Category: Baseball

While the Nationals are 11-6 in Grapefruit League play, the offense has been mostly quiet. The boys will look to change that today in a showdown against the Cardinals. This lineup is pretty close to what I expect the Opening Day lineup to be, so I am excited to see the big guns in action.

The Nats have been trying players at different positions throughout the spring, and today is no different. Dylan Crews is out in left field, a position he has never played at the big league level. Luis Garcia Jr. will get more work at first base, while Daylen Lile DH’s this afternoon. Miles Mikolas will be starting against his old club this afternoon.

The Cardinals are also rolling out a pretty strong lineup. Masyn Winn, JJ Wetherholt, Alec Burleson and Nolan Gorman all feature. Wetherholt is one of the top prospects in the game and looks like he will win a big league job out of camp. He has performed very well this spring. Hard throwing Richard Fitts will be on the mound for the Cardinals. They acquired him from the Red Sox this offseason in the Sonny Gray deal.

Game Info:

Stadium: Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium

Time: 1:05 PM EST

TV: N/A

Radio: 106.7 The Fan

The Nats have dropped their last two games, so they will look to get back on track this afternoon. Hopefully Miles Mikolas can perform well in this revenge game of sorts. I also want to see more life from the offense. Follow along in the comments down below and let’s go Nats!

Is it on TV?

Yes, first pitch at 1:05 PM on NESN.

What’s the lineup?

What should we watch for?

It’s always fun to watch Garrett Crochet, especially as we near the start of the regular season and the pitchers begin to really ramp up. But today will be all about the return of Jarren Duran. Keep an eye on him to see if his scorching hot WBC form can continue.

Opening Day for the Cincinnati Reds is just 11 days away, yet the current number of players they have in camp right now still far exceeds the 26 they’ll carry on their Opening Day roster. That means we’re in for some pretty aggressive rounds of cuts in the coming days, and those began in earnest this weekend.

On Sunday morning, the Reds officially reassigned veteran righty Tejay Antone to minor league camp, as MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon relayed on Bluesky.

Antone, now 32, has thrown just 7.2 IP at the big league level since the start of the 2023 season, and that’s on the heels of missing all of the 2022 season, too. He missed all of 2025 as he recovered from his third Tommy John surgery, yet was in camp this year legitimately competing for a spot in the team’s bullpen.

His velocity hasn’t yet recovered to the 97.1 mph average he sported during his breakout 2021 season, but he did reportedly touch 95 mph while in camp this spring (and his breaking stuff has show considerable life, too). In other words, this seems like as much of an administrative decision as anything as he was in camp as a non-roster invitee who’s not currently on the 40-man roster.

They did reassign him to AAA after all, not release him. That seems to me that they plan on giving him some time and reps at that level to further work his way back to being as close to 100% as possible with an eye on him potentially providing bullpen depth at the highest level at some point later in the season.

This all comes a day after the Reds made a similar call with reliever Lyon Richardson, who was also in camp as a non-roster invitee after clearing waivers earlier in the offseason. He’s another depth arm who, when right, has stuff that’s plenty capable of getting big league hitters out, but a guy on whom the Reds won’t lean until something else goes wrong in front of him.

In a very similar move, Yunior Marte was reassigned to minor league camp on Friday.

The field was halved Friday in the WBC, and once again Saturday, with a pair of impressive games and historic milestones for national baseball in Italy and Venezuela.

Yesterday’s matchups and how the Mariners performed:

Italy 8, Puerto Rico 6

The caffeinated fairy tale continues. Facing the ace of Team Puerto Rico in Royals starter Seth Lugo, Italy bounced back from a leadoff homer by PR star Willi Castro to stake a 4-1 lead after the first. While a bases-loaded HBP cut the score to 4-2 in the 2nd and ensured neither club’s starter recorded more than four outs, Italy’s lead swelled to a seemingly-insurmountable 8-2 in the 4th despite one of the more egregious fan interferences you’re likely to see. The threadbare Puerto Rican roster fought back ferociously, but came up just short against Red Sox reliever Jacob Weissert, who encored his shutdown performance in Italy’s upset of Team USA to cover the final 1.2 frames and send home the plucky Puerto Ricans 8-6.

