Junior Kroupi’s penalty after Harry Maguire’s red card earned Bournemouth a 2-2 draw against Manchester United
Both teams go into a huddle. No ref in the middle of either.
The players walk out into the fog of a firework display. United seem to be in their off-white strip. Sky reckons Rayan will be on the right for Bournemouth with Tavernier as the 10.
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The Captain is back! Aaron Judge has returned to Yankees camp after taking Team USA agonizingly close to winning the WBC, ultimately falling to Venezuela in the final. He rejoins in time for one of their final five spring tune-ups, the Yankees rolling out something close to their Opening Day lineup tonight against the Orioles.
Luis Gil makes his sixth start of what has been an up-and-down spring for the 27-year-old rotation hopeful. He looked decent enough in his first four outings, allowing four runs (three earned) in 11.1 innings (2.38 ERA), albeit while still not looking like his 2024 self in terms of stuff. He then got shelled for seven runs on three home runs in three innings last time out against the Tigers. He and Ryan Weathers have looked the shakiest of the Yankees’ starters this spring, though the team recently locked Weathers into the rotation to start the year. In 11 starts after returning from a lat injury last year, Gil went 4-1 with a 3.32 ERA (123 ERA+), 4.63 FIP, and 41 strikeouts in 57 innings.
Zach Eflin re-signed with the Orioles in December after missing the final two months of last season due to lower back surgery. He had a 5.93 ERA prior to the procedure and looked a shadow of the Rays righty who quickly excelled for the Orioles post-deadline in 2024. Things were going well for him last Sunday against the Yankees, with a pair of strikeouts in each of the first two scoreless frames, but rain brought a premature end to that game shortly thereafter.
I suspect we’ll be seeing a lot of today’s Yankees lineup to start the regular season with most if not all of their starters in. Giancarlo Stanton has been tearing the cover off the baseball this spring and can hopefully carry that momentum into the start of the season. Ryan McMahon continues to get reps at short meaning Oswaldo Cabrera starts at third, while the only change from the projected Opening Day lineup (aside from José Caballero at the six with McMahon at third) sees J.C. Escarra replace Austin Wells behind the plate this evening.
The Orioles lineup meanwhile is missing several of its regulars, Jackson Holliday and Jordan Westburg out with injury and Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman on the bench. Offseason acquisitions Taylor Ward and Pete Alonso bat leadoff and third, respectively. Top prospects Samuel Basallo and Coby Mayo have been raking this spring and look to have forced their way into the Opening Day lineup conversation.
How to watch
Location: George M. Steinbrenner Field — Tampa, FL
First pitch: 6:35 pm ET
TV broadcast: Gotham Sports App
Radio broadcast: WFAN 660 AM, WBAL 1090 AM
Online stream: Gotham Sports App
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Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NBA. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Lakers fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
With LeBron James set to be an unrestricted free agent this summer, he’ll have all of the options on the table regarding what his future in basketball will be.
He can negotiate a new deal with the Lakers, take his talents elsewhere, or call it a career after 23 seasons in the NBA.
LeBron has made it clear he isn’t sure what the future will be, leaving everyone wondering how much of his career is left and where that ending will take place.
For our SB Nation Reacts survey this week, we asked, what does the future hold for LeBron James?
The results are in, and 40% of fans believe he will be joining the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Now, 40% is a big number, but it makes sense given LeBron’s history. After all, he’s the kid from Akron and what better way to end his career than where it all started?
While the Cavs option did win the poll, the Lakers were a very close second at 38%. Since LeBron joined the Lakers, there has been speculation about his exit. However, he’s been here for eight years, his longest stint in one place in his career. So, how appropriate would it be if he closed things out here while everyone speculates about a change?
LA looks like a good team with LeBron, and if they can figure out a contract that allows the Lakers to pursue other players, James’ return might be best for all involved.
It would allow them to keep an All-Star player, improve as a team and celebrate LeBron as he calls it a career.
The front office has consistently stated that they would love for James to return next year.
Tied for last are the options of LeBron retiring or joining another team. It’s surprising that retiring is so low given his age and the years on his body, but then again, until he leaves, it’s probably always going to feel like he’ll play.
