Category: Baseball

Good morning. With the Super Bowl finished, you all know what that means. It’s baseball season!

• And the first games that will matter this year will be the World Baseball Classic which starts on March 4. Gabe Lacques ranks the top ten teams in the tournament.
• Mike Axisa has some takeaways from the rosters.
• Jake Mintz and Jordan Schusterman have their thoughts on the WBC rosters.
• Johnny Flores offers his thoughts on the Team USA roster. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Ben Lindberg writes that Team USA finally has a superteam.
• Jen Vestuto previews Team Brazil, who is returning to the WBC for the first time since 2013.
• Moving on to Spring Training, MLB dot com has the top storyline for each team heading into the Cactus and Grapefruit Leagues.
• The MLB Pipeline crew list one top prospect for each team who is fighting for an Opening Day roster spot.
• David Schoenfield proposes some possible trades that would shake up Spring Training.
• MLB dot com lists the projected top players who switched teams this past winter.
• Brian Murphy has the top projected rookies for this upcoming season.
• Will Leitch has seven “hopeful” predictions for 2026.
• Three potential World Series matchups that may not be as crazy as they sound.
• Jake Mintz hands out Hot Stove grades to every NL East team.
• Andrew Simon explains what needs to go right for the Red Sox to win the AL East.
• Ken Rosenthal argues that the Tigers and MLB picked an unnecessary (and losing) fight with two-time Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal in arbitration. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• First baseman Paul Goldschmidt is returning to the Yankees on a one-year deal.
• The Mets have signed outfielder MJ Melendez to a one-year, major-league deal.
• Andrew Simon asks when will Phillies shortstop Trea Turner become the active career stolen-base leader?
• Longtime Blue Jays broadcaster Buck Martinez has announced his retirement.
• NBC made it official. Joey Votto, Anthony Rizzo and Clayton Kershaw will serve as their pregame analysts for their broadcasts this year.
• Former MLB outfielder Yasiel Puig has been found guilty of obstruction of justice and lying to federal officials in connection to a gambling probe.
• Andy McCullough pays tribute to Terrance Gore, (The Athletic free reg. req.) who died way too young at 34 on Saturday.
• And finally, Brian Murphy checks in with Bill Greason, who, with the death of Ron “Schoolboy” Teasley last week, became the last living member of the Negro Leagues during their major league era. Greason is also the oldest living MLB player, as he pitched three games for the Cardinals in 1954.

Good morning, baseball fans!

As we approach Spring Training and the beginning of the season, we’re going to be doing some questions for y’all about your thoughts about the San Francisco Giants and baseball in general!

Today’s question: Which offseason decision makes you nervous?

For me, it has to be the hiring of Tony Vitello. And I don’t say that with any negative connotations about his past experience, or the likelihood of his success with the team. I’m actually quite excited to see how well he does. He’s just….new. Both to the organization and to MLB. And that’s enough to make ya’ nervous.

I will say the organization has done a tremendous job of pre-emptively creating a support system for him. He’s going to have a lot of legends around to provide advice and counsel and that’s invaluable. So I think he’s in good hands on that front.

But any time there’s a new manager, it’s always going to leave me feeling at least a little nervous. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. That kind of nervousness can also tie with anticipation, curiosity, excitement. All of which are similar feelings that I have going into this season because of Vitello’s signing.

Which offseason decision makes you nervous?

Difficult decisions are the cost of doing business for a high-level contender, and once in a while, you may be forced to move on from a player you don’t necessarily wish to; such is the case with Anthony Banda and the Dodgers. After agreeing to a deal to avoid arbitration with the left-hander, the reigning back-to-back champs found themselves in need of a roster space, to which the solution was designating Banda for assignment, allowing for any of the other 29 MLB clubs to pick him up — the Yankees should contemplate doing so.

2025 Statistics: 71 games, 65 IP, 3.18 ERA (131 ERA+), 4.52 FIP, 4.77 xFIP, 22.8% K%, 12.7% BB%, 1.22 WHIP, 0.1 fWAR

2026 FanGraphs Depths Charts Projections: 26 games, 26 IP, 4.39 ERA, 4.38 FIP, 22.2% K%, 10.1% BB%, 1.38 WHIP, 0.0 fWAR

Before assessing the merits of Banda’s addition, his availability is, if unexpected, somewhat natural given the other lefty options the Dodgers bullpen has available: particularly Jack Dreyer, who represents a higher-upside alternative and still carries minor league options. Amidst the flurry of injuries, shortcomings, and unique circumstances surrounding the Dodgers’ bullpen last postseason, Banda found himself being one of the more utilized relievers by Los Angeles, acquiring a type of experience in key spots that’s difficult to find. Before imploding in the World Series, Banda secured some important outs for the Dodgers on their path to win the NL pennant.

