Category: Sports News

🎶It’s the most wonderful time of the year.🎶

The drolls of the everlasting January are finally over and we enter the month of February with hope in the air as players begin to collect in Florida as Spring Training is right around the corner. Yesterday we saw who just missed out on top 30 list – a wide array of talent with a lot of promise. We’ve seen the Braves make sway away from the pitching dominant drafts from mere years ago, and shift towards adding much needed talent to the positional ranks. As a result, while the top of the list was pretty straight forward, we saw a much wider array of rankings – so without further ado let’s take a look at our Top 30. Make sure to leave comments, but the minor league crew will be also hosting a Q&A later this Friday.

Honorable Mentions

30. Drue Hackenberg – RHP

How he got to the Braves: 2023 2nd round pick (59th overall)

At one point in time, Hackenburg looked like he could be a legitimate future piece for Atlanta in some capacity. Drafted in the 3rd round of the 2023 draft, Hackenburg immediately produced and showed great results in his first full pro season in 2024.

Over 25 starts and 129 innings, Hackenburg made his way from low-A Augusta to triple-A Gwinnett over the course of one season. During that stretch, he spun a 3.07 ERA, which resulted in him being listed in the top-20 Braves prospects on most lists by the beginning of 2025.

However, that all went south in 2025, as Hackenburg’s numbers took an abysmal turn. 

While he was injured fairly often in 2025, when he was on the mound it didn’t go great for the righty. In 21 starts consisting of 74 innings, Hackenburg struggled mightily to an ERA of 6.81, striking out 67 batters with a brutal WHIP of 1.82. Hackenburg didn’t get demolished by batters in terms of the long ball as he only gave up nine homers over the course of the season. However, he was getting hit around on a fairly consistent basis, as opposing batters has an average of .279 on the season – a stark contrast from his organization leading number of .212 in 2024. Add to the fact he walked 54 batters in his 74 innings of work, and it’s not exactly a surprise the season went the way it did.

The book isn’t closed on Hackenburg by any stretch of imagination. There are a plethora of reasons you could chalk up one bad season, whether it be injuries, incosistent times on the IL and playing, etc. There’s still a decent chance he can right the ship and become a solid bullpen piece or a fringe rotation guy at the big league level. However, he’s going to have to show he can put last year behind him and bounce back in a hurry or else his prospect stock will take a huge nosedive once again.

29. Carter Holton – LHP

How he got to the Braves: 2024 2nd round pick (62nd overall)

A three year starter at Vanderbilt, Carter Holton finds himself at the back end of the list because after making one appearance in 2024, he was shut down and received Tommy John surgery. Coming in at 5’11” Carter doesn’t have the prototypical size for a starting pitcher which adds risk to his profile, add in the fact that he just had the surgery as well and…well it’s safe to say we don’t know what to really expect from Carter. Carter has a four pitch mix that is led by three average to plus off speed offerings – a plus slider, and an average to slight above average curveball and changeup. Having made just played one game it’s safe to assume he starts the season at Augusta, but at 23 years of age, expect a quick promotion should he succeed. That said, there are not high expectations for Carter to enter the season as the main goal will be to maintain health and getting used to being on the mound again.

28. Hayden Harris – RHP

How he got to the Braves:2022 Un-drafted free agent

There’s no way to go about it – Hayden Harris had one of the most dominant seasons a Braves prospect has ever had last year. Across 43 games Hayden registered a 0.52 ERA, 13.67 K/9 rate, and 3.29 BB/9 rate. He absolutely mystified batters shown by his paltry .118 batting average against. Hayden was able to use his unique fastball in the upper third extremely well, generating strong whiffs against a pitch that comes in at 90-92 MPH. We knew about his dynamite splitter that drops out of the zone, but last year saw Hayden locate his sweeper much better to both sides of the plate making at bats against him even more difficult. All of this resulted in Hayden being named an All-MiLB first teamer, and named to the MLB Futures game. As long as that sweeper command continues, look for Hayden to continue to put up extremely strong strikeout numbers -numbers that could begin to accumulate in Atlanta.

27. Cade Kuehler – RHP

How he got to the Braves: 2023 2nd round compensation pick (70th overall)

There might not be a player anticipating the start of the season more than Cade Kuehler who sat out the 2025 season recovering from Tommy John surgery. His ranking this season comes as pure projection as nobody is quite sure what to expect from the former Campbell standout. Cade has a strong fastball, and slider to go with what we will call a developing splitter. Cade will be 24 most of the season so while health is the most important thing for him this season, he must also show improvement with his pitch mix because he did look like it regressed back in 2024 (which absolutely could have been because of the injury). Signed for over $1M, Cade will be given every chance to start a starter, but if the splitter doesn’t develop there is a chance he could be a fast moving reliever.

26. Dixon Williams – 2B

How he got to the Braves: 2025 4th round compensation pick (136th overall)

The Braves drafted Dixon Williams in the fourth round out of East Carolina based on the strength of his bat and the growth potential of a player who didn’t start to focus on baseball full-time until college. Williams is a high end athlete with a football background who has shown growth every year during his college tenure. He went from just 15 plate appearances as a freshman to a .896 OPS as a sophomore, followed by a breakout while winning the New England Collegiate League MVP that summer, followed by a 1.012 OPS during his draft season featuring career highs in both homers and walks. After signing he went to Augusta, where he hit .269/.395/.462 with a pair of homers and 16 walks to 35 strikeouts over his 114 plate appearances. Williams is a potential four tool guy, lacking the arm strength only, with enough versatility to play every spot in the infield as well as even some time in center field in college, who probably projects best at second base long term. He’s going to need some time to continue refining his hit tool and his defense, which is to be expected for a player newer to full-time baseball that hadn’t consistently played one position in college – however he has the tool set to develop into the Braves next starter at second base now that we’ve started to see his power emerge. He is likely going to open this year in Rome, but could get a shot to earn a way up to Columbus with a good start to his season.

25. Ethan Bagwell – RHP

How he got to the Braves: 2024 6th round pick (191st overall)

There might not be another prospect as excited for 2026 as Ethan who looks to make his name on the Braves farm system this year. Fully healthy, Ethan stands at 6’4” and an extremely muscle 230+ pounds – a specimen on the mound. Ethan worked in the low-to-mid 90s, and looked to be incorporating a two seam into his repertoire. Ethan features a dynamic slider, and a developing changeup to round out a very impressive arsenal that leaves a lot to like. While the whiffs weren’t there last season which resulted in a rough strikeout rate (6.86 K/9), Ethan did induce groundballs at a strong rate (47.5%), and was able to keep the walk rate down (2.9 BB/9). Ethan looks every bit the part of a starting pitcher, and should his newly incorporate two seam, and changeup continue to develop, there will be a lot more people talking about him.

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 pitcher Dane Dunning.

Dane Dunning’s time with the Texas Rangers in 2025 was more interesting from a procedural standpoint than from an on-the-field standpoint, all things considered.

It started, really, a little before Thanksgiving in 2024. Dunning, coming off an ineffective and injury-plagued campaign, was entering what I believe was is next-to-last season of arbitration eligibility (he spent time in the majors in 2020 with the Chicago White Sox, but I don’t believe he earned a full season of service time). After making $3.325 million in 2024, Matt Schwarz’s arbitration projection system projected him to get $4.4 million in arbitration.

