For you night owls in the readership, today’s game is for you: The first night game of 2026.

For you aspiring broadcast consumers in the readership, however, this game is not at all for you, with no options beyond play-by-play on Gameday to follow the action. Yes, it’s unlikely you’re going to stay up until 10 p.m. chatting about agate type-reports of Game 14 of Spring Training. Still, I will persist with a game thread.

Sean Burke gets the ball for the third time, back by some of the hotter bats of spring:

I don’t profess to know much about the Guardians, but a lineup sans Kwan or Ramírez is advantage: White Sox in my eyes. Or alternately, a new White Sox Killer could be born in today’s game.

Tipoff is 7:05 p.m. I will try to pen a creative recap base on, dunno, exit velocity, very late tonight.

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And in other news, the roster for the Spring Breakout Game on March 21. Undoubtedly, this roster consists of the most promising prospects in the White Sox system:

As we did a year ago, we’ll be carving out separate coverage for the prospects game, a couple of weeks from now.

In related news, beginning in 2027 this prospects showcase is going to expand into a tournament, which could be fun to follow — especially in a non-WBC year.

MESA, Arizona — It was a windy day in the Valley of the Sun Thursday, but neither Cubs home run needed any help from the wind. Dansby Swanson homered in the third and Carson Kelly added one in the fifth and the Cubs defeated the Diamondbacks 8-1.

The Cubs put two on the board in the first. Michael Busch led off with a double and Nico Hoerner tripled him in [VIDEO].

You can’t really see it in that clip, but the ball rattled around in the right-field corner, allowing Hoerner to take third. One out later, he scored on a single by Swanson.

Colin Rea gave up a couple of hits in the first but after that retired eight of the next nine D-backs hitters. One of them was on a really nice, PCA-style diving catch in center field by Kevin Alcántara and you’re just going to have to trust me on that because there’s no video available. Rea then allowed a homer to Pavin Smith leading off the fourth, the only run he allowed. Rea struck out six and threw 57 pitches (41 strikes). Here’s more on Rea’s outing [VIDEO].

The Cubs extended their lead to 4-0 in the third. With two out, Ian Happ walked.

Swanson followed with this home run, another opposite-field shot [VIDEO].

That was a good pitch to hit and Dansby got it. It’s really good to see him take pitches like this to right field.

In the fifth, Carson Kelly went deep with two out and Michael Conforto on second [VIDEO].

Conforto, incidentally, had two hits and a walk as the DH in this game. He’s looked pretty good, yes in a very small sample size. He has a real chance to make this team, in my view.

The Cubs were up 7-1 at this point. They got good relief outings from Phil Maton, Hoby Milner, Caleb Thielbar and Corbin Martin.

You’ll notice I left out Luke Little, who threw a scoreless eighth. Sure, that’s good, but once again he got himself in trouble with walks, two of them. He’s thrown 3.2 innings this spring and walked six and yes he has talent but the walks are likely to send him back to Triple-A Iowa again. Here’s hoping he can figure things out.

Of note: Brady Counsell, Craig’s son who was Arizona’s 10th-round pick out of the University of Kansas, entered the game in the seventh and was one of the two guys Little walked in the eighth.

Attendance watch: 12,824 attended this game at Sloan Park. That makes the season total 92,201 for eight dates, or 11,525 per date.

The Cubs will play their first spring night game of 2026 Friday at Peoria against the Padres. Ben Brown will start for the Cubs and Germán Márquez will go for San Diego. Game time is 8:10 p.m. CT and there will be TV coverage via Padres TV. It’s also on MLB Network (no blackouts). There will also be a radio broadcast with the Padres announcers on KWFN 97.3.

If you missed today’s Mariners spring training game, well, that might have been for the best. This one got out of hand early when the Padres put up an twelve-spot in the second and didn’t improve from there. Of all the spring training games, this one was the spring trainingiest (so far).