The lone Mariner to play was Dominic Canzone notching a 1-for-3 night with two walks, two runs. That said, former M’s abounded in this one, with Yacksel Rios and Edwin Diaz working 1.2 combined scoreless frames for PR. Dan Altavilla was sterling in his inning for Italy, but Matt Festa ran into trouble with his command and was instrumental to the comeback effort that the Italians managed to quash. It’s Italy’s first trip to the semifinals in the WBC, while for Puerto Rico an exit earlier than hoped, but more than worthy of pride given the absence of 3-4 of the island’s stars.

Venezuela 8, Japan 5

What. A. Game. Attended by yours truly, I’m pleased to inform you all that this heavyweight bout was just as good as it appeared. The reigning WBC champs put their ace, and World Series MVP, Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the hill against Venezuela’s best hope – new Red Sox southpaw Ranger Suarez. Neither starter shone, with Suarez run after 2.2 thanks to homers from Shohei Ohtani and injury-replacement Shota Morishita, while Yamamoto hung on for four frames but could not go deep due to dangerous innings from the Venezuelans.

The game was a star turn for the left side of Venezuela’s infield, which saw Rockies shortstop Ezequiel Tovar and Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia scorch the ball all night, sparking a comeback made possible by astounding work from the ostensible weakness of the Venezuela club: the pitching staff. Starting with Mariners reliever Eduard Bazardo, who staunched the bleeding for Suarez to conclude the third inning, not a single run crossed the plate in the potent Samurai Japan lineup. A collection of journeymen like Enmanuel De Jesus and Andres Machado, who’d last pitched in MLB in 2023, as well as bullpen arms of decent repute in Jose Butto and Angel Zerpa, afforded Wilyer Abreu the chance to blast the roof off loanDepot Park.

Former Mariner Yusei Kikuchi kept things tight, but Japan could not find the answer for Cubs closer Daniel Palencia, and the raucous Miami crowd got to welcome Venezuela to the semifinals – and a clinched spot alongside Italy, U.S.A., and the Dominican Republic in the Olympics for baseball in 2028.

Venezuela will face Italy on Monday, March 16th at 5 PM PT on FS1, to determine who will play the winner of tonight’s matchup.

Today’s Semifinal Matchup:

United States at Dominican Republic: 5 PM PT, FS1 – loanDepot Park, Miami, FL
Pitching probables: Paul Skenes for USA, Luis Severino for DR

I implore you. Watch this game. Give yourself a gift, as we all have been. Find a bar, or a friend, or a Fubo free trial. This is what this tournament is all about. What baseball is capable of. The most imposing lineup in the world for the Dominican Republic faces the most difficult pitcher to hit in the world in Paul Skenes.

Winner goes to the Championship Game, which will be held on March 17 at 5 PM PT on FOX.

Astros manager Joe Espada was happy with what he saw from SP Ryan Weiss, as well as Isaac Paredes play at 2B:

Yordan Alvarez hit his first HR of spring. He’s been heating up.

Ryan Weiss would prefer to be a starter. He’s certainly pitched well enough to earn a shot.

