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Meet the Mets

The Mets fell to the Nationals 12-6 as Washington erupted for six runs in the ninth to break a 6-6 tie. David Peterson allowed four runs in his four innings of work, while Christian Scott took the loss after allowing three earned runs in three-plus innings. Carson Benge went 2-for-2, Ronny Mauricio went 2-for-4, and Francisco Alvarez went 1-for-3, while Mark Vientos struggled, taking an 0-for in his four at-bats.

Huascar Brazoban returned from the WBC and will be part of the team’s bullpen on Opening Day so long as he remains healthy to close out the spring.

Tim Britton made the case for Benge to start on Opening Day in the latest edition of “This Week in Mets”.

Britton and Will Sammon shared some notes on the final spot in the team’s bullpen, their fascination with the cutter, and more.

As Benge competes for a spot on the team, his goal is to help the team win any way that he can.

Nolan McLean will start tonight’s championship game for Team USA, and he confidently exclaimed, ‘I’m built for this’ as he looks to fulfill his patriotic duty and delivery a win for Team USA.

All signs point to McLean being ready for his big moment on the big stage tonight.

Carlos Mendoza has mixed feelings about McLean starting tonight’s WBC final.

Needless to say, Juan Soto was not happy with how the WBC ended for the Dominican Republic.

Vientos struggled again last night, but Mendoza had a simple message for him: “You’re on the team. You’re not trying to make a team here.”

With his Tommy John Surgery behind him, Scott is ready to have an impact with the Mets in 2026.

Anthony DiComo broke down some of the key questions facing the Mets before Opening Day.

Danny Abriano predicted the final 26-man roster for the Mets.

Around the National League East

Despite being 32, Trea Turner continues impressing with his speed, and it’s a skill he constantly seeks to improve.

Phillies’ outfielder Johan Rojas tested positive for Boldenone, resulting in an 80-game suspension. He became the third player from Philadelphia’s 2025 roster to receive a suspension for performance enhancing drugs.

The key to the Braves’ season is leading the league in bounce-backs.

Braves’ star Ronald Acuña Jr. is making up for a lost World Series with this year’s World Baseball Classic participation.

Christina De Nicola discussed who might grab the final spots on the Marlins’ roster ahead of Opening Day.

Around Major League Baseball

Venezuela put up a three-spot in the seventh inning to rally past Italy and advance to the WBC final against the United States.

Amid the turmoil back home, Team Venezuela is savoring their WBC moment.

Eduardo Rodriguez will start for Venezuela in tonight’s game.

USA’s stars are finding criticism of their play in the 2026 WBC ‘hilarious’.

David Bednar is likely unavailable to pitch tonight for Team USA, but Mason Miller may be an option out of the pen out of closing the team’s semifinal win against the Dominican Republic.

Anthony Castrovince looked at who is available, and who isn’t available, for Team USA tonight.

Roman Anthony hit the go-ahead home run that helped send Team USA to the WBC finals, and his teammates are hardly surprised that he came through.

The MLB.com staff identified one player who has made a big impression for each team this spring.

Bryan Hoch offered five observations from Yankees’ camp as spring training draws to a close.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start Opening Day for the Dodgers as they prepare for their three-peat quest.

Shohei Ohtani returned to Dodgers’ camp and will likely pitch before it ends.

Joe Musgrove will likely start the season on the IL for the Padres. Manny Randhawa explored how it will affect San Diego’s rotation plans.

MLB will implement an experimental minor league rule change during the 2026 season.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

I previewed Brett Baty’s 2026 season.

This Date in Mets History

David “Captain America” Wright hit a walk-off, two-run single to lift the United States over Puerto Rico in the WBC quarterfinals on this date in 2009.

The baseball world is in the throes of the World Baseball Classic, with the final game Tuesday night featuring Team USA against. Will Smith is the only Dodger still playing in the WBC.

Samuri Japan was eliminated Saturday by Venezuela and as such, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani are back in Arizona. While neither is happy with how their WBC run ended, their eyes are now on getting the Dodgers that Three-Peat.

On Monday, Yamamoto was named the Opening Day starter. Eric Stephen covered that story here.

