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I cannot emphasize enough the degree to which I think lineup construction is overrated in the discourse relative to the difference it makes in practice. I almost don’t even want to post this. But even with that caveat, lineup construction doesn’t not matter, and I think we saw a mistake last night. So thanks to a conversation between users GrasshoppingonNails, AJPDX, GrassRockFish, and rumdoodle in this morning’s Moose Tracks, I’m posting this despite my hesitance.

As noted on the broadcast, Rob Refsnyder has the third-highest OBP against LHP since 2023, behind only Vladito and Aaron Judge. So I totally get why the Mariners would want to have him in the leadoff spot to get on base ahead of the team’s big bats. And that’s what the Mariners did:

1. Rob Refsnyder – R (DH)
2. Cal Raleigh – S (C)
3. Julio Rodríguez – R (CF)
4. Josh Naylor – L (1B)
5. Randy Arozarena – R (LF)
6. Brendan Donovan – L (3B)
7. Víctor Robles – R (RF)
8. Leo Rivas – S (SS)
9. Cole Young – L (2B)

This makes a certain amount of sense. With Refsnyder at leadoff, you’re maximizing the odds that he gets three turns against a lefty, which is great. The problem is that the lineup is a circle. Having settled on a DH platoon of Refsnyder and Dominic Canzone, we know the Mariners are (correctly) anticipating pinch-hitting the lefty-swinging Canzone for Refsnyder once a reliever comes in. But once they do that, they’ve set up a Young-Canzone back-to-back of lefties for the next time through. That’s perfectly suited for a team’s left-handed reliever. Then you’re either getting Canzone versus a lefty or else using Mitch Garver or (gulp) Ryan Bliss as yet another pinch hitter. None of those situations are ideal relative to Canzone versus a righty or Refsnyder versus a lefty.

That situation is exactly what arose last night, as Ryan Bliss pinch-hit against Erik Sabrowski and then had to face Cade Smith with the game on the line in the ninth. You don’t have to be as down on Bliss as I am to guess how that went.

My proposed solution is pretty simple. Against LHP, make the 1-2-3 Julio-Refsnyder-Cal. That way, once Canzone is in, there’s no lefty pocket. If an opponent wants to bring in a left-handed reliever to face Young and Canzone or force a substitution, they have to make the sacrifice of letting Julio face a lefty. Maybe they’ll still do it, but at least they have to make a tradeoff. Historically, Julio doesn’t perform that much better against southpaws than northpaws, but he’s also almost never faced lefty relievers with big platoon splits. This construction would either give him that opportunity or else keep a righty in against at least one of Young or Canzone.

To be sure, this gets more complicated once J.P. Crawford returns. I’m expecting that lineup to look much the same but with a bottom four of Donovan, J.P., Robles, and Young in some order. Because Víctor Robles is platooning with Luke Raley, you end up with a similar situation of a lefty pocket. But because it’s at the bottom of the order, that pocket is much less likely to come to the plate twice after the starter comes out than the top of the order is. So once Robles is out and Raley is in, it’s less likely that pocket will come up again and be exploitable with a left-handed reliever.

And in any event, having those four at the bottom of the order is happening regardless of how the top three are set up. If anything, it’s yet another reason to move Refsnyder from leadoff to second. That helps split up the two platoon spots as far apart as possible.

Of course, baseball isn’t just names on a page. These are human beings we’re talking about, and there may be something the team sees in giving Julio and Cal the same lineup spots every day, no matter who they’re facing. Baseball players are famously creatures of habit, and those are the two most important bats. In particular, Julio didn’t love hitting in the leadoff spot since it guarantees he’ll have to lead off an inning at least once, and he doesn’t like having to get into focus so quickly after the long jog back from centerfield. If this is what’s motivating the team, then don’t let my machinations get in the way. But if not, I recommend shuffling the top three against southpaws.

Coming off two straight wins, the Brewers will look to complete the sweep in their season-opening series against the White Sox.

