’s fair.

Certainly, there is plenty we don’t know about this team, and probably won’t for weeks, even months.

But there was also plenty to like on this day, even with such an absence of offense.

Peterson’s start offered reason to believe, as the Mets do, that he simply hit a wall in September related to his career-high innings-pitched total last season, and will bounce back and be a solid starter, perhaps even the guy who made the NL All-Star Game in 2025.

In addition, Devin Williams made his debut as the guy taking over for Edwin Diaz, and put up a zero in the ninth. It wasn’t routine, as the go-ahead run got to third base, but he struck out Bryan Reynolds to end the inning, blowing a fastball by him after setting that up with his signature change-up, the ballyhooed air-bender. It felt significant.

For that matter, all of the high-leverage relievers were sharp, producing 3.2 scoreless innings before Luis Garcia and Richard Lovelady each allowed runs in the 10th and 11th innings, albeit partly because of the free runner at second base.

Also, Vientos’ pinch-hit single in the 10th, loading the bases and setting up Torrens’ game-tying hit, felt significant as well, as the Mets are hoping he recaptures his 2024 form and becomes a difference-maker again.

On the other hand, Bichette and Jorge Polanco are off to shaky starts in their transitions to new positions at first and third base. Bichette made a throwing error on a routine play and has been wide to the first base side with at least a few throws, going back to spring training.

He also fielded a grounded ball in unconventional fashion, positioning himself as he moved to his left so he could backhand the ball, which looked awkward but did put himself in a strong position to throw.

On the SNY telecast, Keith Hernandez called it “interesting.”

Meanwhile, Polanco has had a couple of balls bounce off him, and while his athleticism allowed him to recover to make the plays, he hasn’t looked comfortable getting in front of hard-hit balls, and couldn’t handle a bad hop that was ruled a hit in Saturday’s game.

It doesn’t mean the two ex-shortstops won’t make the transitions successfully. But it does look like they’re going to need some time.

So we’ll see. In the end, the win mattered most, of course, especially because of that dreaded 0-70 that came to define the disaster of 2025.

Last season, the Mets weren’t as good as their individual talent. On Saturday, the result was better than they actually played.

It felt like a good omen.

Here is today’s Cleveland lineup:

This would be the rubber match if this were a three-game series.#GuardsBallpic.twitter.com/cAQPuOOshm

— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) March 28, 2026

Here is Seattle’s lineup:

Bryan Woo pitches today. pic.twitter.com/Fs2mPD8EqG

— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) March 28, 2026

Let’s go, Guardians!

The Mariners and Guardians will go for history Saturday in just their third game of the season.

The Mariners do not have a single yet. They are the first team ever to not have a single in their first two games of a season. There have only been nine instances in history where a team has gone two consecutive games without a single; no team has ever gone three.

It’s worth keeping this reminder up for the opening series. Lookout Landing will feature a daily trio(+) of stories about each game: (1) a game preview with starting lineups and all the info you need to know pregame, which will also serve as a comment thread to discuss the game as it unfolds, (2) a chart highlighting the turning points of the game published immediately postgame, and (3) a recap of how the game went down. We’ll do this for all 162 games this season, and we’d love to have you along for the ride, so if you haven’t yet signed up, please consider doing so! Instructions for doing so are at the bottom of the page.

I’ll also repeat the summary of the work we’ve put up over the past couple days in preparation for Opening Day:

• The 2026 Opening Day Roster
• Our guide to T-Mobile Park
• An overview of the food options available at the park this season
• Season Projections and Predictions
• The Opening Series Preview
• Two opposing visions for the season: If It All Goes Wrong and If It All Goes Right

Lineups

Going for history will be a slightly different group from the first two nights. We get our first look at the Mariners’ “facing a lefty starter” lineup for 2026. Rob Refsnyder replaces Dom Canzone at designate hitter and hits leadoff. Victor Robles replaces Luke Raley in right field and hits seventh. Notably still in the lineup is lefty Cole Young at second base, suggesting he’s not automatically locked into a platoon with righty infielder Ryan Bliss; Young got the most reps against lefties in Spring Training of anyone on the team.