Luis Castillo got the start today and, well, things could have gone better. Castillo worked out of a jam in the first: after allowing Jake Cronenworth to reach on a hard-hit (104 EV) single, Jackson Merrill fought off a four-seamer up in the zone for a double, putting runners at second and third with no outs. But, Houdini-like, Castillo escaped the jam, striking out Ramón Laureano swinging on a 95.7 mph four-seamer, getting Gavin Sheets to tap into an easy groundout on a changeup (the Mariners executed their second rundown of the spring, again recording the out even as the runners advanced to second and third), and ending on a sword strikeout of Nick Castellanos on a 96.3 mph fastball. Castillo’s four-seamer had some extra heat in that first inning, registering as high as 96.7.

The velocity held for Castillo in the second, but unfortunately the run suppression did not. He gave up a lot of hard contact to the Padres, including a first-pitch ambush swing for a solo home run to Sung-Mun Song followed by back-to-back doubles to make it 2-0; then some sloppy play ensued including a walk to Cronenworth and a fielding error by Ryan Bliss, which then resulted in two more runs scored on a Laureano single, making it 4-0.

Then the game got silly. Tyler Cleveland came in to try to stop the bleeding and instead allowed in another run, although he didn’t get help from Spencer Packard in left field who dropped a sun ball. Cleveland walked in a run. Luke Raley lost a ball in the sun in right field. The Padres lead doubled to 8-0. Then 10-o. The scoreboard operator made a mistake and put up 11-0. Dan Wilson was forced to get another cannon fodder arm to try to finish the inning. Stefan Raeth threw one pitch to Jake Cronenworth that he hit over the left field wall. 12-0. Laureano doubled. The third out in the second inning was proving to be as elusive as the Mariners getting their fourth win of the spring.

Finally, finally, Gavin Sheets hit a little flare to left field, headed towards the much-abused Packard. It looked like it might drop in to create a touchdown of runs for the Padres, but Packard ran in and, against all odds, made the catch. The crowd went wild.

The Mariners got a run back off Walker Buehler in the bottom of the inning. Patrick Wisdom singled, and Rhylan Thomas tripled into the right field corner. Packard small-balled the second run home with an RBI groundout. While it is probably a better long-term strategy to focus on things that would actually help win games during the regular season, it’s a little disappointing the Mariners didn’t do what the Padres hitters were doing and just put a bunch of stuff up into the swirling wind and hope for the best.

But the Padres got all those runs right back and more off Alex Hoppe, who gave up five runs on two homers to turn the game from a laugher into laughing gas, 17-2. Hoppe baffles me. His four-seamer is a great pitch, with heavy downward plane that comes in around 98-99 and creates swing-and-miss, and he can throw it for strikes. The problem seems to be that pitch’s supporting cast. Today he couldn’t land his slider, which wound up fat and juicy on the plate for hard contact; the changeup didn’t tempt swings, and the cutter location was inconsistent. There’s something there; it’s just not there yet.

Troy Taylor had the fourth and got two quick outs on his sweeper, leading me to mentally retitle this recap “the Troy Taylor Game” before he surrendered a solo home run to Andujar, who dropped the barrel on a sweeper to make it 18-2, but he rebounded to strike out Francisco Acuna looking (thanks to a savvy ABS challenge by Mitch Garver). Troy Taylor game back on!

Then it was trading solo home runs. The Mariners got two, from Patrick Wisdom and Rob Refsnyder. The Padres got two off Casey Lawrence, who gets today’s Sun Visor award for cleaning up this stinker.

But wait. There were still several more innings to play, and another three-run home run for Blas Castaño to give up. And then another two-run home run for Nick Davila to give up.

In the eighth, Jared Sundstrom – who is nicknamed “Sunny” which is one of the better baseball nicknames, especially for the blond-haired golden-skinned Sundstrom – realized that he could also, like Captain Planet, use the power of the wind for his own ends and blasted his first home run of the spring off Tristan McKenzie, who apparently is doing mop-up work in spring training games these days. Rough. Sundstrom’s calling card is his light tower power, so it was fun to see that in action.

