Category: Sports News

Contrary to the prevailing sentiment of today, teams like the Yankees and Dodgers need to succeed in various areas in order to build perennial contenders, and it goes beyond simply letting your money secure a postseason ticket. Nothing quite helps corroborate that, as a trip down memory lane to the 2013 season, one in which the Yankees lucked into an 85-win campaign and decided to do something about it, strengthening themselves all while weakening their biggest rivals by signing Jacoby Ellsbury on the open market — a deal that has lived on in infamy for the Yankees.

Jacoby Ellsbury
Signing Date: December 7, 2013
Contract: 7 years, $153,000,000

With the benefit of hindsight, who knew the Yankees would’ve been better off re-signing Curtis Granderson, who was coming off the worst season of his career, rather than diving in the deep end of the pool of the free agent market for outfield help? It was the thing we often ask teams to do. Ellsbury was the signing that didn’t pay off, but the Yankees could’ve just as easily gone after Shin Soo-Choo and been underwhelmed with his solid but still disappointing numbers as a Texas Ranger. In fact, one might argue that Choo would’ve been a better fit, considering the sole productive player remaining on the Yankees lineup from that previous campaign was Brett Gardner, a traditional center fielder. Adding top players is always welcomed, but at the time, it was irrefutable that part of the value of both Gardner and Ellsbury lay in what they delivered as hitters while playing center field — move them to a corner spot, and it’s an entirely different ballgame with those hitting stats, which is what the Yankees ultimately decided to do.

The comment about Gardner is true in part because Robinson Cano, the Yankees’ best player in 2013, had reached the open market as well. When Ellsbury was signed, there were some reports that didn’t rule them out from bringing back Cano, but as we know now, the Mariners delivered an offer New York was unwilling to match, putting even more pressure on Ellsbury to deliver as one of the key pieces of that new-look Yankees team. Much like there ultimately was a rather large gap between what the Yankees were willing to offer and what Cano ultimately received, the same could be said of Ellsbury and the Red Sox to an even larger extent — it quickly became clear he wasn’t coming back to Boston.

It should be noted that rather obvious concerns directly affected the perception of Ellsbury’s signing, one not necessarily welcomed with unanimous approval. The risks were rather evident for a player who relied heavily on speed as a part of his game and who had missed large chunks of two of his previous four seasons before reaching free agency. Unfortunately, even the short-term gain the Yankees thought they were acquiring didn’t last nearly as long as the team originally hoped.

Following in the footsteps of Johnny Damon, who also left the Red Sox to move to the Yankees in free agency as a speedy outfielder with a great hit tool, Ellsbury’s opening year in the Bronx was anything but a preview of what was to come. Ellsbury registered the most games he had since that runner-up MVP campaign in 2011, playing in 143 of 162 for the Yankees in 2014. Repeating the struggles of 2013 as a team, the Yankees labored their way through a mid 80s win campaign with Ellsbury’s addition nullified and then some by Cano’s departure. An aging lineup struggled to produce, particularly in the infield, wasting an outstanding debut season from Masahiro Tanaka, who really provided a boost to the starting staff.

During the 2015 season, the injury issues started to creep in, and while he was still able to play well over 100 games, Ellsbury’s numbers took a dive following a strained right LCL, leading to a career-worst .663 OPS and only 21 steals on 30 attempts, severely lowering his success rate on the basepaths. The Yankees managed to return to the playoffs that year as a Wild Card team, but Ellsbury didn’t feature in the starting lineup against the left-hander Dallas Keuchel and the Houston Astros; instead, he was a pinch-hitter for Chris Young.

Through a variety of factors, even before the injuries truly started to sideline Ellsbury for massive chunks, his numbers had already regressed to the point of making his contract a poor investment. Ellsbury remained healthy for the 2016 season, but his 88 OPS+ and disappointing numbers on the basepaths led to a pretty mediocre campaign. The Yankees, as a team, also took a step back and missed the playoffs for the third time in four seasons.

Following a similar path to the 2015 campaign, Ellsbury once again missed a little under two months in 2017, this time due to a concussion tracking a fly ball in center field in Kansas City in early May. Ellsbury had shown some promise before getting hurt, and he wrapped that year with a solid .750 OPS, a complementary piece in a Yankee team that went all the way until Game 7 of the ALCS against the Astros. Despite those numbers and Ellsbury being healthy for the playoffs, it was Aaron Hicks starting in CF for the Yankees throughout the duration of that postseason — Ellsbury got a limited role coming off the bench and didn’t record a hit in nine plate appearances.