The concerns for Banda ahead of 2026 are rather obvious, for as much as the Dodgers were able to extract the best out of him after bouncing around in the bigs, it didn’t come without its warning signs. Although the zone rate remained the same, Banda saw batters drastically decrease their chase rate against him, ultimately leading to an unsustainably poor 12.7 percent walk rate.

What allowed Banda to be reasonably effective was the combination of an uncanny ability to strand runners and limit batting average on balls in play, two skills that under regular circumstances are likely to regress in 2026. The flip side of it is that we’re looking at a left-hander who has pitched over 100 innings with a 3.14 ERA since joining the Dodgers, clearly able to produce consistently at a solid enough level.

The Yankees currently have two lefties in the bullpen in Tim Hill and Ryan Yarbrough, and while Banda’s acquisition wouldn’t fix the lack of a strikeout specialist, his splits make him an outstanding left-on-left option: left-handed hitters had a .255 SLG against Banda in 2025 and a .496 OPS. Noting Ryan Yarbrough is going to serve a long-relief role, to which his handedness isn’t a primary factor, it’d hardly be considered overkill to add one more established southpaw, particularly to a bullpen that has a nice core but could always use a bit more depth.

Arbitration eligible for the second time, this offseason, Banda, a journeyman reliever, will receive a little over one and a half million, far from a prohibitive figure to the Yankees. His availability on waivers is strictly due to a roster crunch, and if not the Yankees, someone most definitely will pick him up.

THIS IS A GUEST ROCKPILE BY HC WERNER

While a great many things need to go wrong for a starting pitching staff to rock a historically bad 6.65 ERA for the season, an outsized reason for the 2025 Rockies’ starting pitching woes was their over-reliance on bad four-seam fastballs. 

How bad was bad?

Fangraphs has a stat, wFB, which is used to measure how effective fastballs are against hitters. A positive number indicates how many runs above average were prevented, while a negative number demonstrates how many more runs than average were allowed by fastballs. The League average is zero. 

Here are the starting staffs with the worst four-seam fastballs in baseball last year:

These numbers mean that, over the course of a full 162-game season, Rockies starters gave up almost a full run more than average every game from just their four-seam fastballs alone.

This is especially wild when you consider the rotation pitched the second fewest innings in baseball, averaging a just over 4.2 innings per start.

Fastballs from Rockies’ starters gave up more than three times more runs above average than the next worse teams.

Too much of a bad thing

The league-wide numbers from 2025 show that the average MLB starter threw a four-seam fastball 47.5% of the time. Colorado starters snuck into the top 10 for usage, hurling four-seamers just over half the time (50.1%). 

Not only did Rockies starters have truly gag-inducing results with their four-seam fastballs, they threw them more than league average!

Opposing batters could simply hunt for a heater, and they’d get it more than half of the time. Given the continued reliance on traditional fastball usage in the face of such poor results, it makes sense that league executives described the Rockies’ analytical approach as “in the Stone Ages” and “literally 20 years behind the rest of the league in terms of analytics, infrastructure, everything.” 

While much can be said for the difficulties of pitching at elevation and how pitchers can adjust their fastballs at altitude to find better success, there’s a relatively easy and quick fix for the 2026 starting staff to embrace: Stop throwing the damn four-seamers (as much).

A new direction

Luckily, new pitching coach Alon Leichman, coming over from the Miami Marlins, has some experience with diversifying pitch mixes. Marlins starters, with their relatively scant 40.1% four-seam usage, threw the second fewest four-seamers in the league. Additionally in 2025 the Marlins organization began tinkering with using analytics to call pitches from the dugout in both the minor leagues and the majors. If Leichman were willing to embrace analytics to such an extent that he’d break with over a century of tradition and call pitches from the dugout, surely he’d use data to better optimize the Rockies’ pitch mix in 2026. 

Additionally, neither wFB or wFB/C are predictive stats: They describe what happened, but they don’t project how effective a fastball might be in the coming season. The Rockies are not necessarily fated to have the worst fastball in the league for the second year in a row, especially if they throw more offspeed pitches to keep opposing batters honest.

