Category: Sports News

The first semifinal matchup of the World Baseball Classic is upon is, with Team USA and The Dominican Republic facing off.

Paul Skenes starts on the mound for The United States, with Luis Severino going for The Dominican Republic.

Will Smith starts at catcher, continuing the every-other-game timeshare behind the plate with Cal Raleigh.

Sunday game info

• Event: World Baseball Classic semifinals
• Teams: United States vs. Dominican Republic
• Ballpark: loanDepot Park, Miami
• Time: 5 p.m. PT
• TV: FS1
• Radio: MLB Audio, Sirius XM

I’m not going to pretend to be impartial: GO DR GO

DR is in tough against starting pitcher Paul Skenes. Luis Severino starts for DR.

DR has their lineup out.

1. Tatis, RF
2. Marte, 2B
3. Soto, LF
4. Vlad, 1B
5. Machado, 3B
6. Caminero, DH
7. Rodriguez, CF
8. Wells, C
9. Perdomo, SS

As I type this, the US doesn’t have a lineup posted.

This afternoon, the Colorado Rockies lost to the Los Angeles Angels, 6.5. For more game highlights, please click here.

The Rockies are now 11-11 in spring training play.

Although there were no interviews today, the Rockies did provide game highlights.

But first, Hunter Goodman hit his second home run of 2026.

And with that, please enjoy 5.27 minutes spring training baseball.

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

The Yankees split-squad game against the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday night was cancelled due to inclement weather as rain started in the top of the third inning. 

New York trailed, 2-0, at the time of the delay. There will not be a makeup date for the spring training game, the Orioles said.

Paul Blackburn started for New York and let up two runs over 2.0 IP. The veteran retired the first two Orioles, but after a walk, single, and wild pitch, he gave up a two-run single to Tyler O'Neill. 

Blackburn bounced back for a 1-2-3 second inning, including two straight strikeouts to close out the frame.

Orioles starter Zach Eflin tossed two-plus innings with four strikeouts, taking down Jasson Dominguez, Jazz Chisholm, José Caballero, and Oswaldo Cabrera.

Top prospect Spencer Jones recorded the Yanks only hit of the night with a leadoff single in the third inning before the rain began.

Next Up

The Yankees are off on Monday and then play the Tampa Bay Rays on the road on Tuesday. First pitch is set for 1:05 p.m.

PORT ST. LUCIE — The Mets have a front line of young starting pitchers that includes Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong and Christian Scott, but the group behind that initial wave is also promising.

One of those young arms, Zach Thornton, was on display Sunday against the Blue Jays, and for a second straight Grapefruit League start, the lefty was solid.

Thornton allowed one earned run on four hits with one strikeout over 3 ²/₃ innings in an 8-1 victory at Clover Park.

The game was called after five innings because of rain.

“He is a strike-thrower, but this is a guy that can get the fastball in to righties,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “There is a lot to like about him. He’s not afraid. Even when there were times he was behind in counts, he went right after guys.”

The 24-year-old Thornton, a fifth-round pick in the 2023 draft, has pitched to a 1.35 ERA in his two Grapefruit League appearances.

He finished last season at Double-A Binghamton.

The Mets assigned the following players to minor league camp: Carl Edwards Jr., Joe Jacques, Ryan Lambert, Kevin Parada, Ryan Clifford, Jackson Cluff, Grae Kessinger, Jacob Reimer, Ji Hwan Bae, A.J. Ewing and Jose Ramos.

Clifford, Reimer, Ewing and Lambert are among the organization’s top prospects.

“It’s been a great camp for a lot of your young players,” Mendoza said. “It’s a credit to them and credit to player development, because [the players] came in with the mentality of trying to make the team, even though that probably wasn’t [realistic]. But they showed they can play at this level. I liked how they went about their business. Before the games, the questions they were asking, and then the way they went out there and competed.”

Marcus Semien blasted his second homer of the spring and hit another ball that was caught at the fence.

It might be a sign that the second baseman, who has posted a .602 OPS in the Grapefruit League, is getting on track at the plate.

“I’m not worried about him,” Mendoza said. “He’s a guy that has been in the league for quite a bit now. Obviously not the way he wanted it, but he’s tinkering with mechanics and has hit a few balls hard this spring with no results.”

Near-perfect: What did Robbie Ray do after leaving his last spring start with a no-hitter intact? He retired all 15 batters he faced Sunday, punching out six, but Giants pitchers didn’t stop there in a 7-1 win over the Brewers. Carson Seymour, Tristan Beck and Matt Gage didn’t allow a base runner, either. The Giants came one out from the first spring training perfect game since 2000. They lost the perfecto, the no-no and the shutout when Gregory Santos walked one batter and allowed Blake Burke, one of Tony Vitello’s players at Tennessee, to rip an RBI double down the right field line. No less encouraging for Ray, who has strung together nine no-hit innings his past two starts.