In Game 4 of that ALCS, Ellsbury entered as a pinch-runner and came around to score in a 6-4 win—that would be his final play as a Yankee, with a plethora of injuries preventing him from ever taking the field again, unable to perform for the final three years of his deal. Ellsbury came into spring in 2018, having lost his starting center field role to Hicks. Sidelined due to an oblique injury, Ellsbury later had to undergo hip surgery that kept him out for the remainder of 2018. He was never able to return to a big league field, rehabbing without success for the entirety of 2019.

Unable to get on the field for two years, the Yankees released Ellsbury after the 2019 season in a move that later spurred a legal battle between the player and organization for the compensation of the remainder of his contract. The Yankees filed a grievance in an attempt not to pay the remainder of roughly $26 million they still owed Ellsbury, claiming the player had gone outside of the organization without adequate permission to get treatment. Eventually, a settlement was reached for an undisclosed amount. On top of saving some of that money, the Yankees got out of luxury tax problems, as paying the full figure to Ellsbury would’ve meant going over a second luxury tax threshold, resulting in a loss of draft picks.

When you sign any big-time free agent, there is always an assumption you’re paying for the present while assuming a certain loss down the line. The problem with Ellsbury is that both the short-term and the long-term went well below expectation, making for one of the worst free agent contracts this franchise has ever handed out — and if you want to add salt to the wound, the Red Sox selected Michael Kopech in the 2014 MLB Draft with the compensation pick they received for the departure of Ellsbury. Kopech didn’t do much with the Red Sox, but he was a key piece in the Chris Sale trade, the ace of Boston’s 2018 World Series title.

See more of the “50 Most Notable Yankees Free Agent Signings in 50 Years” series here.

Eleventh in the series. Today we look at the Cubs’ veteran right fielder.

31-year-old Seiya Suzuki is a native of Arakawa, Japan, who came to the Cubs in 2022, with a reputation for good OF defense and a lively bat, after a storied career in NPB, where he played for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp.

In his four years as a Chicago Cub, he has proven that he has significant power. In 2025, his best season so far, he turned in a slash of .245/.326/.478, which is quite good, but the campaign could have been better. The whole team offense cratered when Kyle Tucker tried to play through his injuries, and Suzuki was one of the most affected. The season ended up being a mere 2.6 bWAR as he didn’t play much defense (also 2.6 fWAR) and that total was based on his excellent 32 HR/103 RBI results. Projections indicate somewhat less power (25 homers or so) and significantly fewer RBI (85-90).

Suzuki could reduce his K-rate, which is around 25 percent, and walk a bit more (10-11 percent), but in general, he’s a productive power hitter who is often rated among the top ten at his position in the game. Predictions in general say that the Cubs’ power numbers will regress — connecting the dots, they’re looking at the second half to base that on, when the team didn’t play as well with the loss of Tucker’s explosive bat and more or less limped into the playoffs on the strength of a spectacular first half.

No surprises there, and while it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise if Suzuki clouted 30+ long balls, odds are he won’t. We’ll see. Suzuki is likely to bat 2nd or 4th in Craig Counsell’s flexible batting order, and perhaps Alex Bregman’s potent bat will provide some of the same spark that Tucker did.

Seiya will most likely be ensconced in right field this year, and is operating under the same protocol as Happ — it’s the last year of his deal. The Cubs are unlikely to sign both players, and we’ll have to see how that shakes out. The Cubs’ relative lack of MLB-ready bats definitely makes this an issue, if the 2027 season does indeed happen.

In the meantime, right field can be an adventure at times for Suzuki. He drops balls right out of his glove and doesn’t take the best routes. Granted, Wrigley is a tough field, but his NPB reputation suggested that he was far better than he appears to be defensively. He does make some good plays, though, so perhaps there’s hope.

And maybe he’ll get better strike calls.

