New beginnings. So much hope, so much promise. The 2026 season is brand-new, and so is Shane Baz’s career as an Oriole. This week the team announced a five-year, $69-million extension for the right-hander—all before he’d thrown a single regular-season pitch. The front office called it a “no brainer.” It almost feels like too much anticipation.

All I can say after today is, given the sharpness of Baz’s stuff, they may be right, but four runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 IP wasn’t the first impression Baz, or any of us, had hoped for. He threw just one bad inning, but seven hits is a lot.

It’s fair to say that in today’s Game 3 series finale against the Twins, Orioles pitching was a shambles. Between the two teams, there were fourteen runs allowed total, 24 hits, and ten ABS challenges (more on those in a sec). But in the end, it was OK, because O’s hitters delivered a special performance.

Down 4-0 early, the O’s rallied, courtesy of a Tyler O’Neill three-run homer in the fourth, and a two-run go-ahead double by Dylan Beavers in the sixth. New-ish reliever Yaramil Hiraldo allowed the Twins to tie it, 5-5, with a first-pitch homer, and Rico García had to clean up a bases-loaded mess, as he did all last season. The O’s raced ahead again with three runs in the seventh, including on an Adley Rutschman pinch-hit RBI double. Again their bullpen tried to give it away, Tyler Wells looking faulty. But Yennier Cano got another clutch, bases-loaded K, and Ryan Helsley was, if not lockdown, good enough. Batters were challenging strike and ball calls all day, and it was a little dizzying, but overall, ABS seems to be a good innovation.

Let’s start at the beginning. This was my first real impression of Shane Baz and here are some thoughts: OK, so the Baz fastball really does live at 96-97 mph. Wow! He hit 99. OK, he’s got a wicked knucklecurve, too. Total “swords” material, as the Pitching Ninja would say. He can also mix in a 91-mph cutter just to confuse things.

This is really pretty stuff. Maybe it’ll produce an ace one day, but Baz’s outing today wasn’t pretty. He dispatched the Twins in a stylish nine-pitch first inning, capped off by a challenged strikeout of Byron Buxton that ABS vindicated! But the second inning was a mess.

Four Twins reached with no outs: Matt Wallner served a 98-mph fastball into center, Josh Bell got hit, catcher Victor Caratini tapped an elevated offspeed pitch to left, and an infield single to second made it 1-0 Twins. Baz battled to strike out Royce Lewis, but the victory was pyrrhic. No. 9 hitter Tristan Gray doubled past a diving Tyler O’Neill, and three runs scored. The relay from center to second to third saw Coby Mayo put the tag on the runner, then fire home too late to stop the fourth run from scoring.

After that, Baz got better. In the fourth, Beavers, in his first-ever game in centerfield, lost a ball in the sun (d’oh—you felt for him), gifting Josh Bell a double. But Coby Mayo fielded a grounder, tagged Bell (or Bell left the basepaths; it wasn’t clear), a run-saving play. In the fifth, Byron Buxton dropped in a blooper to the right-field corner, but Tyler O’Neill fired a bullet to second. Buxton overran the bag, and he was out!

The scoreboard stayed 4-0.

At this point, the Orioles offense was even more disheartening than Baz’s one bad inning, because they were getting handled by Very-Large-But-Otherwise-Not-Terribly-Scary Twins starter Bailey Ober, who has a slowish fastball and a decent changeup/slider combo. I’m not just being mean: from the booth, Ben McDonald said “When I look at his stuff, it doesn’t wow me.”

But Orioles hitters made their adjustments off the soft-tossing giant, and Tyler O’Neill delivered again, this time with the bat. Pete Alonso had led off with a 108-mph single, bringing a needed jolt of life to this lineup, and Basallo followed with a single. Tyler O’Neill went to a 3-1 count and got a hanging sinker: bam. Out it went, crushed to left field. It was, as the booth said, a “muscular” response by O’Neill (that’s a working out joke, by the way).

The two starters were out early, and the ABS challenge system proved critical to both their replacements. Twins youngster Mick Abel coughed up Gunnar Henderson’s first hit of the year but still posted a scoreless fifth, boosted by an ABS-assisted strikeout of Taylor Ward. Taking over for Baz in the top of the sixth, lefty Grant Wolfram struck out Matt Wallner when Basallo challenged the ball four call. Gutsy! It was a strike by a hair, and this conceivably saved a run because the next hitter doubled.