Conclusion

With the hiring of Alon Leichman specifically (and the new, Paul DePodesta-led front office hires more generally), the Rockies finally seem to be joining the analytics revolution. We don’t know if Leichman will bring the dugout pitch-calling to the Rockies (he hinted it was possible at Rockies Fest last month), nor if they’ll embrace the so-called “Year of the Pitch Mix” (although the signing of Michael Lorenzen seems promising in this regard), nor if they can help Chase Dollander limit the longball (72% of his homers were off of his flaming four-seamer). 

What we do know is that Leichman and the Rockies new front office will use and embrace pitching analytics in ways we’ve never seen with the club. We can only hope that means fewer four-seamers.  

What do you think? Will the new direction for the staff allow Rockies starters to right the ship, or will the pain of a 6.00+ ERA continue for another season?

Let us know in the comments below!

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Colorado Rockies News

Rockies Sign Conner Capel To Minor League Contract | MLB Trade Rumors

The Rockies’ outfield depth just got deeper with the signing of Conner Capel. Given his .234/.314/.360 line last year with the Atlanta Braves’ AAA affiliate and the apparent lack of a Spring Training invite, Capel seems to be minor league depth for the organization, which already has a glut of outfielders vying for playing time at the big league level.

Rockies’ ‘funky, wacky’ starting pitching experiment begins at spring training | The Denver Post ($)

Patrick Saunders talked with Rockies’ pitchers and pitching coaches about the new ideas floating around this year’s Spring Training. While there’s a big emphasis on expanding pitch arsenals and pounding the strike zone, the general philosophy seems to be experimenting and seeing what sticks. The titular quote comes from team veteran and Denver native Kyle Freeland, who says it’s “extremely refreshing” to see these sorts of “funky, wacky ideas… thrown around in these conversations from the pitching side.”

Rockies Free Agent Options Dwindling as Spring Training Approaches | Sports Illustrated

With the departures of both Michael Toglia and Warming Bernabel earlier in the offseason, it seemed like the team might be in the market for a veteran first baseman. Scott Roche over at Sports Illustrated makes a case for signing Nathaniel Lowe, who split time with Boston and Washington last year. I myself think the club would be better served letting Blaine Crim, Troy Johnston, T.J. Rumfield, and Edouard Julien battle it out in camp. 

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Anne Rogers writes about the tragic death of former Royals outfielder Terrance Gore at the age of 34.

“The fans were almost waiting for him and [Jarrod Dyson] whenever someone got on,” Royals president of baseball operations and general manager J.J. Picollo said. “You could just feel the energy in the stadium go up a level because of that. They came into the game, and everybody in the ballpark knew exactly what was about to happen, and nobody could stop them. It was like if the Royals got on base, we were really on second base because of them. It was such a weapon for us. It would energize the team, it would energize the fans. It was pretty cool.”

“There’s stealing a base,” Hosmer added, “and then there’s stealing a base when everyone knows you’re trying to steal the base.”

Vahe Gregorian reflects on the life of Gore

If he ever got thrown out, he said that day, it wasn’t because somebody bested him.

“I got myself out. You didn’t get me out,” he said, smiling and adding that the only way he could get erased was if he got a bad jump, fell or “might drop my glove, might want to pick it up.”

He’ll always be treasured here for all that helped lead to, of course.

Craig Brown remembers his game-changing speed.

I wrote earlier that he was the ultimate disruptor. I just don’t know if I can adequately describe what that meant. When Gore came into the game as a pinch runner, it was usually in a key situation where his run meant something. His speed and the threat he created meant the opposing pitcher and catcher were immediately knocked off their game. Balks. Wild pitches. Errors. Any mistake was in play just by his presence. It was just kind of hopeless for the opposition because, as Gore would say, if they got him out it was because he made a mistake. Not because they were good enough to catch him. They weren’t. Nobody was.

Darin Watson at UL’s Toothpick remembers the impact Gore made.

Pete Grathoff collects reactions from teammates on Gore’s death.

Jaylon Thompson writes about the outfield situation going into camp.

The Royals haven’t shut the door on adding more players this spring. They are content with their roster at the current moment but will continue to monitor both the free-agent and trade markets.

“You know, just because we are going into spring training doesn’t mean we don’t have the ability to make our team better up until the trade deadline,” Picollo said. “Once the trade deadline comes, that’s when you’re locked in. That’s what you got for the rest of the year. But, between now and then, you know, we might be in a sit-and-read situation. What do we need to do and how can we capitalize?”

MLB Pipeline comes up with one prospect from each team that could make the Opening Day roster.

