San Diego Padres at Chicago White Sox, March 3, 2026, 12:05 p.m. PST

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Location: Camelback Ranch – Glendale, AZ

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

A new year, a new Guide trailer. Please enjoy.

Once again, we have reached the time of year when I write out where I have been and where I plan to go in the coming year, for year five, the planned final year of field research for True Blue LA.

Wait. Final? Are you quitting?

Never, but there comes a moment where prudence is required.

If I could take a moment, I have had the adventure of a lifetime traveling to Dodger games since April 2021, and as a professional since January 2022. If you told me at the Oakland Coliseum that an evening out after being vaccinated for COVID, where Cody Bellinger broke his leg, would be the starting gun to an adventure that would take me all over the world, including Game 7 of the World Series, I would look at you as if you had gone mad.

For five years, the movements of my life have been dictated in part by the baseball schedule.

I will complete the circuit in 2026. Then, once I look out at the Philadelphia skyline after my visit, I anticipate a feeling of quiet accomplishment.

Once the entire baseball 2027 schedule is published, I will get to go where I want to go, rather than having my mindset be “where have I not been yet and how do I mark that location off my list?”

If and when baseball expands, I will return to the road, be it Las Vegas, Nashville, Salt Lake City, or Portland. But generally limiting myself to the Western divisions or wherever Mom wants to go (for as long as she wants to go) is a state of play that I am genuinely looking forward to.

But before we start our final run, let us check the final score of my visits during the Dodgers’ 2025 title run. The table will look best in landscape mode if you are reading this article from a mobile device.

The results of the 2025 itinerary of field research for the Guide

10-6 — some might even call that effort a work day (if they were a lawyer or in retail).

Woof. That September losing streak built character and honestly tested my sanity a little. Still, things worked out in the end.

Being present to watch the Dodgers in three countries and two continents in 2025 is the weirdest flex I will ever have as a Dodger fan. Honestly, I am surprised how often I saw Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Clayton Kershaw pitch in the last campaign. It’s not seeing Walker Buehler more often than his mother in 2021, but considering I try to halve my workload when compared to the 2021 amateur campaign, proportions matter.

Being at Kershaw’s actual regular-season farewell is something I do not think I will ever forget.

If one factors in the inaugural amateur year of 2021, the Dodgers are now 62-38 with me in attendance in 27 major league cities and Tokyo. The team is also 2-0 in postseason play with me in attendance. Admittedly, Game 7 of the 2025 World Series has infinitely more cachet than Game 2 of the 2021 National League Division Series in San Francisco.

In my preview of the 2026 season, I previously wrote that the road schedule was a bit odd but on par with the 2025 schedule. That observation aside, I have finally set my travel dates for the coming season with hotels, flights, and game tickets in hand (or in process thereof).

Accordingly, it is time to complete this five-year mission. I plan to visit my final three MLB stadiums in 2026: Daikin Park (Houston), New Yankee Stadium (the Bronx), and Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia). Considering the Dodgers’ recent history in these venues, I will have my work cut out for me as a visiting Dodgers fan.

The 2026 itinerary of field research for the Guide

Behold — my travels to complete the circuit. Again, the table will look best in landscape mode if you are reading this article from a mobile device. In the grand scheme of things, I am well ahead of schedule this year compared to the past couple of years.

I plan to attend 17 games in seven cities over five trips. I could take or leave going to St. Louis, but considering that weekend, I would just be sitting at home before flying to Houston, for a few hundred more, I would rather watch the Dodgers in person.

Admittedly, while it would be nice to return to Toronto (April), Minneapolis (May), or Cincinnati (September), sometimes there is valor in saying no. My funds are not infinite, as my tax return reminds me on a now-annual basis. Besides, I really should not press my luck (Toronto) or wait until the next cycle (Minneapolis).

I had originally planned to go to San Diego this season, but the Murakami signing in Chicago swayed me. Moreover, I get the chance to meet up with friends in Chicago, which also prompted my return to Milwaukee. Molly Knight is doing an event with her readers in three ballparks in Chicago and Milwaukee over Memorial Day weekend, and I figured it would be fun to tag along for the Milwaukee/Dodgers portion of the trip.

Therefore, I have adopted an “I settle all family business (sans the violence)” mindset for this campaign.

With that idea in mind, I am going to do something I once planned to challenge David Vassegh to do: I am going to challenge Bernie’s Slide in Milwaukee, while also ghost-hunting at the Pfister Hotel. Apparently, to do the Slide, I need a buddy, which was not the rule when I last visited. Am I going to be blasting the Ghostbusters Theme on a loop while in Milwaukee? Probably.