The Rangers apparently weren’t willing to even match the $3.325 million they paid Dunning in 2024, however, and on the day decisions had to be made whether to tender players on the 40 man roster contracts, Dunning apparently had to decide between getting a pay cut on a one year deal with the Rangers, or going out into the open market and seeing if he could do better, with the risk being that he could do worse.

Dunning opted for the bird in the hand, signing a one year deal for $2.66 million. That represented a 20% paycut from 2024, the most that a player’s salary can be reduced from the prior year, even by agreement, under the CBA. The upside for Dunning was that he had $985,000 in potential performance bonuses in the deal, giving him the opportunity to make more in 2025 than he did in 2024 if he hit those markers.

Those performance bonuses, of course, ended up being irrelevant.

An unimpressive spring resulted in the Rangers putting Dunning on outright waivers at the end of camp. We can debate whether the Rangers were hoping someone would claim him and take his salary off the team’s books or hoping no one would claim him so they could stash him in AAA as depth, but whatever the team’s preference, Dunning went unclaimed and started the season with Round Rock.

Dunning started the year in Round Rock getting knocked around twice by Corporal Klinger’s favorite team, the Toledo Mud Hens, before setting down with three decent starts that were apparently enough to get him tapped to come back up when the Rangers needed to swap out long men in late April. Or maybe there just weren’t any better options. Who knows?

Dunning made one appearance, pitching the final three innings in relief of Jacob deGrom in a blowout win against the A’s, and was designated for assignment the next day because the Rangers needed a catcher and didn’t have one on the 40 man roster, necessitating purchasing the contract of Tucker Barnhart. Such is life on in the fringe class.

Dunning cleared waivers and was outrighted once again, was bad in his first couple of appearances for Round Rock again, and then was pretty good again, earning him a return to the bigs in late June, an appearance in one game, a return to Round Rock (via option this time, gotta mix things up and keep it fresh), a return to the bigs a week and a half later, garbage time action in three blowout wins, followed by a return to the minors again.

Finally, apparently ready to be out of the Dane Dunning business, or maybe just wanting to shed some salary in advance of the trade deadline (and thus potentially being able to add more salary at the trade deadline than they otherwise would be able to add), the Rangers shipped Dunning off to Atlanta for Jose Ruiz, a reliever who had been outrighted earlier in the year by Atlanta and who was toiling unsuccessfully for them in AAA, and cash considerations, which is believed to be what Ruiz was owed for the remainder of 2025.

Thus ended Dane Dunning’s time with the Texas Rangers. His final line in his final season with Texas? 5 games, 10.2 innings, 10 Ks, 5 walks, a 3.38 ERA.

Dunning went on to bounce up and down between the majors and minors for Atlanta, and generally wasn’t good for them when he was in the bigs, allowing 13 runs in 10 innings. At season’s end, Atlanta waived him, Dunning became a free agent, and just a few days ago, he signed a minor league deal with the Seattle Mariners.

I’m sad about how Dunning’s time with the Rangers ended. He was one of the early additions to the team’s rebuilding project, coming over to Texas, along with Avery Weems, in exchange for Lance Lynn in the 2020-21 offseason. After a couple of mediocre seasons in the rotation for not-good Rangers teams, he was the Rangers’ Pitcher of the Year for 2023, being used as both a starter and a reliever in the regular season, and appearing in five games in the playoffs out of the pen.

Best of luck to Dane in Seattle.

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

There are some players that just look the part. Dylan Crews firmly falls into that category. Despite not producing in his first year and change in the MLB, I still have a lot of faith in him. Some of that may be irrational, but Crews just looks like he should be a really good player.

His time at LSU was absolutely legendary. Crews is one of the best college baseball players of the 21st century. He hit .426 in his last year of college before being picked second overall in 2023. I have a hard time believing the player who did that could turn into a bust.

Crews, who turns 24 this month, is at a key point in his career. So far, he has not come close to living up to expectations. However, he is still young enough to turn things around. Crews needs to start showing something for fans to continue to believe in his star upside. He looks the part, but he also needs to produce.

His pedigree and tools will give him plenty of chances, but eventually he has to stop sucking. Crews has shown flashes of power, contact skills, speed and defense, but he has not put it all together. 

This new development team is also giving me another excuse to believe in Crews. One of Dylan Crews’ biggest problems is that he puts the ball on the ground too much. His GB rate was 56% in his cup of coffee in 2024 and 50.2% last year. It is tough to do damage when you aren’t consistently elevating the ball. Crews is not ever going to be a pulled flyball guy, but hopefully the new regime can turn some of those ground balls into line drives.

I think the best version of Dylan Crews as a hitter is a line drive oriented guy. That is what I think Crews is at his core. Selling out for power just does not feel like it comes naturally to him. He should lean into being a gap to gap guy who has the power to punish mistakes.

Honestly, Crews should try to emulate Ryan Zimmerman as a hitter. Zimmerman always tried to pepper that right-center gap with doubles and homers. However, he was able to turn on those inside pitches. While pulling the ball in the air is optimal, it is not for everyone. It just does not feel like that is Crews’ game, and it does not have to be.

Brady House is the type of player who I think needs to be able to pull the ball in the air. He does not have great offensive tools outside of power, so he needs to maximize that power. Crews does have solid contact ability and a decent approach, even if it has not totally translated to the MLB yet.

Even if it is irrational, I have a ton of confidence that Crews will be a solid starter. My biggest question is if he still has that star potential. I still think it is in there, but it is a less likely outcome now compared to when he was drafted. While I am still very bullish about Crews, you can’t deny reality either.

He may have hit .208 with a .632 OPS last year, but there is still so much more in the tank for Crews. I think he can be a .255 hitter with a .750 OPS next season. At his peak, Crews has the talent to be a .270ish hitter with an .820ish OPS. With his defense in the outfield, that is All-Star level.

Dylan Crews may never be the Andrew McCutchen type MVP candidate we thought he would be when he was drafted. However, I cannot give up on him yet, not even close. Watching him move on the field just feels right. He looks like he should be really good. That may be totally unscientific, but some guys just have an it-factor. Dylan Crews has it, and it is why I cannot quit him.

Unless you are new, you know the drill by now. But for those who actually keep track of the annual update, when not writing long-form essays, I travel the world following the Dodgers around.

I am up to two continents and three countries, which was just my 2025. In my lifetime, I have attended 126 regular-season Dodger games in 28 stadiums, 27 of which are MLB stadiums.

My most-visited ballpark is Oracle Park: 24 times, with the Dodgers prevailing 16 times. I have been to Dodger Stadium 14 times, with the Dodgers prevailing 11 times.

It is worth noting that this list is of the ballparks I think are the best in Major League Baseball, rather than where the best place is to watch a Dodger game. Moreover, if you can get to Dodger Stadium regularly, then of course, the answer is to go to Dodger Stadium if you want to enjoy a Dodger game.

However, if you cannot get to Dodger Stadium regularly, read on.

You will likely notice minor changes in this year’s list.

First, Sutter Health Park and the Tokyo Dome are omitted because this Guide is for MLB ballparks. If pressed, I would say the Tokyo Dome would be 11th, and Sutter Health Park would be dead last. I think my opinion on the Egg is open to being reexamined if I saw Nippon Professional Baseball teams play against the Dodgers or against each other, rather than the Tokyo Series, which felt like a different sport.

Sutter Health Park is a fine minor league stadium. It has no business hosting Major League games given its lack of facilities, size, and ticket prices. It would be one thing if the Sacramento Athletics were playing in West Sacramento due to a natural disaster, then you do what you have to do. It is a blunder of their own making. Dodgers fans should not subsidize stupidity.