The Orioles put up two more runs in the sixth, as O’Neill walked, Coby Mayo hit a bloop double, and Dylan Beavers delivered his biggest hit of the young season.

The Orioles bullpen did not look nails today, and I have some questions, but that’s for another day. Yaramil Hiraldo allowed a game-tying homer on his very first pitch, then hung several sliders and walked three batters. Rico García, Mop-up Man Extraordinaire, froze Matt Wallner, who pointlessly used his ABS challenge, and it proved important the next inning.

In the seventh, Twins newbie Mick Abel was kind of hung out to dry—I’d have pulled him before 81 pitches, but I’m just a couch potato, after all. After a leadoff single, Gunnar Henderson was alleged to walk. Ball Four was definitely not a ball, but home plate ump Chris Segal blew it, and the Twins were out of challenges! With Ward on second and Gunnar on first, Pete Alonso came through with a single on an outside pitch. (OK, for the record, this guy can really hit.) The O’s weren’t done: a pinch-hitting Adley Rutschman cranked a double to the center-field wall to make it 7-5 good guys. Basallo was intentionally walked (flattering). With no outs, Mr. Canada grounded into a forceout, but Coby Mayo came through with a single. 8-5 Birds.

Unfortunately, Tyler Wells, like Yaramil Hiraldo, was also having a “can’t find the strike zone day,” and he, too, let a run in and loaded the bases. Today, Yennier Cano was up to the task, however, and froze Buxton, complete with a triumphal Cano Strikeout Pose.

Ryan Helsley, pitching on a couple days rest, had himself an 8-6 lead to protect. He did not look particularly sharp, and again, ABS came to the rescue. After a leadoff single, new left fielder Taylor Ward earned his keep with a low ranging grab on a sinking liner. Then, Helsley nearly walked Josh Bell, but new backstop Adley successfully challenged a 3-0 ball call. Come back to the plate, Josh! Then, Helsley dropped in a 3-2 slider on the edge of the strike zone that the ump called ball four. Now Helsley challenged it, and lo and behold, it was a strike by a hair!

Here is Adley’s challenge (Pitch 4) and Helsley’s (Pitch 6). Clearly, ABS is already making a huge difference.

That was a crazy one, folks! It was also a series win, and a great day for the bats.

So, who is your vote for Most Birdland Player of Sunday’s outing? Mr. Canada himself, Tyler O’Neill and his three-run jack? Pete Alonso, who kickstarted the offense and had two singles and a walk? Dylan Beavers, coming through with a go-ahead, two-out double? Rico García, who pulled another Houdini with the game tied and the bases loaded in the seventh?

Make sure to leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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The first edition of Sunday Night Baseball in 2026 pits a pair of uneven starters against one another as the Seattle Seahawks host the Cleveland Guardians.

My Guardians vs. Mariners predictions expect the offenses to make life miserable for both starters in a high-scoring final.

Check out our full MLB picks for Sunday, March 29, including Sunday Night Baseball props from analyst J.D. Yonke.

Guardians vs Mariners predictions

Guardians vs Mariners best bet: Over 7.5 (-122)

This total does not account for what these two starters are.

Cleveland Guardians hurler Slade Cecconi posted a 4.99 xERA last season with a 49% hard-hit rate that was among the worst in the sport.

Meanwhile, Seattle Mariners starter Emerson Hancock is trying to outperform his underwhelming metrics entering his third season. The righty posted a 4.90 ERA last season, paired with a 5.51 expected ERA. The season before followed a similar pattern, with a 4.75 ERA and a 5.92 expected ERA.

The ball will be in play early and often, and the quality of contact should be high.

COVERS INTEL: Cecconi’s 12% barrel rate and 49% hard-hit rate both ranked in MLB’s bottom 10% among qualified 2025 starters.

Guardians vs Mariners same-game parlay (SGP)

The -144 price point for Seattle is about right with my -146 projection.

I’m genuinely more confident in the Mariners' bats to exploit a pitcher with a serious barrel rate and hard-hit problem. Cal Raleigh looms large, but others like Dominic Canzone, Luke Raley, and Randy Arozarena posted hard-hit rates above 40% last season.

