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The Dodgers are now 2-0 in the month of March this spring, as they connected for four home runs to defeat the Colorado Rockies 7-5 on Monday.

Ryder Ryan made his first start of the spring, completing two innings of work on 35 pitches (23 for strikes) while allowing one hit and one earned run and picking up a strikeout. Paul Gervase, Edgardo Henriquez and Jordan Weems each tossed a scoreless inning in relief after Ryan’s departure.

Dalton Rushing began the scoring with a 450-foot no doubt home run to center field in the top of the second inning against Jimmy Herget, his second home run in as many games.

James Tibbs III outmatched Rushing’s long ball with a two-run home run that traveled 458 feet to deep center field in the top of the fourth inning against Welinton Herrera, also his second home run in as many games.

Colorado would tie the game at three in the bottom of the sixth inning with two consecutive home runs from Mickey Moniak and Kyle Karros against right-hander Carson Hobbs. The D0dgers would get both those runs back and retake the lead in the top of the eighth inning on a two-run shot from Elijah Hainline.

Joe Vetrano added another home run for the Dodgers in the top of the ninth to give them a three-run lead in the top of the ninth inning. Noah Miller drove home the final run of the game with an RBI single to plate Josue de Paula.

After Myles Caba loaded the bases with only one out, Antonio Knowles came in relief, allowing a pair of bases loaded walks to Zac Veen and Braxton Fulford to cut the lead to two. With the running run at first base, Knowles was able to get T.J. Rumfield to ground out to Hainline at second, ending the threat and the game.

The Dodgers are now averaging 6.73 runs per game (74 in 11 games) so far this spring, tied with the San Francisco Giants for the most among cactus league teams.

UP NEXT

The Dodgers look to make it three consecutive wins as they take on the Cleveland Guardians at Goodyear Ballpark on Tuesday (12:05 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA). Roki Sasaki makes his second start of the spring against left-hander Joey Cantillo.

We’re in the full swing of spring training now, and the few roster spots that the Yankees have up for grabs have some good competition going on. Their retooled bullpen has several names that could make the roster or see themselves outrighted to Triple-A Scranton to start the year, as guys like Brent Headrick and Osvaldo Bido try to make their mark. The infield also has some hopefuls looking to make an impression, with Oswaldo Cabrera trying to make it back to the roster after missing most of last season and finding deadline additions Amed Rosario and Jose Caballero ahead of him on the depth chart now.

They’re not headline-grabbing competitions, but they often end up playing a part in enough games down the line to matter — especially in a division as stacked as the AL East. If the difference between being division champs or scrapping for a Wild Card spot comes down to how the middle of your bullpen performs in the middle of June, for instance, you want to have enough weapons to survive the 162-game marathon and avoid nosediving like the Yankees have in recent years. So who is best suited to win spots on the Opening Day roster? Which prospects might impress enough to get a shot midseason? And where is the team’s depth most lacking? If you have questions like these, or anything else on your mind, send ‘em in for a chance to be featured in our Yankees mailbag.

Answers will run on Friday afternoon. All questions received by the night of March 5th will be considered. You can leave your submissions in the comment section below or by e-mail to pinstripealleyblog [at] gmail [dot] com.

Since his first full season in 2015, Mookie Betts had either been named an All-Star or received votes for most valuable player every year.

That held true until last year. In his sixth season with the Dodgers, Betts posted career lows in batting average (.258), on-base percentage (.326), and on-base-plus-slugging percentage (.732) while playing 148 games at shortstop.

Betts, now 33, believes last year was an outlier and he can get back to his previous form.

Read more:For pitching prospect Jackson Ferris, Dodgers organization is 'a breath of fresh air'

“That’s what I expect,” Betts said after making his Cactus League debut Sunday. “I haven’t felt this way in a long time. So, the way I feel now, I’m healthy, my swing’s in a really good spot. My head’s in a really good spot. I haven’t had any bad days in the cage. I haven’t had any bad days [taking batting practice]. Usually by now, I would have taken a thousand swings, trying to fix stuff, trying to get game-ready, and now I’m just cruising. I’m just cruising and I’m ready to go.”

This spring, manager Dave Roberts offered an unequivocal vote of confidence.

“He will be in the MVP conversation this year,” Roberts said. “But again, I think, speaking for Mookie, his main goal is to help us win a championship. So, I think whatever falls out from there, I think that will happen.”

A stomach bug that caused him to lose a considerable amount of weight put Betts behind last spring, and he never quite caught up. Through his first 103 games, he batted .231 with a .302 on-base percentage and .657 OPS. Enduring the longest cold spell of his career, Betts was forced to retool.