On the mound is Bryan Woo, making his first start of the season. The Seattle Times had an article Saturday morning on the team’s plan to keep Woo healthy all season — basically, setting him up to maximize rest between starts.

Attempting to deny the Mariners of history (or trying to lead them to it, I’m not sure) will be lefty Joey Cantillo. Here’s Jake Mailhot’s description from our Series Preview:

Joey Cantillo spent last year split between the bullpen and the rotation. Once he made the move to starting in July, things really took off for him; he posted a 2.96 ERA and a 3.21 FIP across 13 starts down the stretch. His calling card is a phenomenal changeup that produced a 49.4% whiff rate last year! His two breaking balls are okay too — his curveball is the better of the two but he was testing a new grip on his slider this spring to hopefully increase that pitch’s effectiveness. His command is his weakness, though his walk rate improved slightly after joining the rotation last year. With a role in the rotation secured to start this season, he’s well positioned to take a big step forward if he can get his errant command under control.

News

J.P. Crawford is back in Seattle as he rehabs his shoulder injury.

Game Information

First pitch: 6:40 PDT
TV: Mariners TV, with Aaron Goldsmith, Ryan Rowland-Smith, and Angie Mentink
Radio: 710 ESPN, with Rick Rizzs and Gary Hill Jr.

Somewhere in the multiverse, maybe it would’ve been Eduardo Rodríguez and not Tyler Glasnow who would’ve joined the Dodgers via trade a few years ago, but alas, that’s not the case here. Glasnow and Rodríguez go toe-to-toe as the Dodgers and Diamondbacks square off in Los Angeles.

Tonight’s #Dodgers lineup vs. D-backs: pic.twitter.com/OXAFts7GmH

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) March 28, 2026

Saturday starters. pic.twitter.com/WgjNitmG9J

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) March 28, 2026

FRIDAY GAME INFO

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Diamondbacks
• Stadium: Dodger Stadium
• Time: 6:10 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA, MLB Network (out-of-market)
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 (Spanish)

Earlier in the season, the Omaha World-Herald’s Evan Bland referred to it at the Evan Bland Experience.  Cornhusker fans got to experience the Experience once again today on a sunny, but chilly and very windy day at Haymarket Park.

In the first inning, with one out Jasa walked Hogan Denny on four-straight pitches and then followed with an impressive strikeout of Indiana’s best hitter Jake Hanley.  Clean-up batter Caleb Koskie singled to put two on base with two outs.  It looked like Jasa righted the ship as he got two quick strikes on Brayden Ricketts, but then threw four straight balls to walk him.  Bases loaded and he struck out Cooper Malamazian.  What a roller coaster inning.

Afternoons at Haymarket Park. ✈️ pic.twitter.com/laXrHL8lZx

— Nebraska Baseball (@HuskerBaseball) March 28, 2026

That was pretty much the way it went for the righthander through his outing today.  He’d get ahead in counts or get a strikeout and then walk a batter or two.  But, through five innings he was able to get out of trouble and kept the Hoosiers off the scoreboard.  Meanwhile, the Big Red offense got off to another hot start, which they’ve done quite a bit this season.  And, they finished big as well.

To no one’s surprise, Mac Moyer started off the bottom of the first getting on base, this time with a single past a diving third baseman.  Jeter Worthley followed up and showed some masterful bat skills pushing a bunt toward the second baseman, beating it out and moving Moyer to second.  Perhaps a bit rattled, Hoosier starter Tony Neubeck hit Case Sanderson to load the bases with no outs.

Up came Dylan Carey who walked to score Moyer.  Designated hitter Cole Kitchens then hit a deep sacrifice fly to center to score Worthley.  A Jett Buck infield ground ball pushed Sanderson across the plate.  The good start put Nebraska up 3-0 after one.

Nebraska goa runner on base on the second and third innings but didn’t threaten until they loaded them up in the bottom of the fourth with one out due to Neubeck hitting Joshua Overbeek, giving up a single to Rhett Stokes and walking Mac Moyer.  