Only 11% voting for a different team makes sense. This late into his career, playing somewhere else might seem like a lot of change just to wrap it up in a season or two.
Another question in our SB Nation Reacts survey asked who should win the MVP this season.
It’s important to note that this was asked last week before Luka Dončić went off and scored 60 against the Heat.
In our poll, Victor Wembanyama was the winner with 39% of the vote.
Wemby has had a great year, averaging 24.3 points, 11.1 rebounds, and three blocks per game. Considering he’s leading the Spurs to their best season in years, he has a valid argument for MVP.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander getting 34% of the vote also isn’t a shock. He won the MVP last year and his team is destined to be the No. 1 seed in the West, yet again.
Nikola Jokić got 15% of the vote and Cade Cunnigham came in last at 12%.
With Luka Dončić leading the league in scoring and the Lakers currently sitting at No. 3 in the West, he’s also putting himself in the MVP race.
On FanDuel, Luka’s MVP odds are at +1500, so it seems that the betting markets agree that he is a top candidate.
There’s still a month of basketball to go, so we’ll see if Luka improves his odds and makes this a compelling MVP race. And as far as LeBron’s future, it looks like that’s going to be more of a wait-and-see game.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.
SAN DIEGO – Inside the Arizona Wildcats’ locker room after their 92-58 victory against Long Island University, players leaned back in their chairs, stretched their long legs and scrolled through their phones.
Yawn.
They had just dominated their opponent in a first round Men’s NCAA Tournament game with so much firepower that it almost looked easy. They seemed relaxed.
“No, it was not easy,” Arizona freshman forward Ivan Kharchenkov told USA TODAY Sports afterward on Saturday, March 20.
Say what?
No. 1-seed Arizona jumped out to a 27-point lead in the first half and got at least 14 points from three freshman starters, including Kharchenkov, who scored 14 with 10 rebounds.
“The game starts 0-0,” Kharchenkov explained. “We don’t start with a 20-point lead or anything.”
Yet they still pretty much did. They led 38-18 with 7:21 left in the first half and looked every bit the part of a potential Final Four team while advancing to the second round Sunday against No. 9 seed Utah State, who beat Villanova, 86-76.
Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd still pushed the same message in his postgame news conference before he was even asked a question.
“These games are never easy,” said Lloyd, whose team improved to 33-2 this season. “You never take them for granted.”
It’s the kind of mindset the Wildcats are trying to keep as they stay on upset alert as a fashionable pick to win this tournament. They’ve been to the NCAA Tournament 19 times since 2001 but never reached the Final Four since then, when the late Lute Olson was still coaching the team.
This time the team carried the hopes of the thousands of red-and-blue-clad fans who packed Viejas Arena here on the campus of San Diego State. Many of them drove 400 miles west from Tucson. Some even joined Lloyd for pizza Wednesday night at local restaurant owned by former Arizona guard Matt Othick.
“He told anybody that had any affiliation with the Arizona Wildcats to show up…, Lloyd said. “I was expecting a small little get-together of a few players. But man, the place was hopping.”
It was hopping at Viejas too, especially with 15 seconds left. The crowd loudly chanted “U of A! U of A!” after Arizona’s freshmen led the way once again. Five freshmen for Arizona combined for 55 points, led by guard Brayden Burries, who scored 18, including four 3-pointers in the first half.
Burries himself was playing in front of family who made the trip roughly 100 miles south of his hometown of San Bernardino.
“Especially being back in Cali – I hadn’t been back in a minute,” Burries told USA TODAY Sports. “Being back here, the weather’s great. Got to see my people. So it was great.”
They all had the pleasure of seeing what the Wildcats are capable of in a key sequence in the first half. After Burries drained a 3-pointer, senior guard Jaden Bradley got the rebound on the other end and skipped a one-bounce pass to Kharchenkov, who rolled to basket for a left-handed layup. The bucket put Arizona up 47-20 with 3:46 left before halftime — a feat that is definitely not easy to do for just any group of freshmen. These rookies are different, though.