Right-hander Brandon Sproat gets the ball for Milwaukee today. Sproat, acquired as part of the return in the offseason Freddy Peralta trade, will be making his first appearance as a Brewer. He debuted in the majors last September, posting a 4.79 ERA over four starts with the Mets. This spring, he struck out 15 batters in 13 innings of work on the way to making his first Opening Day roster. For more on why Sproat could be the Brewers’ next pitching success story, check out this article from last month.

On the mound for the White Sox today is 31-year-old lefty Anthony Kay, who hasn’t pitched in a major league game since 2023. He spent the last two seasons with the Yohohama BayStars of Nippon Professional Baseball. Last year, Kay set the single-season ERA record for a BayStars pitcher (1.74), earning himself another shot at the big leagues in the process.

Making his major-league debut and hitting seventh today is catcher Jeferson Quero (no relation to White Sox catcher Edgar Quero). Quero was once considered a top-50 prospect in baseball, but slid down the rankings last year after he proved slow to recover from a labrum injury that sidelined him for over a year. However, in an interview yesterday, he said that he’s feeling back to “100%” heading into the season. The Brewers wouldn’t have called up Quero if they didn’t have confidence in him to produce, especially with two other catchers (William Contreras and Gary Sánchez) on the 26-man roster. Let’s see what he can do today.

The top of the lineup for the Brewers today is Brice Turang, William Contreras (at designated hitter), and offseason acquisition Luis Rengifo. Hitting cleanup and playing first base is Gary Sánchez, who has a career total of 16.2 innings played at first base. His only previous start at the position was on May 8th, 2024 — also with the Brewers. Sal Frelick will bat fifth, with the red-hot Joey Ortiz slotting in behind him. Rounding out the order are Quero, Brandon Lockridge, and Blake Perkins.

First pitch is slated for 1:10 p.m. You can catch the game on Brewers.TV, WTMJ 620, and the Brewers Radio Network.

LOS ANGELES — Last season all the way through the World Series, the Dodgers got major contributions from rookies and young players, and that carried over into the opening series of 2026 at Dodger Stadium.

Alex Freeland made his major league debut last season, and beat out Hyeseong Kim for a spot on the opening day roster, sharing time at second base. He started once against the Arizona Diamondbacks, and made it count, with a home run, a double that led to the winning run, and was part of two relay plays, throwing out runners at home plate and third base on Friday.

You might have noticed in any of those highlights that Freeland wears number 76. He’s not alone among young Dodgers wearing high uniform numbers. A question I see a lot in the comments section or in my social media mentions is when are these young Dodgers going to get real numbers, or something to that effect.

So I asked them.

“I’d like to change it, but maybe when I get a little more service time,” Freeland said, though he admitted he wasn’t really sure how he would go about doing so.

Two years ago, in the second week of May 2024, three young Dodgers switched uniform numbers, going from their first-issued numbers to lower, more traditional numbers. Andy Pages, just a month into his time in the majors, switched from 84 to 44, Gavin Stone went from 71 to 35, and Michael Grove switched from 78 to 29.

Stone at the time had 69 major league innings under his belt, while Grove was at 119 1/3 innings and in his third season. Four Dodgers pitchers with similar experience don’t seem all that keen on changing uniform numbers anytime soon.

“I haven’t really thought about it at all,” said Ben Casparius, who’s worn number 78 since debuting in 2024. “I was always number five my entire life, and I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon [he glanced over at Freddie Freeman’s locker here]. But for me, seven plus eight is 15, and there’s a five in there somewhere.”

Like all of these players, they are wearing the number that was first assigned to them. But it’s grown on them. Grove was the only Dodger to wear number 78 before Casparius.

“I’ve embraced it. To be honest, I haven’t given too much thought into it. It does feel like my number,” Casparius said. “Throwing on a Dodger uniform in general is pretty cool, so I don’t think it will change anytime soon.”