“It’s really just going back to what I what I do best, and really just honing in on it,” Betts said. “Instead of trying to fix problems, I was more able to just hone in on what I do best. And kind of groove those patterns instead of trying to fix old habits.”

Read more:Shaikin: In L.A. and in Cooperstown, Freddie Freeman will forever be a Dodger, not a Brave

Betts says in a bizarre way, he enjoyed his season of soul searching.

“I learned a lot about myself,” Betts said. “I learned a lot about how I operate. I was able to get in the right headspace, and sustain the right headspace. And then once I was able to kind of get in the right headspace and stay there, I haven’t been searching, I haven’t been doing anything since I’ve been here outside of just working and preparing.”

Things started to click in late summer. Over his final 47 games, he batted .317 with a .376 on-base percentage and .892 OPS.

It wasn’t the stats that bothered Betts as much as his lack of production through the first four months.

“Once I was able to help the boys, I was fine," Betts said. But before that, I was really upset, not with the numbers per se, but not being able to help. Not doing my job, carrying my weight. Once I was able to do stuff, especially later on in the season, I was able to just take a step back and say, ‘You did pretty good.’"

Part of the plan for maximizing Betts’ abilities is minimizing his work in camp. Betts was the last healthy position player to appear in a spring game, starting Sunday after sitting for the first nine games. He was back in the lineup Monday, collecting his first hit with a single in three at-bats against the Colorado Rockies.

“It’s intentional,” Roberts said last week. “It’s load management. I wanted Mookie to start a little bit later, as far as not getting into spring training ready to go and kind of use spring training to build up, given it’s six weeks.”

Gavin Stone suffers setback, Dodgers ‘pause’ his throwing

Six days after Gavin Stone made his Cactus League debut and threw a scoreless inning, Roberts said Stone suffered a setback and will pause throwing activities. Stone missed all of last season after undergoing shoulder surgery in October 2024.

“Stone threw the inning and then he had a bullpen the next day, and then his shoulder flared up and was sore,” Roberts said before Monday's game. “And so right now, we put him on ice, and trying to let the soreness dissipate. So, given everything that he’s gone through with the shoulder, we wanted to make sure that we kind of pushed pause, so I don’t know when he’s going to start throwing again, but I think it is a setback unfortunately.”

Roberts added that the setback was not expected.

Read more:Edwin Díaz is unquestionably the Dodgers' closer. How the rest of the bullpen shapes up

“He’s worked so hard to kind of get back to where he was pitching in a game," Roberts said. "We’re excited about that. He threw the baseball really well, and it was one inning, so it wasn’t too taxing. So, to come back in his 'pen and not feel good, that’s disappointing, and it’s not from lack of effort, but yeah, just disappointing.”

Roberts also confirmed right-hander Roki Sasaki would make his second Cactus League start Tuesday against the Cleveland Guardians, with the expectation he would go three innings, and right-hander Tyler Glasnow would start Wednesday's game against Team Mexico in a World Baseball Classic tuneup.

Etc.

The Dodgers announced they were reassigning pitchers Patrick Copen, Luke Fox, Jerming Rosario, Adam Serwinowski, Nick Frasso and Jose Rodriguez, catchers Nelson Quiroz and Chuckie Robinson, infielders Keston Hiura and Matt Gorski and outfielder Chris Newell to minor league camp.

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The 2025 San Diego Padres finished with a 90-72 record, driven by a pitching staff widely regarded as one of the best in the majors. The offense was another story. 

Collectively, the team batting average was .252, as they scored 4.33 runs per game. A sharp decline from the season before, with 4.69 runs per game.

Changes occurred at the managerial position, out went Mike Shildt, and in came Craig Stammen. Shortly after his announcement, Stammen reached out to an old teammate, Steven Souza Jr., to become the Padres’ new hitting coach. He accepted the challenge of resurrecting the offense. 

Souza Jr. offers a simple hitting philosophy

Souza Jr. has a simple hitting philosophy of controlling the strike zone. It is an approach that allows hitters to become more aggressive and capitalize on pitchers’ mistakes. Souza Jr. encourages his hitters to visualize their at-bat before stepping into the batter’s box. It helps them identify the holes in the opponent’s defensive alignment.

It removes the threat of the batter overthinking and swinging at pitches outside the strike zone. Now, they can relax at the plate, as their approach only changes with two strikes. All that needs to take place is putting the ball in play. 

Often, the result is that the pitch travels to the gap for an extra-base hit or possibly a home run. The Friars had trouble putting the ball over the fence. They hit 152 home runs, which ranked 28th in the majors last season.

Souza Jr. believes his hitting philosophy will limit batting slumps throughout the season. To reach this goal, his focus is raising the lineup’s confidence in the batter’s box.