“I don't look at them as freshmen, you know what I mean?” Lloyd said. “I just look at them as really good basketball players. These guys, they have high IQs. They have great character and obviously they're talented basketball players. And they put the work in.”
The win overshadowed the remarkable turnout of 16th-seed LIU under coach Rod Strickland, the former NBA player. Three years ago, the Sharks were the nation’s worst team and won just three games. They finished at 24-11 with the loss.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game,” Strickland said. “That team (Arizona) is predicted to win the tournament.”
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why Arizona's first round NCAA win wasn't as 'easy' as it looked
Orioles fans, you’re getting a double dose of O’s baseball tonight. And it’s not a doubleheader or a split-squad game with a break in between; these two games will be happening simultaneously. You can watch one on MASN while listening to the other on the radio, if you think you can handle such Orioles overstimulation.
The 6:05 game, airing on MASN, is the annual Spring Breakout that pits a team of Orioles prospects against those of another club, in this case the Red Sox. And it’s a pretty exciting lineup if you’re an O’s prospect follower:
CF Enrique Bradfield Jr.
LF Nate George
1B Ike Irish
DH Wehiwa Aloy
RF Reed Trimble
2B Aron Estrada
C Creed Willems
3B Colin Yeaman
SS Griff O’Ferrall
RHP Trey Gibson
That’s a lineup that includes six of the Orioles’ top 10 MLB Pipeline prospects (George, Gibson, Irish, Aloy, Estrada, Bradfield). And 10 other prospects in the Orioles’ top 30 are also on the roster and could appear later in the game.
And don’t forget the Orioles’ top two prospects, Samuel Basallo and Dylan Beavers, who will be playing in the Birds’ Grapefruit League game tonight. That one starts at 6:35 and will be on WBAL Radio (and a Yankees TV broadcast on YES, if you have access). A few of the Orioles’ regulars have the night off, including Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman, but guys like Pete Alonso, Taylor Ward, and Coby Mayo are in the lineup.
Zach Eflin makes the start after his Sunday outing ended after two innings due to rain. He’s facing more or less the primary Yankees starting lineup — including Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, and Giancarlo Stanton — so this’ll be his toughest test of spring training. It remains to be seen whether the O’s will include Eflin on the Opening Day roster or put him on the injured list to continue building up.
Orioles lineup:
LF Taylor Ward
C Samuel Basallo
1B Pete Alonso
3B Coby Mayo
CF Dylan Beavers
RF Leody Taveras
DH Bryan Ramos
2B Luis Vázquez
SS José Barrero
RHP Zach Eflin
The Milwaukee Brewers continue to push through the final few days of Cactus League play as they take on the Diamondbacks. This game was originally scheduled for the afternoon, but given the sweltering 100+ degree heat in Arizona right now, both teams agreed to move first pitch to 8:10 PM CT when the temperature should be a little cooler.
The Brewers will have Jacob Misiorowski on the mound making his final start of Cactus League play. Misiorowski has just been named the Opening Day starter for the Crew as Brandon Woodruff won’t quite be ready for the first game of the season. Following Misiorowski will be Logan Henderson, who was optioned to Triple-A yesterday. On the mound for Arizona will be Zac Gallen.
In the lineup for the Brewers will be most of the regular starters. They’ve made most of their position player cuts and the top minor leaguers are all in the Spring Breakout game today. Jackson Chourio and William Contreras are back in the lineup after returning victorious from the WBC. Christian Yelich, Jake Bauers, and Sal Frelick follow them.
One last tune-up for Jacob Misiorowski. The game can be heard as a webcast on Brewers.com
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Major League Baseball has announced that Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, the two Cleveland Guardians pitchers at the center of a pitch-fixing scandal, have been placed on unpaid leave.
The players have been on paid leave since July.
“As the legal proceedings involving Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz continue to move forward, MLB and the MLBPA have agreed that both players will remain on non-disciplinary leave from the Club without pay until further notice,” MLB said in a statement released Friday.
Clase, 28, and Ortiz, 27, did not pitch the second half of last season and were indicted on federal charges in early November. Trial is set for May 5, but is anticipated to be delayed until the fall.