The Astros may not have fully decided on a 5 or 6 man rotation as yet:

While Hunter Brown, Tatsuya Imai and Mike Burrows have been the stars of spring, there are other Astros pitchers who are opening eyes as well:

Mets Lineup

1. Francisco Lindor – SS
2. Marcus Semien – 2B
3. Bo Bichette – 3B
4. Jorge Polanco – DH
5. Luis Robert – CF
6. Brett Baty – 1B
7. Francisco Alvarez – C
8. Mike Tauchman – RF
9. Tyrone Taylor – LF

Zach Thornton – LHP

Blue Jays Lineup

1. George Springer – DH
2. Daulton Varsho – CF
3. Davis Schneider – 2B
4. Addison Barger – 3B
5. Jesus Sanchez – RF
6. Nathan Lukes – LF
7. Leo Jimenez – SS
8. Brandon Valenzuela – C
9. Charles McAdoo – 1B

Grant Rogers – RHP

Broadcast info

First pitch: 1:10 PM EDT
TV: WPIX
Radio: Audacy Mets Radio WHSQ 880AM

First pitch against the Pittsburgh Pirates is at 1:05 at Charlotte Sports Park and the Rays will be providing radio coverage.

Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Tampa Bay Rays, March 15, 2026, 1:05 p.m. ET

Location: Charlotte Sports Park, Port Charlotte, FL

How to Listen: KDKA-FM 93.7

The Pittsburgh Pirates are on the road today against the Tampa Bay Rays looking to grab a win.

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BD community, this is your thread for today’s game. Enjoy!

There isn’t a lot for Blue Jays’ news this morning.

The team has announced that Kevin Gausman will be our opening day starter. So far he’s thrown 4.1 innings of ‘official spring’ ball so fair. He hasn’t allowed a run, with four hits, one walk and six strikeouts. Last year he had a 3.59 ERA in 32 starts.

Brendon Little has added a couple of pitches and dropped one from last year:

He’s looking to have a something else he can throw in the strikezone. It looks like he’ll be the number one lefty in the pen, so it’s good to see him looking to fix things up that weren’t working at the end of last season.

So far this spring, he’s thrown five innings, three hits, four walks and eight strikeouts with no runs against. we’ll see how things go.

The Jays play at 1:00 Eastern. Grant Rogers is starting. Since Berrios is suddenly out, we get a spring bullpen day. But the team is bringing a surprising number of regulars to St. Lucie County. Google maps says it is a 3 hour 15 minute days. Generally veterans don’t like to make bus rides that long.

The game is on Sportsnet.

And tonight we have the USA vs Dominican Republic in the semifinal for the WBC. Paul Skenes starts for the US (that couldn’t have worked out better for them. Luis Severino starts for DR.

We’ll have a GameThread up for that.

Italy and Venezuela play tomorrow.

What should we expect the Jays rotation to look like the first time through?

Gausman, Cease, Scherzer, Ponce, Lauer? Or will Yesavage be ready? Pretty doubtful.

Then it is a game of when will Yesavage, Bieber and Berrios be ready. Maybe Mr. Grant Rogers there is closer than I think.

On the bullpen side, does Spencer Miles make the team? Angel Bastardo?

Beyond that: Hoffman, Tyler Rogers, Varland, Nance, Little, Fisher, Nance and Fluharty. That’s eight guys without Miles or Bastardo.

Opening Day is on the 27th, and there is still a few decisions to be made.

JR Ritchie was slated to start today’s game, but instead, Jose Suarez gets the start, with Ritchie set to get some work later in the game. Taijuan Walker will take the mound for Philly, coming off of a rough two seasons and looking to bounce back in a contract year.

The Braves are running out the quad-A lineup, while the Phillies are starting a number of their regulars. You can see the lineups below.

You can watch today’s game on MLB Network or MLBTV at 1:05 PM ET.

Join us and discuss today’s game in the comments below!

The Houston Astros (8-10-3) host the Miami Marlins (8-10-2) in Grapefruit League play.

RHP Cristian Javier is set to make his second start of the Grapefruit League. RHP Eury Perez will be on the mound for the Marlins.

TODAY’S STARTER: RHP Cristian Javier is making his second start of the Grapefruit League this season. In his only outing in the Grapefruit League on March 9 vs. STL, he allowed one earned run on one hit and three walks with three strikeouts in 1.2 innings.