2025 Padres offense: A big disappointment

The Padres’ offense was too inconsistent last season, especially with runners in scoring position. They left an average of 3.55 runners in scoring position per game, which ranked near the bottom of the majors. 

The highs and lows were too far apart between an optimal offense and a dreaded run-scoring drought. Yes, lineup stability was a challenge due to injuries sustained by key offensive contributors last season. Jackson Merrill, Jake Cronenworth and Xander Bogaerts all missed significant time, and the run production suffered. Still, the Friars ranked 18th in team scoring with 702 runs, despite being seventh in team batting average. 

They essentially have the same lineup that concluded the 2025 season. To boost production, Souza Jr. must improve their mindset when batting with runners in scoring position. He must take down their stress level that should generate more productive swings.

Improved offensive production must occur in 2026. While the process may have a slow start, this lineup is too talented not to turn things around.

Hopefully, the bats will come into their own this season.

As the third week of Spring Training gets underway, the San Diego Padres have continued to show promise in their Cactus League play. They have remained competitive in games they had no business being competitive in. As hard as it is to gauge the weight of spring performance, it has been exciting to watch.

Now that players’ roles have become slightly more concrete, it might be time to take a look at lineup projections for left-handed starters versus right-handers. How will the lineup math work when facing lefty Tarik Skubal on Opening Day in comparison to righty Jack Flaherty a few days later?

Against lefties

1. Xander Bogaerts SS 
2. Jackson Merrill CF 
3. Manny Machado 3B 
4. Fernando Tatis Jr. RF 
5. Miguel Andujar DH 
6. Jake Cronenworth 2B  
7. Ramón Laureano LF 
8. Nick Castellanos 1B 
9. Freddy Fermin C 

Week one of Spring Training found San Diego with an interesting order for the Padres’ starting four. Manager Craig Stammen stated that it’s uncertain whether or not this will be a part of the Opening Day lineup but also argued for the logic behind the change.

This lineup utilizes newcomers Andujar and Castellanos for their strengths against left-handers, putting the latter at his new position of first base. Andujar would likely be taking the starting reps at DH most of the time, except to give one of the starting outfielders a day off.

The rest of the lineup is pretty straightforward, with it being balanced between lefty and righty bats, it could make for a markedly better year against left-handed pitchers.

Against righties

1. Xander Bogaerts SS 
2. Jackson Merrill CF 
3. Manny Machado 3B 
4. Fernando Tatis Jr. RF 
5. Gavin Sheets 1B 
6. Ramón Laureano LF 
7. Miguel Andujar DH 
8. Jake Cronenworth 2B  
9. Freddy Fermin C 

Sticking with the top four from the last lineup (since that’s much less likely to change due to pitching), this supplants Castellanos at first base for Gavin Sheets. The 2025 breakout player for San Diego mashes against righties, and can play passable defense at the cold corner.

The rest of the lineup is likely about the same. The problem is the lack of left-handed bats in the lineup. There’s only three lefty bats (Merrill, Sheets, and Cronenworth) with the rest being right-handed batters. 

It’s possible that it won’t affect too much as long as they’re spread throughout the lineup. But the lineup math could get difficult if you move one of them and then the Friars are struggling to solve for a streak of right-handed bats. 

Who’s warming up the bench?

1. Luis Campusano C
2. Samad Taylor/Jose Miranda INF
3. Sung-Mun Song INF
4. Bryce Johnson/Alex Verdugo OF

These players are the ones likely on the bench no matter who’s on the mound. Apart from them, San Diego would probably have Sheets benched against lefties and Castellanos and Andujar versus righties. 

Campusano is currently the favorite for the backup catcher role behind Fermin. It’s incredibly unlikely that he gets beat out for that role since he is out of options and needs to make the major-league roster or else clear waivers to be sent down to Triple-A. 

Song has been battling back from a minor oblique injury that has slowed his emergence into MLB, but has still managed to log two hits across his first five games. He’s likely to fill a versatile utility role for the club, playing wherever is needed.

The fight for the last spots is now between Taylor and Miranda for the infield, and Johnson and newcomer Verdugo for the outfield. The former have been destroying baseballs so far in Cactus League play, hitting .462 and .412, respectively. 

Johnson is the likely candidate for outfield depth, given his tenure and consistency with San Diego. That said, if Verdugo manages to turn it up in the next few weeks, he could make his way onto the big-league roster.

How the lineup math works out will be a matter of scrutiny on Stammen’s part, and it’s likely it won’t be figured out for the next few weeks. Whatever happens, the Friars have a great problem on their hands: too many good options.