Accordingly, the Coliseum still exists and merits a spot on this ranking. I have resigned myself to attending whatever monstrosity is built on the Las Vegas strip in a few years; that ballpark will likely be the 31st major league ballpark to end up in the Guide.

Second, there are some minor revisions to the Guide’s order due to changes in circumstances I experienced during my travels in 2025 and preparations for travel in 2026. Generally, if a stadium moved up, it is more a reflection of a stadium going down than actual improvement (see: Seattle, St. Louis). If a stadium’s name has a hyperlink, you can access the corresponding Guide entry.

1. PNC Park — Pittsburgh, PA

The now-disputed king of MLB ballparks. Owner Bob Nutting has begun to let this gem on the Allegheny River fade, which is unconscionable given how poorly the Pirates have performed under his ownership. Plus, the Dodgers have somehow turned in some of their worst performances in Pittsburgh over the last three seasons.

In my estimation, there are five ballparks where one can say “it’s the best,” and while I would not necessarily agree with you, I could not credibly say one was wrong. PNC Park was leagues ahead; now, due to neglect, Petco Park and Target Field are now within a couple of car lengths.

The Dodgers visit PNC Park on June 9-11.

• Pros: Just about everything, but less as of late, including reasonable prices on food, views, tickets, and ease of access. PNC Park is one of the easier parks to reach, as visiting Pittsburgh is generally affordable.
• Cons: It’s only one series a year. The weather can be fickle (muggy, rainy). The Dodgers have been inexplicably terrible in Pittsburgh the past few seasons.

2. Petco Park — San Diego, CA

Yes, Little Brother still has the best ballpark in the NL West. Petco Park is ranked highly nationally, but for good reason. In a neutral setting, I can see how one might argue that Petco is the best ballpark in the country.

It is not the king of ballparks for a couple of reasons. First, visiting PNC Park is still somehow cheaper even though Pittsburgh is on the other side of the continent. Second, outside of Toronto, I have not encountered a fanbase that feels more entitled to respect (outside of Toronto) without actually earning it, which is quite annoying. Those faults aside, it is a really good ballpark.

The Dodgers visit Petco Park on May 18-20 and June 26-28.

• Pros: Imagine everything one would like about Dodger Stadium and make it better, which is an apt description of Petco Park.
• Cons: Padres fans can be extremely, extremely annoying; ticket prices for Dodgers games are absurd (as there is no such thing as a cheap ticket to a Dodgers/Padres game at Petco), and can be region-locked, which is a minor league move.

3. Target Field — Minneapolis, MN

This ballpark is fantastic if the weather cooperates, which is a mighty big if. Granted, you will be in Minneapolis, so by definition, the weather may not cooperate. Most folks will skip this ballpark due to its location, and they really should not.

Even at its worst (see freezing rain and snow, see also Midwest humidity), it’s a top-five ballpark in the country, and essentially a “cousin” ballpark to PNC Park, as it was made by the same design team and with similar materials. This ballpark has improved in the rankings basically by default.

The Dodgers visit Target Field on June 22-24.

• Pros: It is pretty underrated as a venue. It has great fans, great value, and the best customer service in the League.
• Cons: Heaven help you if the weather does not cooperate. Getting to and from the stadium is a pain if you did not pick a nearby hotel. Not the greatest neighborhood by the ballpark for families.

4. Oriole Park at Camden Yards — Baltimore, MD

As the first retro-classic ballpark, Oriole Park at Camden Yards got a lot of things right about the experience, and you can see this stadium’s influence on half the parks in the league. It is not a perfect experience as the park is beginning to show its age, with its scoreboard and sound system, but upgrades are on the way.

As mentioned above, if you can navigate the logistical hurdles, you will likely have a great time at Camden Yards. Visiting this ballpark when the home fans have something to cheer about is an infinitely more fun experience.

The Dodgers do not visit Oriole Park at Camden Yards in 2026.

• Pros: Now a classic stadium. Great fans. Decent value and food.
• Cons: Still no tours. Getting to Baltimore can be a hassle. Baltimore has gone through some hard times. Not as much value if you have not seen “The Wire.”

5. Oracle Park — San Francisco, CA

The home of the perpetual inferiority complex, where an organization chases the sugar high of a fluke 2021 season. The only ballpark where one can be cold and get sunburned all in the same series.

In a neutral setting, Oracle Park is a very good park. For some neutral fans, it’s a bucket list destination, and if I squint very hard, I can at least understand that point of view.

The Dodgers visit Oracle Park on April 21-23 and to close out the regular season on September 25-27.

• Pros: Snark aside, it is a nice stadium. It is relatively easy to get to and from if you do not drive yourself. Even if you park yourself, it’s expensive, and you must navigate the considerable traffic when leaving the stadium, regardless of how you leave.
• Cons: It’s where the Giants play. Tickets cost an arm and a leg (and then some!) if the Dodgers are in town. It’s often cold and windy. Giants fans tend to be insufferable, especially when drunk, doubly so when the Dodgers win; triply so when the Dodgers lose.

6. T-Mobile Park — Seattle, WA

T-Mobile Park has excellent food (not just for a ballpark) and is a decent value for a visit.

Why did the stadium drop in the rankings from last year to now? The stadium’s personnel have seemingly forgotten how to get patrons in and out promptly. For the games I visited in 2025, it took on average 35 minutes to enter the stadium, not find my seat, or get food (God forbid), but to go from outside the ballpark to inside, which is categorically unacceptable.

If I had not been swayed by the sheer variety of food options at relatively affordable prices, this stadium would have crashed out of the top ten.

The Dodgers do not visit T-Mobile Park in 2026.

• Pros: If you like a stadium that ticks many boxes and is fun to visit with interesting things to see and eat, you will likely find much to love about this ballpark.
• Cons: Good luck finding a decently-priced hotel near the ballpark or with access to the light rail. The Dodgers only visit every other year. Getting into and out of the stadium has suddenly become intolerable.

7. Dodger Stadium — Los Angeles, CA

It’s still Our Blue Heaven and home to the back-to-back defending champions. One could argue it is like Hotel California: you can check out any time you like, but you can (seem to) never leave.

If we are being honest, assuming you live outside of Los Angeles, there are better stadiums to visit. Honestly, Dodger Stadium makes us, as fans, accept things I would not tolerate at other stadiums, which is unacceptable. Still, the stadium is a bucket list destination for a Dodgers fan.

You have 81 dates to pick from in the regular season to visit Dodger Stadium in 2026.

• Pros: It’s where the Dodgers play. The views from the field and surroundings are some of the best in baseball. Liking the stadium is essentially a prerequisite to being a Dodger fan.
• The cons: It’s a nightmare to get to and from the stadium. Good tickets usually cost an arm and a leg. Hooligans. There is ongoing litigation with stadium security. It’s just too loud, generally.

8. Coors Field — Denver, CO

Truthfully, folks underrate the experience of going to Coors Field, and they really should not. I genuinely enjoy coming to this ballpark and believe you will too if you give it a chance. There is access to nature for those who like that sort of thing, and there are bars aplenty for those who like that sort of thing. No one is ever prepared for the elevation the first time, even with a warning.

Let us not kid ourselves: the Rockies are terrible, but they are starting to show signs of life and may finally improve to just bad over the next couple of seasons.

The Dodgers visit Coors Field on April 17-20 and August 17-19.