Jack Dreyer made his major league debut last season. The left-hander made the opening day roster out of spring training, and joined Yoshinobu Yamamoto as the only two Dodgers pitchers to remain active through the entire regular season and postseason. All while Dreyer was wearing number 86.

Current Marlins manager Clayton McCullough wore number 86 with the Dodgers as first base coach from 2022-24, but Dreyer is the first player to wear it in team history.

“Growing up, 24 was a pretty common number because that was my dad’s number. But in high school and college, I was four, and then 33 and 41, I bounced around so much. It’s never really been anything consistent,” Dreyer said.

His father Steve Dreyer pitched parts of two seasons (1993-94) with the Texas Rangers, and wore number 24 in both years.

“I like 86. It was randomly given to me when I debuted last year, and I found out I was the first player ever to wear 86 for the Dodgers, so I kind of like how it fits,” Dreyer said. “My plan is to keep it as long as they’ll let me keep it.”

These high uniform numbers are a relatively new phenomenon in baseball. No Dodger player wore anything over 77 until Manny Ramirez donned number 99 in 2008.

Emmet Sheehan is the only Dodger ever to wear number 80, and one of only a dozen major leaguers to ever don the number. All of them have been since 2019.

Like several teammates, Sheehan hasn’t yet entertained the idea of a different number.

“I don’t think I’m going to change it anytime soon,” Sheehan said. “It’s just the one they gave me, and I don’t think anyone else has ever worn it, which I think is pretty cool. And a lot of my family bought jerseys and stuff like that, so I don’t want to make them buy more.”

Sheehan gave the most practical answer here, looking out for his family and friends. Justin Wrobleski, who wears uniform number 70, went in a different direction, with time-honored baseball superstition.

“Let me ask you this question: if you wore one number, and we won two World Series, would you change it?” asked Wrobleski, knowing the answer. “I can’t change it, unless there’s, like, severe fan intervention that he needs to change his number. … I’m trying to build the number 70.

“It’s kind of cool. Not a lot of guys keep a number like this.”

After the Nats handled the Cubs in game one of the series, the North Siders stuck back with a big win in game two. Now, the two teams face off for an afternoon rubber match at Wrigley Field. The Nats taking two out of three in the friendly confines would be a nice statement to open the season.

With a lefty on the mound, Blake Butera is rolling with the same lineup that put up 10 runs on Opening Day. The order is the same but James Wood will be at DH and Daylen Lile will be in left field. Otherwise, the Nats are running back that lineup that won them game one. Joey Wiemer and Andres Chaparro will look to continue their lefty killing ways. Jake Irvin will be making his first start of the season. He will look to bounce back after a rough 2025.

The Cubs lineup also does not have many changes. Carson Kelly will be back behind the plate after Miguel Amaya caught yesterday. Veteran Michael Conforto will be making his first start of the season in right field. That means former Maryland Terp Matt Shaw will be on the bench. Japanese lefty Shota Imanaga will be on the mound for the Cubbies. 

Game Info:

Stadium: Wrigley Field

Time: 2:20 PM EST

TV: Nationals.TV

Radio: 106.7 The Fan

The two teams each have one big win. Now, the Cubs and Nats will settle this thing in a rubber match. The wind is blowing out and both pitchers are homer prone, so the long ball could be a factor today. Hopefully the Nats will be able to keep it in the yard like they did on Opening Day. Follow along in the comments down below and let’s go Nats!

To call this an ignominious start to the season, even by White Sox standards, would be doing a disservice to the Oxford English Dictionary on the bookshelf behind me right now. Contemptible; opprobrious, vituperative; truculent; there are plenty of ways that one could sum up getting outscored 20-3 over the first two games of the season, much less while becoming the first team in big league history to record 30+ strikeouts in those opening two games. Not great, Bob!