Previous Winner

Brendan Summerhill, OF
22 | L/R | 6’3” | 200
A | .333/.429/.444 (160 wRC+) 42 PA, 0 HR, 5 SB, 6 BB, 5 K

Following an All-Star performance at the Cape Cod summer league, Summerhill exhibited some of the best bat-to-ball skills in NCAA as a junior at Arizona. His draft stock took a minor hit due to injury (broken hand from from punching a cooler) and was drafted 42nd overall, but Summerhill rebounded well with a dominant stop at Charleston to finish the year. Summerhill has plus barrel control, allowing for a high-contact approach for his long swing. He has plus speed as well, which provides a chance to stick in center. Evaluators would like to see more power to complete a five-tool profile. Even if the power doesn’t materialize, it’s an above average contributor’s projection.

Rank	Player	Position	Votes	Total	Percentage	Last Season
1	Carson Williams	SS	14	25	56%	1
2	Brody Hopkins	RHP	19	25	76%	8
3	Jacob Melton	OF	14	28	50%	NA
4	Theo Gillen	OF	14	26	54%	13
5	Ty Johnson	RHP	12	25	48%	15
6	Daniel Pierce	SS	13	23	57%	NA
7	Jadher Areinamo	INF	15	28	54%	NA
8	TJ Nichols	RHP	13	28	46%	NR
9	Michael Forret	RHP	8	33	24%	NA
10	Santiago Suarez	RHP	11	30	37%	16
11	Anderson Brito	RHP	7	28	25%	NA
12	Xavier Isaac	1B	9	28	32%	3
13	Caden Bodine	C	10	25	40%	NA
14	Brendan Summerhill	OF	11	27	41%	NA

A personal favorite of mine that I have been voting for since the No. 5 poll, Summerhill was a lucky find in the 2025 draft. I believe in the power potential, and think that could vault him to a sure fire projection in a year’s time. We shall see! Prospects will break your heart. At No. 14 we got three new players receiving votes in Flewelling, Harrison, and Baumeister. This round adds Guerrero.

Candidates

Jackson Baumeister, RHP
23 | 6’4” | 224
AA | 4.62 ERA, 4.15 FIP (15 GS) 62.1 IP, 19.5% K, 9.6% BB
AFL | 6 ER (1 HR), 9.0 IP (4 G, 3 GS), 10 K, 9 BB

A shoulder injury derailed what should have been Baumeister’s coming out party, as his previously plus breaking ball was expected to carve up Double-A. After a tough start to the year and two months on the sidelines, Baumeister returned in August and salvaged the season with a brilliant finish. The tough luck continued, however, in the Arizona Fall League, where a line drive struck him in the head, but he escaped without significant injury. Currently, Baumeister has taken on a fastball/slutter profile, with a slow curve in his back pocket, and has shown teachability and pitchability over the years. The former Seminole currently thrives on his frequently used major league fastball that may be better challenged by a promotion to Triple-A.

Slater de Brun, OF
18 | L/L | 5’10” | 187

Drafted 37th overall in 2025, through a draft pick traded by the Rays, de Brun was essentially re-acquired in the Shane Baz trade. Like many Rays outfield prospects he’s not expected to develop much power, but compensates with an ability to hit to all fields, and has the benefit of years to develop. His hit tool rates plus thanks to a quick, compact swing, and his double-plus speed elevates both his baserunning and range in center; he has a solid arm and can stick long term. The key to his development will be improving pitch selection to maximize his power potential. Despite not yet playing in a pro game, he’s a good bet to skip the complex league and debut in Charleston this season.

Homer Bush Jr.
24 | R/R | 6’3” | 215
AA | .301/.375/.360 (122 wRC+) 546 PA, 0 HR, 57 SB, 8.8% BB, 17.9% K

Acquired in the 2024 Jason Adam trade, the starting center fielder at Double-A passed the test of advanced pitching, but just barely. He lacks in-game power due to a lack of use of his lower half in his swing, and he whiffed more often than you can for long term success with a low-power approach. His calling cards are Rays-grade defense and plus-speed, having notably swiped 57 bags in back-to-back seasons.