“This agreement is not an admission of any wrongdoing by Clase or Ortiz,” read the statement. “MLB has been closely monitoring the matter since alerting federal law enforcement at the outset of its investigation and will have no further comment until its investigation has been completed.”
The pitchers were charged with manipulating performances in multiple games, with Clase accused of fixing at least 48 MLB games over two seasons, which included postseason games, a February ESPN report unveiled.
Both are accused of having received thousands of dollars in bribes to help a pair of anonymous gamblers in the Dominican Republic win nearly $500,000 in bets, with the bets centering around microbetting lines on factors such as pitch velocity or whether they would be a strike.
Ortiz, through his attorney, claims to have played a much smaller part in comparison to Clase, with the hopes that his case would be viewed separately given the “markedly different levels of culpability.”
“With 26 months of alleged criminal conduct by Mr. Clase – including suspect pitches during 48 games, dozens of communications with (a bettor), cash transfers and coordination of illegal wagers, (Ortiz could receive an unfair trial).”
This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here and view our best betting sites or check out our top sportsbook promos.
We got a night game again and seven days from now, we’ll be gearing up to see the Atlanta Braves playing in a game that actually counts. As far as tonight goes, there’s still a few more tune-ups to go before we can get rocking and rolling again.
Ronald Acuña Jr. is officially back in the lineup after his title-winning excursion into the World Baseball Classic. Naturally he’ll be hitting leadoff and the lineup following him resembles something extremely close to what we’ll likely see on Opening Day at Truist Park.
Here is that lineup for the Braves, by the way. Bryce Elder was initially scheduled to start this one but now José Suarez is listed as the starter. I’m sure we’ll learn more later about whether or not Elder will be coming in later of if he got his work done on the back fields:
Here’s how the Pirates are lining up for this one:
First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. ET and you’ll be able to catch it on Braves Vision, so this might be a good time to go sign up for Braves.TV if you haven’t already. Even if you haven’t, the game will also be on Gray TV so check your local listings. If all else fails (or you just want the old-school option) then tune in to 103.7 FM in the Atlanta area for the radio feed.
Rick Barnes and Travis Steele weren’t the only coaches on the court for Tennessee’s matchup against Miami (Ohio) in the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
Philadelphia Eagles coach Nick Sirianni was sitting courtside for the meeting between the Volunteers and RedHawks on Friday, March 20.
Nick Sirianni watches college basketball pic.twitter.com/dswd1dwJyC
— Cole Adams (@coleadamss) March 20, 2026
Xfinity Mobile Arena, the site of the game and the home venue of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers, is a short walk across 11th Street in South Philadelphia from Lincoln Financial Field, where Sirianni’s team plays its home games.
Sirianni has no connection to either school, though he did play college football at Mount Union, a Division III powerhouse in Alliance, Ohio, about 260 miles across the state from Miami’s campus in Oxford, Ohio.
Sirianni is entering his sixth season as the Eagles’ coach. He led the franchise to a pair of Super Bowl appearances, including the franchise’s second-ever Super Bowl victory, though his teams have been wildly erratic from year to year. Philadelphia finished 11-6 last season and lost at home to the San Francisco 49ers in the wild-card round of the NFL playoffs.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why is Nick Sirianni at Tennessee vs Miami Ohio basketball in March Madness?
ST. LOUIS – No one in America got a better view of March’s maddest moment so far than Mark Pope, who stood mere feet away from his leading scorer as Otega Oweh saved Kentucky’s season.
He might have done even more than that.
Hands on his hips as Oweh rose and fired, Pope stood almost precisely on the spot where an invisible line could be drawn through him, Oweh and the first S in the March Madness logo at midcourt of the Enterprise Center. As an arena held its breath, Pope heard his star bark out, “That’s a bucket.”
And it was.
In what has at times been a trying, stressful season in Lexington, the player who more than any other defines the first two years of Pope’s tenure leading his alma mater delivered a moment to erase all kinds of frustration and pain. Oweh’s banked-in 3 extended into overtime No. 7 Kentucky’s 89-84 first-round NCAA Tournament win against Santa Clara on Friday.