As for Ohtani, he did not pitch in the WBC, but he did throw bullpens. His most recent was a four-inning outing last Thursday. Since the assumption was that Samurai Japan was going to go all the way to the finals in the WBC, there wasn’t much of an expectation that Ohtani would pitch in Spring Training this year. Now, Ohtani will have time to take the mound at least once before the season starts.

Ohtani could pitch later this week in Arizona, or be kept until the Freeway Series starting on Sunday. Sonya Chen covers all the details for MLB.com.

Shohei expressed his regrets for what he referred to as his “shortcomings” in the WBC. As Chuck Schilken of the L.A. Times notes, one wonders what those shortcomings might be as Ohtani had a better WBC this year than he did when he was the MVP in 2023. Dodger fans hope that Ohtani continues to make up for those perceived flaws throughout the 2026 season.

The Ontario Tower Buzzers are the newest addition to the Dodgers family, starting their first season as the Dodgers’ Low-A farm club on April 2nd. While stating that the Tower Buzzers have hit the mark in every other facet of their digs, Jim Alexander of the OC Register posits that they have missed the spot on one area – having nothing named after Don Drysdale, who was so good at ‘buzzing the tower’ of opposing batters.

The Dodgers have signed an agreement with Uniqlo that will give them naming rights to the field at Dodger Stadium. For those of you who are also not cool like me, Uniqlo is a Japanese clothing company. Anthony Soloranzo covers more of the details of the deal here. I don’t know about you, but if the team is selling rights to iconic things like the field at Dodger Stadium, they can wear those beautiful blue spring training jerseys a couple games a year.

My brain refuses to wrap itself around the fact of Taylor Ward being on the Orioles. I’m well aware that they traded for him since I wrote about that here on Camden Chat when it happened. It’s just not real yet. Spring training hasn’t done enough for the idea to sink in that the O’s have this guy – presumably an everyday corner outfielder – for the year.

Ward is coming off a 2025 season with the Angels where he socked a career-high 36 home runs. As we all remember quite well, the 2025 Orioles were lacking in home run threats in the lineup, with no one hitting more than 17 homers as an Oriole. Acquiring Ward was one part of Mike Elias’s plan to fix that. Maybe he’ll do something to make me happy to remember him as the season goes along.

Here’s how two of the big projection systems look at Ward for this season:

• ZiPS (FanGraphs): .243/.328/.454 with 27 home runs, 2.7 WAR
• PECOTA (Baseball Prospectus): .232/.317/.411 with 22 home runs, 2.4 WAR

We will all be hoping things turn out more like ZiPS for Ward than that PECOTA projection. If Ward hits only 22 home runs, not many people are going to fondly recall the trade, without even getting into what happens with Grayson Rodriguez in Los Angeles.

What do you expect from Ward this season? Do you think he’ll be bombing balls over Walltimore 2.0 for the year, or will he just be bombing his way out of the starting lineup?

Game result: Cubs 5, Cleveland 2.

Cade Horton looked damn good, throwing 10 Ks in five innings of work. The Cubs that were willing to ride the bus or unable not to did a good job, with Scott Kingery swatting a two-run homer and Matt Shaw making good contact. Brett Bateman made good contact as well, though his was against the center-field wall. Colin Rea also threw very well.

I’m sorry to say that Brennen Davis is hurt again. Hamstring. Murphy loves that guy.

Miscellaneous:

*means autoplay on, (directions to remove for Firefox and Chrome). {$} means paywall. {$} means limited views. Italics are often used on this page as sarcasm font. The powers that be have enabled real sarcasm font in the comments.

• Daryl van Schouwen (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Cubs righty Jameson Taillon’s struggles continue with shellacking by Dodgers. “Taillon is tinkering with minor mechanical tweaks…:
• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com*): Palencia displaying his mound dominance on global stage. “The party was on in Miami, and Palencia was in the middle of the pile.”
• Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): On Moisés Ballesteros. “This guy just doesn’t stop hitting.”
• Randy Holt (North Side Baseball*): Cubs expectation setting: What can fans (reasonably) expect from Alex Bregman in 2026? “… players who sign for significant dollars with a new team are prone to an adjustment period.”
• Meghan Montemurro (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Chicago Cubs notes: Seiya Suzuki’s injury update — and Carson Kelly plays 1B for 1st time since high school. “If Suzuki’s right knee causes him to miss time, the Cubs have ample options for right field.” Patrick Mooney has more{$}. Jordan Bastian has an update.