Royals: Luinder Avila, RHP
The 24-year-old right-hander came up to the Majors for 13 relief appearances last year and thrived in that role with a 1.29 ERA, a 0.93 WHIP and 16 strikeouts in 14 innings. His primary weapon was an 82-85 mph curveball that generated whiffs on 50 percent of his swings, but his mid-90s fastballs (a four-seamer and a sinker) and the occasional 86-88 mph changeup gave hitters more to consider. The Royals see Avila as a potential starter, but with the rotation a bit too crowded right now, it’ll be interesting to see if they try putting him back in the bullpen to begin the year back in the bigs.

MLB.com writers come up with some possible World Series matchups that aren’t as unlikely as they seem, like Royals vs. Giants.

The Mets sign former Royals outfielder MJ Melendez to a one-year, $1.5 million deal.

Paul Goldschmidt is close to a one-year contract with the Yankees.

The A’s hire Mark McGwire as a special assistant.

The Rangers could use a fifth starter.

How will the Yankees’ rotation fare in 2026?

What’s next for Tarik Skubal after his landmark arbitration win?

Six takeaways following the reveal of World Baseball Classic rosters.

Four starting pitchers who could be a bargain in free agency.

If you want MLB.tv this year, you may need to jump through ESPN’s hoops.

NBC hires Clayton Kershaw, Joey Votto, and Anthony Rizzo as analysts.

The Jalisco Charros win their first Caribbean Series title by beating the Culiacan Tomateros

Ranking all 50 quarterback performances of the 21st century.

Skier Lindsay Vonn has surgery on a broken leg after crashing at the Olympics.

How did the luge become a thing?

Super Bowl hangovers and absences could cost the economy $5 billion.

The best Super Bowl ads of 2026.

Your song of the day is Paul Simon with Loves Me Like a Rock.

As was written just yesterday, the White Sox may not have a seat at the adults’ table when it comes to offseason trades or signings, but GM Chris Getz has been active. The coaching staff was revamped and front office bolstered. And the discount shopping and bottom-feeding that have become trademarks of 2020s Jerry Reinsdorf clubs has continued.

That said, the White Sox made moves in preparation for 2026. The signing of Munetaka Murakami to a “Benintendi” deal was shocking and surprising, and for once in a good way, not bad. A couple of maybe-starters, Anthony Kay and Sean Newcomb, have been brought in. Austin Hays supposedly shores up the outfield, along with another couple of guys (Luisangel Acuña and Everson Pereira) who could be legit starters … or Charlotte regulars.

And there have been subtractions as well, most notably the trade of Luis Robert Jr. to the Mets. The coaching staff, including vaunted pitching coach Ethan Katz, got pink-slipped.

What about this offseason’s moves gives you the most flop sweat for 2026?

This post is part of a series of daily questions that we’ll ask the community here at Amazin’ Avenue throughout the month of February. We hope you find the questions engaging and that our prompts can spark some fun conversations in the comments. We’ll see you there and plan to have staff chiming in, too.

Which pitcher will lead the Mets in strikeouts in 2026?

Phillies camp opens with key questions still unanswered originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Let’s turn the page. Super Bowl Sunday has come and gone and we’re under 48 hours from pitchers and catchers reporting to Clearwater.

The Phillies have answered most regular-season questions the past two years. Their underwhelming performances in October, though, are the reason the spotlight is brighter heading into camp.

How soon can Wheeler affect the rotation?

The Phillies’ rotation hasn’t been a concern in what feels like years, but the uncertainty around this staff starts with Zack Wheeler’s health. The 35-year-old has begun throwing from 90 feet and is on track within his recovery timeline, but there’s still no real feel for when exactly he’ll toe the slab in 2026.

Manager Rob Thomson told NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Spencer McKercher that Wheeler will be eager to push to get on the mound as soon as possible because he wants to achieve his goals this season. If Wheeler is able to return after just the first month of the season, it will be interesting to see whether the Phillies dig into their organization for starting pitching depth or look to sign a one-year flier such as Walker Buehler.

Two seasons ago, on Super Bowl Sunday, they signed right-handed starter Spencer Turnbull to a one-year, $2 million deal, which proved crucial when Taijuan Walker was shut down with a shoulder injury in late March. Wheeler’s timeline could dictate whether Dave Dombrowski stands pat or not.

Can Crawford handle center field defense right away?