In his return from Tommy John surgery in 2025, Javier made eight starts, going 2-4 with a 4.62 ERA (19ER/37IP), 34 strikeouts and a .230 opponent average. In his career, Javier has held opponents to a .203 (397×1956) batting average. Among AL pitchers to toss 525.0-plus innings between the 202025 seasons, Javier ranks first in the AL in that category.

He’s also helped author several notable moments in his career, starting a combined no-hitter in Game 4 of the 2022 World Series, as well as a combined no-hitter in June of that season at Yankee Stadium.

TODAY’S POTENTIAL RELIEVERS: RHP Bryan Abreu, RHP AJ Blubaugh, LHP Bryan King, LHP Steven Okert and RHP Christian Roa

TODAY’S ROSTER MOVES: The Astros have reassigned LHP Tom Cosgrove and RHP Amos Willingham to minor league camp.

LINEUP NOTES: Astros top prospect Kevin Alvarez will play LF and bat fifth. Alvarez, 18, played last season for DSL Astros Blue in his first year of professional baseball. He slashed .301/.419/.455 with 12 doubles, 3 triples and 2 homes in 156 AB. He also walked more than he struck out (23/19) and stole 11 bases.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Sunday, March 15, 12:05 p.m. CST

Location: CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches – W. Palm Beach, Florida

TV: none

Streaming: HOU video livestream on Astros.com

Radio: KBME 790 AM/94.5 FM HD-2

The Atlanta Braves will visit BayCare Ballpark on Sunday afternoon for some Grapefruit League action.

Taijuan Walker will be the first pitcher for the Phillies, fresh off his stint with the Mexican team in the WBC.

The Braves are expected to start with lefthander Jose Suarez.

Game time is 1:05 and will be televised locally on NBCSP.

PORT ST. LUCIE — The final piece of the Mets lineup is healthy enough to play.

Francisco Lindor was penciled into the team’s lineup for Sunday’s game against the Blue Jays at Clover Park, giving the All-Star shortstop his first Grapefruit League start of the season.

Lindor has spent the last month rehabbing from left hamate bone surgery and had just progressed to batting against live pitching in recent days.

“He went through his progression and we’re getting to a point now where it’s time for him to start playing with us,” manager Carlos Mendoza said.

Sunday’s plan was for Lindor to play four innings and receive two at-bats. He will likely have Monday off and then resume Grapefruit League action on Tuesday. The Mets have spring training games running through next weekend, ahead of the March 26 opener against the Pirates at Citi Field.

Mendoza said in the aftermath of the surgery there wasn’t a firm timetable for Lindor to begin playing games.

“But we saw he was progressing, not only defensively but offensively, with the way he was swinging the bat in the cages, transitioning to the field, getting live at-bats,” Mendoza said.

Lindor became the second starting position player to begin exhibition games this week: Luis Robert Jr. debuted in the Grapefruit League on Thursday after the Mets slow played his spring to ensure his legs were strengthened.

There are all kinds of 2026 baseball season predictions out and about, from those determined by complex computer algorithms, or made by the bookies whose money is on the line, or tossed out by fans of one team or another.

However, the one you are about to read has much more expertise applied than any of those others. Not only does it go point-by-point, but, in keeping with what math teachers always want we show our work.

Trust me on this.

THE PREMISE
We will begin where we left off in 2025, with 60 wins. Depending on how you wish to look at it, that was either a wonderful 19 more victories than in 2024, or a not-so-hot one victory fewer than the dismal 2023 season. Either way, it’s the point from which we apply precise mathematical analysis, sector by sector.

AS THINGS STAND

Catchers
Catching was obviously a bright spot last season, with Kyle Teel, Edgar Quero and Korey Lee combining for 3.4 bWAR. There’s no particular reason their hitting will be much different this year, Quero’s hot spring and Teel’s cold one and hamstring strain notwithstanding. They are all young guys, thrust up to the majors too quickly on the defensive side, so there’s room for improvement there.