Food For Thought:

Please be reminded that Cub Tracks and Bleed Cubbie Blue do not necessarily endorse the content of articles, podcasts, or videos that are linked to in this series.

RIP Tony Balsamo.

Ethan Holliday (No. 2 PuRP) made his debut with the Colorado Rockies big league club on Saturday against the Chicago Cubs at Salt River Fields. The shortstop – who was drafted fourth-overall in the 2025 MLB Draft – played six innings and went 0-for-2 with two strikeouts at the plate, but also made a spectacular diving stop to nab first baseman Carson Kelly right before being lifted (the clip below doesn’t do it justice, but alas).

Holliday also turned two double plays.

“It was a blessing to be out there with those guys,” Holliday said after the game. “I look forward to things like this in the spring. I was super fortunate to be able to go out there, enjoy some baseball and get better. It was fun.”

Holliday, of course, is the son of Rockies legend Matt Holliday and has grown up around the game. But that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s ready for MLB action quite yet. In 18 games with the Single-A Fresno Grizzlies in 2025, Holliday batted .239/.357/.380 with 14 runs scored, four doubles, two home runs and six RBI. He also walked 12 times (14.3%) and struck out 33 times (39.2%).

“You don’t really know how it feels until you experience it,” he said. “When you first get out there, the speed of the game gets on you a little bit, but take a deep breath and just remember you’re playing a game that you’ve always played, and it’s the same game you played back when you first started.”

He’s also taking camp one day at a time, “making adjustments, and [I] still have some time until the stats really matter. 

“I’m just trying to improve my game every single day and trying to get my body healthy and get ready for it to be worked this season,” he continued. “And I’m just really trying to prepare for what’s ahead, but focus on the now and just try to improve every day.”

Holliday is in his first spring training, but it’s not his first experience with the Rockies – both from his dad’s time and his own short experience last summer after his draft. But he’s taking note of the new atmosphere surrounding camp.

“It’s been great [with] the new front office and a lot of new faces around here, even from when I was just here for the summer,” he said. “It’s been really cool to kind of get to know these people. And there’s a really cool buzz around this place right now, and it’s a super exciting time to be a Rockie and we’re in a really cool spot. So I’m super excited.”

In addition to his normal routines, Holliday has also been selected to represent the Rockies in the Spring Breakout game next weekend and was also selected to play for Team USA in their exhibition game against the Rockies on March 4.

“It was insane,” he said of the Team USA experience. “I walked out there and Clayton Kershaw was on the mound. You look around and you’ve got Hall of Famers all around you, and it’s an emotion you really aren’t ready for. But you get out there, and it was so much fun. I really enjoyed it, so it was a great experience.”

Even though he was surrounded by baseball giants, there was one player in particular he was excited to meet.

“Bryce Harper was pretty cool to meet,” Holliday said. “I’d heard a lot of things about him, and I’ve always looked up to him. I’ve always watched him since I was young, so it was really special to interact with him.”

But he added that, “all of the guys treated us like we were part of the team, so that really meant a lot.”

Finishing out the spring, Holliday said, “everyone’s goal is to get up to the big leagues fast and have success” but their timelines are out of their control.

“It’s one of those things where you work for it every day and you follow a process, but the answer people want is to get up there as fast as [they] can,” he said. “That’s what I want, so I’m going to work hard every single day and help the team win.”

“And I’ll be ready,” he continued. “When my time’s right, I’ll be ready.”

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Rockies bench coach manages first Major League game with dad at his side | MLB.com

We always know that baseball is a family business a lot of the time, and Saturday was no different. Rockies bench coach Jeff Pickler served as the manager for one of the split squads, and his dad, Scott, served as his bench coach. It was a fun full-circle moment not only for the Picklers, but for many players and coaches who knew Scott from previous teams he coached them on.

