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After taking the series against Minnesota, the Orioles will continue their opening homestand with three games against the Rangers. Texas will enter the series after a rollercoaster start to the 2026 season. Star pitcher Jacob deGrom was set to start the second game of the season before being scratched due to neck soreness. The Rangers called on spot starter Jacob Latz and won an extra-inning thriller on the bat of veteran hitter Andrew McCutchen.

The Rangers had yet to place deGrom on the injured list as of Sunday afternoon. Latz had been the odd man out of a rotation that features deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, MacKenzie Gore, Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker. The Rangers offense is led by start shortstop Corey Seager, Wyatt Langford, Brandon Nimmo, Jake Burger and Joc Pederson.

Baltimore will enter the series looking to build momentum at the dish. The Orioles struggled to solve Minnesota starters Joe Ryan and Taj Bradley before breaking out with eight runs on Sunday. The offense features plenty of power with new acquisitions Pete Alonso and Taylor Ward joining Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo.

Dylan Beavers made a somewhat surprising start in center field yesterday and lost a ball in the sun. The Orioles rolled out their first version of a “Sunday lineup” with Ryan Mountcastle playing first, Alonso at DH, Tyler O’Neill in right field and Colton Cowser on the bench. Players like Cowser, Mountcastle, Beavers, and O’Neill would all benefit from early offense to help secure future playing time. The same can be said for Jeremiah Jackson and Blaze Alexander.

Game 1: Monday, March 30, 6:35, MASN

RHP Chris Bassitt vs. RHP Jack Leiter

Chris Bassitt will make his Orioles debut as the starter on Monday. Baltimore signed Bassitt to a one-year, $18.5 million deal over the offseason. Bassitt pitched to an 11-9 record and 3.96 ERA for the Blue Jays last season. Baseball Reference projects Bassitt to go 10-10 with a 4.06 ERA over 162 innings this year.

The Rangers will send out former Vanderbilt star Jack Leiter. The former first-round pick went 10-10 with a 3.86 ERA last season. Baseball Reference projects a bit of a regression with an 8-9 record and a 4.34 ERA over 137 innings this year.

Game 2: Tuesday, March 31, 6:35, MASN

RHP Zach Eflin vs. TBD

The Rangers’ rotation quickly found its way into a period of uncertainty when deGrom went down. If healthy, Texas could turn to the former Cy Young winner as early as Tuesday. At 37 years old, deGrom still has the stuff to make hitters uneasy. He pitched to a 12-8 record with a sub-three (2.97) ERA last season. Gore is out after making his season debut on Sunday. Rocker should be available to start Game 2 or Game 3 depending how things shake out.

Eflin “beat out” Dean Kremer for the final spot in the rotation, but it really wasn’t a battle. Kremer had a minor league option available, and the Orioles wisely added starting pitching depth after a difficult 2025 season. The Orioles brought back Eflin on a one-year deal with a mutual option for 2027. Eflin surprised some by making the Opening Day roster after undergoing a lumbar microdiscectomy last August. Eflin made a real impact for the Orioles in 2024, and last year’s Opening Day starter could prove extremely valuable from the back of the rotation this year.

Game 3: Wednesday, April 1, 12:35. MASN

LHP Trevor Rogers (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. TBD

Is Trevor Rogers really about to carry his dominant stats into 2026? The lefty wasn’t perfect on Opening Day, but he earned the win with seven scoreless innings. Rogers got the nod as the Opening Day starter over teammate Kyle Bradish. The Orioles expect big things from a healthy Bradish, but nobody in baseball could supplant Rogers if he pitches like he did last season.

Rogers went 9-3 with a 1.81 ERA over 109.2 innings last year. An early injury prevented Rogers from contending for any major awards, but the lefty emerged as the best story from a lost season. The Orioles made headlines by inking Shane Baz to a five-year extension. Orioles owner David Rubenstein recently said the organization is “open for business” when it comes to extensions, and the Birds would be wise to keep Rogers in Baltimore beyond 2026.

How many games do you think the Orioles will win in this series? Let us know in the comments below!