The Padres were able to add one more run in the ninth off Reid Van Scoter just so no Mariners pitcher would post a clean line today. But Carson Taylor got that run right back on a solo shot of his own (maybe his pal Sunny clued him in about the wind trick), keeping the deficit at a solid three touchdowns’ worth of runs. The Mariners will try again to secure that elusive fourth win of the spring tomorrow in Surprise against Texas, and surprise, Kade Anderson gets the start, so don’t let today’s stinker preclude you from tuning in to that one (although sadly it is radio only).

Other bits and bobs:

-Brendan Donovan worked a walk in the first inning. His OBP this spring is currently a nice round .500.

-With Donovan on first, Luke Raley hit a hard groundball (103 mph EV) that the shortstop couldn’t handle, bobbling it before tossing it to second, and Donovan probably should have been called safe. In penance, Raley went on to steal second. Healthy Luke Raley is fun.

-Rob Refsnyder hit a solo shot off lefty JP Sears, earning that lefty-killer moniker.

-In the eighth inning Freddy from Mariners PR bought churros from the churros man and I didn’t get one. OSHA violation! Hostile workplace!

-Brock Rodden showed off a very strong arm at third base, making a surehanded play right at the line followed by a strong toss across the diamond. Good third base defense is my love language. (You will see, if you look at the box score, Rodden was given an error on a throw later. This, in my opinion, was not a fair error assignation, and it was also not considered an error by the first baseman Carson Taylor who immediately threw his glove over his mouth and shouted something unrepeatable when he didn’t field the ball cleanly.)

-Spring training games should have mercy rules.

Process, process, process—the results of a spring training game matter most when they validate certain processes and reinforce an idea. The Dodgers scored a boatload of runs in a 14- 13 walk-off loss against the Reds; one of their expected regulars, Max Muncy, went yard, but what mattered more than anything else was the validation of Santiago Espinal’s case to make the Opening Day roster as a utility bat off the bench.

Espinal, who entered the game scorching hot this spring, having gone 8 for 14 in his first six games with a couple of extra-base hits, went yard twice, responsible for half a dozen RBI. Adding further praise to Espinal’s performance, those two home runs came against Emilio Pagán and Tony Santillan, two of the more experienced arms in the Reds bullpen.

Santiago hits his second homer of the game for the lead! #DodgersSTpic.twitter.com/UTaXqovud3

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) March 5, 2026

Once upon a time, an All-Star when he played for the Blue Jays in 2022, Espinal is coming off two horrendous campaigns with the Cincinnati Reds, and perhaps a change of scenery is exactly what his career needed.

Even before the game, Dave Roberts wasn’t shy about singing the praises of Espinal’s impact on and off the field.

Dave Roberts said today of Santiago Espinal: “It’d be hard to imagine him not being on the team.”

Espinal is 8-for-14 this spring, playing multiple positions defensively, and fitting in "seamlessly" in the clubhouse, Roberts added

ICYMI, from last week:https://t.co/hgSNAPIjGs

— Jack Harris (@ByJackHarris) March 5, 2026

Equally important as his production with the bat, Espinal, who played first base in this particular affair against the Reds, earns praise for his flexibility, having experience covering second, short, third, and corner outfield. It’s worth pointing out that there is a larger need at the start of the season for this role Espinal is likely to fill, given the fact that Kiké Hernández will begin the year on the injured list. Hernández is currently recovering from elbow surgery.

On the mound, it was not a pleasant time for the veteran Cole Irvin, on the hook for six of the runs the Dodgers allowed by giving up a trio of home runs, one of them at 114.5 MPH exit velocity to the very impressive Elly De La Cruz. The Dodgers led by three in the ninth when Jordan Weems came in to close the game, but Cincinnati ambushed him for four runs, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

Next on the docket, the Dodgers will play an evening game against the Royals on Friday, sending out youngster Jackson Ferris to make his third spring start. Ferris has yet to allow a run in 2.2 innings of work.

