Category: Sports News

The White Sox hit the road to face a Mariners team that’s a whole lot better than its spring record, so they may be doing a whole lot of experimenting so far. The Sox can hope the experimenting continues, which is likely given all the players the Mariners have on international rosters at the moment. One problem with that: They’ll start out facing a member of the regular rotation, in Logan Gilbert.

Gilbert, who has given up one run in 4 2/3 innings in his first three spring starts, will face a White Sox lineup that has Luisangel Acuña at second base. This is the second time in a row Acuña has been in the infield, despite the fact he was acquired ostensibly to take over center field after Luis Robert, Jr. was traded for him. Maybe the Sox have figured out what the Rangers and Mets had determined before them — Acuña’s a very good infielder but a weak outfielder. If so, that will have repercussions, good or bad, for several other players.

The Sox aren’t going the usual route of beginning the game with a regular starter, instead beginning the parade with reliever Grant Taylor. Taylor has had a nice spring so far, giving up just two hits and no runs over three one-inning appearances while walking just one and striking out four. He faces a Mariners lineup badly depleted by the absence of 18 WBC players. Yep, 18.

First pitch is scheduled for 2:05 p.m. Central (for the last time, since Arizona change to DST). CHSN has deigned to carry this game, as has ESPN 1000.

The World Baseball Classic is in full swing now, but Spring Training soldiers on with those left behind. Sure, Harry Ford continued his weird dominance of the event while Shohei Ohtani continued to do very Shohei Ohtani things, and Oneil Cruz still hits a ball harder than anyone when he can make contact. Seth “Quarterrican” Lugo pitched four scoreless innings to lead Puerto Rico to victory, and Michael Wacha had a weird outing in relief for USA during their win over Brazil. But guys like Brandon Drury and Kevin Newman still want to find a way to play in MLB this year, so the games in the Cactus and Grapefruit leagues must go on.

Here’s today’s lineup; it continues to be uninspiring while seemingly half the team is scattered around the globe doing mercenary work for their ancestral homes.

Nothing against those guys I mentioned earlier, but when they join with Josh Rojas to form the heart of your order, it’s difficult to expect much of interest to happen.

Kris Bubic will take the mound for his second official appearance of spring. The stuff looked completely normal last time out, so the goal is just to see him continue to build up and not get hurt as we trudge toward Opening Day. Here are the guys on the roster who could pitch after him:

• Sanchez, Aaron RHP
• Way, Beck RHP
• Chamberlain, Christian LHP
• Cawyer, Zachary RHP
• Johnson, Brandon RHP
• Panzini, Shane RHP
• Olivárez, Helcris LHP
• Patteson, Hunter LHP

The odds are heavily against any of these pitchers making the Opening Day roster, though I did attempt to wishcast Olivárez onto the team in my latest roster prediction. But hey, if you don’t want to listen to this extremely Spring Training game, there is still plenty of WBC to watch! Team Italy is taking on Brazil as this post goes live, and Panama at Puerto Rico isn’t far off.

Don’t lose heart, Opening Day is less than three weeks away!

HOUSTON — Tarik Skubal’s teammates refuse to pressure him.

Team USA officials won’t interfere.

The fans have openly shared their sentiments, but Skubal is undeterred.

Barring a dramatic change of plans, Skubal’s first and only appearance in the 2026 World Baseball Classic for Team USA will be Saturday evening against Great Britain at Daikin Park in Houston.

He then plans to return back to the team hotel, pack his suitcase, and fly to Florida on Sunday to be back with his Detroit Tigers teammates at spring training in Lakeland.

If USA advances to the semifinals in Miami, as expected, Skubal plans to pitch one spring-training game for the Tigers, and then join Team USA in Miami – but only to be their highest-paid and most decorated cheerleader.

“It’s only a three-hour drive," Skubal said, “I can do that."

EXCLUSIVE: Tarik Skubal talks record contract, Tigers' title dreams

Certainly, Team USA officials would love Skubal to stay, and pitch in the semifinal or final, but that would require Skubal to alter his routine. He certainly isn’t going to pitch on short rest in the WBC, and he still needs to be ready for the Tigers’ season-opener March 26 at Petco Park in San Diego.

And, yes, he also has an astronomical payday waiting that will make him the richest starting pitcher in history, likely eclipsing $400 million – and perhaps close to $500 million.

Certainly, after just being with Team USA for a week of workouts and team bonding, Skubal concedes that he is smitten in his first WBC.

“These games are going to feel like playoff games or World Series games," Skubal said. “Those environments are what baseball is and that's where baseball is kind of going. That's why it is the best sport in the world because it is pretty international.