The Wildcats (22-13) looked destined to become another high-profile victim, joining North Carolina and Wisconsin among the ranks of the upset in the opening round of this year’s tournament. Fittingly, it was the player who has now scored more points over two years than any other Wildcat — who at times might have led his coach to pull it out if, as Pope said Friday, “I had longer hair” — that delivered the defining memory of their shared season.
In one shining moment, Oweh erased so much of a winter’s frustration, and rewrote Kentucky’s story in style.
St. Louis got the competitive game we all expected.
KenPom made the Wildcats just two-point favorites, and No. 10 Santa Clara (26-9) answered that projection accordingly. Despite early foul trouble that limited versatile freshman Allen Graves, the Broncos hung onto a rough-and-tumble game and a slim halftime lead (31-29), meeting Kentucky’s athletic advantage with the toughness that delivered Santa Clara’s first NCAA Tournament berth in 30 years to begin with.
This packed arena muddled along with both teams through a first half that sometimes bordered on turgid. Waiting patiently for something more inspiring, they clapped everyone off following a competitive first 20 minutes.
They got their reward soon enough. First-half grind was about to turn into second-half excellence. And no one would light the game up quite like Kentucky’s double zero.
“We’re three-quarters of the way through the first half, and (Oweh’s) got five or six or seven points,” Pope said. “And he finished the game the way he does. He’s a unique, unique player.”
Pope still marvels at Oweh’s ability to ambush a game.
He was not necessarily alone — after the two teams combined to shoot just 23 of 60 in the opening 20 minutes, they made 9 of 12 field goals collectively to start the second.
But Oweh’s impact spread beyond scoring.
He finished with 35 points, 28 of them after halftime. He earned 12 free-throw attempts, one fewer than Santa Clara’s team total and three more than the rest of the Wildcats combined.
If Oweh got carried away in the current of that rugged, physical first half, no one else broke the game open in the second quite like he did.
The New Jersey native, a two-time All-SEC performer, grabbed eight rebounds and handed out seven assists, his fingerprints all over the final score.
“Sometimes Otega sneaks up on you,” Pope said, smiling. “This guy, man, he just shows up every single game in only a unique Otega Oweh way. It’s just brilliant.”
To its credit, Santa Clara answered time and again. A game featuring 20 lead changes needs equal partners, and Herb Sendek’s team duly obliged.
Elijah Mahi scored 20 points on 16 field goal attempts. Sash Gavalyugov nearly doubled his scoring average, with 16 points that backfilled what Graves’ foul trouble left behind. Graves himself scored 15 after halftime, none more important in the moment than the three he drained with just more than two seconds left in the second half.
Here, Sendek might have legitimate grievance.
After Graves’ 3 left everyone on the floor briefly stunned, Denzel Aberdeen rushed the ball into an already moving Oweh. The clock appeared to start a half-beat late, allowing Oweh an extra dribble as Sendek shouted from the Santa Clara bench for a timeout.
Had he been granted time, Sendek might have been able to design a better defense, or instruct his team to foul up three points. Instead, he watched as Gavalyugov’s late contest could not quite reach Oweh’s leaning heave.
“I was just trying to get the ball out quick, and get as close as I can to the goal,” Oweh said. “I was looking at the clock the whole time.”
Just seconds earlier, Oweh looked like the hero when his spinning layup tied the score briefly with 9.9 seconds left. That, it turned out, was just an opening act.
Pope spared a thought for the Broncos on Friday, though Sendek probably captured the emotional swings of the afternoon best when he described it as “a really euphoric high, followed by a tough one to swallow.”
He also confirmed he was trying — demonstrably, upon video review — to call timeout before Oweh’s banker.
“I unequivocally called timeout, but they didn’t grant it,” Sendek said afterward. “(Calling timeout) is a likely response after Allen hits the 3. Any coach would be calling timeout to set the defense, which I tried to do.”
Context fades with time. March-made legends don’t.
Oweh parried his glory postgame, taking every opportunity to praise teammates who earned it themselves.
Like Brandon Garrison, who twice got fingertips to Gavalyugov 3s in overtime as part of his six-block performance.