As the Yankees continue camp this spring, here are the latest moves as New York cuts their roster to 26 active players ahead of Opening Day...

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March 21, 12:10 p.m.

The Yankees are selecting veteran Randal Grichuk's contract, manager Aaron Boonetold reporters Saturday morning.

In a corresponding move, New York will option the versatile Oswaldo Cabrera to Triple-A.

Grichuk, 34, has gone 2-for-16 (.125) at the plate with a double and RBI this spring over six games. The 27-year-old Cabrera hasn't looked any better offensively, going 2-for-14 (.143) with a double and RBI as well over seven spring games.

The moves come on the heels of optioning Jasson Dominguez to Triple-A on Friday.

The team later announced that it was reassigning INF Paul DeJong and INF/OF Seth Brown to minor league camp, and optioning INF Max Schuemann to Triple-A.

March 19, 5:20 p.m.

While the Yankees assigning top pitching prospect Carlos Lagrange to minor league camp is making the headlines, the club also optioned right-hander Angel Chivilli to Triple-A on Thursday.

New York acquired Chivilli in a trade with the Rockies this offseason and the right-hander was in contention for a spot in the bullpen to start the season. 

In eight appearances this spring, Chivilli allowed 11 runs across 7.2 innings pitched but also struck out 10 batters and picked up a save against the Red Sox on Wednesday.

March 18, 10:28 p.m.

The New York Post's Joel Sherman reports that veteran infielder Paul DeJong does not plan to opt out of his minor league contract with the Yankees on Thursday. 

According to Sherman, DeJong is willing to begin the season in Triple-A if he doesn't make the team. 

The starting infield of Ben Rice, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Jose Caballero and Ryan McMahon is set with Paul Goldschmidt and Amed Rosario locks to fill out the bench. The Yankees would need a backup shortstop with Anthony Volpe injured, but it's unclear if that's the direction the Yankees will go. Oswaldo Cabrera is also an option for a bench role.

In 12 games this spring, DeJong is 6-for-31 with two home runs and two doubles. He's slashing .194/.306/.452 with a .758 OPS. 

He played 57 games with the Nationals last season, slashing .228/.269/.373 with six home runs and 10 doubles. 

March 6, 2:37 p.m.

The Yankees have reassigned RHP Adam Kloffenstein to minor league camp. 

The 25-year-old right-hander did not appear in a Grapefruit League game this spring. Kloffenstein has three major league appearances under his belt with the Blue Jays and Cardinals. He allowed two runs on five hits and two walks across 5.0 innings pitched in the bigs.

March 5, 6:30 p.m.

The Yankees announced their second wave of cuts and it includes RHP Chase Hampton.

Hampton, the team's No. 8 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, is coming off Tommy John surgery he had in February 2025. Hampton had not appeared in a Grapefruit League game this spring as he continues his recovery from elbow surgery.

In addition, the Yankees reassigned RHP Travis MacGregor and RHP Drake Fellows to minor league camp. 

Of the two, only Fellows appeared in an actual game. He threw 27 pitches, and allowed a hit and two walks in his one inning of work this spring.

Feb. 17, 4:10 p.m.

The Yankees announced they have reassigned RHP Alexander Cornielle and catcher Abrahan Gutierrez to minor league camp. This comes a day after the Yankees outrighted OF Yanquiel Fernandez off the major league roster and onto the Triple-A roster.

Fernandez had been a non-roster invitee. 

Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto was slated to start Team Japan’s first game in the World Baseball Classic early Friday morning Pacific Time in Tokyo against Chinese Taipei, with the expectation that he would pitch three innings.

While the right-hander is away from Camelback Ranch, other pitchers vying for a spot in the Dodgers' starting rotation will be under the microscope — especially with health concerns yet again coming into play.

The Dodgers are no strangers to navigating pitching injuries over the course of a long season. Last year, Yamamoto was the only Dodgers starter to not miss a turn, making 30 starts before making five more during the postseason. But other than the now-retired Clayton Kershaw, who made 22 starts last year, no other Dodger hurler started more than 18 games.