Nathan Flewelling, C
19 | L/R | 6’2” | 200
A | .229/.393/.336 (126 wRC+) 439 PA, 6 HR, 9 SB, 20.3% BB, 27.6% K
A+ | 22 PA, 4 H, 5 BB, 6 K

The 94th overall pick from 2024, Flewelling made his debut at 18 years young and caught a full season (75 C, 26 DH), plus a five game cup of coffee (3 C, 2 DH). Taking the longview, he could grow into 50-60 grade power with 50 grade defense, which makes him one to follow. His plus zone awareness at the plate offsets his lagging contact, and most importantly for the position his ability to call games and frame pitches are already plus. A strong season with the bat at High-A could vault him into Top-100 consideration.

Brailer Guerrero, OF
20 | L/R | 6’1” | 215
A | 249.338/.399 (119 wRC+) 222 PA, 6 HR, 9 SB, 11.3% BB, 29.3% K
AFL | 2 H, 0 HR, 2 SB, 3 BB, 16 K, 29 PA

Good news: the $3.7 million 2023 signee made the leap out of the complex league in his final teenage season. Bad News: He was injured yet again, with hamstring and knee injuries limiting him to 51 games for Charleston. The Rays tried to make up for lost time with an aggressive assignment to the AFL that resulted in only two hits in 29 plate appearances. He makes loud contact from a quick, quiet swing which he pre-loads by reaching back for even more power. He appears to make early decisions to swing, leading to a bit extra whiffs against anything off-speed, but that could easily clear up with some consistent playing time.

Trevor Harrison, RHP
20 | 6’4” | 225
A | 2.61 ERA, 3.26 FIP, 82.2 IP (17 GS), 22.4% K, 10.7% BB
A+ | 3.33 ERA, 4.26 FIP, 24.1 IP (5 GS), 23.8% K, 12.4% BB

Harrison entered the season as Baseball America’s top pitcher in the system thanks to a cleaned up delivery and high heat. He ran into some bumps in the road by running up his pitch count against batters, but he still made it over 100 innings in 22 starts. A power pitcher through and through, his hard slider flirts with cutter classification and could evolve into two distinct pitches down the road. It will be interesting to see how his change up plays as he’s challenged at higher levels, but for now he has premium stuff and the upside of a rotation anchor. (video)

Tre’ Morgan, 1B/LF
23 | L/L | 6’0” | 215
AAA | .274/.398/.412 (119 wRC+) 402 PA, 8 HR, 8 SB, 15.9% BB, 19.2% K

Morgan continued to hit without power in 2025, a great discouragement for some evaluators, but his present 50-grade hit tool and feel for the zone allow a major league projection. He continued his improved, quieter two-strike approach in 2025 that built on his success retooling his swing in the AFL last year. The Rays gave Morgan 14 starts in Left Field last season, and Baseball America called the defense “playable,” but his value is tied to his plus-plus defense at First.

Aidan Smith, OF
21 | R/R | 6’2” | 190
A+ | .237/.331/.388 (114 wRC+) 459 PA, 14 HR, 41 SB, 11.5% BB, 31.2% K

Acquired in the Arozarena trade, Smith became the prince who was promised, a five tool athlete with a strong bat, good face, and a preternatural glove in center field. That promise unraveled a bit in 2025, with his strikeout rate rocketing nine percent and his power stroke faltering after facing harder velocities in High-A, causing both his hit and power grades to drop into the 40’s. It was a full transformation into a “center field” profile, but with his ceiling that’s not a compliment. He plays with a fire, but the dip in contact rate left some evaluators feeling burned.

Brayden Taylor, 2B/3B
24 | L/R | 6’0” | 180
AA | .173/.289/.286 (77 wRC+) 437 PA, 8 HR, 17 SB, 14% BB, 27.7% K
AFL | .264/.400/.472 (.384 wOBA) 65 PA, 1 HR, 5 SB, 12 BB, 19 K

Taylor entered 2025 as a top-100 prospect after demolishing High-A (154 wRC+), and left 2025 as an afterthought on prospect lists, although he was selected as an Arizona Fall League “Fall Star” in between, where he worked to keep his chase rate low and his hard hit rate high. The juice must have been worth the squeeze, as the Rays have elected to invite Taylor to major league Spring Training this year.