Add one win for improved D. Now we’re at 61 wins.

Infield
Here’s where there’s a big position jump upward, with the addition of Munetaka Murakami at first. The professional prognosticators aren’t as crazy about the Japanese batting champion as you might think, hovering around the 2.0 WAR mark. But we’re fans, so we’ll say he earns a three-spot.

Second and third are apt to be the same meh mish-mash as 2025, so call that even. But Colson Montgomery will be around the whole season, barring injury, and he rated 3.3 bWAR in just 71 games last year. From a fan perspective, it’s tempting to think pitchers will learn nothing about him and double that, but the computers are apt to be more realistic and they all see him not even matching the 3.3. Using brilliant math analysis (and a tad bit of fandom), we split the difference and give him one added win.

That’s old-fashioned golf pants (plus-fours, get it?), so we’re at 65 wins.

Outfieldand DH
Aye, here’s the rub.

Andrew Benintendi will be a year older and quite possibly even worse, but we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and say he holds his own.

In center, Luis Robert Jr. is gone. He may have had two bad years in 2024 and 2025, but he was still better than whatever ends up taking his place. Minus one win.

In right, the brilliant minds of White Soxdom decided not to keep Mike Tauchman (1.9 bWAR), replacing him with Austin Hays (0.8 in about the same playing time). The algorithms don’t like Hays any better for 2026. Minus another one.

As for DH — same bunch as last year.

We now stand at 63 wins.

Pitching
The relief pitching should have a major upgrade in Seranthony Domínguez, who is apparently destined to be the closer even though he seems to have bought completely into the myth of Magical Mystical Final Out Syndrome and has a career ninth-inning ERA a full run more than the seventh or eighth, and an absolutely massive difference last year of 2.00 in the seventh, 2.18 in the eighth, and 5.00 in the ninth. He also hasn’t had a bWAR better than 0.5 since 2022. But he has a nifty first name and the one-run-game record last year was abysmal, so we add two wins with him.

By far the best reliever last year was Mike Vasil (2.9 bWAR) and if he moves to the starting rotation or is lost for the season after his injury on March 14 that will be lost, but we can hope that doesn’t happen. Otherwise, bullpen types will go up or down as they are wont to do, so it’s a wash — except 2025’s second-best reliever, Steven Wilson (1.2 WAR) is gone, so we take away one win.

As for the rotation,, by far the best starter last year was Adrian Houser (3.0 WAR), who is gone, as is Martín Pérez (1.2 WAR, despite missing most of the season). Theoretically, the slack will be picked up by Anthony Kay, (who the Sox brain trust figures will be the 2026 version of 2024 Erick Fedde, back from Asia new and improved despite a dismal MLB career), and, well, Erick Fedde again. The pros see little benefit in either. Subtract two wins.

That’s a total of minus one, so we’re at 62 wins.

AS THINGS MAY BECOME
It’s highly likely that some combination of Braden Montgomery, Noah Schultz, Hagen Smith, Tanner McDougal, Sam Antonacci and others will be brought up to the majors during the season. If Montgomery is anything close to what he’s shown so far, he’ll be a big improvement in the outfield. Even if the pitchers have rookie struggles, they’ll improve the starting rotation. Antonacci should be a step up from whatever infielder gets injured or doesn’t perform.

Here we go big and add three wins due to the prospects trickling up to the South Side.

However, on the flip side, if Kay, Fedde, Hays (or even Murakami?) are any good, they’ll be gone by the trade deadline, because they aren’t contracted long enough to be around when the White Sox are actually competitive: one year for Fedde and Hays (who is theoretically just holding a spot for Braden), two for the others. Subtract two wins (more if Murakami goes, but we have to hope that doesn’t happen).

Now we’re at 63 wins.