Am I going to enlist the help of others to get a cheesesteak from the visitors’ clubhouse in Philadelphia? By hook or by crook, I will.

Mom did not want to go back to Dodger Stadium in 2026, and I do not blame her for that decision one bit. Accordingly, she has chosen Denver for our annual trip in 2026, which should be fun. There is a mostly-zero probability I conclude my 2026 shenanigans in Cincinnati, but for now, what you see above is the plan.

While I hope to achieve a goal I first set out to do in 2021 this year, by definition, it will not be as epic as completing the lifelong bucket list items I managed to complete in 2025, when I went to Japan. I am very much looking forward to completing my circuit of MLB ballparks this season.

“Home” Games

Since I have returned to the Bay Area, and with the now-Sacramento Athletics’ departure from Oakland, the closest ballpark to me is, once again, Oracle Park. Joy.

My general rule for Oracle Park remains: I do not go to games in San Francisco unless I am with friends and family, because I have been to Oracle Park far too many times for any novelty to remain. I covered Oracle Park in its Guide entry. It’s fine, even though I serve as a personification of the living bane of the San Francisco Giants, who are 8-15 in my presence at Oracle Park.

If folks wish to go to Oracle Park and invite me, here are the dates for the upcoming year:

• April 21-23
• September 25-27 (weekend series, regular season finale)

While Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, CA, is about an hour away, I will still not attend when the Dodgers are there for two reasons.

First, I still do not want to. Second, while the Dodgers will, unfortunately, visit Sacramento in 2026, I will write up what can best be described as an anti-Guide entry explaining why Dodgers fans should not give John Fisher their hard-earned money. Moreover, even the Triple-A Oklahoma City Comets will visit Sutter Health Park while I am on the East Coast, completing the circuit.

Please holler if you wish me to tag along on any adventure to any of the above-listed ballparks.

If folks want to join me on the road, please reach out as soon as possible—the more, the merrier, as I always say. The meetups I had in Tokyo, Baltimore, and Seattle were great fun.

I have been at this long enough that I am getting recognized more often in the field, which is still both confusing and neat. As always, please say hello, unless I am in the bathroom or eating.

As for upcoming Guide entries, given that the Dodgers return to Detroit and Rate Field this year, you can bet I will have new or updated entries ready for potential travelers. Please look forward to it!

Clayton Kershaw may be done with Major League Baseball, but as the World Baseball Classic nears, the greatest left-hander of our generation has one more box to tick. For the first time in his career, Kershaw will represent the United States of America in the World Baseball Classic, and in preparation for that assignment, Kershaw took the field at Papago Sports Complex in Arizona as part of a team workout.

Speaking to the media, Kershaw displayed a self-awareness of his current limitations: “I think for our country’s sake, it’s better if I don’t,” he said of a potential matchup with Shohei Ohtani. However, the competitor in him remains: “I can’t imagine, if it comes down to USA versus Japan, with the arms that we have, that I’ll be needed. But I’ll be ready.”

Kershaw’s importance to the US team may be more important than originally thought, as Bill Shaikin of the LA Times notes: what looked to be a stout rotation for the US team is taking several blows—Tarik Skubal, Joe Ryan, and Paul Skenes will all have certain limitations about how often they can pitch in this tournament—the reigning back-to-back AL Cy Young will only pitch once, for instance.

MLB even published a small clip of Kershaw warming up wearing the American colors.

Links

Kershaw made an appearance on the Pat McAfee show as well, in which he discussed the process of his retirement. The left-hander emphasized the gradual decline of his fastball velocity, the challenges of rehabbing from surgeries, and the eventual realization that it was time to call it quits at the end of 2025.

Continuing the World Baseball Classic theme—despite being currently sidelined recovering from surgery—Kiké Hernández will soon leave the Dodgers facilities to join the Puerto Rico team, reports Jack Harris, who also notes Kyle Tucker’s current absence from Dodger camp, as he and his wife are expecting a child. Lastly, according to Harris, Tommy Edman has already started taking swings, a promising sign in his rehab, although he is unlikely to feature in any games this spring.

The Royals made some improvements to the roster in the offseason, but did not make the big move that fans may have wanted. Maybe that one big player wasn’t really available. But let’s imagine we aren’t just limited to players in the game right now. What if we could add a player to the roster from Royals history?