We know he has the speed, but playing big-league center field could prove to be a challenge for the 22-year-old rookie. Over the past three seasons, the Phillies have gotten strong production defensively from their center fielders. Since 2023, they rank seventh in the Majors in defensive runs saved (18), ninth in defensive runs above average with a positional adjustment (22.1) and 10th in outs above average (28).

Advanced metrics aren’t as accessible in the Minors, so drawing a firm evaluation on Justin Crawford is tricky. He’s been praised for his instincts and athleticism, traits that strong defensive center fielders tend to carry. The Phillies are putting a lot of trust in Crawford to take over the position, and he’d be one of the youngest players to start there on Opening Day in years. If he were to struggle, the Phillies could turn to Brandon Marsh or Johan Rojas, but that’s far from what the club prefers.

Who hits cleanup and provides pop?

Lineup protection for Bryce Harper was a major offseason talking point, and so was right-handed pop. The club responded by bringing in free-agent outfielder Adolis García on a one-year deal.

The four-hole for the Phillies in 2025 was underwhelming. Cleanup hitters ranked 20th in the Majors in both slugging (.408) and OPS (.720). It was their first season since 2022 where the spot did not drive in 100 runs. Nick Castellanos carried a bulk of those plate appearances and slugged just five homers in 214 plate appearances, posting a .651 OPS.

The Phillies are hopeful García can return to his 2022-23 form in Texas, when he was one of the game’s most feared power hitters, and slide into that cleanup spot. A cold spring could push the Phillies to hit Kyle Schwarber fourth, who registered a .955 OPS there in 2025. Pop in the heart of the order could really help the club stay among the best teams in baseball.

Can the Phillies stabilize the bridge to the ninth?

One of the unsung struggles of the 2025 club was middle relief and the bridge to the ninth inning. When the Phillies acquired Jhoan Duran at the deadline, it masked that hole. From innings six through eight last season, Phillies relievers posted a 4.50 ERA, the seventh-highest in baseball, and allowed the fourth-highest opponent slugging (.425).

Signing Brad Keller this offseason should help. He’s a versatile reliever — and a former starter — who can get more than three outs in an outing when needed. Thomson will be able to play matchups with his pair of lefties in Tanner Banks and José Alvarado, plus righty Orion Kerkering, but after a number of 40-man adds to the bullpen, how the group rounds out remains to be seen.

Jonathan Bowlan, Zach McCambley, Zach Pop and Kyle Backhus will be in the mix, and what they look like over a full camp will matter.

Is Painter’s command big-league ready?

The repertoire is there for Andrew Painter. So is the frame at 6-foot-7, 215 pounds. But strike-throwing is a fair concern entering the season. Getting ahead of hitters will be one of the first things to watch because Painter posted an abysmal 48.8 first-pitch strike rate in 2025.

To give the Phillies’ top pitching prospect the benefit of the doubt, he had not thrown a pitch in a Minor League game in two years because of Tommy John surgery, and the Triple-A baseball is physically different than a big-league ball because of its laces, making it more challenging to locate pitches.

Painter’s secondary pitches — most notably his curveball — will help tell the story of whether he can get big-league outs, but fastball command is what opens the door for everything else. With Wheeler’s health uncertain and Ranger Suárez now with the Red Sox, the Phillies are hopeful Painter can become a fixture in the rotation.

How does the Castellanos situation resolve?

At this rate, it seems highly unlikely that the Phillies will find a trade partner for the 33-year-old. Two potential fits were Pittsburgh — which signed designated hitter Marcell Ozuna on Monday — and San Diego — which signed Miguel Andújar to fill that role last week.

A team like the Marlins could make sense, but with the Phillies holding zero leverage in any talks because of Castellanos’ $20 million contract this season, it’s more likely he’s designated for assignment, clears waivers and signs elsewhere.

He could still be a regular player, particularly as a designated hitter, in 2026. It would be surprising to see teams that missed out on middle-of-the-order right-handed bats pass on him at nearly league-minimum salary. One thing is certain: he won’t be in a Phillies uniform.

The Super Bowl is over. It’s almost time for baseball.

Pitchers and Catchers report this week in Arizona.

Jim Rosenhaus is interviewing the Guardians’ director of International Scouting.

It’s almost time to see who is in the best shape of their life *TM*.

Tom Pohlad wants you to believe the Twins will be able to contend in this division despite not giving the front office the resources to do so. They have a lot of talent and untapped potential, and maybe a new coaching staff can do a better job of helping them reach their ceiling, but they’re also running a payroll below Metrodome levels when adjusting for inflation and league spending.