I have to imagine most players would agree—given the relative success of Spring Training and the general vibe of “it’s going to be better this time!” surrounding this roster entering the last week of March, it’s an early-season faceplant that’s simultaneously surprising and perfectly on brand. Still, pardon my optimism, they’d also almost certainly agree that the sky isn’t falling yet.

Two games are still two games, and the adage does apply that we’re only paying attention to them because they have no surrounding context beyond the excitement of the season’s start, which often makes such flops feel outsized, even with as lopsided of a scoring margin as the first two games of this set. While the sheer volume of losing the last few years has been horrid, for my money, none of them has been as purely frustrated as 2022’s even 81-81 record. You may recall that the defending AL Central champs got off to a 6-2 start that year before engineering an eight-game losing streak from which they never really recovered. Perspective, my friends!

Anyhow, below you can find the lineup that Will Venable will be sending onto American Family Field as he tries to salvage the series.

Anthony Kay makes his South Side debut on the hill, seeing his first big league action since 2023 and his first start since 2021. Originally a first round pick of the Mets, Kay was dealt alongside now-Twins starter Simeon Woods-Richardson in a 2019 deadline deal that brought Marcus Stroman from Toronto to Queens. After washing out of the majors, Kay reinvented himself in two years pitching for the Yokohama DeNA Bay Stars in the Japan Central League before catapulting back to the States on the strength of a 1.74 ERA and league-best 57.5% ground ball rate.

The main arsenal change that Kay brings back with him is a new sinker that serves as his primary fastball against lefties and helps generate all those ground balls. In Spring Training, he employed two distinct arsenals. He comes at lefties with the sinker and a low-80s sweeper, a classic ground ball combination of sinkers in on the hands with sweepers breaking off the outer edge of the plate. Against righties he pairs his traditional four-seamer with a 90 mph slider that has just enough break to be distinct from a cutter. That’s when he uses the change up as an out-pitch, typically employing it with one or two strikes and an aggressive hitter.

Thoughts and notes on the rest of the lineup:

• Per statcast, Chase Meidroth’s chopped a few inches off his bat path and has squared up virtually everything he’s made contact with, which to an optimist might indicate that he’s learning to leverage his excellent pitch recognition into attacking more of the pitches he likes.

• Murakami already strikes me as a three-true-outcome god, something in the vein of prime Adam Dunn (pre-White Sox version) with more athleticism, he should be batting in the two spot for the rest of time.

• While I don’t usually care about lineup construction, I am extremely concerned about Venable’s seeming dedication to alternating lefties with righties in the lineup. If the White Sox had the analytics department of the Yankees or Astros, I might think there’s something to it. At the moment, it feels as if hitters are arbitrarily being put in prime lineup spots based on where they swing it from.

• I know it doesn’t positionally work out, but one has to wonder if there are any thoughts in the clubhouse about Everson Pereira and Tristan Peters getting consistent burn while last year’s team home run leader rides the pine. If I had to make a guess, this is being treated as an extended Spring Training battle to see who gets to keep a spot once Brooks Baldwin is back from the IL.

Here’s how Pat Murphy and the Brew Crew are countering as they go for the sweep:

The title of the tweet says everything that’s interesting about this one. Mark Attanasio’s stinginess may have spared the White Sox from having to face Freddy Peralta during this series, but today, they’ll see his replacement. Brandon Sproat was a second round pick of the Mets in 2024, and quickly found his way onto top-100 prospect lists the next two seasons while being the centerpiece of the deal that sent Peralta to Queens.

Also making his big league debut is another Brewer who’s spent the last two years on those lists in catcher Jeferson Quero (pronounced yeff-er-son). He’s unrelated to Edgar, but their profiles aren’t actually all that different, with excellent plate discipline and contact ability compensating for middling power. He’s a bit more tooled up behind the plate than his Cuban counterpart, but after watching the Brewers run wild over Reese McGuire yesterday, perhaps Sox hitters will be inclined to challenge the young backstop.