• Pros: It’s a nice ballpark. It’s a fun ballpark. Where else can you eat bull testicles?
• Cons: Do you have problems with elevation? Logistical problems are the biggest hurdle to enjoying a game here, i.e., where did you book your hotel? Did you not leave for the ballpark early if you are staying outside of Denver? Did you pay a premium to stay in downtown Denver?

9. Busch Stadium, version 3.0 — St. Louis, MO

If you go to St. Louis to see a Dodgers game, you will likely have a good time. If you are going to St. Louis for literally any other reason, I don’t know what you would do there.

This ballpark has the stadium-and-neighborhood model that baseball tries to emulate throughout the league. Here, the model is generally done right…except now ticket prices for Dodgers games have risen to levels that would be acceptable if the Cardinals were competitive. The Cardinals have been mediocre to bad for a couple of years now and are actively rebuilding. The days of $20 outfield tickets appear to be over.

Going to a game here is visiting an oasis of baseball in the sea of blight that is St. Louis. Busch Stadium, version 3.0, is a draw that might not otherwise exist. The area is starting to need some sprucing up, as affordable hotels near the ballpark are disappearing, and the stadium is starting to show its age.

The Dodgers visit Busch Stadium 3 on May 1-3.

• Pros: Lots of things directly by and in the ballpark. Food, views, and tickets are a relative bargain. Fans are knowledgeable, too.
• Cons: Generally, the rest of St. Louis, which is a lot. The weather can get muggy. Hearing about the Cardinal Way ad nauseam can get grating.

10. Wrigley Field — Chicago, IL

Someday, I will get over May 2021. It’s still not today, though. It is one of the last jewel-box stadiums in Major League Baseball, for better or worse. Compared with Fenway, Fenway has a better ballpark experience, but Wrigley is a better trip overall.

Still, Wrigley is a bucket list destination. As of now, Busch 3 has fallen off so far that Wrigley may reclaim its crown of best in the NL Central in the very near future. Whether that means time is a flat circle is an open question. Further investigation will likely be required in 2027 and beyond.

The Dodgers visit Wrigley Field on August 3-5.

• Pros: It’s a bucket list destination. It’s a fun time for the most part. Something quite iconic about sitting in the sunshine with a Chicago Dog while the organ plays before the game.
• Cons: It’s a bit pricey for what you get, the weather often does not cooperate, and if you have a bad seat, it’s legitimately bad.

11. Fenway Park — Boston, MA

“Going to Fenway Park” is a phrase that will always sound foreign to my ear.

However, it is a remarkable experience. It still costs far, far, far too much to go to the ballpark while staying in Boston. One could easily spend an entire year’s travel budget at Fenway, assuming no intercontinental travel. Still, seeing a game on the Green Monster is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The Dodgers do not visit Fenway Park in 2026.

• Pros: It’s on baseball’s bucket list for a reason. Sitting atop the Monster is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
• Cons: Dear God, my wallet is still hurting, especially from lodging and ticket costs. These costs easily exceed the cost of playoff tickets at Dodger Stadium. In some places, the stadium lacks modern amenities, like aisles.

12. Progressive Field — Cleveland, OH

Cleveland rocks. Progressive Field is a fun place to visit. There is good food, reasonable prices, and good crowds. Just pick a nearby hotel and walk to the Jake, which still persists as the stadium’s nickname. The stadium’s recent upgrades are complete and are a joy for the more social crowd.

One would be remiss for not visiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, down the street from the ballpark.

The Dodgers do not visit Progressive Field in 2026.

• Pros: Good mix of value and amenities for the effort required to visit.
• Cons: Some folks are hypercritical of the ground crew (they’re wrong). If the weather does not cooperate, things get challenging in a hurry. The stadium is near a rough neighborhood. Ohio, generally.

13. Comerica Park — Detroit, MI

Comerica Park is a solid ballpark. My trip to Detroit in 2024 was not successful by any reasonable definition, as the weather, hotels, Detroit Tigers, and Dodgers refused to cooperate.

The stadium, its history, and its denizens stuck with me long after I left. It’s a solid ballpark that most Dodger fans will never visit, and frankly, that statement is a shame. Honestly, the perfect road trip involving Detroit would also include a stop in Toronto, as the two cities are an hour apart by air.

The Dodgers visit Comerica Park on August 28-30.

• Pros: Tickets are usually reasonable. The stadium has character and a nice mix of budget and luxury options.
• Cons: Logistical minefield to navigate, as getting to Detroit is a pain. Hotels downtown are the best option, while safe, they can be pricey. Finding shade in the summer is not optional.

14. American Family Field — Milwaukee, WI

American Family Field is one of those parks where you definitely get what you pay for. If you try to scrimp on the experience, you get what you pay for. If you allow yourself to enjoy yourself, you will have a grand time in Wisconsin. If you are afraid of ghosts, do not stay at the city’s leading luxury hotel, the Pfister Hotel.

The Dodgers visit American Family Field on May 22-24 (Memorial Day Weekend).

• Pros: Traffic seems to flow rather efficiently here. Tickets are usually reasonable. Great staff. You get what you pay for.
• Cons: If you go super cheap on the experience, you get what you pay for. For the best results, you will need to rent a car. The Bernie’s Slide Experience will get you if you aren’t careful.

15. Kauffman Stadium — Kansas City, MO

Kauffman Stadium has the best-smelling tailgate in Major League Baseball, easily.

This quirky baseball oasis serves as a counterpoint to the experience offered in St. Louis. While some would deride Kauffman as a jumped-up Triple-A stadium, it does have its own unique charm and character for those who reside in the second-smallest major league town by population (for now).

The Royals are attempting to move downtown, which is obnoxious, rather than build up the area around the ballpark. This entry of the Guide may become moot in a few years.

The Dodgers do not visit Kauffman Stadium in 2026.

• Pros: Great sightlines, reasonable ticket prices, proximity to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. You have plenty of access to barbecue in the region.
• Cons: The stadium is in the middle of nowhere, and the food at the actual ballpark is mediocre at best. If the weather does not cooperate, you must be prepared; otherwise, you will have a terrible time. Generally, you need to rent a car to visit.

16. Nationals Park — Washington, D.C.

Nationals Park is the baseball stadium equivalent of a ham and cheese sandwich – not great, not terrible. Sometimes all you want is a sandwich.

It is not a bad ballpark; it is not a good ballpark. It is logistically easy to go to a game in Washington, D.C., if you stay in the capital.

The stadium’s prices, food, and location are in the middle of the bell curve. It would rank higher if it were closer. This ballpark is the easiest to pair with other activities. If you want an excuse to spend a week in Washington, D.C., there are worse excuses than spending evenings at the Navy Yard and seeing historical sites during the day.

The Dodgers visit Nationals Park on April 3-5 in the first road trip of 2026.

• Pros: Solid ballpark. Solid experience. Friendly staff through and through. Plenty of stuff to do in D.C.
• Cons: The weather can be unforgiving. Getting to the East Coast is a large ask for some fans.

17. Rogers Centre — Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Domed stadiums are hard to do right. If you do it wrong, you feel like you are in a perpetual state of cavernous now. If you do it right, the elements of the dome add to the atmosphere of the proceedings. Rogers Centre is a mixed bag, even with the new renovations.

Going to Rogers Centre is not as financially onerous as you might think, unless it’s the World Series. For all its faults, Rogers Centre does have its charms. For as many times as Toronto Blue Jays’ fans have just missed out on free agents, there was an undeniable charm to Toronto, which most Dodger fans should at least experience once. Then the 2025 World Series happened…and a whiny fanbase to rival the Padres was born.