If you could pluck one former Royal at the height of his powers and drop him onto this team, who fits like the final puzzle piece? I’m not necessarily talking about the biggest star, although George Brett could certainly fit on any roster. I’m talking about a player who would be the perfect fit for right now for this roster.

Here’s your time machine – who are you bringing to 2026?

Jurickson Profar missed essentially the entire first half of the 2025 season after he tested positive for using performance-enhancing drugs. Unfortunately for him and the Braves, it’s déjà vu all over again in the worst possible way.

Jeff Passan of ESPN is reporting that Profar has once again tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug and is now facing a 162-game suspension. For those of you kids keeping track at home, that’s the full season.

To keep it real with y’all, this is a hot mess. It’s one thing to get caught one time. In that case, you have the benefit of the doubt where it could’ve been a mistake or a brief lapse in judgment that led to a bad decision being made. A second time is absolutely inexcusable and there’s no way to wave this away. The Braves not having Jurickson Profar for the entire 2026 season is a pretty major blow to their current plans for their lineup and it’s absolutely dreadful that this is how they’ve lost him for another extended period of time.

The only silver lining is that this now means that Mike Yastrzemski is now an everyday player for this team but just like the Ha-Seong Kim injury forced Mauricio Dubón into everyday player status, it’s a silver lining but it’s certainly not ideal. The best way forward for this squad was to have Profar serve as a DH while Yaz started against right-handed since Yaz over the course of his career is a much better hitter against righties than lefties. Losing Profar for the entire season hurts their plans for DH and the outfield as well, so this just stinks all around.

The only other positive that comes out of this is that PED suspensions are unpaid suspensions as well, which means that that’s now $15 million that the Braves have freed up to use because Profar decided to be a big dummy and use PEDs again. It’s safe to assume that the Braves are going to dip their toes back into the outfielder/DH market but as you can imagine at this point in the baseball calendar, there’s not a lot of quality out there that could come close to replacing the level of production that Profar could’ve provided.

So once again, this is a hot mess. The Braves have now lost their starting shortstop until (hopefully) May, one of their primary catchers until (hopefully) May, one of their starting pitchers for who knows how long, one of the prime candidates for the fifth starting position for who knows how long and one of the key players in their lineup for the entire season. Opening Day isn’t until March 27 so let’s hope nothing else completely absurd happens between now and then! Good grief!

UPDATE [2:00 p.m. ET]: Ken Rosenthal from The Athletic is reporting that the MLBPA is planning to challenge Profar’s suspension and file a grievance on his behalf. I’d imagine that this is strictly procedural on the union’s part but there’s that.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic calls the current situation untenable.

MLB Insider Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic believes the Astros must trade 3B Isaac Paredes and get a lefthanded hitting outfielder.

It’s a great idea in theory, one Astros GM Dana Brown has been trying to execute for several months. There’s just one slight problem with the plan: another team has to have a player you want and they have to be willing to trade them to you for Paredes.

Who knew such a small problem would be such a thorn in the Astros’ side in trying to make a deal?

Entering the offseason, there seemed to be two deals that made a ton of sense for the Astros to make:

• trade Christian Walker to the Mets for SP Kodai Senga.
• trade Isaac Paredes to the Red Sox for Jarren Duran.

They did neither.

Instead Senga is buried as the Mets’ 5th/6th starter and talks between the Red Sox and Astros are dead (at least for now) as Rosenthal said the two clubs haven’t been in recent contact.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7081393/2026/03/03/houston-astros-dana-brown-isaac-paredes-trade/

Key snippets from Rosenthal’s article:

The necessary move is to trade third baseman Isaac Paredes for a left-handed-hitting outfielder, an idea the Astros have discussed most thoroughly with the Boston Red Sox, according to people briefed on the discussions. Talks stalled, however, and the clubs have not been in recent contact.

The Red Sox, even after acquiring Caleb Durbin from Milwaukee, still look like the best fit for Paredes — they could play him at third and Durbin at second without needing to rely on Marcelo Mayer. The Astros are not getting back Wilyer Abreu, whom they traded in 2022 for catcher Christian Vázquez. A deal constructed around Jarren Duran should remain within reach. By moving Duran, the Red Sox would create DH at-bats for Masataka Yoshida and eventually Triston Casas, who could return in May from a ruptured patellar tendon in his left knee.

The problem is that the Red Sox’s trade for Durbin improved their negotiating position while weakening the Astros’. Brown, then, might need to get creative, possibly involving a third team, possibly pivoting from the Red Sox entirely.