It’s a long season, and it would appear from the very small sample size of games (three!) that Chad Tracy and Dan DeLucia are making a concerted effort to limit the workload of the starters — at least with respect to this opening series with the Syracuse Mets.

In the season opener, Jake Bennett threw fewer than 60 pitches. So, too, did Tyler Uberstine on Saturday afternoon. Payton Tolle was somewhat efficient with his four innings given how disastrous they were, but he was still able to finish the fourth with 71 pitches. This has implications to how fresh they’ll be to join a Red Sox Major League club that has to ration their multi-inning relief options in the early going. Ryan Watson just debuted and threw over two innings and Johan Oviedo will only go every few days — the Red Sox will need guys without the early wear and tear on their treads. How did the leading candidates fare? Let’s get into it and find out.

Worcester, Saturday: W, 5-3 (BOX SCORE)

Behind the efficient arm of Tyler Uberstine, who allowed two hits in his four innings while walking one and struking out three, the Red Sox jumped out to an early lead in the fourth thanks to the club’s first home run of the season, a solo shot by Mikey Romero. Romero, a former first-round pick, is primed to be an intriguing prospect to watch this season.

Mickey Gasper would score Nick Sogard and make it 3-1 in the fifth. Syracuse would threaten in the sixth thanks to something that will make Kristian Campbell truthers feel real great, a fielding error directly before a throwing error by Vinny Capra (yes, that’s two blunders in the same play, getting runners in scoring position) on a Christian Arroyo batted ball, no less. That made the score 4-3, though the game would stay in the WooSox control, as a return piece for the Password trade, Tyler Samaniego, went seven commanding outs and Tayron Guerrero slammed the door.

The pitching staff may have only struck ou seven Mets and the WooSox offense may have gone 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position, stranding nine, but those key hits by the heart of their lineup served them well on Saturday evening.

Worcester, Sunday: L, 8-10 (BOX SCORE)

Payton Tolle will be good enough to be on a Major League roster by mid-spring. I’d argue he’s already good enough, though perhaps in a bullpen role. It’s also extremely easy to root for him as a person. This did not mean he had a good showing in his first Triple-A action of the season. Tolle ran into a lot of problems in his fourth and final inning but was able to finish it, though not before giving up six runs in total, four earned, and battling around two more unearned runs to go with the four errors committed by the team on Sunday. That’s eight errors on the season, if you’re keeping track.

The game was decided by a late home run by former Pirate Ji Hwan Bae off of former organization-mate Kyle Keller. Worcester did not muster any balls over the Polar Park wall, but they did draw ten walks and gather five hits with runners in scoring position, so they at least kept it close, even with Tolle’s middling start. This was thanks in part to the top of their lineup; Braiden Ward and Mickey Gasper combined to go 5-for-9 in the one and two slots, and Mikey Romero had three RBIs on the day to drive them each in (It’s not all roses for Romero, though; he did have half of the team’s errors on the day). Still, the home run surrendered with 1 out in the ninth had a .354 WPA and even with Matt Lloyd singling to lead the inning off, Kristian Campbell grounding into a double play all but sealed it in a close one.

Have a happy first Monday of the MLB season!

A few times each year, a series happens and I wonder why I do all of this. On some level, I mean recapping these games. But on other levels, it is even just being a fan. Baseball lends itself to so many disappointments. In 42 years of watching this team, I’ve followed so many stupid 6-3 losses and two out of three series to teams that the Cubs probably should have won at least two of three from. I can’t even imagine how many of these a similarly situated Braves or Yankees or Dodgers fan has experienced. At least in a good number of years, the Cubs were bad enough that there weren’t so many individual games or series that just got away from them.

I have a general philosophy of preferring to play more of the good teams on the schedule early. The Cubs had a frontloaded schedule in 2025 that most of us feared they would struggle with. They didn’t. Even most of those good teams work out some kinks in the first quarter or so of the season. Even when you think your roster is set, there is still enough ebb and flow from season to season that the vast majority of teams will look very different in June than they do today. Those differences aren’t often in the core of the team. But usually your rotation will shuffle. Almost always your bullpen and bench will shuffle. One or two regulars will usually emerge. You might catch a team well and steal a win or two early in the year that you might not later in the year.