The Dodgers return to Rogers Centre on April 6-8.

• Pros: When the US dollar is strong, costs are lower than expected. The stadium has its own quirky charm, and the Marriott is an actual part of the stadium, which has to be seen to be believed.
• Cons: Going to Toronto is a pain from the West Coast. The lights inside the ballpark can be a bit irritating. Blue Jays’ fans can be surprisingly sensitive, which makes blowing a 3-2 lead at home even funnier.

18. Globe Life Field — Arlington, TX

One of the newer ballparks in MLB, Globe Life is both a marvel of engineering and a bit of a soulless husk. Building a retractable-roof stadium in Texas is a good idea given the weather. Yet the park feels simultaneously too small and too big for its surroundings.

Imagine going to American Family Field but having less to do and every seat apart from field level being more obstructed than necessary. Still, the barbecue nachos are not to be missed. The ballpark did turn into Dodger Stadium Southeast upon last visit.

The Dodgers do not visit Globe Life Field in 2026.

• Pros: Decent food, reasonable prices for seating, and more Dodgers fans in Texas than one might think.
• Cons: You need a car unless you stay nearby; otherwise, you do not have much to do. Obstructed views for any non-field level seat. Cavernous yet with narrow concourses.

19. Citi Field — Queens, NY

Citi Field is just fine — especially if you take the 7 subway line, and do not pay $40 for parking at the stadium if you can help it.But the entire time you visit, you will likely be thinking of the following two phrases with some justification:

• Am I technically a Lego minifigure in Steve Cohen’s lifesize model of Citi Field?
• Why is everything so expensive? I thought Papa Steve was a billionaire; you would imagine some savings would get passed down.

In a few ways, this ballpark reminds me of Dodger Stadium, not in a good way, as there is literally nothing to do by the ballpark for now. However, Metropolitan Park (and casino) is coming. Still, there are worse reasons to visit New York City.

The Dodgers visit Citi Field on July 24-26.

• Pros: It’s fine. It’s fun. It’s a great excuse to visit New York if you have never been.
• Cons: Going to the stadium (including flights, lodging, and tickets) costs too much. There is not a lot to do by the ballpark. There’s no reason to stay in Queens, which necessitates a stay in Manhattan. The fans can be a bit much.

20. Chase Field — Phoenix, AZ

It is not a bad park, but it does feel like an aircraft hangar with the roof closed. If the choice is scorching heat or feeling like you got lost on the way to GenCon, I pick the latter. It might be worth coming back when I know the roof will be open.

Phoenix is a college town in every sense of the word, both good and bad. Plan accordingly, because once you experience the desert sun, you will likely conclude that Phoenix is a testament to man’s hubris.

The Dodgers visit Chase Field on June 1-4 and August 7-9.

• Pros: Good starter ballpark to travel to for a newbie Dodgers game traveler. Essentially, de facto Dodger Stadium East.
• Cons: Do you like being in the desert? Do you like dry heat? Did you forget sunscreen? Are you prepared to feel like you are trapped in a never-ending spring break while exploring Phoenix?

21. Angel Stadium of Anaheim — Anaheim, CA

Honestly, imagine everything good about Dodger Stadium and then make it worse. Personally, the only draw to the Big A is sentimental. Specifically, I have friends from law school who are avid Angels fans, and meeting there is easier than meeting in the Bay Area or at Dodger Stadium.

The only person happy about an extended Freeway Series is Arte Moreno.

The Dodgers visit Angel Stadium of Anaheim on May 15-17.

• Pros: It’s by an Amtrak station, so it’s easy to get to and from. If one lived in Anaheim, the stadium would merit more attention.
• Cons: Imagine a bizarro Dodger Stadium, where everything bad is good,and everything good is bad. Now, the Dodgers will play three games a year here, which pleases no one but theAngels’ management. Then you get to watch a team that wasted two generational talents. Remind yourself that the Angels are (generally) charging you a mint to be there for a Dodger game. And even then, you can pay a mint, and things still weirdly feel cheap.

22. Great American Ballpark — Cincinnati, OH

Great American Ballpark is like Skyline Chili, which one needs to try when visiting Cincinnati. It is not what I would call good, but it is food, so that is something. So goes Great American Ballpark.

Shade is your friend during day games. If possible, try to stay in Ohio; otherwise, you will need a car or the tolerance to withstand the weather while walking in from Kentucky. The ownership is still bad, but the Customer Service department on the backend is pretty good.

The Dodgers visit Great American Ballpark on September 14-17.

• Pros: It’s a nice stadium from the outside. Opening Day in Cincinnati is essentially a local holiday.
• Cons: Pretty much everything else. The ownership is cartoonishly bad. The food is enjoyable, mostly on an ironic level. If the weather is bad, forget it. The stadium layout is bad because they wanted more luxury boxes.

23. Tropicana Field — St. Petersburg, FL

Generally, Tropicana Field is a shabby dump. It is a nightmare to get to the region. It is a nightmare to get to the game. And yet once you are there, odds are you will have a good time. This stadium will likely perplex the heck out of the average traveler. But, at least the roof is finally fixed!

It would be easy to relegate this stadium to the bottom of this list. But there is a quirky charm that is hard to convey in a blurb like this one. Going to a game here is quite memorable, for better or worse.

The Dodgers do not visit Tropicana Field in 2026.

• Pros: The stadium experience does quite a few things right. The fans are a passionate, if few-in-number, bunch.
• Cons: Just about everything else. Hurricane Milton wrecked Tropicana Field, but the repairs are complete. From lodging and flight costs to the actual gameplay experience, to the logistics of actually getting to the ballpark, the Trop serves as an endurance test and an abstract experience rather than an enjoyable baseball experience.

24. Truist Park — Atlanta, GA

If Atlanta stopped the racist chant or stopped the price gouging for regular-season Atlanta/Los Angeles games, this stadium would be in the top ten of this list. If Atlanta fixed both problems, the stadium would be in my top five.

But they have not, and they likely will not. The stadium and surrounding area serve as the model that every MLB team is trying to emulate, for better or worse.

The stadium’s Customer Service department is second to none, though. Atlanta’s model of being a commercial landlord is being copied throughout the league to its detriment.

The Dodgers visit Truist Park on August 25-27.

• Pros: It does have a neighborhood around it that the League seems to be emulating. The sightlines are nice. The ballpark itself is newer, and it shows.
• Cons: Objective racism. Usual, outright gouging of ticket prices for Dodgers/Atlanta games (if on a weekend). Watch from home – your conscience and wallet will thank you when watching the Cumberland Baseball Team.

25. loanDepot Park — Miami, FL

How can the newest ballpark in MLB be such an objective dump?

In theory, the ballpark would attract fans in South Florida. In actuality, it is a gaudy eyesore that is more famous for things other people have done, from the World Baseball Classic to Shohei Ohtani’s perfect day.

Finding positive things to say about this ballpark is genuinely hard, but it can be done. The tickets are relatively cheap when the Dodgers visit, but are inflated compared to normal Miami Marlins prices.

The Dodgers visit loanDepot Park on September 11-13.

• Pros: I still never have to go back unless I want to.
• Cons: It’s a dump. The lighting inside actively irritates my eyes, so I was in physical pain for three games. Getting to the ballpark, staying at the ballpark, and doing things at the ballpark are all objectively bad and needlessly hard to do.