“When you look around at every pool, you look at all the different games going on around the world, those environments are always going to be pretty special. And that's what makes the game of baseball so beautiful."

The only real flaw of the WBC is the timing of the event. Players have been in camp for less than a month, and pitchers certainly aren’t ready to compete like it’s a postseason game.

“As far as the pitching standpoint," Skubal said, “timing is everything. If they can get the timing right to where it is not in a spring training ramp-up phase, I think that will reduce the risk of injuries for pitching, you know."

That's why why Skubal is leaving town, even though WBC fans have been openly critical about his one-and-done.

“The guys have been cool about it," Skubal said, “but I mean, obviously, like publicly, it’s a little bit different perception. But I think they understand what it means for me to be here. Obviously, I want to be in the room, you know, and that's cool for them to even take that aside and be like, 'it's awesome that you're here.'"

San Diego Padres at Cleveland Guardians, March 7, 2026, 12:05 p.m. PST

Watch: Padres.TV

Location: Goodyear Ballpark – Goodyear, AZ

Listen: 97.3 The Fan

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

As one of the more unlikely pennant winners in recent years, the 84-win Diamondbacks of 2023 nearly reached baseball’s peak for the second time in franchise history. While it hasn’t been all doom and gloom for the Snakes, they haven’t been back to the postseason since, and they likely face an uphill battle to do so in 2026.

Despite becoming sellers at the 2025 Trade Deadline, the D-backs remained in the playoff hunt up to the final week of the season. While contending in the competitive National League West feels unlikely, they have enough talent at the top to leave things up in the air, though the realistic estimate is likely somewhere around the .500 mark.

Arizona Diamondbacks

2025 record: 80-82 (4th in NL West)
2026 FanGraphs projection: 81-81 (3rd in NL West)

As mentioned, there was a bit of a fire sale come deadline time for the Diamondbacks last season. In the span of a week at the end of July, Arizona sent off two of their best hitters in Josh Naylor and later Eugenio Suárez to the Mariners, as well as Randal Grichuk to the Royals. On the pitching side, they shipped out veteran hurlers Jordan Montgomery, Shelby Miller, and Merrill Kelly to cap off their mid-season sale.

Despite moving on from a significant portion of the talent on the top of their roster, the D-backs were able to stay in contention nearly through the end of the season, thanks in large part to the talent at the top of their depth chart.

Heading into 2026, their strength remains at the top of their lineup. Their veteran leader, Ketel Marte, is quietly one of baseball’s better position players. After a 2023 campaign that saw him put up a 152 wRC+ and finish third in MVP voting, the now 32-year-old slashed .283/.376/.517 for a 145 wRC+ in his 126 games. He is a star-level player, and perhaps a borderline MVP-type at his best. Looking forward—assuming there are no awkward clubhouse-disrupting incidents—he projects to continue with at least All-Star level production.

Elsewhere in the infield, Geraldo Perdomo was the biggest surprise for the club in 2025, and among the most significant around the league. The 26-year-old shortstop played nearly every game, nearly tripled his career high in homers with 20, and finished as a top-five position player in all of baseball by fWAR with a mark of 7.1. If the D-backs can get even a reasonable portion of that production back in 2026, they’ll be thankful. If they can, he and Marte form one of baseball’s best double play combos.

It doesn’t stop there, either, as Corbin Carroll mans the outfield for the Snakes. Since bursting onto the scene in 2023, the 25-year-old quickly established himself as one of the game’s most talented young players. On the heels of a comparative down year, he locked in that status in 2025, with his first 30-homer season, a 139 wRC+ and 6.5 fWAR. There’s little reason to suspect he won’t continue producing at an elite level in the desert, or perhaps even grow on what he’s established.

The top of the lineup is obviously strong, and the Diamondbacks will look to benefit from a few veteran acquisitions in the lineup as well. The Snakes brought in Nolan Arenado via trade, and Carlos Santana in free agency hoping to solidify positions they sold from at last year’s deadline.

The pitching side of things is slightly less exciting for the D-backs, as they’ll look to get everything they can out of their veteran arms. Zac Gallen, who took a step back after a few years of Cy Young Award contention, enters his age-30 campaign on the heels of a 4.50 FIP and a the lowest strikeout rate of his career. Ryne Nelson enters the season on the other end of swings on an upswing. 2025 saw him manage a 3.39 ERA in over 150 innings, as he’ll hope to build on a career-year to this point.