The difference between even the best and worst teams isn’t so wide that the percentages become irrelevant. If a major league team played a minor league team, they probably wouldn’t have to sweat all of the percentages. Particularly over a longer series, your talent would just carry through. But as the caliber of teams increase, being able to squeeze a percent or two here or there can be the difference between a win or a loss.

Additionally, the vast majority of teams show up at the start of the year thinking that if they catch a few breaks and keep guys healthy, that they can knock on the door to the playoffs. Stay in contention long enough and you might realistically believe that your front office will add some players and maybe you find yourself in the postseason. There’s extra money to be made. Extra exposure to be gained. The fun of celebrating a big win or clinching something.

It takes a while for a team to realize that the music has stopped and there aren’t enough chairs that are reachable in short order. At the end of the day, I imagine the Nationals are who we all thought they are. But today isn’t that day. They’ve got a young group running the team. Why not them? Surely, the Braves or the Mets or the Phillies or some other team will obliterate them in a series here in the near future and maybe they start licking their wounds. But the Cubs weren’t up to the task of dulling their early season sparkle this weekend.

A lost opportunity. There will surely be a handful of those before things are all said and done. But there will also probably be some larceny where the Cubs overcome a better team or a rough matchup. There will be games won because of fortunate bounces or a call that could go either way. It’s all part of the journey.

If you’ve followed me a long time, you’ve heard me say a couple of things. The road to the top isn’t a straight line upwards. There are no guarantees. This Cubs team is likely to emerge as one of the elite teams in the league. They didn’t do so this weekend. They’re going to have to do better. That’s going to include pitching better and hitting better. I believe they are up to the task in both regards. Let’s recap this and then turn the page.

Three Stars:

1. Alex Bregman: 2-4, 2 HR
2. Ian Happ: 1-3, BB, HR
3. Nico Hoerner: 1-4

Game 3, March 29: Nationals 6, Cubs 3 (1-2)

Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.

THREE HEROES:

• Superhero: Ian Happ (.138). 1-3, BB, HR, RBI, R
• Hero: Alex Bregman (.113). 2-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI, 2 R
• Sidekick: Hunter Harvey (.033). IP, 4 BF, H

THREE GOATS:

• Billy Goat: Shōta Imanaga (-.143). 5 IP, 22 BF, 6 H, 2 BB, 4 ER, 7 K, WP (L 0-1)
• Goat: Pete Crow-Armstrong (-.112). 0-4
• Kid: Moisés Ballesteros (-.101). 0-4

WPA Play of the Game: It was a scoreless game with two outs and two on in the first inning. Joey Wiemer slugged a three-run homer. (.254)

*Cubs Play of the Game: It was 3-1 Nationals when Ian Happ led off the fourth against Jake Irvin. He homered and cut the deficit to one. (.120)

Cubs Player of the Game:

Up Next: The Angels (2-2) lost a 9-7 game on Sunday in Houston, then headed for Chicago. The Cubs will host the Angels for their first night game of the season on Monday. They’ll send Edward Cabrera to the mound. He was 8-7 with a 3.53 last year for the Marlins before being traded to the Cubs. He’ll make his season debut. The Cubs will face Ryan Johnson who was 1-1 with a 7.36 in 14 appearances and 14.2 innings last year in his rookie season. This will be his first major league start. The 23-year-old was a compensatory second round choice of the Angels in 2024 (74th overall).

The Washington Nationals have a new superstar, and his name is Joey Wiemer. Okay, that might be a bit much, but the outfielder has made quite the first impression for Nats fans. In his 8 plate appearances this season, Joey Wiemer has not gotten out. He is a different kind of locked in right now, and we love to see it.

This hot start made me want to learn more about Wiemer. I want to know about where he came from and how he got to the Nats. For the basics, Joey Wiemer is from a small town in Ohio called Sylvania that shares a border with Michigan. The Ohio kid went to the University of Cincinnati, where he obviously starred on the baseball team.