26. Rate Field — Chicago, IL

Woof. It’s the worst ballpark in active service in the majors, but getting to it is easy. The Chicago White Sox fans are long-suffering but generally quite kind. If not for friends I want to see, I would never return to this ballpark.

Imagine you went to the dentist, but somehow there was a baseball game going on. That analogy best describes the physical sensation of going to Rate Field.

The Dodgers obligatorily return to Rate Field on June 12-14.

• Pros: You get what you pay for. A stadium with a dedicated public transit stop does deserve some praise.
• Cons: Just about everything else. The stadium is a decaying, unloved monument to Jerry Reinsdorf’s greed. I have never experienced such apathy radiating from a place. This ballpark is the only one that has managed to misspell my name when I wrote it out for them in large, friendly capital letters.

27. Oakland Coliseum — Oakland, CA

The Oakland Coliseum endured a lot in its troubled history. The current ownership of the Athletics is a blight upon the game of baseball, and what has been done to relocate this farce masquerading as a team to Las Vegas, Nevada, is absolutely disgraceful. Even in its current state, I would rather watch an MLB game at the Coliseum than endure another farce of an afternoon in West Sacramento.

The Athletics belong in Oakland. That declaration aside, the Coliseum is a decaying sore in Oakland that was only enjoyable for ironic, devout, or historic reasons.

The Dodgers will likely never visit the Coliseum ever again.

• Pros: Some of the best and most loyal fans in the Major Leagues. It’s great if you like a dive bar.
• Cons: The stadium experience is lousy if you hate a dive bar. Pretty much everything else. Friends do not let friends go to the Coliseum these days. MLB has abandoned the stadium.

Agree? Disagree? I am sure that you will tell me here or on social media. What stadiums have you been to? Where should I go next?

I make my own schedule, but if there is an outcry for me to go somewhere, I would be remiss not to listen. Three stadiums are left. In the coming weeks, I will publish my travel itinerary for the fast-approaching campaign as the road to 30 finally concludes.

Happy February A’s fans.

While the Super Bowl and Winter Olympics are sure to generate most of the immediate sports headlines, we’d be remiss not mention that baseball is back this month!

Athletics’ pitchers and catchers must report to Spring Training on February 12. The team will hold its first full-squad workout just a few days later on Monday, February 17 and then open its preseason schedule against the Chicago White Sox on the 21st. 

With only a couple of weeks left before the team assembles in Arizona, time is ticking for the A’s to improve their pitching staff. Scoring runs should not be a problem for the A’s this season. The team’s starting lineup from last season returns, including Nick Kurtz who enters his first full season fresh off a historic award-winning rookie campaign. The lone newcomer is Jeff McNeil, who the team acquired from the New York Mets to provide more production and stability at second base.

Last year, the team’s pitching held them back from winning more games. A’s pitchers allowed too many runs, especially during the team’s home games in Sacramento. Pitching was the A’s biggest need this offseason, yet so far the team has only signed relief pitcher Mark Leiter Jr.

Luis Severino, who will pitch for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic this Spring, returns to anchor the rotation. Luis Morales has breakout potential in his first full-season. Left-handed pitchers Gage Jump, Jamie Arnold and Wei-En Lin are three of the A’s best minor-league prospects. All three have the potential to join Morales in the A’s rotation in the near future, yet it’s unwise for the team to waste another year of this impressive offensive core waiting for them to impact the club.

Right-handed pitcher Zac Gallen is still unsigned and could drastically raise this rotation’s ceiling if he bounces back from a disappointing 2025. However, signing him means the A’s would forfeit a valuable draft pick due to Gallen declining a qualifying offer.

If they decide that Gallen is too expensive or not worth the draft pick loss, then a reunion with Chris Bassitt could make sense as would Lucas Giolito or Zack Littell. Additionally, the A’s could benefit from taking a flier on Michael Kopech to boost a bullpen that projects to once again go closer by committee. 

Have a good Tuesday everyone!

A’s Coverage:

• Athletics Sign Jacob Wilson to Extension
• Athletics Community Prospect List: Nett Just Inches Out Bolte For Sixth Spot
• Extensions For Everyone! (Except Kurtz)
• Managers & Top Front Office Executives On Expiring Contracts
• De Vries (No. 4 overall) leads Athletics trio on Top 100 Prospects list
• A’s Spring Training Report Date, and everything you need to know
• After monster stats as rookie, Nick Kurtz has a new number in mind: 162
• Projecting Nick Kurtz after Rookie of the Year campaign
• Analysts say this A’s outfielder could follow Pete Crow-Armstrong’s breakout path
• Two players the A’s can steal from the Colorado Rockies
• A’s prospect Mason Barnett has an atypical arm angle and an old school approach
• Blogfather Sabatoges Own Wins Over Replacement Hip (And A’s Stuff)

MLB News and Interest:

• Mariners acquire Brendan Donovan in trade with Cardinals
• Luis Arraez, Giants Reportedly Agree to Contract in MLB Free Agency
• Shohei Ohtani Won’t Pitch at 2026 World Baseball Classic
• NBA, MLB, NHL, WWE, Major Sports Leagues to Join NFL in Wearing ‘USA 250’ Uniform Patches
• Red Sox Trade Jordan Hicks to White Sox
• Why Francisco Lindor, Jose Altuve, More MLB Players Can’t Play in 2026 World Baseball Classic
• Today in Baseball History

Best of X:

Looks like the A’s have work left to do this offseason to improve their roster.

Yesterday, the A’s officially announced Jacob Wilson’s contract extension.

For anyone seeking to understand the situation at the Oakland Coliseum.

Thank you for reading my first Elephant Rumblings post! My name isBen Wiley. I have been an A’s fan my whole life and now look forward to bringing you coverage of a team that has the talent to surprise people this year. Which pitcher(s) do you think the A’s should sign or trade for to improve their chances of contending this season?

Some baseball players are memorable for having long and successful careers. Some are memorable for coming up with a huge play or hit in a big moment. Some are memorable for the wrong reasons, like making a mistake in a big moment or for some other controversial reason.

Then, there are some who are memorable just because they have a funny name. With that in mind, a happy birthday to Chicken Hawks.

Nelson Louis “Chicken” Hawks
Born: February 3, 1896 (San Francisco, CA)
Died: May 26, 1973 (San Rafael, CA)
Yankee Tenure: 1921

Nelson Hawks was born in 1896 in California. Not a ton was out there to be unearthed about his upbringing, but he ended up at nearby Santa Clara University for his schooling. He first pops up in stat books in 1918, when he played for the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League.

Seemingly, Hawks didn’t get much playing time at any MiLB level until 1920. That year as a 24-year old, he hit .359 while playing for the Calgary Bronchos of the Western Canada League. That was apparently enough to get him a look with the Yankees, who purchased him from Calgary that July.

The Yankees brought him up to the big league team for the 1921 season, where he made his MLB debut off the bench on April 14th. Coming in as a pinch-hitter for pitcher Waite Hoyt, Hawks hit a two-RBI single in the seventh inning that gave the Yankees a 3-2 lead. However, they eventually lost the game to the Athletics 4-3.

Some early success got Hawks a run of regular playing time in May and June, but in total, he ended up appearing in 42 games for the 1921 Yankees.

Hawks posted a batting line of .288/.333/.479. That equated to a 104 OPS+ in a fairly offense heavy season across baseball. That being said, his .479 slugging was the third best of anyone on the team in players who got more than 10 at-bats, behind just Babe Ruth and Bob Meusel. Speaking of Ruth, Hawks was a roommate of the burgeoning legend during the 1921 season.