FanGraphs projects the Twins to go roughly 80-82 with a 16% chance to win the division and 32% chance to make the playoffs. That feels optimistic relative to how 2025 finished, but it’s important to remember that the Twins were missing Pablo Lopez, Byron Buxton, Bailey Ober, Zebby Matthews, David Festa, and Ryan Jeffers for most of that stretch.

The Twins also still managed to take regular leads into the late innings and lost them thanks to Justin Topa and Cole Sands getting overworked and overtaxed. They were the third-worst bullpen in baseball by WPA after the trade deadline, but will naturally see that improved due to sheer bullpen luck and some combination of Connor Prielipp, David Festa, Marco Raya, Mick Abel, and Kendry Rojas giving a boost in pure stuff, if nothing else.

Their main competition will be the Tigers, led by back-to-back Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal and new acquisition Framber Valdez. The Royals made some additions on the margins but are currently slated to start a 22-year-old rookie catcher at DH. The Guardians, meanwhile, are always a threat due to the black magic and satanic sacrifices they make to start each season. Their most recent sacrifice to the baseball devil was three-time All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase, who reportedly fixed pitches in 48 (!!) separate games in the past two seasons.

That being said, the Twins’ starting pitching is probably the single best position group in the division. The Tigers are giving them a run for their money, but there are still a lot of question marks and health uncertainty behind their two stars. Minnesota’s rotation goes legitimately 12-deep with MLB-caliber starters. Even if several move to the bullpen, they have the prospects to withstand a slew of injuries at any point in the season.

They’ll need better health luck from players who haven’t had it in the past (Lewis, Keaschall, Wallner) and major steps forward from some young hitters (Lee, Roden, top prospects Jenkins and Rodriguez), but that was essentially the formula that allowed the Tigers to compete last year and the Royals to do so in 2024. The Twins are flawed, but they’re also in unquestionably the worst division in MLB.

Do you believe Tom Pohlad that the Twins can compete right now? Does their have to be a major trade to do so, or would a few marginal upgrades in the bullpen be enough with internal development?

The NFL season was concluded last night with the Seattle Seahawks defeating the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX in a relative beatdown, as Seattle’s defense throttled Drake Maye’s offensive line and put him on the ground multiple times forcing some ugly turnovers late in the game. A couple of garbage-time drives made the score a little more respectable, but the Seahawks were in control pretty much the whole way through.

In the old format of Today on PSA, we often included a secondary question on NFL events during the long offseason, checking in after each round of the playoffs to see who were the favorites and what you all thought of particularly flashy games. But with football officially giving way to the start of baseball season, I figured it was a good time for a more lighthearted opener to the day and give a nod to the NFL one last time until the World Series passes the baton back to them and discuss the league through a Yankees-centric lens. So, with that in mind, what NFL team would this current Yankees team appear most similar to?

If we were talking long-term, there’s an argument to be made about those Patriots that just struck out in the title game. New England is seen as the Evil Empire of the NFL, the bad guys that lorded over an entire generation of the game, one of the winningest franchises in the sport, all things that lead to a similar background as the Yankees. On top of that, they underwent a changing of the guard with Tom Brady leaving the team and missed out on the playoffs for a few years, before finding their new captain in Maye and making a surprising charge to the Bowl. It wouldn’t be a far stretch to compare that to what the Yankees did in passing the torch from the Core Four days to the Aaron Judge-led Baby Bombers with the 2013-16 teams trudging through the valley before their 2017 team nearly upset the favored Astros.

If we’re keeping that mindset, the San Francisco 49ers may fit the bill even better. The 49ers boast a legacy of winning from decades past with Joe Montana and Steve Young, and their modern era of teams have been highly competitive but not good enough to win it all. Jimmy Garoppolo and Brock Purdy aren’t quite as flashy a name as Judge is, but their rosters have been star-studded and picked to go deep often, just to come up short to those pesky Chiefs much like the Dodgers stood in the way of the Yankees in 2024. A rival in their division overtook them in the most recent season — for the 49ers, the Seahawks, for the Yankees the Blue Jays — and went to the title game right after demolishing them in the playoffs. That’s pretty uncanny.