Projecting the Rockies’ Opening Day roster, batting order | Kevin’s take | Denver Gazette ($)

Kevin Henry shares his second attempt at predicting the Rockies’ Opening Day roster. What are your projections?

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Vinnie Pasquantino incorrectly noted which teams were in the WBC final four and apologized. Oops. It’s ok – he’s highly caffeinated and we all make mistakes when we’re W I R E D.

“It’s amazing,” Pasquantino said. “I don’t know how many people would’ve picked the Dominican Republic, Japan, the United States and Italy in the final four, but we’re here now, so we’re going to enjoy this for the probably next few hours. We’ve got a flight to catch. This is incredible, man.”

Pasquantino’s comments came hours before Venezuela advanced to the final four by defeating Japan.

The Royals Spring Breakout game will be televised on the Amazon MLB FAST channel on Friday.

Thomas Harrigan at the MLB mothership writes about why Jac Caglianone is poised for a breakout.

Caglianone’s expected stats, which take quality of contact into account rather than the actual results, not only indicate he was much better than his OPS implies, they show he was one of the unluckiest hitters in the game.

In fact, he had MLB’s largest unlucky gap (the difference between his expected and actual production) in all three of these categories (minimum 100 PAs):

• .237 xBA // .157 BA // .080 unlucky gap
• .431 xSLG // .295 SLG // .136 unlucky gap
• .321 xwOBA // .239 wOBA // .082 unlucky gap

The Athletic covers a player for each team who is turning heads. ($)

Kansas City Royals — Dennis Colleran, RHP

Colleran was the Royals’ 2024 seventh-round pick out of Northeastern and in his first year of professional ball in 2025, he went from Low A to High A and even pitched in one game at Double A, going a combined 9-0 with a 2.85 ERA in 66 1/3 innings with 72 strikeouts. He was so dominant that he represented the Royals in the Arizona Fall League, where he posted an impressive 1.17 ERA over seven relief appearances. He’s on a fast track to the majors and I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes his major-league debut sometime this year once his slider becomes more consistent and he throws more strikes.

Matt Quatraro, manager: “Dennis has been absolutely electric. He has an upper-90s fastball coming out of a low arm slot with an emerging slider. Hitters have really had uncomfortable at-bats against him.”

David Schoenfield has a sort of bold take prediction article about the upcoming season.

Bobby Witt Jr.: 92 extra-base hits

Verdict: Real. Witt had 32 home runs in 2024 before dropping to 23 in 2025, so we know there’s 30-homer power here — and maybe closer to 40 with the new ballpark dimensions. He’s entering his age-26 season, a common age for a player’s best season. Add 20 points or so back to his batting average, and reaching 92 extra-base hits is in play.

Kevin O’Brien at Royals Keep examines the second base situation going into the season.

Last season, the Royals opted to let Massey be the everyday second baseman, and India rotated as a utility guy in left field and at third base at the beginning of the year. Unfortunately, the move was disastrous for India, especially on defense. India posted a -5 FRV in 3B, and that poor defense carried to second base, as he posted a -4 FRV at the keystone. The poor defense seemed to have a mental impact on India’s bat, and he ended up having his worst season at the Major League level.

Quatraro is intent on India being their regular second baseman, with Massey mixing in here and there based on matchups. So far this spring, it seems like that has helped India be in a better headspace in 2026.

Jacob Milham at Kings of Kauffman looks at the battle for the back end of the bullpen.

Venezuela defeated Italy last night to set up a finals tilt against USA. RIP espresso dinger.

We’re going to see some experimental rule changes in the minor leagues this season.

Dayn Perry at CBS Sports ranks the top 100 players heading into the season.

John Smoltz was his typical downer self about Paul Skenes on the broadcast for the WBC. Some unfortunate honesty in there, though I have no love for Smoltz as a commentator.

Old friend Nelson Velázquez looks like he’s getting a roster spot on the Cardinals.

The Chiefs have their new interim starter/backup for when Patrick Mahomes comes back next season – it’s Justin Fields. CBS Sports has a grade for the trade.

Longtime NFL CB Darius Slay retired.