NON-PLAYERS
As Will Venable didn’t seem to have any of those “what the hell is he thinking” moments of his two predecessors and doesn’t have the morale-crushing stupidity of Pedro Grifol or arrogance of Tony La Russa, having a year of experience is bound to make him better. Add three wins.

Going the other way, the inexplicable decision to let pitching coach Ethan Katz go when he did such a fine job with so many young pitchers, converting two Rule 5 draft pickups and a waiver signing into good-to-excellent performers and keeping Fedde solid for the only stretch of his MLB career is going to hurt. Having a replacement who is just part of the pathetic KC-to-Chicago pipeline (the theory “we small-market teams have to stick together” in practice) makes matters worse — yes, Zach Bove joined the Royals in 2023 and their pitching improved during his tenure, but that had far less to do with coaching than with acquiring Michael Wacha, Seth Lugo, Cole Ragans and Michael Lorenzen. Subtract three wins.

We stay at 63 wins.

A LITTLE HELP FROM OTHERS
The attempt by some other members of the AL Central to bring the division back to its traditional position as the laughingstock of baseball is apt to be helpful. Particular thanks should go to the Guardians and Twins, who decided not to try any more.

It’s too bad you don’t get 76 games within your division these days, but you do still get 52. Last year the Sox were 18-34 within the division, a 56-win season pace that was even worse than reality. That’s not going to happen again.

Versus Detroit, the Sox went 5-8, so look for no improvement there unless the Tigers again tend to hold back their best pitchers to face better opponents. In fact, that record may end up a game worse. Minnesota will be giving the White Sox a good crack at fourth place in 2026, but the Sox went 8-5 against the Twins last year, so that may happen again.

Chicago went 3-10 against Kansas City, and an improvement of two games seems reasonable. And the 2-11 recorded versus the Guardians is bound to improve another three games.

That would take us to 67 wins, but the rest of the majors are bound to improve a little given the failure to do so by Cleveland and Minnesota, so subtract a win there.

WHICH MEANS …
The White Sox will end the 2026 season with a 66-96 record.

That’s smack dab in the middle of what the bookies say. They must use my system.

It’s Sunday once more, and you know what that means — it’s time for our weekly social media roundup! This week has been a whirlwind of baseball, filled with spring training games and, of course, the World Baseball Classic. How have the Yankees been spending their time off the diamond? Let’s find out!

The WBC Continues

As expected, the World Baseball Classic has remained the biggest news in the baseball world, and thus has dominated social media.

While it’s not Yankees-related, I also want to highlight Ondřej Satoria, “the Electrician,” who struck out Shohei Ohtani in the 2023 World Baseball Classic and who ended his baseball career this week with 4.2 shutout innings against Samurai Japan in Czechia’s final game of the WBC.

College Ball with CC

Former Yankees Hall of Fame pitcher CC Sabathia spent last weekend watching his son play ball at the University of Houston; also with him were Ken Griffey Jr. and former Yankees bullpen coach Mike Harkey.

A-Rod’s Budget Team

Alex Rodriguez took to Instagram to show how he would build a Major League Baseball team on a budget. While I won’t get into his full analysis here, the fact that he has Ben Rice and Cody Bellinger on the team should be an encouraging sign for Yankees fans (he also has Aaron Judge, of course, but that’s kind of a no-brainer, and in fact the entire linchpin of the team he constructed).

Celebrating Service

Both the Yankees as an organization and Derek Jeter’s Turn 2 Foundation celebrated major milestones this week, with the former receiving the 2025 Allan H. Selig Award from Major League Baseball, and the latter turned 30.

More Pics from Media Day

We have even more photos that were probably taken at media day.

Questions of the Day

This busy week saw the Yankees social media team post a number of Questions of the Day. We got some restaurant recommendations, learned who everyone’s favorite princess was (I am personally annoyed at all those who said Elsa, Frozen is sooo overrated, and quite a few guys smoothly named their wives/daughters), and found out what obscure topics the players can give presentations on.