Yamamoto, right-hander Shohei Ohtani and right-hander Tyler Glasnow are locks for the rotation. But with left-hander Blake Snell likely to open the season on injured list as he nurses a shoulder injury, and right-hander Gavin Stone forced to pause any throwing activities as he attempts a comeback from major shoulder surgery, where do other potential starters stand at this stage of spring training?

Read more:Dodgers work with Andrew Toles' family to continue supporting former outfielder

Hard-throwing right-hander Roki Sasaki, looking to make a return to starting after a successful run as a relief pitcher in last year's postseason, has allowed seven runs combined in two Cactus League starts while giving up a good deal of hard contact. While Sasaki is trying to work through things in live action, including honing a third pitch for his arsenal, there is also the practical matter of making sure Sasaki is built up to start games once the regular season gets underway.

Which is why Roberts said Thursday the team plans to have Sasaki pitch a simulated game on their backfields at Camelback Ranch in addition to making his next start in order to help with his buildup.

“We need to get him to build up,” Roberts said.

Sasaki said Tuesday after his last start — in which he gave up four runs without retiring a batter in the first inning before getting re-inserted to pitch two scoreless frames — that he felt that he was having mechanical issues. Roberts, however, disagreed.

“This last start, I don’t think it was a mechanical thing,” Roberts said. “He just wasn’t making pitches early and we have to get him to four innings. ... We gotta build up, all the while being good, too, right? We had to take him out of the game the other day, and so when you’re getting down the road, you can’t afford to not have him build up.”

Another rotation option is 26-year-old Emmet Sheehan, who made 12 starts and logged a 2.82 ERA for the Dodgers after returning from Tommy John surgery midway through the season.

After falling behind early in camp due to an illness, Sheehan made his first appearance in the Cactus League Wednesday against Team Mexico. Sheehan recorded four outs, allowing one run off three hits and two walks.

Read more:'Opportunity is present.' Alex Freeland trying to take advantage of reps at second base

“I felt good,” Sheehan said. “[My] body felt great, delivery felt good. I just think execution was obviously a little bit off, so go back to work this week, and try to figure it out. I was just doing stuff that I don’t usually do today. [I’ll] probably focus a little more on slider execution, fastball execution next week, and get back to that.”

Two other options for the Dodgers include right-hander River Ryan, attempting to come back from his own Tommy John surgery, and left-hander Justin Wrobleski, who became a reliable option out of the bullpen during the postseason last year after serving as a spot starter and middle reliever during the regular season.

Ryan also appeared in Wednesday's game, tossing two scoreless innings and registering a 0.00 ERA in two appearances. Wrobleski has also not allowed a run over three innings of work in two Cactus League appearances, including one start.

Kyle Tucker will return to Dodgers Friday

Kyle Tucker is expected to return to the team Friday after his wife, Samantha, gave birth to a boy.

“Kyle Tucker will be back tomorrow morning,” Roberts said. “He’s a daddy, so they have a healthy baby boy and so that’s been great to hear. I chatted with him briefly yesterday, so he’ll be back tomorrow morning to then hopefully be in the lineup Saturday or Sunday, so that’s great.”

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

GOODYEAR, Ariz. –– The Dodgers’ Opening Day roster became a little clearer Thursday, with manager Dave Roberts all but assuring former All-Star and current minor-league signing Santiago Espinal of making the cut when camp breaks later this month.

“(He has fit in) seamlessly,” Roberts said. “It’d be hard to imagine him not being on the team.”

Espinal won’t have a big role, likely to be a utility option occupying the final spot on the bench.

Still, his emergence this spring has been a pleasant surprise, giving the Dodgers a Kiké Hernández-esque player capable of playing multiple positions defensively while Hernández recovers from offseason elbow surgery.

An All-Star with the Blue Jays in 2022, Espinal had regressed into one of the least productive regulars in the majors over the last couple seasons, culminating in a career-worst 2025 campaign with the Reds in which he hit .243 with a woeful 57 OPS+.