Now, I don’t fully understand why the Astros are allegedly so averse to a player like Duran in LF, who has led the AL in triples back to back years (27 total) hit over 40 doubles back to back years, hit 37 HRs in that span as well as stolen 58 bases. He seems like a pretty good offensive player. He also graded out with 11 defensive runs saved last season in LF per baseball reference, although statcast graded him at -5 outs above average.

Duran also makes $7.7M this season (so less than Paredes) and has 2 years of team control. Duran is also the OF the Red Sox were looking to move. The Astros were set on their former prospect Wilyer Abreu, whom the Red Sox have no interest in parting with.

As you look around the league, there aren’t a lot of quality lefthanded hitting OFs that are either available or on teams that would be willing to make a deal for a player like Isaac Paredes, who is a win now type of offensive impact player making $9.35M this season.

So if the Astros can’t find the deal they feel gives the equivalent value for Paredes, is it time to pivot to trading Walker?

Now, there has been little interest in Walker this offseason, partly because he’s coming off a down season (although a solid 2nd half) and partly because of the remaining 2 years and $40M on his contract.

I don’t know how much the Astros would be willing to eat on his deal, but the longer they wait to pull a deal to clear the logjam in the infield, the less leverage they are going to have unless they decide to wait out injury – a risky proposition because there is no guarantee a team that suffers an injury will still make a trade.

If the Astros value Paredes as much as they claim to, and they can’t get what they think is the right value, then they should pivot to dealing Walker, and be flexible on the money they have to eat. Maybe it’s half. Maybe its 75%.

The Padres don’t have a real 1B, they currently have a left fielder listed at 1B on their depth chart. They looked into acquiring Nolan Arenado and playing him at 1B. Clearly, Walker would be a better option than Arenado. Just at what price point for the Astros (salary pay down) and the Padres (return).

About a month ago, David Schoenfield of ESPN had posited a trade idea of Walker to San Diego in exchange for RP Bradgely Rodriguez.

From Schoenfield’s article: This would be an alternate trade option to Paredes for Houston, with him then playing first base. Walker didn’t have a good first season in Houston, his OPS+ slipping from 120 to 97, although he hit 27 home runs and Statcast still viewed him as a plus defender at first base. (Other metrics weren’t as generous, but Walker won three straight Gold Gloves from 2022 to 2024, so I would be more inclined to go with the Statcast evaluation.)

After finishing 28th in home runs in 2025, the Padres need more power, and with Walker at first, they can slide Jake Cronenworth on a full-time basis over to second base. The current alignment doesn’t project well, with the Padres ranking 28th in FanGraphs’ projected WAR at first base (a mix of Gavin Sheets and Cronenworth) and 20th at second base (a combo of Cronenworth and Sung-Mun Song). Rodriguez is a big-league ready reliever who can help a Houston bullpen that is a little thin from the right side beyond Bryan Abreu, and while the Astros would have to pay down some of the $40 million owed to Walker the next two seasons, trading him would still clear some payroll to make another move.

Rodriguez isn’t currently listed on the ESPN Depth Chart for the Padres, but he finished 2025 as the Padres #6 prospect. He throws a high 90s fastball that can touch 101, and a devastating change in the mid-to-high 80s. If Josh Hader were to be out for an extended time, Rodriguez has the kind of stuff to be the bridge to Abreu, and he’s only 22 (and CHEAP!).

The Astros may not want to pay down however much of Walker’s contract to get a deal done, but in a case like this, they should be open to paying down as much as $14M per year. A fireballing young RHP in the pen is exactly one of the deficiencies in their roster.

Now maybe that deal isn’t available – but it’s the kind of deal they should be looking for when moving Walker.

While it doesn’t address the lefthanded OF situation, it does address another need on the roster, it gets Paredes in the lineup every day, and I think giving Zach Cole an opportunity is something the team should be heavily considering.

If Joey Loperfido has truly made adjustments in his swing that have garnered improved results as Dana Brown said when they re-acquired him in trade, I have no issue in giving him a chance either.

If Cam Smith shows he isn’t ready, then give him the season in Triple-A he should have gotten last year. That would give the Astros two lefthanded bats in the corners who are both plus defenders with big arms., it keeps Yordan primarily at DH, and gives the Astros one of the best defensive outfields in the game. It’s a lot easier to survive with guys like Shay Whitcomb or Zach Dezenzo as 4th/5th OF guys (who can also play some IF for you as well) who play the short side of a platoon. It’s not hard to get a righthanded hitting platoon OF either, they are cheap and readily available.