First pitch is at 1:10 p.m. CT, and will be available on TV via CHSN and radio via WMVP AM 1000.

Sunday is the final game of the season opening series versus the Tampa Bay Rays as the St. Louis Cardinals will start Dustin May. After another inspiring come from behind takedown of the Rays that ended with JJ Wetherholt’s first walk-off, the Cardinals will try to sweep the series today. According to MLB.com, the Cardinals will face former teammate Stephen Matz who is scheduled to take the mound for the Rays.

MacKenzie Gore still vexes Phillies, even without March shadows originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

A year and two days ago, the Phillies had no answers for the then-Nationals’ MacKenzie Gore.

Their only comeback, besides their comeback win over Washington that day, was that they couldn’t see.

Shadows.

A common downside of a 4:05 start time, and a precursor to Gore’s career-high 13-strikeout afternoon.

On Sunday, the Phillies couldn’t lean on the same excuse against the now-Rangers’ Gore under a cloudless sky, as Philadelphia dropped the series finale to Texas 8-3.

The tall, lanky left-hander delivered a performance to remember, one that carried echoes of last March. The Phillies didn’t record a hit through the first five innings.

Gore attacked all afternoon against a righty-heavy Phillies lineup. He filled up the zone with his mid-90s heater, then played off it with a big-bending curveball. Bryce Harper has seen plenty of him over the years, and the assessment hasn’t changed much.

“He mixed [his pitches] well today,” Harper said. “The slider/curveball mix, but the heater was really good.”

And he did it in a spot where he hadn’t always been comfortable. Gore had struggled at Citizens Bank Park entering the day, carrying a 7.22 ERA in six career outings against the Phillies.

The Phillies did show some life against the North Carolina native.

In the sixth, they finally put Gore on the ropes. Justin Crawford dribbled an infield single, Trea Turner worked a walk and Kyle Schwarber lofted a single to load the bases.

Harper struck out, but then Gore hit Alec Bohm to force in a run and put the Phillies on the board. Gore’s day was done moments later. Adolis García brought home another run with a sacrifice fly, with that run charged to Gore.

Gore’s final line: 5 1/3 innings, two hits, two earned runs, three walks and seven strikeouts.

Rob Thomson pointed to the same thing he did all weekend: the Phillies are forcing the fight late, but they’re putting themselves in a hole early.

“We got to get something going earlier in the game,” Thomson said. “I think everybody in the lineup is trying to get off to a good start, maybe a little bit anxious, and they’ll settle in.”

Gore was one of the many notable arms on the move this offseason, much like fellow lefty and former NL East opponent Jesús Luzardo, who drew the start opposite him.

Sixes flew for Luzardo in the wrong direction. He went six innings and allowed six runs on six hits, all earned.

His first two innings on the hill were flawless. Six up, six down — paired with three strikeouts. Then, the middle innings of his outing took a turn.

Texas’ newcomers did most of the damage. Brandon Nimmo drilled a left-on-left two-run homer in the third, and former Phillie Andrew McCutchen greeted the crowd with yet another extra-base hit this series — this time a three-run shot that hooked right down the left-field line.

McCutchen even gestured an apology to the Philadelphia faithful, who rained him with boos, on his way back to the dugout.

Thomson’s view was that Luzardo’s stuff was still there, but a couple of mistakes got punished.

“Stuff was really good. Velocity was there. A lot of swing and miss,” Thomson said. “First two innings, he was lights out… just a couple bad pitches.”

Luzardo’s breakdown was similar. No mechanical excuse, just execution.

“No, nothing mechanically,” Luzardo said. “Just got to do a better job to keep the ball in the yard.”

On the Nimmo homer, Luzardo credited the swing more than anything.

“I would say [it was] a good swing on a good pitch,” he said.

The southpaw allowed just one homer on a sweeper to a lefty last season, a pitch he threw 52 percent of the time in those matchups — more than any other delivery.