Jeter Worthley hit a chopper to Mateo Noto at third who fired it home to force Overbeek at the plate for the second out.  Sanderson then sliced a shot that Noto knocked down, but couldn’t pick up in time to throw out a runner.  Stokes scored and the bases were still load with Dylan Carey coming to the plate. He walked on a full-count pitch in the dirt to score Stokes.

SANDERSON SQUEEZES ONE THROUGH.

RBI single gets Stokes home.

B4 | Nebraska 4, Indiana 0 pic.twitter.com/LdL6hiToZ5

— Nebraska Baseball (@HuskerBaseball) March 28, 2026

Indiana brought in Ivan Mastalski to try and get the Hoosiers out of the inning with Kitchens in the box.  Mastalski got him to chase a 2-2 high fast ball to strike him out and end the threat.  After four innings, Nebraska held a 5-0 lead.

Indiana got to Jasa in the top of the sixth inning.  After getting a lead-off flyout to centerfield, Jasa walked Brayden Ricketts for the second time in the game.  He then struck out Cooper Malamazian and looked to get out of the inning.  However, Cole Decker rapped a single to put two runners on.  

Coach Childress came out for a conversation with the 6’7” Colorado native and to burn a little time for the bullpen to warm up a bit.  None the less, Owen ten Oever, a big fella from Brooklyn, NY tied into one and launched it over the right-centerfield ball.  All of a sudden, it was a 5-3 ball game and little lefty Chase Olson came in to get the last out, thanks to a brilliant diving catch by Drew Grego in rightfield.

Back came the Cornhuskers in the bottom of the sixth.  The top of the order loaded the bases with a Moyer single, followed by Worthley getting hit by a pitch and Sanderson drawing a walk.  That ended the day for Mastalski, who was replaced with Jackson Yarberry.  

With bases loaded and no outs, Yarberry struck out Carey looking.  Then struck out pinch-hitter Miken Miller swinging, and then got Jett Buck to pop-up to centerfield.  That was the second time this game that Nebraska left the bases loaded.

Indiana put up another run in the top of the seventh, and could have easily scored more.  Olson walked Will Moore to start the inning.  That was one of four walks he and his reliever, Ryan Harrahill gave up.  The only Hoosier to put a bat on the ball was a sacrifice bunt by Koskie.  Otherwise, Indiana did not hit the ball out of the infield and left the bases loaded when Cole Decker was out on a tapper back to Harrahill.

As fans worried about the bullpen and whether or not it would stop the bleeding, back came the Cornhusker offense in the bottom of the seventh.  Yarberry walked Grego and Stokes with an Overbeek sacrifice bunt in between.  He then struck out Moyer, and then . . . came the return of two-out hitting.

Worthley singled.  Sanderson singled.  Carey hit a three-run bomb to leftfield.  Miller singled. Buck was hit by a pitch.  Yarberry was replaced by Pete Haas. Grego singled, driving in two more and Overbeek grounded out back to the pitcher.  If you haven’t been counting on your fingers, Nebraska was now up 12-5.

There goes that man. 🫣

DC blasts one out of here for his 7th HR of the year. pic.twitter.com/IyRodYcMlS

— Nebraska Baseball (@HuskerBaseball) March 28, 2026

That bullpen meltdown mentioned a moment ago, yeah, it happened in the top of the eighth.  At one point, two Nebraska pitchers threw 18 balls out of 19 pitchers, giving free bases to five straight Hoosiers and walking in two runs.

Jace Ziola came out for the eighth inning.  The big freshman from Skutt Catholic got a quick flyout from ten Oever, but then hit the nine-hole hitter and walked the two Hoosiers at the top of the order.  In came Braxton Stewart to face Hanley with bases loaded and one out.  He walked him and walked in a run.