If you wanted to look purely at the short-term though, perhaps a team like the Bengals fits their mold best. They have a dynamic superstar in Joe Burrow who led Cincinnati to one Super Bowl appearance, just to lose and then lose out on future opportunities due to injury. Injuries have cost these Yankees significantly over the years, with staff ace Gerrit Cole sitting out last year when he could have tilted the scales back against the Jays, and the 2023 season ended up being lost in no small part to the Yankees missing Judge for the summer thanks to one unpadded section of Dodger Stadium’s walls. On top of that, the Bengals’ head coach Zac Taylor faces an enormous amount of scrutiny for his decision-making, and there’s no denying that Aaron Boone has had his head-scratchers over the years. It’s an element that’s missing in our previous two contenders at the very least, as both Mike Vrabel and Kyle Shanahan respectively are considered two of the best coaches in the league.

Would you say these Yankees mirror the post-dynasty Pats, the legacy-haunted 49ers, or the injury-plagued Bengals? Perhaps a different team completely?

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Today on the site, we start off with Estevão considering the fit Anthony Banda could have in the bullpen after he was put on waivers by the Dodgers. Andrew then gives Clete Boyer some shine on his birthday praising his elite defense at the hot corner for the early 1960s Yankees, Andrés previews Jazz Chisholm Jr. ahead of his walk year, and Matt goes back to the signing of fan favorite Masahiro Tanaka as our free agent series’ next feature.

We are officially done with the 2025 NFL season, and congratulations to the Seattle Seahawks for winning Super Bowl LX.

Now, we are into another new era of Arizona Cardinals football, and hopefully we will be talking about the Cardinals in a similar situation as the Seahawks in a couple of years.

It’ll start with free agency in 2026, and we first need to decide who the Arizona Cardinals need to bring back or who they can watch move on.

Let’s take a look.

Cardinals pending free agents 2026

• Jonah Williams
• Jalen Thompson
• Calais Campbell
• Kelvin Beachum
• Greg Dortch
• L.J. Collier
• Zay Jones
• Will Hernandez
• Blake Gillikin
• Aaron Brewer
• Pharaoh Brown
• Matt Haack
• Simi Fehoko
• Josiah Deguara
• Michael Carter
• Darren Hall
• Channing Tindall
• J.J. Russell
• Travis Vokolek
• Zonovan Knight
• Chad Ryland
• Joshua Karty
• P.J. Mustipher
• Starling Thomas V
• Emari Demercado

There are some names on this list that it feels like should be priorities to be brought back, but I am interested to see what Arizona Cardinals fans think and who they would view as priorities.

You can't tell the baseball players without a program ... and you can't find spring training camps without a map.

Of course, you probably could do both just fine on your own, but why make things difficult?

The 30 Major League Baseball teams' spring headquarters are split evenly between Florida and Arizona. The 15 clubs in the Grapefruit League are more spread out than those in the Cactus League, making trips between the different parks a bit longer drive, on average.

Still, baseball fans who want to hit the road and watch their favorite teams at spring training have any number of options.

Florida spring training map, Grapefruit League sites

• Atlanta Braves – North Port
• Baltimore Orioles – Sarasota
• Boston Red Sox – Fort Myers
• Detroit Tigers – Lakeland
• Houston Astros – West Palm Beach
• Miami Marlins – Jupiter
• Minnesota Twins – Fort Myers
• New York Mets – Port St. Lucie
• New York Yankees – Tampa
• Philadelphia Phillies – Clearwater
• Pittsburgh Pirates – Bradenton
• St. Louis Cardinals – Jupiter
• Tampa Bay Rays – Port Charlotte
• Toronto Blue Jays – Dunedin
• Washington Nationals – West Palm Beach

2026 REPORT DATES:When pitchers, catchers and full squads are due in camp

Arizona spring training map, Cactus League sites

• Arizona Diamondbacks – Scottsdale
• Athletics – Mesa
• Chicago Cubs – Mesa
• Chicago White Sox – Glendale
• Cincinnati Reds – Goodyear
• Cleveland Guardians – Goodyear
• Colorado Rockies – Scottsdale
• Kansas City Royals – Surprise
• Los Angeles Angels – Tempe
• Los Angeles Dodgers – Glendale
• Milwaukee Brewers – Phoenix
• San Diego Padres – Peoria
• San Francisco Giants – Scottsdale
• Seattle Mariners – Peoria
• Texas Rangers – Surprise

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Spring training maps: Where MLB teams have camps in Florida, Arizona

The 2025-2026 Winter Leagues were played from November through January in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico and Venezuela. Each country had playoffs to determine the championship for their league and those teams advanced to contend for the Caribbean Series.

Venezuela was to play host to the series but it was moved to Mexico due to concerns regarding political issues and player safety. As a result, Venezuela removed their team from the series and the host country had two teams in the tournament.