Veterans Eduardo Rodriguez, Brandon Pfaadt, and Michael Soroka round out the projected rotation for Arizona, and likely bring more questions than answers. Rodriguez was not great in 150 innings last year and now enters his mid-30s, Pfaadt is still waiting to take a jump to being a consistent big league starter, and Soroka has an obvious injury history that brings reasonable concern. The lack of certainty makes the return of a re-signed Merrill Kelly and former Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes (from Tommy John surgery) all the more important for Arizona.

The bullpen also brings about plenty of questions. There are some new-ish names in the fold projected to fill substantial roles out of relief in 2026, with Taylor Clarke and former Yankee Jonathan Loáisiga now on board, as well as the return of their veteran closer from 2023, Paul Sewald. The unit does, however, lack locked-in dominant arms in the back end for high-leverage spots.

The Diamondbacks have loads of talent at the top of their depth chart, but middling supplementary players and injury trouble in the rotation lead to plenty of questions outside of the top few guys. Perhaps the biggest barrier to their success, however, is the dominant Dodgers, and perennially competitive clubs in the Padres and Giants.

More Pinstripe Alley MLB team season previews can be found here.

HOUSTON — Joseph Contreras tried to go to sleep Friday night, but it was impossible.

His cell phone kept ringing. Friends were calling. Teammates from Blessed Trinity Catholic High School in Roswell, Georgia were screaming. Coaches were checking in. And family members were euphoric.

When he finally fell asleep, he had already received hundreds of text messages, and when he woke up early in the morning, hundreds more awaited.

Hey, when you’re a 17-year-old who has an excused school absence to go get three-time MVP Aaron Judge to hit into a double play in the World Baseball Classic, life comes at you fast.

“My phone has been blowing up," Contreras said. “We have a group chat. It was just going crazy. It was, like, 'Let's go, you're the man!'

“And it was just really exciting and knowing that they were always behind me because this year went on and on, and I could feel the presence of not just me, but my whole support staff."

Contreras, the youngest player in this World Baseball Classic, burst onto the scene Friday night when he entered the game for Brazil to face the most powerful lineup in the world.

He came in throwing 97-mph fastballs, forkballs and changeups, and although he was hardly perfect in his 1 ⅓-inning stint, he had a surreal moment that he’ll cherish forever.

Bases loaded. One out.

Judge at the plate.

And he induced an inning-ending double play grounder that had the entire baseball world buzzing.

“The scouting report was just attack him hard in, and then if we go away on him," Contreras said, “make sure it's up and away. So I was just, like, OK, I'll throw the fastball up and away. After that, it was 1-1, needed to win the count, so I decided to go two-seam hard on him."

Boom, Judge hit a routine ground ball just 77.2-mph off his bat to third baseman Leonardo Reginatto, who started the double play.

The next thing Contreras knew, he was dancing off the mound celebrating while his Brazilian teammates screamed.

“Now that I look back," Contreras said, “I can see the magnitude of bases loaded, one out. In the moment I was [thinking], “I just have to execute my pitches and just hopefully just get him out somehow. Fly ball. Maybe ground ball. Just force weak contact.'"

When Oakland Athletics DH Brent Rooker starts the MLB spring training season in Scottsdale, Ariz., the 31-year-old two-time All-Star can look forward to competition both on the field and off.

As the Subpar guest this week, Rooker told hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz that he was just coming off a sweet round of 75 — but still got blitzed by his teammate, second baseman Jeff McNeil, who posted a 68.

“I was 3 under through five,” Rooker said, noting that he has never fired a round under par before. “I got nervous early.”

Just how often do MLB players have the chance to play golf during spring training? According to Rooker, quite a bit! He explained the details of how it all works.

“The goal normally is like between 45 and 50 at-bats,” he said of his spring training schedule. “I think there’s like 30 games, so that’s probably 18 or 19 games to get those 45 to 50 at-bats somewhere around there.

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“Once you’re established and you kind of know your role and you know what you need and you know your routine and what you need to be prepared for the season, it kind of dictates itself a little bit better,” Rooker continued. “Once you’re kind of set and established, you know what you’re doing, it’s just kind of all about getting prepared for the season.”

Rooker said that the A’s organization doesn’t require game attendance during spring training when a player isn’t scheduled to play, and even if you do have to attend, you can leave after the fifth inning, which opens up ample afternoon time for a round.

“I’ve played five times since being out here, so not daily, every other day so far, probably, which, I mean, I hope to keep that pace up,” Rooker said. “Obviously, I’m by myself right now, my wife and kids come out sporadically in spring training, so when they’re here, no golf unfortunately. But when they’re not here, I try to take advantage of whatever afternoons I can.”

For more from Rooker, including his favorite course and his favorite PGA pro to follow, check out the full episode below.

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