In came Pryce Bender with bases loaded and one out.  He started with a strike and got Ricketts to flyout deep to center for the second out.  It was fitting that the inning ended on kind of a crazy play when Malamazian singled off Bender to right field and Hanley tried to score from second base.  Grego fielded the ball and fired it home way ahead of the runner.  Worthley tagged him eight feet down the line, standing up.  Indiana appealed the play for some reason, but the call was upheld.  Avoiding a major melt-down, Nebraska was still up Indiana 12-7.  

Proving that he could throw the ball over the plate, Bender was back on the mound for the ninth inning.  While he wasn’t perfect, giving up two hits and a couple of baserunners, he got the side out without giving up any additional runs.  Ball game!  Nebraska 12, Indiana 7.

HUSKERS WIN!🌽

Series dub!✅ pic.twitter.com/iUK4EMoV8i

— Nebraska Baseball (@HuskerBaseball) March 28, 2026

Today’s game was eerily similar to yesterdays with Nebraska getting out to what should have been a comfortable lead only to have Indiana come back and make things interesting.  Today, the seven-run inning provided a cushion that the Hoosiers could not overcome.

Today there was no excuse for Indiana getting back into the game.  Young pitchers should be able to come into a game with a big lead and throw the ball over the plate.  When your team has a lead, you don’t have to be quite so perfect, yet at one point Nebraska pitchers threw thirteen or fourteen balls in a row.

Come back for more. ⏪ pic.twitter.com/khLGyGzzth

— Nebraska Baseball (@HuskerBaseball) March 28, 2026

Nebraska stays undefeated at home and has won every B1G series they have played at this point of the season.  Tomorrow they will look for the sweep against Indiana with the first pitch scheduled for 12:02.  Cooper Katskee will make his first weekend start and will go up against another Indiana lefty, Brayton Thomas.

---

Notes:

• Five Nebraska players had two hits in today’s game: Moyer, Worthley, Sanderson, Grego and Stokes.  All of them were singles and Grego had two RBI.  Dylan Carey was 1 for 3, but the one was a three-run homerun that was a huge boost for the team.  He had two more RBI when he was walked twice.
• The pitching staff gave up a reasonable seven hits and had twelve strikeouts, ten by Jasa.  They gave up 13 walks.
• Nebraska hasn’t seen many lefthanded starters this season and in an attempt to get as many righthanded batters in the lineup, regular second baseman Jett Buck started in left field.  He’s played a couple of innings out there this season, but with as much wind as there was today, he faced a big challenge.
• Despite the wind coming directly out of the south and the chilly temps, a good crowd of red-clad fans showed up to watch the 24^th ranked Cornhuskers.  At least some of those walked across the bridge having attended the Spring Game.

Grit. 🤝 pic.twitter.com/cCfS6ntqLk

— Nebraska Baseball (@HuskerBaseball) March 28, 2026

SAN FRANCISCO — It can be foolhardy to buy into spring training stats, good or bad, especially for veterans.

The same caveat goes for early season results, the sample size way too small to put too much stock into it either way.

But both in his look and his actual production, Giancarlo Stanton put together about as good a spring as the Yankees could have hoped for — most significantly, while staying healthy. And now he has carried that into the early days of the regular season, continuing to offer encouraging signs about what kind of impact he might provide the Yankees this season if he can continue to stay on the field.

“He’s locked in,” Cody Bellinger said before the Yankees wrapped up their series against the Giants on Saturday. “I feel like he’s been locked in all spring and carried it over into the regular season. Just the quality at-bat and hitting the ball hard.”

Following Saturday’s 3-1 victory at Oracle Park, Stanton is 6-for-12 with a home run in the first three games of the season. He also even made an impression with his legs — no small feat — scoring from second on José Caballero’s single to left field on Opening Day. Later in that game, he smoked a 114.4 mph RBI single off Giants ace Logan Webb.

Lighting up Statcast is nothing new for Stanton, but it is a continuation of how he looked toward the end of camp. In the final week of games, he was hitting just about everything with exit velocities in excess of 100 mph, prompting Aaron Boone to say, “If we can just bottle this up and move it north …”

So far, so good, and not just in the actual results.