The Brewers took him in the 4th round of the 2020 draft, and he actually became a pretty big deal. By the time Wiemer debuted in 2023, he was a top 100 prospect and considered one of the toolsiest players in the minors. Wiemer had light tower power, elite speed for a 6’4 225 pounder, good fielding ability and an absolute cannon for an arm. The only question was his ability to hit.

That one question mark is why Wiemer has been a part of six organizations since 2024. Heading into this season, Wiemer was a .205 career hitter in almost 500 MLB at bats. You can have all the tools in the world, but it does not matter if you cannot hit. That looked like it would be Joey Wiemer’s destiny.

However, something curious has happened, and the signs of it began last season in the Marlins organization. With the Royals AAA team, Wiemer was awful, hitting .182 in 253 at bats. When he went to the Marlins something seemed to click though. In 33 AAA at bats for the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, Wiemer hit .364 with a 1.185 OPS. He also only struck out 8 times and had 7 walks.

That led to a big league call up, where Wiemer had some success. He hit .236 with a .715 OPS. This does not sound great, but with Wiemer’s speed and defense, those numbers are solid. However, he struck out 37% of the time and only walked 3% of his AB’s. That led to the Marlins letting him go.

He got DFA’d this offseason, where he got picked up by the Giants. Before ever playing a game for them, he was DFA’d again and landed in DC. At the time of the claim, this move did not make a ton of sense. The Nats already had a ton of outfielders who could fill that 4th outfield spot. What use did they have for Wiemer? If only we knew what we knew now.

Wiemer actually really struggled to begin the spring, but picked things up towards the end of Grapefruit League play. He actually hit a walk-off homer in the Nats last game in Florida. 

Wiemer made the team, and his role was to play against left handed pitching. Even though he has not had a ton of overall offensive success in the MLB, Wiemer was always able to hit lefties. In 2023, he had an .815 OPS against southpaws and last year, he posted a .794 OPS against lefties.

That is why Wiemer found himself hitting fifth on Opening Day, despite barely making the roster. To say he is making the most of his opportunity would be a gross understatement. He is sprinting with it like Usain Bolt in 2008. In Wiemer’s first at bat, he went down to get a Matthew Boyd changeup and powered it through a heavy Chicago wind to get the Nats on the board.

Wiemer had two more hits and a walk on Opening Day. He powered the Nats to a 10-4 Opening Day win and put the fanbase on notice. Wiemer locked himself into a lineup spot every time a lefty was on the mound.

With the right handed Cade Horton pitching in game two of the season, Wiemermania was put on hold, but only temporarily. Shota Imanaga was on the mound yesterday, which meant Wiemer was back. He greeted Shota in the same way he welcomed Boyd, digging out an offspeed pitch and depositing it in the left field bleachers. 

However, the big blonde outfielder was far from done. He was willing and eager to make history. In his next at bat, Wiemer led off the third inning with a triple. While the Nats were unable to score him, he did his job. 

This run by Wiemer is not just running into balls though. He had a great at bat in the sixth where he worked a walk. Plate discipline has not been part of Wiemer’s game in his career, but right now, he is so locked in that he is seeing everything so well. 

The Nats new star had one more at bat where he absolutely ripped a single into left. That meant he was now 6/6 with two walks to start the season. Getting on base 8 times in a row is some crazy stuff, but Joey Wiemer is crazy hot right now. We were so close to seeing Wiemer get a shot to hit a double for the cycle, but Luis Garcia Jr. got thrown out to end the top of the ninth. 

He did not get his cycle, but Wiemer is a special kind of locked in right now. Will this last, absolutely not, but Wiemer has given the Nats a spark. The plan has been to play Wiemer against lefties, but I think you have to ride the hot hand right now. He is too hot to keep out of the lineup.

While he will obviously cool off, I hope Wiemer sustains enough of this to be a real piece for the Nats. He has all the physical gifts, but has not been able to hit enough to stick around in one spot. This hot start will give him some runway and hopefully the 27 year old can take it. 