You would think that would’ve been enough to get Hawks another season with the Yankees, at least. However, the following January, the Yankees traded him to the minor league Vernon Tigers of the Pacific Coast League as a player to be named later from an earlier trade.

Hawks spent the next couple seasons as a minor league journeyman. He really broke out in 1923-24 while playing for the Nashville Volunteers of the Southern Association. He posted batting averages over .330 in both seasons and hit a career best at any level — at least according to the stats for him that we have — 11 home runs in 1924. Having played outfield for most of his career, including with the Yankees, Hawks also began playing first base in Nashville. That finally got him another major league shot, as the Philadelphia Phillies traded for him that offseason.

Playing semi-regularly at first base for the Phillies in 1925, Hawks was once again perfectly solid. Appearing in 105 games, Hawks hit .322/.387/.447 with five home runs. Again, the era was a little offense heavy, so that only graded out to a 106 OPS+, but again, that still should’ve been enough to get further run with some big league team.

However that December, the Newark Bears of the International League purchased Hawks from the Phillies. Hawks would then remain in the minor leagues for the remainder of his playing career. He continued playing through 1931 at age 35 before retiring.

Hawks then seemingly returned to his native California, where he eventually passed away in 1973 at age 77.

There wasn’t enough information out there that I could find that could explain exactly why Hawks’ career played out the way it did. Unless he was an absolute butcher on defense, a career OPS over .800 should’ve been enough to keep a roster place somewhere, even if he wasn’t a star or even a regular starter. Maybe it was due to minor league teams genuinely being independent and trying to win and not just develop players that led teams to going out of their way to acquire him from MLB teams.

Whatever the reason is, I feel like Chicken Hawks should be much more known than he is. His name is Chicken Hawks for Christ’s sake.

See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.

In the early days of the off-season, the Mets signed Joe Jacques to a minor league deal. The left-handed side-armer has had a couple cups of coffee with the Red Sox and the Diamondbacks, but did not pitch in the majors in 2025. 

This is clearly a depth signing for the Mets, as there’s not much in Jacques’s profile that inspires a ton of confidence. However, as our Linus Lawrence pointed out when the Mets signed Jacques, his low arm angle, in very limited MLB innings in which to gather such details, Jacques generated a ton of ground balls. 

Jacques has also demonstrated an ability to keep the ball out of the air. In a relatively small sample size of 26.2 IP in 2023, Jacques recorded a 64.0% ground ball rate, ranking sixth among pitchers with at least 100 batters faced that season behind elite relievers like Jhoan Duran, Brusdar Graterol, and new teammate Clay Holmes.

Jacques, a Shrewsbury New Jersey native who went to Manhattan College and whose name is frustratingly pronounced ’Jakes,‘ was drafted in the 33rd round of the 2018 draft by the Pirates. Four years later, he was selected by the Red Sox in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft after having his best professional season across three levels of minor league baseball. Jacques throws a three-pitch mix, relying mostly on his sinker and sweeper, with a slightly different slider appearing now and then. He made his big league debut on June 12 of 2023, pitching to one batter (who reached on an error) and then being out of the game due to a long rain delay.

Over the next season and change, Jacques made another 23 appearances for the Sox, good for a 5.08 ERA with 22 strikeouts across 28.1 innings. After one appearance in 2024, Jacques was designated for assignment and was claimed off waivers by the Diamondbacks. He made just one major league appearance for the club, giving up two runs in one and a third innings pitched. He was traded to the Mariners mid-season in 2025 from the Dodgers, but despite being added to the active Seattle roster, never pitched for either club outside of Triple-A.

Since leaving the Boston system, Jacques has not had much success, but with both the mercurial nature of relief pitching and relative lack of public facing data from the minor leagues, it is hard to tell if there are underlying issues with his last two seasons or if a combination of bad luck, statistical noise, and hitter unfriendly ballparks made everything look worse than it actually has been.

We’ll see if a switch out of the hitter-dominated Pacific Coast League and some time with the Mets’ pitching lab can help Jacques regain his form and, hopefully, contribute to the big league club’s success. If Jacques can be a ground ball machine, especially as he still has a minor league option remaining, he could provide some value for the Mets out of the bullpen this year.

Truck Day is happening later this week, and the Royals still seem to be short of what many fans hoped they’d accomplish this offseason. For those uninitiated, Truck Day is when the team loads up most of the equipment it will need for Spring Training into a truck and begins driving it from Kansas City down to Surprise, Arizona. It traditionally marks the end of the offseason and the beginning of the preseason.

Of course, the preseason doesn’t preclude teams from continuing to make moves. I’ve argued for more than a month now that the Royals have a history of making at least one significant move between the end of January and the beginning of the regular season. In 2023, it was signing Zack Greinke. In 2024, it was trading for John Schreiber and signing Adam Frazier. In 2025, it was signing Carlos Estévez. Having written them all down like that, they’ve also got a pattern of progressively more impactful moves in that timespan.

There are also plenty of big moves left to be made around MLB. Eugenio Suárez finally signed a contract this week, but Framber Valdez is still looking for a home. So are Chris Bassitt, Justin Verlander, Marcell Ozuna, and Miguel Andujar. The Red Sox still haven’t traded from their outfield glut or fixed their lackluster infield, the Mets still haven’t addressed their infield glut, Brendan Donovan is still a Cardinal*, and the Twins could yet make some additional baffling moves.

*He was when I wrote this, and then, before I had to quit checking for the night, it was reported that the Mariners were close to a deal for him.

But what if the Royals don’t make an impactful move between now and the beginning of the regular season? Would that be the end of the world? ZiPS projects the Royals to 83 wins, which would tie them with the Tigers for the division crown. Most other projection systems see the Royals similarly neck-and-neck with the Tigers at the top of a relatively weak AL Central. Last year, ZiPS projected the Royals to finish 82-80, third in the division – exactly where they ended up. Of course, it thought the Twins would be the team between KC and the division-winning Guardians, so it’s not perfect, but there’s certainly some value to these projections. In 2024, they were projected to go 74-88 – Dan noted at the time that ZiPS just didn’t see the Royals as being as advanced as they were acting. But most projection systems tend to be a bit conservative about team improvement, and it wasn’t yet a given that Bobby Witt Jr. was one of the three best players in the AL at any given time.

All that to say, the Royals, as currently constructed on February 3, are contenders for the Central Division in 2026. Something that was not a given in 2024, when they were tied for the division lead as late as August 27, nor last year, even when most expected them to take at least a small step forward from the success of 2024.

The Royals’ offseason work has given them options

An additional move might make them clear favorites in 2026, but the move just may not be out there to be made. I don’t think any of us would argue that the 2025 Royals wouldn’t have been improved by having Mike Yastrzemski on the roster for the entire year, but the Giants believed they could be contenders and weren’t going to trade him before the season. However, the moves the Royals have made this offseason have much better prepared the team to get to the trade deadline in better shape than in 2025.

The Royals had two problems that held them back last year: the absolute worst corner outfield setup in MLB and a series of injuries to their starting rotation that they didn’t have the depth to cover. Those things will not be true this year, even as the rest of the team around those flaws looks remarkably similar. Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek are markedly better than any options the Royals had to replace injured pitchers once Noah Cameron joined the rotation in place of Cole Ragans last year. Heck, even Bailey Falter is likely an improvement over Rich Hill, Thomas Hatch, and Trevor Richards. Mason Black, as things currently stand, would seem to be the fourth or fifth guy up in case of injury, and he’d have been the second if he had been a part of the 2025 squad.