However, he has swung a hot bat this spring, improving to 12 for 19 after a two-homer, six-RBI display in Thursday’s 14-13 loss to the Reds at Goodyear Ballpark.

“That would be amazing,” Espinal, 31, said of potentially making the Opening Day roster, in what would be his seventh MLB season. “I just gotta let my work talk for me. So far, that’s what I’m doing.”

Here are four other takeaways from Dodgers camp Thursday:

Muncy returns: After missing the last several days out sick, Max Muncy returned to the Dodgers’ lineup with a bang, hitting a home run an at-bat before Espinal’s first blast in the Dodgers’ four-run third inning. Thursday marked only Muncy’s fourth appearance in Cactus League play. His home run was his first extra-base hit.

Irvin gets crushed: Minor-league signing Cole Irvin has an outside shot of being on the Dodgers’ Opening Day roster, as either a multi-inning swingman or spot starter. But the left-handed pitcher didn’t help his case in Thursday’s start, yielding three two-run homers in his three innings.

Caught my eye: Like Espinal, Alex Call is expected to be a role player this year, likely as the fourth outfielder on the roster. But the Dodgers still value his at-bat quality –– which he put on display Thursday by going 2 for 2 with two walks and an RBI double.

Up next: The Dodgers play their first night game of the spring Friday, hosting the Royals at 5:05 p.m. PT at Camelback Ranch.

Garrett Mitchell has all the talent in the world to be a star in this league. Injuries have plagued him to this point, but he’s healthy and showing what he’s capable of. Mitchell got this game started with a bang, a 462 foot home run off Michael Lorenzen that came off the bat at 111.5 MPH.

That was then followed by a Luis Rengifo single to score Jake Bauers and the Brewers were quickly up 2-0 on the Rockies. But Colorado was able to answer back against Robert Gasser after Tyler Freeman ripped an RBI double. Then with runners on the corners, a pickoff at first was able to get Mickey Moniak in a rundown, but he stayed in long enough for the runner from 3rd to score.

But the Brewers kept putting up runs against Lorenzen. Sal Frelick had the bases loaded in the 2nd inning after three straight free passes and had an RBI groundout to take back the lead. Then in the 3rd, Brock Wilken, getting the start at first base today, ripped an RBI single to the left side.

GARRETT MITCHELL JUST HIT A BALL 462 FEET TO LEAD OFF THE GAME pic.twitter.com/8xZ70RIqsD

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) March 5, 2026

The Rockies answered back, after Eddys Leonard lost a pop up in the Arizona sun that could’ve ended the 3rd inning and allowed a double, Gasser walked the next batter and that was it for him. Craig Yoho came in and gave up a single, which scored a run that was charged to Gasser. Gasser finished with 2.2 IP and 3 ER with 3 BBs and 2 Ks.

Yoho was back out for the 4th inning and allowed two more runs, though just one was earned after a pair of throwing errors charged to Jeferson Quero.

Then in the 5th inning, the Brewers offense exploded. Wilken and Quero had back-to-back singles, then Cooper Pratt walked, loading the bases for Garrett Mitchell. Mitchell ripped a double to the opposite field to bring home all three runners and re-take the lead at 7-5. Mitchell went 2-for-3 with a double, homer, a walk, and four RBIs.

Garrett Mitchell is having a monster day pic.twitter.com/qnrr03GEoL

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) March 5, 2026

After that, Sal Frelick singled to score Mitchell and Jake Bauers homered to put the Brewers up 10-5 and give them a six-spot in the 5th inning.

Sammy Peralta and Jacob Waguespack both had scoreless innings. Coleman Crow pitched the final three innings and gave up a pair of runs but continued to spin some 3,000 RPM curveballs and cutters.

The Brewers will be back in Cactus League action tomorrow against the Arizona Diamondbacks at American Family Fields of Phoenix. Chad Patrick is the scheduled starter for the Crew while Mitch Bratt starts for the D-Backs.