“Really good [at-bats],” Boone said Friday after Stanton homered in a 3-0 win. “He’s disciplined and develops his plan and goes up there and is executing really well. Even first at-bat where he strikes out, I feel like, man, he’s got the right thought, he’s got the right plan, it didn’t line up. Then he hit a ball pretty good to right and then got the wrinkle in the zone that he stuck [for a home run]. He’s in a good place.”

---

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

---

This is the kind of impact Stanton delivered regularly last season — one of his best as a Yankee, besides the fact that it did not start until the middle of June as he waited for the excruciating pain from his tennis elbow in both arms to subside.

In 77 games, he hit .273 with a .944 OPS and 24 home runs, good for an 8.5 percent home run rate — the same mark he had in his NL MVP season in 2017.

The 36-year-old is still playing through pain and managing his elbows on a daily basis, but he has found a way to keep them in check while not affecting his ability to inflict pain on baseballs. And while no one is expecting Stanton to return to his MVP form at this stage of his career, the Yankees would certainly sign up for this version and keeping him on the field, which has been far from a given in recent years.

Because when Stanton has been healthy, he and Aaron Judge have formed one of the more fearsome duos in club history. They each homered in the sixth inning Friday, marking the 60th time they have gone deep in the same game — with the Yankees 53-7 in those games.

The 60 games in which they have homered together are the second most by a pair of teammates in Yankees history, trailing only Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth (75 times), according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Zigs and Zags

The game had a ton of drama and resisted easy definitions. It wasn’t that the teams traded leads back and forth—the Sox never led, in fact—but every time I thought I had a handle on the direction of the game, a big moment occurred to completely erase that thought. For example, the Sox mishandling some plays, including logging their second error in as many games, had me thinking defensive deficits. That was until Marcelo Mayer came through in a big way with a great scoop and throw to first in the late innings. When the lack of offense seemed like the story of the game—despite scoring five runs, it felt like they were in a drought and they repeatedly came up short in big moments—Wilyer Abreu launched a two-out homer in the ninth inning.

This game will be remembered for its ABS adventures and umpiring miscues. The Sox ran out of ABS challenges with the first at-bat in the third. This was way too early, and a mistake by Roman Anthony with nothing on the line. Fully expect additional coaching on this point as players get used to incorporating it into game strategy. More ABS drama when Eugenio Suárez successfully challenged his strikeout, twice, on consecutive pitches.

Today ABS wasn’t popular in Red Sox Nation but it’s good to know that the game is a little fairer with it in the mix. So there’s that.

Even less popular was a big mistake by the home plate umpire, who egregiously called a check swing on Trevor Story to end a Sox rally as well as their eighth inning. It led to Story likely popping some blood vessels, and to Alex Cora’s ejection.

Personally, I sweated this game out and despite making it to extra innings, the Sox lost in eleven.

Studs

Ryan Watson

He walked the first batter faced in his MLB career, loading the bases in the process. In a dramatic sequence, he thought he got out of the jam, twice, while pitching to Eugenio Suárez. Suárez challenged—and won—the call both times. Credit to Watson for coming back and eventually getting the out. He did eventually get his first MLB K.

Carlos Narváez

His day: 2-3, 1R, 1 CS.

Duds

Pelvic Thrust Hit Celebration

I’m making a choice by putting this first in the list, but it’s important. Yuck. Jahmai Webster said he was told “it doesn’t mean what you think it means.” Hm. Dave O’Brien and Lou Merloni sounded a little skeptical, and so am I. To be clear, I don’t care about being “family friendly” at all but women find this gesture ugly and threatening. It’s unimaginative to boot.

Sonny Gray and Greg Weissert

They needed 35 and 27 pitches to get out of their respective first innings. Gray ran up several full counts and dropped the ball while trying to tag the runner at the plate. Whether or not the cold weather affected his spin, he couldn’t make the pitches he wanted. Weissert gave up a first-pitch HR, followed soon by a walk and a single.

Caleb Durbin

0-4 today, 0-7 so far as a Red Sox. The Sox need him to chip away and get on base in his typical small-ball ways. He killed a rally in the seventh after being called out on strikes.