Jose Urbina, RHP
20 | 6’3” | 180
A | 2.05 ERA, 3.58 FIP, 92.1 IP (19 GS), 26.4% K, 8.2% BB
A+ | 2 ER (2 HR), 4.0 IP (1 GS), 5 K, 0 BB

Good pitchers grow and adjust, and Urbina has done that consistently at an age young for his level. Physically he has grown in strength, sitting at 96 with the fastball after flashing high octane in 2024, and technically he has grown, refining his dialed up slider and his two-plane curveball into complementary pitches — which lack plus command but are thrown with feel. He shouldered a starter’s workload at 19, and was awarded one additional start at High-A, where he allowed two solo shots and struck out five. Overall, the age, body, and body of work have him on the trajectory of top prospect lists in the near future.

Sluggin’ infielder slash designated hitter Eugenio Suárez belted 49 homers between time spent with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Seattle Mariners in 2025. He blasted 49 homers for the Cincinnati Reds back in 2019, too, a year when everyone was seemingly blastin’ dingers at a record clip.

He’s done it when everyone was doing it, and he’s done it when none of the Reds were. He’s a homer-bashing machine with 325 of them already on his ledger, and a quick glance at some of the underlying metrics behind his swing suggest he’s not about to immediately slow down at age 34 in 2026.

For instance…

• Per Statcast, his 113.8 maximum exit velocity in 2025 was actually the highest mark of his career
• His Barrel/PA of 8.7 last season was his highest since 2021 (8.9) and the second highest of any season in his career
• The 21.9 degree launch angle from last season was the highest of his career, continuing an upward trend that began by jumping up to 17.7 degrees in 2019 from 14.8 degrees in 2018 – in other words, he’s implemented a continuous plan to hit moonballs, and it’s working!
• The 47.6% hard-hit rate he posted in 2025 was far and away the best of his career, as were the 57 total Barrels off his bat
• The 26.5% fast-swing rate – meaning the rate at which he swung a bat faster than 75 mph – was the best single-season mark of his career since they began tracking that in 2023, and was up a full 5% from his 21.5% mark in 2024

He’s a fundamentally different hitter than he was during that brilliant 2019 campaign with the Reds, but the game itself is fundamentally different now, too. What isn’t fundamentally different now, though, is that a) Great American Ball Park is still a homer-honkin’ launching pad and b) Geno Suárez can still very much knock the crud out of the ball, and does so mostly into the air. In fact, his 50.4% fly-ball rate (per FanGraphs) ranked as athe 4th highest among the 145 qualified hitters in the game last season, with Seattle teammate Cal Raleigh (he of the 60 smashed dingers of his own) leading the pack at over 57%.

Factor in that he’s on a one-year ‘prove it’ contract, and there’s every reason to believe Suárez is going to belt 40, 50, even 123 homers in a Reds uniform in 2026.

What say you?

Dodgers pitchers and catchers have their first official workout at Camelback Ranch one week from today, so let’s look at the primary backstops for Los Angeles, after previous looks at the infieldersand outfielders.

40-man roster catchers

• Will Smith
• Dalton Rushing

Things to watch

Under the radar? Will Smith hit the championship-winning home run in the 11th inning of Game 7 in Toronto, just the second go-ahead home run in the ninth inning or later in Game 7 of the World Series (along with Bill Mazeroski in 1960). But it feels like that homer hasn’t been talked about nearly as much as the game-tying home run by Miguel Rojas in the ninth inning of Game 7. There’s room for both, to be clear, but maybe this was more about Rojas exceeding expectations while it’s now the norm that Smith is considered one of the best players in the sport. Smith was an All-Star for a third straight season in 2025 and made his second All-MLB second team, and led all National League catchers in OPS (.901), on-base percentage (.404), batting average (.296), wRC+ (153), and fWAR (4.1).

Another way to frame it: While Smith is one of the best offensive catchers in the sport, he’s devolved defensively, going from average to above in his early years to one of the worst in baseball in framing the last two seasons. By catcher framing runs, Smith in 2024 was 18 runs below average, 55th among 55 qualified catchers; in 2025 Smith was 10 runs below average in framing, 56th among 57 catchers. That’s been part of the cost in Smith improving in throwing out runners. Factoring that all in, by catcher defense added at Baseball Prospectus, Smith was 7.8 runs below average in 2025, 32nd among 35 catchers, after 7 runs below aveage in 2024, 31st among 35 catchers.