With his tools, Wiemer can be at least a lefty mashing 4th outfielder. You never know though, maybe something has clicked for the big slugger. His swing has always been long and a bit crazy. There is a chance he finally found something that works for him. 

Regardless, this is an incredible story and it is why Paul Toboni is making all these bets on the waiver wire. Most will not work out, but we may have struck gold with Joey Wiemer. At the very least, Wiemer has provided the Nats with a spark and his start to the season will be something fans talk about for a long time.

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The San Francisco Giants head to Petco Park tonight for a three-game series with their NL West counterpart, the San Diego Padres. 

Both squads could use a victory in Monday’s opener after the Yankees swept San Francisco and San Diego dropped two of three to the Tigers.

My Giants vs. Padres predictions and MLB picks on Monday, March 30, fancy outfieder Jung Hoo Lee’s chances of crossing the plate.

Giants vs Padres predictions

Giants vs Padres best bet: Jung Hoo Lee Over 0.5 runs (+105)

After failing to score a run in either of the first two games of the season, the San Francisco Giants made a change at the top of the order by installing Jung Hoo Lee as the leadoff man on Saturday. 

He responded by scoring the team’s only run of the season, so it’s likely he stays atop the order. That’s a premium spot against Walker Buehler (5.39 xERA, 5.66 FIP), who struggled mightily against lefties (.300 BA, 1.79 WHIP). 

Lee stands a good chance of getting on base, and the heart of the order behind him has two left-handed bats (Luis Arraez, Rafael Devers) poised to knock Buehler around and drive Lee home.

COVERS INTEL: Jung Hoo Lee was much better against righties (118 wRC+) than lefties (77). He seldom struck out (9.1%) against the latter, walking nearly as many times (40) as he struck out (41).

Giants vs Padres same-game parlay (SGP)

It’s a good spot for both lineups to break out of mini-slumps from the opening series. Both lineups were better than league average against RHP a year ago and face beatable starting pitchers on Monday.

Devers demolished right-handed pitching (151 wRC+) a year ago and has the advantage over Buehler, who is trying to reinvent himself as a junkball pitcher and lost 2 mph from his fastball in spring. 

Landen Roupp gets the nod for San Francisco. While his 3.80 ERA was encouraging, it’s not sustainable given his poor 1.45 WHIP. He walked 4.9 batters per nine innings in spring, so it’s still an issue.

Giants vs Padres SGP

• Jung Hoo Lee Over 0.5 runs
• Rafael Devers Over 0.5 RBI
• First five innings Over 4.5

Giants vs Padres home run pick: Willy Adames (+422)

Willy Adames has reached 30+ home runs in each of the last two seasons. In his age-30 season with a revamped batting stance, Adames can be projected to continue hitting for power and posting an ISO around .200.

A year ago, he had reverse splits with a 112 wRC+ and 20 HRs against righties and a 95 wRC+ and 10 HRs against lefties.

Buehler struggles to keep left-handed hitters off base, but right-handed hitters dole out the damage, tagging him for an absurd 2.10 HR/9.

Giants vs Padres odds

• Moneyline: San Francisco +100 | San Diego -120
• Run line: San Francisco -1.5 (+150) | San Diego +1.5 (-200)
• Over/Under: Over 8.5 | Under 8.5

Giants vs Padres trend

The Giants have gone Over the first-five total in 23 of their last 35 games dating back to last season. Find more MLB betting trends for Giants vs. Padres.

How to watch Giants vs Padres and game info

Giants vs Padres latest injuries

Giants vs Padres weather

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Wander Franco’s re-trial in the Dominican Republic for his role in a relationship with an underage girl has been delayed to an unknown date.

The new trial was scheduled to begin today, but with Franco and the girl’s mother being tried simultaneously, the courts have been delayed, according to Luis Tomas Rae Barett, due to a significant health issue for the mother.

Previously: Wander Franco renewed trial delayed

In June 2025, Franco was found guilty of sexual abuse and sentenced to a suspended prison sentence and probation. Both the prosecution and the defense requested a re-trial.