Crucial as those moments were, they did not happen by accident. It was Garrison who, in one of Kentucky’s late-game, gut-check huddles, suggested the Wildcats start switching Santa Clara’s pick-and-pop actions. Let Garrison guard Gavalyugov, big man to point guard.
“BG just stepped up and made a call, and we all backed him,” Oweh said. “He’s a game changer.”
Oweh kept the door open. Teammates forced Kentucky’s way through. Then their star man finished it at free-throw line, his final pair stretching the lead to two possessions with 17 seconds left. After 45 stressful minutes, a big blue party broke out in the Enterprise Center.
“These guys just keep getting up,” Pope said. “We get knocked down. They keep getting up and they keep getting up and they keep getting up.”
St. Louis first hosted the NCAA Tournament in 1973. This was the 57th game played in the Gateway City.
Phi Slama Jama played here. North Carolina beat Illinois in the 2005 final here. Kentucky won its 1978 national championship here.
In pure weight, Oweh’s buzzer-beating bank won’t be remembered the same way. But it carries the same magic, that particular kind of moment that manifests the beauty of this month.
When his team had no options remaining, other than defeat, Oweh stepped forward and reset the Wildcats’ season. Depending upon what Kentucky does with this second chance, he might have redefined it entirely.
“We’re not,” Oweh said, “done playing yet.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How Otega Oweh saved Kentucky basketball's season vs Santa Clara
Location: CoolToday Park, Venice, FL
How to Listen: KDKA-FM 93.7
The Pittsburgh Pirates are on the road against the Atlanta Braves, where they will try and pick up another win in Spring Training.
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BD community, this is your thread for today’s game. Enjoy!
The Mets made three roster moves following Friday afternoon's Grapefruit League game against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Right-hander Austin Warren was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse, and righties Kevin Herget and Robert Stock have been reassigned to minor league camp.
Warren, 30, was claimed off waivers before last year and appeared in five games with the Mets last season, allowing one run on five hits over 9.1 innings with nine strikeouts and four walks. He is on the 40-man roster.
Herget, 34, made six appearances with the Mets last season, allowing five runs (four earned) in 12 innings. He re-signed on a minor-league deal in December.
Stock, 36, pitched in 19 games (15 starts) last year for Triple-A Worcester (Boston Red Sox organization) and carried a 3.92 ERA for his 85 innings of work. Like Herget, he is in his second stint with the Mets and signed a minor league deal late last year.
With those moves, the Mets are down to 39 players at big league camp.
New York has three games left to play in spring training, including a split-squad game on Saturday.
After breaking camp, the Mets will open the regular season in Queens against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday, March 26.
This short article finishes my effort to articulate some of the observations I made during my visit to Spring Training, 2026. I saved what I think is the best for last.
Sidebar: Where I work out, one of the guys that runs the place is an avid Cardinal fan. So I have someone to talk ball with each day. He keeps MiLB.tv on one of the screens in the weight room and for whatever reason, they’ve been playing Memphis 2025 games the last few weeks. So, I’ve had opportunity to watch, pitch-by-pitch, last year’s Memphis rotation. Weiss. Taylor. Bedell. Cornwall. Et. al. Oh, my! What a struggle they encountered. This article is written in that context.
The pitching, particularly of the starting variety.
Each spring, I work to get a look at the key pitchers in the organization as they ply their trade. My first hope is just that they are throwing free and easy. And participating in activities such as PFP. Health is such a key determinant. I don’t worry a lot about command or velocity unless it is way off norms. It’s too early to expect sharpness, and particularly on the MiLB side, pretty much all pitchers struggle with command. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be MiLB. Someone would remove the “i”.
In past years in camp, it could be hard to track down pitchers because it seemed so hit-and-miss without knowing who was going to throw, or where or when. Who I saw was pretty random. Be there all the time and hope was the strategy for getting good coverage. Plus, over the years, the Cardinals have progressively made it more difficult for fans to access and watch the areas pitchers work in. I intend to follow up on why, but I suspect there are multiple reasons behind this. Particularly early in the spring, there aren’t many fans to accommodate, and I did wonder if some of them were scouts for other teams. Why give them a free look?