The guy who plays Elder Price in Book of Mormon has been doing it for 10 years, which is highly unusual in an unstable business.

Your song of the day is Protoculture with Sanctuary.

With the World Baseball Classic stealing the show this spring training, the spotlight in Yankees camp has turned to the team’s young prospects. Namely, manager Aaron Boone has been able to give plenty of looks to the up-and-coming trio of Jasson Domínguez, Spencer Jones, and George Lombard Jr. Lombard, who was named New York’s new top prospect for 2026 by MLB Pipeline, FanGraphs, and Baseball America, is gearing up for a vital season in his development — with eyes on becoming the next great Yankee shortstop in the next few years.

2025 Stats (High-A Hudson Valley, Double-A Somerset): 132 games, 580 PA, .235/.367/.381 (127 wRC+), 9 HR, 49 RBI, 49 SB, 25.5 K%, 15 BB%.

The precocious young infielder and son of a former big leaguer-turned-coach by the same name tore up the High-A South Atlantic League with the Renegades for 24 games to start the year before getting the call to the Patriots in May. His production there was unspectacular (.215/.337/.358), but he continued to showcase his stellar athleticism in the field and on the basepaths (24 steals). And ultimately, it wasn’t a terrible showing at the dish for the youngest qualified hitter at the Double-A level.

Lombard’s tools are loud; he should have far more thunder in his bat than Anthony Volpe, the previous heir apparent at shortstop. Acknowledging that this is a bit of a subjective, his talent jumps off the screen in a way that Volpe’s never really did, even though he was also once a highly acclaimed prospect. (And if you’ve ever seen Lombard’s glovework in person, you know just how dazzling it can be.) While his Grapefruit League results didn’t blow anybody away—he hit under .200 with a .740 OPS and just one homer—you see a sparkle of superstardom in every game he plays. Take that one spring homer: a leadoff comet off a 97-mph heater from AL Cy Young runner-up Garrett Crochet.

The former two-sport athlete credits his time as a top-flight soccer player in helping to develop his physical and mental game. Let that be a lesson to parents who want their kids to specialize in a sport right away!

I don’t bring it up for nothing: that mental maturity manifests in his plate discipline. While most young hitters are overly aggressive hotshots at the dish, Lombard’s outstanding walk rate shows he has a discerning eye and won’t make pitchers’ lives easier with poor swing decisions. The key will be making sure he doesn’t become overly passive and spot them extra strikes by waiting for the perfect pitch to hit. Lombard himself said as much: “I think the most important part is just competing, having competitive at-bats and not giving any free ones away,” he told MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch.

However, what he does outside the zone is less important than what he does within it. With that, we must discuss his greatest weakness as a prospect. From MLB Pipeline’s latest scouting report writeup:

“Despite an efficient right-handed swing and a patient approach, Lombard has persistent issues making contact against in-zone fastballs.”

That’s a pretty big warning sign which threatens to undermine the strides he’s made in taking walks and hitting the ball in the air.

With the wealth of data all young players have access to, Lombard and his camp have probably already diagnosed the issue and formulated a plan to improve. This season will be a referendum on whether his strategy works. If Lombard can take a major step forward in Bridgewater, he could be on the fast track to the Bronx; as every prospect buff knows, the jump from Double-A to Triple-A is significantly smaller than High-A to Double-A.

Last week, Lombard was sent to minor-league camp to continue preparing for this consequential campaign. He had no realistic shot of battling for a roster spot, though the Yankees have been effusive about his work ethic and his defensive bona fides. Brian Cashman went as far as to say he “could play defense in the big leagues right now”—they’re just waiting for the bat to come along.

The Yankees don’t have quite as many blue-chip prospects as they did when the Baby Bomber era began a decade ago. But when they do come along, Cashman and his braintrust tend to give them every possibility to succeed. Lombard will get plenty of opportunity to make their jobs tougher if he takes a big step forward in 2026. Even with Volpe, José Caballero, and Ryan McMahon already covering the left side of the infield, it’d be hard to argue against bringing him into the fold if the complete version of GLJ starts to shine.

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See more of the Yankees Previews series here.