The Rays had previously signed Franco to an 11-year, $182 million contract extension, but due to the ongoing legal proceedings Franco is now on MLB’s restricted list and is not required to be paid. Even if exonerated, however, Franco’s ability to return to baseball will be contingent on him receiving a visa to work in the US.

This trial does not include various gun charges Franco faces since returning to the DR.

James Tibbs III capped an incredible debut series in Triple-A with two home runs and a double, driving in five runs in the Oklahoma City Comets’ second straight romp, 13-4 over the Albuquerque Isotopes (Rockies).

Coming off a strong first spring training with the Dodgers, Tibbs on Sunday hit a solo home run in the fourth inning for his first at his new minor league level. The very next inning he added a three-run home run, and later doubled in the seventh inning.

Tibbs had three extra-base hits for the second day in a row, and drove in five runs on Sunday. In his first three games in Triple-A, the 23-year-old outfielder had eight hits in 13 at-bats, including three doubles, a triple, and two home runs, hitting a robust .615/.643/1.462 with eight runs batted in and six runs scored.

One day after driving in six runs, infielder Ryan Fitzgerald hit a three-run double on Sunday and also tripled. Catcher Zeby Savala got in the fun with a two-run home run as part of his three-hit affair.

Outfielder Zach Ehrhard did not play in the final two games of the series. Comets play-by-play broadcaster Alex Freedman said during Sunday’s broadcast that Ehrhard hurt his thumb on a slide on Friday night.

Transactions

Not necessarily new moves here, but Yency Almonte and Ryan Sublette were initially noted to have been placed on the seven-day injured list to open the season. But they are actually on the 60-day IL. Almonte, who signed a minor league contract with the Dodgers in February, had shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum in July 2024 and did not pitch in the majors last year, though he did pitch in 15 minor league games while on rehab.

Coming soon

The Dodgers have a new Class-A affiliate this year in the Ontario Tower Buzzers, whose season starts on Friday in Ontario. Full rosters haven’t yet been revealed, but shortstop Emil Morales, who was listed on multiple top-100 MLB prospects lists this offseason, will begin his season in Southern California.

Sunday score

Oklahoma City 13, Albuquerque 4

Tuesday schedule

6:05 p.m. PT: Oklahoma City (TBA) at Las Vegas [Athletics] (Gage Jump)

The Orioles have unveiled a new slogan/marketing motto for this season: Fly different. Pedantic people among us will observe right away that this is a grammatically-incorrect pair of words. It is rather unlikely that this minor sin against language will have any impact on the on-field product.

Grammar aside, this year does need to be different than what we saw last year. In this episode of the podcast, I run through the opening weekend – games and Shane Baz contract extension – with the thought of different on my mind. Is this year going to be different? Is different going to be better? You could almost talk yourself into it after Sunday’s win, which absolutely felt like the kind of game that the Orioles would have managed to lose in the early months of last year.

Check out the episode here:

If the embedded player isn’t displaying above, view this article in Incognito Mode or check out the article directly here.

This is my weekly podcast about whatever is going on lately with the Orioles. If you enjoyed this episode, please make sure to subscribe. You can get the show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you prefer to access your podcasts.

How are you feeling with three games down and 159 to go for the 2026 Orioles? Answers could make it into the mailbag segment in the next episode.

The San Diego Padres announced prior to the start of Opening Day that starter Yu Darvish was going to be added to the Restricted List. The move meant Darvish would remain in the San Diego organization, could rehab with the medical staff, but would not be required to follow a certain program or schedule given by the team. It also meant Darvish would not receive a salary for the 2026 season. This move was made by the team for official purposes, but it was Darvish who made the decision to be placed on the Restricted List. As a player under contract with guaranteed money, he could have remained with the team and worked on their schedule and received his pay, but according to reports, Darvish knew he could not compete on the field and felt it would not be right to take the money.