This year brought some improvement as the press credentials improved my access but also allowed me insight into who, what and where of scheduling, so I could target and time my visits to different camp locations. They run a tight ship, so you could pretty well count on if someone was scheduled to pitch at 12:12p, they were going to pitch right around 12:12p. Much better than random visits and hoping to get a look. Information is key!
For the most part, the news was good in that it was mostly lacking in negative surprises. Pitchers on the recovery trail were as expected. Dobbins appears to be farthest along. Hjerpe and Roby have a way to go, timewise. Hjerpe is throwing. A good sign. I don’t expect Roby to pitch competitively this year. AFL, maybe. Dutkanych IV was a surprise in the rehab group. Henderson showing up with a sore forearm was disappointing. I’ve tended to suspect forearm strains can be pre-cursors to UCL injuries, but we will see. Let’s hope not for his sake. Most everyone else was good to go.
What I really noticed was the overall quality of the pitching organizationally. To me, pitching depth has been a concern as far back as 2020, maybe even longer. Even the playoff seasons of 2021 and 2022 required infusions of pitching at the deadline and my recollection is that need was obvious at the outset of those seasons.
As I watched the games and/or walked through the MLB bullpen area and watched, I could see seven or even more guys who can legitimately compete for a rotation spot at the MLB level right now. Not just “guys” or “arms” to fill a spot but actually guys we as fans would actually like to see throw. May, Liberatore, McGreevy, Pallante, Fitts, Leahy and I will include Dobbins. Although he may not be ready day 1, he is far enough along where you can see the stuff. The knee is his limitation right now, not the arm.
Then as I walk the backfields, I can see a AAA rotation that incorporates last year’s stellar AA rotation plus Mathews, who looked sharper. This should be a vast improvement over last year’s AAA rotation. These are the backstop guys, the depth for the MLB rotation. But with quite a bit more upside than was present in prior years. While none are guaranteed success, it has the feel of a group that will have an answer when the MLB rotation inevitably needs a boost as the season progresses.
Then, that AA rotation? Wow. Just wow! Cinjtje. Lin. Doyle. Likely with Rincon and Saladin filling it out, but there are some other guys that might have something to say about that. There is some serious juice here. I’m not projecting success or failure for any individual pitcher here either, but I don’t think it takes much squinting to see some potential quality.
Down below? Guys like Franklin, Sequera and Fajardo (and some others) begin to reveal just how deep this system is, across all timelines. Side note: Don’t sleep on Sequera. He might be my pick to break-out this year. To say nothing of the rehabbing pitchers that have their own pedigree – Holiday, Graham, Dutkanych IV, Findlay. That is seven guys High-A or below that are worthy prospects, not just organizational filler. There are others, too. I just haven’t seen them yet.
My personal measuring stick of how far this system has come? I watched Tink Hence work off a major league mound in a game (a great thing all by itself) and realized that this kid, with his stuff, is part of a much larger group and no longer “the one” that MUST succeed. I’m a big fan of his, in case you can’t tell. I hope we see him in StL this season.
I got a look at the Spring Breakout Roster. It has 20 prospect pitchers. I could see 16-18 of those guys pitching in the MLB. Some years, I have trouble seeing half that many making it that far. This is a deep group, covering a range of potential upside. Not just a bunch of back-end starters.
Oli asked (rhetorically, it turned out) “What is the strength of this team?”. He answered his own question with “Pitching”. I couldn’t disagree. If you are rebuilding a house, getting a strong foundation seems like a really good place to start. I’m no pitching guru, but I walked away impressed. Seriously. And I’m not easy to impress.
Since someone is bound to ask, I’ll get to the one prospect that gave me some pause. Liam Doyle. I’m still trying to gather my thoughts on this one. It seems apparent that there are some development needs there. I need to see more.
I have trouble separating my own limited observations from what/how I see the Cardinals handling him. To me, their actions say a lot. Eighty some guys in the organization got MLB numbers, he did not. You will notice that of the many pitchers that have gotten on the MLB mound in Spring Training games, he is not one of them. I don’t believe he has had an MLB bullpen, either. None of this screams fast track. All of it seems to reflect decisions made before camp, so it’s not like he showed up out of shape or anything like that. As I look at his peers, that puts him behind a number of them. Enough that him being in the rotation at the start of 2027 (much less being ROY) seems … optimistic. At least until we see more.