Jac Caglianone represents a lot of uncertainty, while Isaac Collins and Lane Thomas are no one’s ideal corner outfield duo. But together they represent a much improved group compared to what MJ Melendez, Hunter Renfroe, Drew Waters, and John Rave could offer the team in 2025. Most importantly, they do this by drastically raising the floor.

Floors are something I wrote a lot about back in the 2023-2024 offseason, so let’s just quote what I wrote back then:

When we talk about sports performance one of the most useful metaphors I like to use is the concept of ceilings and floors. The ceiling of a player is the best likely outcome, so a high-ceiling player is going to be very productive at their best while a low-ceiling player is one who, even if they do the best we could possibly expect, doesn’t move the needle a lot. Similarly, the floor defines the worst likely outcome.

The 2023 Royals ended their season chock-full of low-floor, high-ceiling players, but added a bunch of high-floor, low-ceiling players that December. Of course, as it turns out, Seth Lugo had a much higher ceiling than I’d given him credit for, while Will Smith and Chris Stratton had lower floors. But while most analysts were arguing that the Royals hadn’t done enough to improve their upside, I saw value in what they had done to limit their worst-case scenarios. It’s something they failed to do last offseason when they couldn’t or wouldn’t start the season with starting corner outfielders other than Melendez and Renfroe.

The 2026 Royals have, once again, looked for opportunities to limit their worst-case scenarios, even if they haven’t done a ton to expand their best-case scenarios. And what that does is buy them time. What kind of time does it buy them? Well, let’s look at a few scenarios:

• Teams may not be as interested in Kris Bubic as they could be later because they haven’t seen him pitch healthily since the All-Star Break last year. KC has time to showcase him both in Spring Training and, if it comes to it, in the regular season.
• Teams that currently think they’re on the edges of competing may realize by the Trade Deadline that they really aren’t and will finally give up a piece the Royals want.
• The Royals’ farm system may gain some more steam as the additional results come in through 2026, giving them more pieces to trade or make the pieces they have more valuable or easier to part with. See: Kendry Chourio going from someone most of us had never heard of to a top-100 prospect over the course of a few months last year.
• Carter Jensen could come close to maintaining his breakout September 2025 performance, and Jac Caglianone could finally live up to the hype that got him promoted to the big leagues after less than a year in the minors. The Royals suddenly wouldn’t even need to beef up their lineup.

The Royals got to the end of July last year with a 54-55 record. Had they had competent outfielders, it’s safe to say it would have been something more like 57-52. Had they had better options for replacing injured starting pitchers, maybe they’d have even been at 60-49. That brings us to the one caveat of this exercise.

The Royals’ outfield was so bad last year that they could trade an unranked prospect for a middling outfielder and drastically improve the roster. They’ve already got the middling outfielders on the roster this year. If they want to make a similar deadline improvement, it’s going to cost more and/or be harder to find that upgrade. Hopefully, if the Royals’ plan is to survive the first half to the point that an aggressive trade deadline gets the job done, they know what they’re getting into.

In Mariners news…

• ICYMI: The Mariners have acquired All-Star infielder Brendan Donovan in a three-team trade with the St. Louis Cardinals and Tampa Bay Rays. Top prospects Jurrangelo Cijntje and Tai Peete have been sent to the Cardinals, in addition to a 2026 Comp B draft pick from both the Mariners and Rays, and third baseman Ben Williamson is headed to Tampa Bay.
• Adam Jude at The Seattle Times explains the Mariners’ plan for both the right field and DH positions this season.

Around the league…

• Philadelphia Phillies top outfield prospect Justin Crawford recently worked through weeks of defensive drills with three-time Gold Glove winner Eric Davis.
• The Chicago White Sox are adding a unique feature to their clubhouse for new signing Munetaka Murakami.
• Michael Rosen at FanGraphs details the intricacies of catcher blocking statistics.
• Los Angeles Dodgers closer Edwin Diaz has committed to playing for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic, despite his unfortunate injury at the tournament in 2023.
• Outfielder Avisail Garcia has announced his retirement after 13 MLB seasons.

Over the last couple of years, a number of MLB teams have had their RSN deals either end or collapse, and their TV rights have reverted to the league.

Prior to 2026, the Padres, Diamondbacks, Rockies, Guardians, Twins and Mariners had their TV rights assigned to MLB Local Media, the league’s production arm for local broadcasts. The Mariners continued to broadcast games on ROOT Sports Northwest for the 2025 season, but that RSN shut down near the end of the season and the Mariners created “Mariners.TV” to broadcast their games in 2026.

The Nationals, as I noted here last month, have also joined the group of teams with rights reverting to MLB for this year.

Monday, six more teams joined that group:

Main Street Sports Group, operator of the FanDuel Sports Network RSNs, has reached the end of the line with its Major League Baseball partners.

The nine Major League Baseball teams who were under contract with Main Street Sports Group have officially left the company, according to Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal. Earlier Monday, John Ourand of Puck reported on social media that six of the nine teams — the Brewers, Cardinals, Marlins, Rays, Reds and Royals — were leaving Main Street for the MLB in-house production arm, with the Angels, Braves and Tigers said to be undecided.

Three of those teams — the Cardinals, Brewers and Royals — made announcements Monday. Here’s the Cardinals announcement, here’s the one from the Brewers, and here’s the one from the Royals.

I would expect announcements from the Marlins, Reds and Rays soon, if not today. For the other three, from the Sports Media watch article:

As for the other teams, the next step was not entirely clear. While Ourand reported that at least six teams are moving their rights in-house, Friend was less definitive, reporting that eight — the aforementioned six, plus the Tigers and Angels — would shift their rights either to MLB “or alternative platforms,” with Victory+ and Kiswe among possibilities.

At least one of those teams, the Tigers, would seem to be leaning toward MLB, as Friend reported that its ownership group is “expected” to move both the Tigers and NHL Red Wings under the MLB Media umbrella. (MLB already handles production of the NHL Network.)

The Braves, per Friend, are expected to follow in the footsteps of the Rangers and create their own RSN.

Thus, close to half the league will have local TV rights controlled by MLB. As you’ll recall, Commissioner Rob Manfred would eventually like to have all local TV rights in-house. The theory is that if MLB could sell local and national rights together, rights fees could be higher. Whether that’s true remains to be seen.

There’s another issue with these rights reverting to the league and going mostly to streaming (though in markets where this has happened, a regional cable/satellite deal is usually struck). Travis Sawchik explains at MLB.com:

For the clubs that lost their RSN deals, the broadcast deals replacing them have, on average, paid out about 50% of what clubs had received from their former cable deals. Local TV revenue matters more to MLB clubs than any other major sport.

Well, obviously that matters. If a team is getting only about half what they used to receive via their RSN deal, that’s clearly going to cut into the amount they have available for player payroll.

Thus, as you can imagine, this might be one of the driving forces behind some owners pushing for a salary cap. Here are some thoughts about that from Darragh McDonald at MLB Trade Rumors:

It will take a few years to see how that all plays out. In the shorter term, it could impact the upcoming collective bargaining agreement negotiations. The current CBA expires December 1st of this year. Presumably, MLB doesn’t want those talks to lead to canceled games in 2027. Ratings and attendance have been up lately, with the faster pace of the pitch clock a possible explanation. Missed games due to a lockout would hurt that momentum, which wouldn’t help the league in selling rights the following year.

As always, we await developments.