The decision by Darvish would have been unprecedented had he not recently spent time on the Restricted List in 2024 to attend to a personal family matter that required him to be away from the team for an extended period. There were reports this offseason that followed the announcement that Darvish had surgery on his elbow that would require him to miss the entirety of the 2026 season, that retirement was imminent for Darvish. He and his agent spoke out against the reports and not much had been said since. Some fans believed Darvish choosing not to retire, was selfish because the Padres could have used his salary to spend elsewhere on the team.

As it turns out, San Diego general manager A.J. Preller had been planning for this move by Darvish for quite some time. Once it was announced that Darvish was going on the Restricted List there were conflicting reports stating his money could be used to sign another free agent or make a trade that involved taking on money, while other reporting said the money from Darvish’s salary had already been accounted for and spent.

No matter the outcome, Thomas Conroy of Gaslamp Ball believes one thing about Darvish is clear, he is the rare athlete who puts the team first and genuinely wants the best for his organization. Conroy believes a player like Darvish should be commended and celebrated, but most importantly, he should be appreciated for what has given and continues to give to the Padres.

Padres News:

• AJ Cassavell of Padres.com points out some of the things the Friar Faithful can learn from the opening series between the Padres and Detroit Tigers. Despite San Diego losing the series, he believes there is more to come from the offense.

• Despite dropping the first two games of the series and needing a win on Saturday to salvage the series with the Tigers, the Padres know that if they want to get to the postseason they are going to have to win in the tough National League West. San Diego will get its first chance at a divisional foe when the San Francisco Giants come to Petco Park tonight.

• Padres prospect Kruz Schoolcraft is opening his 2026 season with the Lake Elsinore Storm. There are high expectations for the young starter, and the Padres could use him sooner than later, but they will be careful to focus on his development as he gains more experience in the system. Sung-Mun Song also got into some minor league action in a rehab appearance where he played shortstop while working back from an oblique injury that nagged him throughout the offseason and Spring Training.

• Randy Vasquez impressed Padres officials and fans alike with his strong spring performance. He continued that success on the mound with his first start of 2026 against the Tigers on Saturday. The right-hander completed six innings of shutout baseball and recorded eight strikeouts with just two hits allowed. He only walked three batters. Dennis Lin of The Athletic looks at what Vasquez worked on in the offseason that has made him better for the 2026 season.

Baseball News:

• Christian Yelich hit his first career pinch-hit home run and it propelled the Milwaukee Brewers to a win and a three-game sweep of the Chicago White Sox. Chicago had a home run story of its own with rookie Masataka Murakami hitting three home runs in the series.

• It’s no secret that the Seattle Mariners have one of the best pitching rotations in MLB and Emerson Hancock highlighted that fact with six no-hit innings to lead the Mariners over the Cleveland Guardians. MacKenzie Gore of the Texas Rangers, in his first start for Texas, followed suit and he too pitched six no-hit innings to help the Rangers beat the Philadelphia Phillies.

• Bo Bichette signed a hefty free-agent contract with the New York Mets in the offseason, and he has gotten off to a slow start. Mets fans are not happy about it and they let Bichette know by showering him with boos.

• A pair of veterans got their first home runs with their new teams, Andrew McCutchen homered for the Texas Rangers and Alex Bregman hit his first home run as a member of the Chicago Cubs and it came at Wrigley Field. Eugenio Suarez has hit plenty of home runs as a member of the Cincinnati Reds, but his home run Saturday night, was the first since he returned to the team as a free agent. Kazuma Okomoto also took part in the home run barrage by hitting his first MLB home run as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays which helped them sweep the A’s to open the season.

• Owen Cassie is one of the newest members of the Miami Marlins and he endeared himself to his teammates and the Miami fanbase with a walk-off home run that allowed the Marlins to sweep the Colorado Rockies and open the season at 3-0.

• Pete Alonso made his first significant impression as a member of the Baltimore Orioles with a hit that allowed the Orioles to get a win against the Minnesota Twins.

• Yandy Diaz of the Tampa Bay Rays banged out five hits against the St. Louis Cardinals and lead the Rays to a win over the Red Birds.