Luzardo, who signed a five-year, $135 million extension just under three weeks ago, still managed to gut through the outing. He threw 99 pitches and struck out seven. He also didn’t sound like someone spiraling after one bad stretch.

“There’s always positives to take away,” Luzardo said. “We got 159 games left, so it’s not the end of the world… The stuff was probably the best it’s been all year, even throughout spring. So, you know, I’m healthy. I feel great.”

But two- and three-run homers will beat you. And without much run support for the second day in a row, it’s a tough way to win.

It was also the second straight day the Phillies had been no-hit through the first 4.2 innings or more. Turner didn’t chalk it up to panic. More timing, more rhythm, more early traction.

Turner also wasn’t buying into any early-season offensive doom, especially with how little spring camp tends to translate.

“Spring doesn’t really matter one way or the other,” he said. “You get your work, you get ready, if you get out healthy, I think that’s most important… When you get five at-bats every day, you get [into] a rhythm.”

The Phillies will wrap up their six-game homestand when they welcome Washington to town on Monday. Taijuan Walker, Andrew Painter — who will make his Major League debut — and Cristopher Sánchez are lined up over the next three days.

The Houston Astros (1-2) continue their opening 4 game series against the Los Angeles Angels (2-1) this afternoon at Daikin Park.

RHP Tatsuya Imai will make his first big league start for the Astros opposite RHP Jack Kochanowicz and the Angels.

TODAY’S ASTROS STARTER: RHP Tatsura Imai is making his major league debut in a game every Astros fan has been looking forward to for months. Imai comes in with an excellent pedigree from the Japanese Professional League where he was 10-5 with a 1.92 ERA in 163.2 INN. Imai struck out 178 hitters and walked only 45 batters in those innings.

Imai put up great numbers this Spring, making three starts and posting a 0.00 ERA (0ER/6.0 IP) while allowing a microscopic .111 opponent batting average with 7 strikeouts.

Jack Kochanowicz Kochanowicz has been with the Angels since 2024. He spent most of last season in the rotation and pitched a portion of 2024 in Los Angeles. His best season came in 2024 when he was 2-6 with a 3.99 ERA in 11 starts. Last season he was 3-11 with a 6.81 ERA.

This spring, Kochanowicz was 0-0 with five starts. He had a 1.62 ERA in 16.2 INN. He had 15 strikeouts and four walks.

VS. THE ANGELS: The Astros open this season with a divisional series against the Angels, who the Astros went 8-5 against in 13 games last season. The Astros are 139-84 all time against the Angels and have won the season series against them in every full season dating back to 2015.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Saturday, March 29, 1:10 p.m. CST

Location: Daikin Park, Houston, TX

TV: Space City Sports

Streaming: Space City Sports

Radio: KBME 790 AM; TUDN 102.9 FM HD2

MAI TO DEBUT: RHP Tatsuya Imai is making his MLB debut today after a stellar Spring Training, in which he worked a combined 9.2 scoreless innings across four starts…in January, the Astros signed Imai to a three-year deal…in 2025, he was an All-Star for the Seibu Lions in the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization (NPB), where he went 10-5 with a 1.92 ERA (35ER/163.2IP) in 24 games.

TODAY’S AVAILABILITIES: The Astros clubhouse will be open to approved media at Daikin Park from 10:10-11 a.m. CT…Astros Manager Joe Espada will be made available in the Astros dugout at approx. 11 a.m.

Houston Astros Lineup

SS Jeremy Pena

LF Yordan Alvarez

2B Isaac Parades

DH Jose Altuve

3B Carlos Correa

CF Joey Loperfido

1B Christian Walker

RF Cam Smith

C Christian Vazquez

Los Angeles Angels Lineup

SS Zach Neto

DH Mike Trout

1B Nolan Schanuel

RF Jorge Soler

3B Yoan Moncada

CF Jo Adell

LF Josh Lowe

C Travis d’Arnaud

2B Adam Frazier