Guardians vs Mariners SGP

• Over 7.5
• Mariners moneyline

Guardians vs Mariners home run pick: Dominic Canzone (+430)

Canzone opened the year with two homers and has posted a Top-3 exit velocity among all Guardians and Mariners hitters in this series. He projects favorably against Cecconi’s fastball-slider combo, particularly the slider, which is a pitch the righty leans on heavily. Canzone posted the highest hard-hit rate among Seattle hitters against that pitch last season.

Guardians vs Mariners odds

• Moneyline: Cleveland +122 | Seattle -144
• Run line: Cleveland +1.5 (-176) | Seattle -1.5 (+146)
• Over/Under: Over 7.5 (-118) | Under 7.5 (-104)

Guardians vs Mariners trend

The Seattle Mariners have hit the Game Total Over in 90 of their last 160 games (+17.65 Units / 10% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Guardians vs. Mariners.

How to watch Guardians vs Mariners and game info

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There are some positives that the St. Louis Cardinals can take away from Sunday’s 11-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, but Dustin May’s start is not one of them as he was hammered through 4 innings.

Dustin May’s unfortunate outing started to go south in the 2nd inning when the Tampa Bay Rays strung together a single by Simpson, a double by Deluca giving the Rays their first run who then advanced to 3rd on a sac fly by Palacios. Deluca scored on a wild pitch from May giving the Rays a 2-0 lead. Williams hit a ground ball up the middle, but ended up with a hustle double. Fedducia singled on a ball that popped out of Burleson’s glove followed by a Diaz single putting the Rays up 3-0 early.

The Cardinals would get on the board in the bottom of the 3rd inning when Jordan Walker ripped a double to left. He would later score when a Victor Scott II infield single was mishandled by Palacios.

Tampa Bay added to their lead in the 4th inning when Fedducia walked and scored after Diaz doubled. Aranda then doubled to right field scoring Diaz who would also score on a double by Aranda. The double parade continued with Mullins which scored Aranda giving the Rays a 6-1 lead.

The Cardinals would show big signs of life in the bottom of the 4th inning when Masyn Winn singled, Thomas Saggese walked and then Jordan Walker lit up an off-speed pitch on the outside part of the plate and deposited it into the left field stands.

The St. Louis bullpen did a solid job for a couple innings when Justin Bruihl relieved Dustin May in the 5th and 6th innings and held the Rays scoreless. George Soriano kept the Rays off the board in the 7th inning, but Matt Pushard’s major league debut in the 8th inning was not a successful one as Tampa Bay would add 3 more runs in that frame giving them a 9-4 lead.

The 2026 Cardinals continue to prove that they have no quit in them as Nolan Gorman slammed a home run into the right field stands in the bottom of the 8th.

Jordan Walker continued to show a much-improved approach as he hit a laser shot single to right field following the Gorman home run. He was followed by Pedro Pagés who also homered making it a 2-run lead at the time.

Tampa Bay added more runs in the top of the 9th inning thanks to a sacrifice bunt given up by Chris Roycroft making the score 10-7 who was also victimized by another dribbler in front of the mound which gave the Rays a 11-7 lead which is how the game would end.

There are a lot of positives even in a Sunday defeat. JJ Wetherholt got another hit as he’s opened the season with a .308 average. Jordan Walker looks like a changed man as he went 3 for 4. Nolan Gorman came off the bench and homered in one of his at-bats. Justin Bruihl and George Soriano did a great job out of the bullpen giving the Cardinals at least a chance to come back.

The St. Louis Cardinals will be back in action Monday night as the New York Mets come to town. Kyle Leahy is scheduled to make his first start of the year for the Cardinals.

The Iowa Cubs were caught hibernating by the Columbus Clippers (Guardians), 7-5.

It was a good start for Jaxon Wiggins, who went four innings and allowed just one run on two hits. Wiggins struck out six and walked two.

Here’s Wiggins getting a strikeout.

Meanwhile, the I-Cubs took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when right fielder Justin Dean doubled to lead off the inning and then second baseman James Triantos beat out an infield single to score Dean with two outs.

The I-Cubs made it 4-0 in the bottom of the second with this three-run blast from third baseman Pedro Ramirez.

First baseman BJ Murray Jr. made it 5-1 in the bottom of the third with this solo home run.

But then the I-Cubs bats went silent. Gavin Hollowell threw two great innings of relief, allowing no runs and no hits. He walked one and struck out three. But Tyler Santana was called upon to pitch the eighth and ninth innings. He allowed one inherited run and one more of his own to score in the eighth and then allowed a solo home run to lead off the ninth and a three-run home run to Nolan Jones that gave Columbus the lead for good.