Second time the charm? The Dodgers last May cut the cord with 11-year vet Austin Barnes, which opened up a chance for Dalton Rushing to make his major league debut. Rushing played intermittently as the backup catcher over the final four-plus months and struggled mightily at the plate, hitting just .204/.258/.324 with a 37.4-percent strikeout rate. There’s plenty of room for improvement for the 25-year-old whose bat has been his calling card ever since he was drafted.

Testing the depth: Smith has been one the most durable catchers in the sport, since 2021 second in the majors in games, starts, and defensive innings behind the plate, trailing only JT Realmuto. Smith’s 97 starts last season were his lowest in five years, mostly because he took a foul ball that broke a bone in his right hand which sidelined him for about a month in September and into October, not starting again until Game 3 of the NLDS. Rushing fouled a ball off his shin on the same cursed road trip in September and landed on the injured list as well, giving the Dodgers a rare test of their catching depth. From 2020-24, only 10 times did a catcher other than Smith or Barnes start behind the plate. But in 2025, the Dodgers needed 18 starts from catchers other than Smith, Barnes, or Rushing, 17 of which came from Ben Rortvedt. As of now, Smith and Rushing are the only two catchers on the Dodgers’ 40-man roster.

Another depth question: If Smith is hurt for any extended amount of time, ideally that would be a chance for Rushing to seize the reins behind the plate. The only problem is he’s never really had that kind of workload as a pro. The night be fouled a ball off his shin on September 5 in Baltimore was the first time since getting drafted in 2022 that Rushing caught in a game three days in a row. He started 45 games behind the plate in both 2023 and 2024 before starting 55 games at catcher last year between the majors and minors. In the minors, Rushing stayed in the lineup by playing games at first base, left field, and designated hitter. It’s unclear if those chances at other positions will arise with the Dodgers.

Royals baseball will soon be back, which means watching the boys in blue, but also getting FREE STUFF at the K. The Royals released their 2026 promotional schedule today, and there is plenty of swag for fans. The Royals will give away bobbleheads throughout the year, a Nickelodeon Slime Jersey, a Bobby Witt Jr. sliding mitt, and City Connect replica jerseys. Here are some of the highlights from the promotional schedule.

Bobbleheads! There are ten bobblehead days throughout the year:

• Sunday, May 4 vs. the Guardians – Caglianone Blazin’ Bat bobblehead
• Thursday, May 8 vs. the Tigers – Rock, Paper, Scissors bobblehead
• Sunday, May 18 vs. the Red Sox – Lights Out Lucas bobblehead
• Monday, May 26 vs. the Yankees – The Pasquatch bobblehead
• Saturday, July 4 vs. the Phillies – Red, White & Bobby bobblehead
• Friday, July 17 vs. the Padres – City Connect Big Bobby Bobblehead
• Saturday, July 18 vs. the Padres – Big Bobby bobblehead
• Sunday, July 19 vs. the Padres – Big Bobby bobblehead
• Tuesday, July 21 vs. the Giants – Maikel’s Big Time Bat Flip bobblehead
• Friday, September 25 vs. the Guardians – Salvador Perez City Connect bobblehead

Ok you may have made my plans for the 4th of July easy with this beauty 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/EOVFytTobL

— DrewMor22 (@DrewMor22) February 6, 2026

Here are the items the team is giving away throughout the year.

• Sunday, April 10 vs. the White Sox – City Connect flag
• Sunday, April 12 vs. the White Sox – Bobby Witt Jr. youth sliding glove (14 & under)
• Friday, April 24 vs. the Angels – City Connect crewneck
• Saturday, April 25 vs. the Angels – Royal-Tees (theme TBA)
• Saturday, May 9 vs. the Tigers – Nickelodeon Night slime jersey
• Friday, May 22 vs. the Mariners – City Connect hat
• Saturday, May 23 vs. the Mariners – Royal-Tees (theme TBA)
• Monday, May 25 vs. the Yankees – Stainless steel QuikTrip Splash Cup
• Friday, June 12 vs. the Astros – City Connect beach towel
• Saturday, June 13 vs. the Astros – Royal-Tees (theme TBA)
• Friday, June 19 vs. the Cardinals – City Connect scarf
• Monday, June 30 vs. the Rays – Sluggerrr’s Gym tank top
• Wednesday, July 1 vs. the Rays – Here Comes the Bloom Hawaiian shirt
• Thursday, July 2 vs. the Rays – Armed Forces Day thermo
• Friday, August 7 vs. the Cubs – City Connect replica jersey
• Saturday, August 8 vs. the Cubs – Royal-Tees (theme TBA)
• Friday, August 21 vs. the Tigers – City Connect crossbody bag
• Friday, September 4 vs. the Blue Jays – City Connect reverse retro jersey
• Saturday, September 5 vs. the Blue Jays – Royal-Tees (theme TBA)
• Sunday, September 6 vs. the Blue Jays – Big Bling Birthday Bash chain (14 & under)
• Monday, September 7 vs. the Diamondbacks – Iced Out hockey jersey giveaway
• Saturday, September 26 vs. the Guardians – Jersey jacket giveaway