Offense

Despite Abreu’s fireworks, the Sox had trouble getting themselves going in big moments and had 15 K’s on the day. Way too many.

Error #2 on the Season

It’s early but this also feels like too many.

Home Plate Umpire CB Bucknor

He rang up Story on a so-called check swing with the pitch in the dirt. What was egregious was not consulting another umpire.

Play of the Game

The glass-half-full part of me says it was Wilyer Abreu’s no-doubter with two outs in the ninth to tie the game. It was outstanding, but I think the reality is that the play of the game was Story’s at-bat that was unfairly cut short by mistaken umpiring.

The first shake-up of the season for the line-up, with Gabriel Moreno and Jordan Lawlar each sitting this one out, replaced by James McCann and Jorge Barrosa respectively. Maybe we can become the first NL West team apart from the Dodgers to win a game? The Rockies already lost their second game, joining us, the Padres and Giants, who all came into play at 0-2. The Giants have run their scoreless streak to open the season to 20 innings against the Yankees at time of writing, while the Padres are trying to avoid being swept by the Tigers. Hopefully, this is Detroit getting it all out of the way early, since they will be joining the D-backs in flying to Arizona tonight…

Tonight is Eduardo Rodriguez’s first start in 2025, and we’ll be hoping for an improved version of E-Rod for 2026. He comes in having made 39 starts for Arizona, with an ERA just over five (5.02). That’s an ERA+ of 85. Among those with more than twenty starts for the Diamondbacks, that puts him right in between Rodrigo Lopez and Barry Enright. It is also two points better than Brandon Pfaadt’s career figure, though the latter is not earning twenty-one million dollars this year. If Rodriguez can become the first Arizona starter to make it through five innings this year, that might be a good sign. Otherwise, we may be looking at a Joe Ross sighting.

Detroit Tigers vs. San Diego Padres

Time/Place: 8:40 p.m., Petco Park
SB Nation Site: Gaslamp Ball
Media: Detroit Sportsnet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network
Pitching Matchup: RHP Jack Flaherty (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. RHP Randy Vásquez (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

* Note: Stats in the table below are Fangraphs’ 2026 projections

Player	G	IP	K%	BB%	ERA	FIP	fWAR
Flaherty	29	160.0	25.7	8.4	4.03	3.89	2.5
Vásquez	36	137.0	15.8	8.3	4.80	4.94	0.7

The Iowa Cubs were broadsided by the Columbus Clippers (Guardians), 4-3.

Iowa scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning and then didn’t score again. First, left fielder Justin Dean walked to lead off the bottom of the inning. He then stole second, went to third on a bad throw and scored on a fielder’s choice by first baseman Jonathon Long.

Two batters later, right fielder Kevin Alcántara did this.

First homer of the year for The Jaguar! pic.twitter.com/yRHr5j1wdh

— Iowa Cubs (@IowaCubs) March 28, 2026

The two-run home run went 393 feet and came on a slider from a right-hander that drifted outside the zone.

The I-Cubs got a good 3.1 innings from starter Will Sanders. Sanders gave up one run on a solo home run by Petey Halpin but nothing else. The final line on Sanders was one run on five hits over 3.1 innings. He struck out six and walked just one.

Luke Little relieved Sanders. He did not allow a run or a hit over 1.1 innings. He did walk two while striking out one.

Meanwhile, Iowa only had three hits after the first inning. One of them was this double by center fielder Brett Bateman.

Double in the gap for Bateman! pic.twitter.com/jj4piEPd3M

— Iowa Cubs (@IowaCubs) March 28, 2026

Columbus got one run in each of the seventh, eighth and ninth innings to lose the game. Ethan Roberts gave up a run in the seventh and Yacksel Rios allowed a run in the eighth and ninth to blow the save and take the loss. The final line on Rios was two runs on four hits and three walks over two innings. He struck out one.

Alcántara was 1 for 4 with the two-run home run. Bateman was 1 for 3 with a double and a steal.