As the spring goes on and the Astros leverage in dealing Paredes wanes, the more I would be inclined to eat the money and move Walker.

A lesser return for Walker means paying less down, but the right return for Walker, I think Houston should consider paying as much as 70% of Walker’s deal.

They’ve backed themselves into this corner. I’d rather buy my way out than surrender one of my better hitters on a discount.

Would you rather the Astros move Walker at this point? Let us know in the comments below.

With the 2025 Texas Rangers season having come to an end, we shall be, over the course of the offseason, taking a look at every player who appeared in a major league game for the Texas Rangers in 2025.

Today we are looking at starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi.

Nathan Eovaldi makes me happy.

I bet you feel the same way.

Just look at the photo that goes with this post.

(Yes, I know, there’s a video playing at the top of the post, but you know what I mean. Go back to the main page if you need to remind yourself of the photo that goes with this post.)

He is a good pitcher. He is, by all accounts, a great person and a great teammate, someone who makes a point of connecting with the other pitchers on the staff, mentoring and supporting and generally being a great hang.

He throws strikes, he doesn’t walk guys, he keeps runs off the board.

Nathan Eovaldi had arguably his best season in 2025, at the ripe young age of 35.

I kind of want to take “arguably” out of that sentence. Not kind of, in fact. I do want to take it out.

But while he’s never had a bWAR better than the 4.3 he put up in 2025, he did match that number in 2021. And his 2021 fWAR of 5.7 is much better than his 3.7 fWAR in 2025, the second-highest mark of his career.

So I’m resisting. I’m resisting the urge. As much as my right hand wants to move away from the keyboard and take the mouse and move up three paragraphs and do a big ol’ DELETE, I’m not going to do it.

Bad hand.

Nathan Eovaldi put up a 1.73 ERA in 2025. It looked like he was going to be vying for the ERA title until a rotator cuff strain in late August ended his season.

It was going to be a close call anyway as to whether he’d get to the 162 innings necessary to qualify, since he missed a month earlier in the season, but it seemed likely he’d have cracked that threshold if he had stayed healthy the rest of the season. Instead, he ended the year with 130 innings over 22 starts.

And, look, we know this about Nathan Eovaldi. He has always struggled to stay on the mound. He made his major league debut all the way back in 2011 — with the Los Angeles Dodgers! — and has qualified for the ERA title just three times. We know Eovaldi is going to have injury issues, is going to have an i.l. stint or two in any given season, and we accept that.

But when Eovaldi took the mound, you could count on him. Only three times did he not go at least five innings. Once was in late May, when he left after two innings and ended up on the injured list. Once was in late June, his first game back from the injured list, when he was on a pitch count. And once was his second start of the year, when he was pulled with two outs in the fifth. He went at least 6 innings in 14 of his 22 starts.

Eovaldi allowed more than three runs in a game just once in 2025, that one being an August start against Arizona where he gave up five runs on three homers. He allowed two earned runs or fewer in 19 of his 22 outings. He walked more than two hitters in a game just twice. He issued zero or one unintentional walks in 18 starts.

He was even the rare 2025 Ranger pitcher who was better on the road than at home in 2025, with a 1.39 ERA away from The Shed and a 2.15 ERA at home.

He has a fun mix of pitches, throwing his splitter, fastball, cutter and curve all at least 20% of the time, and all of them are pitches that he gets good results with. His occasional sinker is a good pitch. The slider he throws very rarely isn’t all that, but that’s okay, because he hardly ever throws it.

I was unenthused about the Rangers signing Eovaldi in the 2022-23 offseason. I now want him to retire a Texas Ranger.

Previously:

Gerson Garabito

Tyler Mahle

Kyle Higashioka

Adolis Garcia

Luis Curvelo

Alejandro Osuna

Blaine Crim

Jake Burger

Jacob Webb

Nick Ahmed

Jon Gray

Carl Edwards Jr.

Josh Jung

Leody Taveras

Dustin Harris

Marc Church

Luke Jackson

Danny Coulombe

Wyatt Langford

Dylan Moore

Michael Helman

Evan Carter

Cole Winn

Rowdy Tellez

Dane Dunning

Marcus Semien

Billy McKinney

Jose Corniell

Jonah Heim

Cody Freeman

Sam Haggerty

Jacob deGrom

Merrill Kelly

Caleb Boushley

Justin Foscue