There are also themed nights. Some of them may involve giveaways if a special ticket is purchased.

• Sunday, April 1 vs. the Twins – Bark at the Park
• Sunday, April 12 vs. the White Sox – PAW Patrol Day, Scout Day
• Monday, April 20 vs. the Orioles – Grateful Dead Night
• Saturday, April 25 vs. the Angels – UMKC Night
• Wednesday, May 6 vs. the Guardians – Bark at the Park
• Friday-Sunday, May 8–10 series vs. the Tigers – Nurses Weekend
• Saturday, May 23 vs. the Mariners – Star Wars Day
• Wednesday, June 10 vs. the Rangers – Pride Night
• Friday, June 12 vs. the Astros – Teachers Night
• Sunday, June 14 vs. the Astros – Mizzou Day
• Thursday, July 2 vs. the Rays – Armed Forces Night
• Friday, July 17 vs. the Padres – K-State Night
• Saturday, August 8 vs. the Cubs – KU Night
• Saturday, August 22 vs. the Tigers – Ladies Night
• Sunday, August 23 vs. the Tigers – Elephant & Piggie Day
• Tuesday, September 1 vs. the Marlins – Harry Potter Night
• Tuesday, September 8 vs. the Diamondbacks – Jewish Heritage Night
• Wednesday, September 23 vs. the White Sox – Bark at the Park
• Friday, September 25 vs. the Guardians – Viva Los Royals
• Sunday, September 27 vs. the Guardians – Italian Heritage Day

The Royals will also bring back Fireworks Fridays, and Tuesday home games will feature Dollar Dog Nights, although there are only six scheduled, rather than 12.

The Royals will begin the home schedule on Monday, March 30, against the Twins, with a 3:10 game time.

The full rosters for the 2026 World Baseball Classic were revealed on Monday, featuring 17 different Mets players across the tournament’s 20 teams. It’s the most players the Mets have ever had rostered in a WBC, beating their previous record of 16 set in 2009 and matched in 2023. The following is a list of all 17 Mets, in alphabetical order:

• Josh Blum (Israel)

• Huascar Brazobán (Dominican Republic)*†

• Alex Carrillo (Mexico)*†

• Jamdrick Cornelia (Netherlands)

• Daniel Duarte (Mexico)*

• Jordan Geber (Israel)

• Carlos Guzman (Venezuela)

• Clay Holmes (United States)*†

• Daviel Hurtado (Cuba)

• Nolan McLean (United States)*†

• Nick Morabito (Italy)†

• Jose Ramos (Panama)

• Benjamin Simon (Israel)

• Juan Soto (Dominican Republic)*†

• Robert Stock (Israel)*

• Mark Vientos (Nicaragua)*†

• Jared Young (Canada)*†

* = Has played at the major league level

† = Currently on the Mets’ 40-Man Roster

Notable former Mets participating in the WBC include Harrison Bader (Israel), Edwin Díaz (Puerto Rico), Andrés Giménez (Venezuela), Amed Rosario (Dominican Republic), Luis Severino (Dominican Republic), Gregory Soto (Dominican Republic), and Taijuan Walker (Mexico). Francisco Lindor and former Met Javier Báez were planning to play with Team Puerto Rico for a third consecutive WBC, but Lindor was one of several players to face insurance issues while Báez was ineligible because he tested positive for marijuana use during the 2023 WBC.

The Classic will kick off with the first game of pool play on March 5 (the night of March 4 in U.S. time), and the Championship game is scheduled for March 17 at loanDepot Park in Miami. The Mets will open their regular season nine days later against the Pirates at Citi Field.