Probably the greatest intrigue that remains (at the time of writing this) is whether the Cardinals go with some form of six-man rotation. It’s not clear they’ve decided, but so far I’d say health and Fitts’ performance has begun swinging the decision. The way it maps out, his schedule aligns with split-squad days on the 9th, 14th and 19th (Prospect Day, if they want to have someone pitch on a backfield that day), so they could carry him on the MLB roster right up to the end of camp and get him starts. The big club won’t really need said 6th starter until April 15. As things play out right now (no guarantee), that day would be a May start and that is where they may want to insert a sixth starter (Fitts). My guess is he makes a start on March 19, stays in Jupiter and throws a back-field game around the 25th, then opens for Memphis around March 1, which looks like it would put him on schedule to start April 15, either with StL or Memphis (assuming a 6-man rotation in Memphis). Weather, health and/or performance could all conspire to foil that plan.
It’s hard to discern if they will really go with a full-on six-man rotation. It seems more likely that they roll with a modified six-man rotation, like last year. In this case, it wouldn’t shock me if Fitts joins the rotation, but ultimately Leahy is the guy that rotates back and forth between the rotation and bullpen, both as a way to manage his innings and a belief that he is probably best equipped to do this.
One thing is for certain, we will see. In this area, it is a land of opportunity and should be fun to watch unfold.
We’ve got some more news pertaining to Opening Day (which is officially a week away from today — excited yet?). Earlier today, we got word that Chris Sale would be the Opening Day starter for the Atlanta Braves in 2026 and now there’s a bit more clarity as to where you can watch the Braves take on the Royals — on TV, at least.
The Braves have announced that the season opener on March 28 will be simulcast on Gray TV affiliates across the Southeast. Here’s some more information from the press release, including some information on what will be happening in the stadium as part of the pregame festivities:
First pitch at Truist Park is set for 7:15 p.m. ET. Viewers can watch on BravesVision and on Gray Media’s network of local television stations throughout Braves Country. Fans can find local over-the-air channel listings at bravesongray.com.
BravesVision, the multimedia platform owned and operated by the Atlanta Braves, will serve as the team’s official local television home for the 2026 season. Fans across the organization’s six-state territory will have multiple options to watch Braves games without blackouts, including through video service providers and streaming on Braves.TV. For more information on how to watch, visit braves.com/watch.
The home opener will feature pregame festivities celebrating 60 years of Braves baseball in Atlanta. At 4 p.m., fans can take part in the Braves Walk as the team circles The Battery Atlanta, starting on the first-base side and ending at the Chop House Gate before heading inside for batting practice. The pregame ceremony will include a tribute video, appearances by franchise legends, and a ceremonial first pitch.
There’s still no concrete word on what the cable television situation will be for the Braves so I don’t have any information for you when it comes to which number you need to punch into your remote in order to find the Braves. The only thing we know for certain is that if you get Braves.TV, you’ll be good and if you live in an area that has a Gray TV affiliate then you’re good as well.
We’ll have more information on the TV situation as it comes in but for now, that’s what we know.
Blue Jays 2 Twins 1
The Jays got a bunch of hits (10) but only 2 runs, so they are in mid-season form. And they got good pitching. They loaded the bases in the first, with the help of a couple of errors, with no outs but managed not to score. I did say mid-season form.
Max Scherzer still hasn’t given up a run this spring, going 5 innings, allowing 2 hits, 2 walks with 3 strikeouts. With all the injuries to starting pitchers, at the top of the season, I’m glad they signed him. He got the win.
Other pitchers:
Hitters, starters:
Others:
Tomorrow the Jays play the Pirates in Bradenton, Florida and there is a spring breakout game, Jays Prospects vs. Phillies Prospects. And then Sunday is the last spring game.
We don’t have any pictures from today’s game yet, so I’m cheating, using one from yesterday’s game.