Jerar and the Giant Blast: At 115 mph off the bat and an estimated 463 feet, Jerar Encarnacion delivered the Giants’ most gargantuan home run of the spring. In a twist of irony, Encarnacion went deep on a pitch that would have been called a ball. He fell behind in the count by unsuccessfully challenging a pitch closer to the plate. The out-of-options slugger has turned it on as attention has turned to those on the 26-man roster bubble: He has nine hits in his past 20 at-bats, four of them for extra bases.

Double-double: Matt Chapman continued his strong spring with three more hits in three at-bats, raising his average in Cactus League play to .448 with a 1.310 OPS. He went the other way for ground-rule doubles in his first two at-bats.

Caught my eye: Christian Koss and Grant McCray both showed what they could bring to the Giants’ bench, with Koss making an over-the-shoulder snow-cone catch on a pop-up behind second base and McCray bunting his way on and stealing two bags. However, McCray was caught leaning between second and third, and Koss was picked off for the second time in three games.

Up next: The Giants travel to Peoria, Arizona, on Monday to face the NL West-rival Padres for the second and final time this spring. Including Saturday’s 8-7 loss to the Diamondbacks, they will play each of their divisional foes over the final week of Cactus League play.

The first semifinal of the 2026 World Baseball Classic is packed with about as much star power as you could hope for. The United States will be sending Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes to the mound opposite Luis Severino of the Dominican Republic (and the Athletics) with a trip to the final on the line.

As Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com noted, the US currently boasts a roster that includes nine players who received MVP votes in 2025, while the Dominican Republic boasts – you guessed it – nine players who received MVP votes in 2025, too.

Exactly zero of those players, or any of these players for that matter, are Cincinnati Reds. That doesn’t make it any less of a spectacle, of course, and this game is poised to be packed with action.

Here’s how the two clubs will line up:

United States

1. Bobby Witt Jr., SS
2. Bryce Harper, 1B
3. Aaron Judge, RF
4. Kyle Schwarber, DH
5. Gunnar Henderson, 3B
6. Will Smith, C
7. Roman Anthony, LF
8. Brice Turang, 2B
9. Pete Crow-Armstrong, CF

Dominican Republic

1. Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
2. Ketel Marte, 2B
3. Juan Soto, LF
4. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 1B
5. Manny Machado, 3B
6. Junior Caminero, DH
7. Julio Rodríguez, CF
8. Austin Wells, C
9. Geraldo Perdomo, SS

First pitch is set for just after 8:00 PM in Miami’s loanDepot park, and game coverage can be found on FS1.

Box Score

As the headline suggests, there weren’t many positives in today’s game. The Brewers were just one out away from falling victim to a combined perfect game, ultimately losing 7–1 to the San Francisco Giants.

Giants starter Robbie Ray went five innings, racking up eight Ks in the process. Relievers Carson Seymour, Tristan Beck, and Matt Gage kept the perfect game going. Gregory Santos came in for the ninth and recorded two quick outs, but he lost the zone against prospect Cooper Pratt — throwing five consecutive pitches out of the strike zone to put Pratt on first. The next batter, Blake Burke, went down 0-2 before breaking up the no-hitter with a double down the right field line, scoring Pratt to give the Brewers their first and only run of the game. Unfortunately, that was where the scoring would end, as José Anderson struck out swinging to end the game.

Brewers starter Shane Drohan got hit around today, allowing six hits, four runs (three earned), and striking out five in four innings of work. He got through the first inning without allowing a run, with the Giants stranding Matt Chapman after a one-out double. The second inning was a different story. Drohan allowed a bunt single to Grant McCray before walking Bryce Eldridge, putting runners on first and second with nobody out. Up next was Jerar Encarnación, who smoked a high and inside cutter 463 feet to give the Giants a 3-0 lead. That brought up Christian Koss, who beat out an infield single to give the Giants yet another baserunner — still with nobody out.

With Casey Schmitt batting, catcher Reese McGuire threw Koss out trying to steal second. Schmitt ended up walking, prompting Brewers manager Pat Murphy to pull Drohan in favor of Kaleb Bowman. Bowman got Willy Adames to strike out swinging for the second out, but Chapman hit another double — this one a ground rule — to put runners on second and third. Bowman then walked Patrick Bailey to load the bases before getting Luis Matos to hit a weak grounder to shortstop David Hamilton. That should have been the third out, but Hamilton bounced the throw to first baseman Jake Bauers, and Bauers couldn’t handle it. Bailey and Chapman both scored on the throwing error to make it 5-0, San Francisco.

Bowman melted down after that, walking the next two batters to walk in another run before finally getting Encarnación to line out to Garrett Mitchell for the third out. Since it’s spring training, Drohan reentered the game for the third and fourth innings and managed to hold the Giants scoreless. San Francisco added another run on an Adames sacrifice fly in the sixth inning off of Jacob Waguespack, Waguespack’s first earned run of the spring.

San Francisco’s pitching staff combined to strike out eleven Brewers while allowing just one hit (Burke’s double) and walk (to Pratt). As a team, Milwaukee allowed 11 hits and walked six batters. Overall, this was a game to forget.

The Crew is back at it again tomorrow against the Los Angeles Dodgers. First pitch is slated for the same time as today’s game, 3:05 p.m.