The final line on Santana was five runs on three hits and four walks over two innings. He struck out two.

Iowa did bring the go-ahead run to the plate with two outs in the ninth, but DH Jonathon Long hit the first pitch to the shortstop for an easy fielder’s choice that ended the game.

Pedro Ramirez was 1 for 2 with the home run and two walks. He also stole a base.

BJ Murray Jr. was 1 for 4 with the home run.

Justin Dean went 1 for 3 with the double and two walks.

Having had a while to process last night’s 6-5 loss against the Guardians, I have determined that as far as losses go, I’m pretty okay with this one. Yes, there were incredibly frustrating things: the bullpen coughing up a key run after some questionable decisions, the utter lack of hitting with runners in scoring position, the double-digit strikeouts. But there were enough positives to take away to leave me about as encouraged as one can be about a loss.

One: Bryan Woo looked unhittable for five innings

Woo’s postgame interview was agonizing as he shouldered the blame for the loss after giving up [checks notes] two runs over six innings. Yes, the command faltered in the sixth, but Woo’s performance up to that point was dominant. The Guardians came in with a plan to be aggressive against him and Woo pounded the zone anyway, forcing the Guardians into quick, weak-contact outs. He also racked up nine strikeouts, 15 whiffs, and hit a career milestone of four hundred strikeouts en route to re-establishing himself as the ace of the rotation.

Two: Randy keeps getting on base

Randy Arozarena’s ice-cold challenge in the second inning that resulted in a walk was one of my favorite moments from yesterday’s game. Randy will get his hacks in, make no mistake about it, but he is running an extremely hilarious (to me) 7.7% strikeout rate vs. a 31% BB rate over these first three games.

Three: Cole Wilcox makes a strong Mariners debut

Wilcox, who’s up in place of the injured Carlos Vargas, showed why he was a spring training standout with an efficient 1-2-3 inning. The issue for Wilcox is throwing strikes, and he did that last night against the bottom of the Guardians’ order, including a fairly devastating three-pitch sequence to CJ Kayfus that ended with Kayfus chasing after 96 on the top rail. You can read more about Wilcox here.

Four: Cole Young continues to be on time for the fastball

Young didn’t have a great day at the plate but he came up huge in the ninth, shooting a 97.5 mph fastball oppo down the left-field line for a leadoff double and eventually scoring the tying run. Young continues to handily beat his preseason projections into the ground and while pitches will eventually stop throwing him fastballs on the plate, Young also did a good job in this at-bat of laying off a couple of tough splitters.

Five: Julioooooooooo

This was the feel-good moment of the night for me. It’s been a scuffle for Julio over these first three games but this game-tying single where he just used his strength to muscle the ball into right-center was cathartic. It’s encouraging to see Julio not getting too big with his swing and doing what the moment calls for, tying it up and passing the baton.

“What we saw from Julio throughout the spring was using the whole field, and that was a perfect example there,” said Dan Wilson. “Not trying to do too much, especially with two strikes, just trying to get something in play there, and he did get a pitch he could handle and found a hole over there on the right side and gave us the tie at the time. Outstanding at-bat for him.”

Six: That Chase DeLauter homer was an anomaly

96.6 up and away? On a cold March night in Seattle? xBA of .490, 99 mph off the bat and 365 feet? Home run at 20 of 30 parks? Get all the way out of here.

Seven: Healthy Luke Raley is a menace to opposing teams

[Crocodile Dundee voice] That’s not a home run, that’s a home run. Raley had one home run over 400 feet last year after hitting 11 in 2024, including a career-long 459-footer, and 12 in 2023 with Tampa Bay. He’s already notched one such blast three games into the 2026 season with this 411-footer, scorched off the bat at 108.9 mph.

Eight: Return of the comeback kids

Maybe the most encouraging thing from last night’s loss: the comeback the team mounted in the last few innings, even if it fell short. Cole Young said that J.P. Crawford took him aside between innings to encourage him and help coach him up with a scouting report on the pitcher, right before his leadoff double. Young also said Josh Naylor was feeding positive energy to the dugout, telling everyone the Mariners were going to come back and win that game. It didn’t happen last night, but the pieces are in place.

“That’s what this team does,” said Wilson. “We have seen that time and time again, and to feel that energy in here, to feel that fight in here again, that’s a really good sign as we get started.”