The Teams

Leones del Escogido, the Dominican champions, had multiple former Padres playing for the league championship. Catcher Martin Maldonado, outfielder Franchy Cordero, and infielder Eguy Rosario all played during their season. Cordero were the only players of the three in the series. RHP Francis Pena, a top prospect for the Padres and a player invited to major league camp, closed the championship game for Escogido. Albert Pujols was their manager.

Canorejeros de Santurce, the Puerto Rican representative, won their league by three games. They had some offensive struggles through the series and finished in third after being eliminated in the semi-finals.

Federales de Chiriqui, the Panama representative, featured former Padre Christian Bethancourt as their catcher. They went 0-4 through the tournament and finished last.

Mexico had two teams in the tournament, with Charros de Jalisco being the winners of the league and Tomateros de Culiacan coming in second and named as the replacement for Venezuela. Charros was Mexico Red and Tomateros was Mexico Green. Padres prospect Tirso Ornelas and his older brother, Julian, both played for Charros but Tirso Ornelas was not with the team for the championship or the series. His brother Julian, also an outfielder, was their No. 2 hitter and finished with a .308 average and .857 OPS.

Benji Gil, former World Series winning major leaguer, is the manager for Mexico Red and coached his own son Mateo Gil for the tournament. He will also be managing the Mexico WBC team next month.

The Mexico Green team featured former Padre Allan Cordoba in center field and newly signed Padre minor league player Luis Verdugo as their shortstop and sometime DH. Verdugo is the older brother of Padres prospect Rosman Verdugo, 20, who is an infielder in the system and played for Fort Wayne last season. Verdugo finished with a .381/.409/.476 line. Catcher Ali Solis played for the Padres in 2012 and is still catching for Mexico.

The Series

The Caribbean Series is a round-robin tournament with the teams with the best records advancing and featured the Dominican, Puerto Rican and both Mexico teams in the semi-finals on Friday. The Escogido team went in as the favorites, as defending champions and with multiple MLB prospects playing on the team. They started 3-0 and then lost two in a row, including the semifinal game against Mexico Green. The Mexico Red team defeated Puerto Rico in the other semifinal.

As a result, the two Mexico teams played in the championship game that went more than four hours and 10 innings before Mexico Red won on two wild pitches in the bottom of the 10th inning. The tournament was played in Jalisco, Mexico at over 5,000 feet of altitude so the whole series featured lots of hits and lots of runs.

The final ended 12-11 and featured a lot of tired pitchers struggling to land strikes. Former Padre Odrisamer Despaigne pitched for Mexico Green but also had difficulty getting strikes despite having done very well for six innings in his start four days earlier. He only got through 0.2 innings and allowed four earned runs.

During his time with Charros de Jalisco, Tirso Ornelas hit .236/.300/.292 in 21 games and 80 appearances with seven RBI. His inability to hit for power is what has primarily sidelined his attempt to break into the Padres 26-man roster and he had no home runs and four doubles for Mexico.

Many of these players will also be playing in the WBC and then there will be a Summer League that most of the players also participate in. It isn’t uncommon for many of these players to play almost year-round.

NY Daily News | Gary Phillips ($): Yankees pitchers and catchers officially report to spring training on Wednesday, bringing with them the end of the offseason at long last. It was a drawn-out winter as the Yankees mostly held serve and retained key parts of their roster, but the few new faces that were brought in could be interesting to watch. Ryan Weathers will get a shot out of the rotation right away with half of the regular roster still nursing injuries, and the health of said rotation will be monitored closely as something always comes up, and they cannot afford any big blows to come early in the process.

NY Post | Greg Joyce: Ben Rice is one of the Yankees’ more versatile defensive pieces, being able to catch as well as man first base, but up until a few days ago the tools of ignorance were going to be used in emergency situations at most. Now that Paul Goldschmidt is back in the fold as a platoon bat at first, however, manager Aaron Boone sees Rice getting a bit more play behind the plate as he can fill in for Austin Wells against left-handed pitchers. The plan is still for Rice to get plenty of time against lefties this season, as the team is hopeful that their promising young star will get a full breakout this season.

FanGraphs | David Laurila: Yankees broadcaster David Cone sat down for an interview last season where he had to guess which player he had the most appearances against, who he struck out the most, who hit the most bombs on him, etc., and then give his thoughts on the actual answers. Cone had a fairly good memory, coming close on a few categories, and his anecdotes were a neat look into the playing days of a fan favorite.