Worldwide Sports News

The WBC got wild yesterday and earlier today with eight games. I’ll try to get you as caught up as I can. There were some good performances from Cubs players as well.

Pool A (San Juan)

Cuba 3, Panama 1

Right fielder Yoelkis Guilbert and third baseman Yoán Moncada both homered as Cuba slipped past Panama, 3-1.

Guardians pitcher Logan Allen, whose mother is Panamanian, started for Panama. Guilbert, who plays in the Cuban League and winter ball in Mexico, hit a solo home run off him with two outs in the second inning. In the third, Moncada connected for a home run off of Allen with a man on to make it 3-0 Cuba.

Moncada’s home run [VIDEO]

Meanwhile, Panama couldn’t do much off of six Cuban pitchers. They managed to get one run when former Braves infielder Johan Camargo singled home Cardinals minor leaguer Leonardo Bernel. But that was all the offense they could manage.

Catcher Miguel Amaya started for Panama and went 0 for 3 before he was pulled for a pinch-hitter. Christian Bethancourt, who is back with the Cubs these days, was 0 for 1.

Puerto Rico 5, Colombia 0

Once starter José Quintana left the game, Puerto Rico had no problem putting away Colombia, 5-0.

Quintana was magnificent for Colombia. He allowed only one baserunner over three innings, a leadoff walk in the third. But thanks to a 4-6-3 double play, Quintana faced the minimum over his three innings.

But former Mets and Angels minor leaguer Adrián Almeida came on to pitch the fourth and he retired Puerto Rico in order in that inning. But then he came out for the fifth and got rocked for five runs. After A’s teammates Carlos Cortes and Darell Hernaiz both singled to start the inning, an error by Colombian third baseman Gio Urshela allowed one run to score and opened up the five-run inning. Eddie Rosario and Martin Maldonado had RBI singles, Willi Castro hit an RBI double and Heliot Ramos had a sacrifice fly.

Colombia managed just five singles, three of them by outfielder Harold Ramírez who was 3 for 4.

Pool B (Houston)

Mexico 8, Great Britain 2

Team Mexico scored three runs in the eighth inning and four in the top of the ninth to turn a tight contest into an 8-2 blowout.

Javier Assad got the start for Mexico and he shut down the British batters for 3.2 scoreless innings. Assad allowed two hits. He walked one and struck out two.

Mexico struck first in the top of the second with a solo home run by Braves infielder Nacho Alvarez Jr. The blast came off of Great Britain starter and Red Sox minor leaguer Jack Anderson.

The home run by Alvarez is more exciting in Spanish [VIDEO]

But Great Britain struck back and tied the game in the bottom of the sixth inning with a home run by Nationals catcher Harry Ford. [VIDEO]

Then Mexico broke things open in the top of the eighth when Rays first baseman Jonathan Aranda smashed a three-run home run off of Giants reliever Tristan Beck. [VIDEO]

Mexico then pushed across four more runs in the top of the ninth. Great Britain got a consolation run in the bottom of the inning on a double by Trayce Thompson.

Cubs minor leaguer BJ Murray Jr. was 1 for 3 with a walk for Great Britain.

United States 15 Brazil 5

The US had trouble putting away the pesky Brazilian team, who were paced by two home runs by Angels minor leaguer Lucas Ramirez.

Team USA was up 2-0 after three batters when team captain Aaron Judge homered on a 79 mile per hour sweeper [VIDEO] by former Reds farmhand Bo Takahashi.

Brazil struck back with a solo home run in the bottom of the inning by Lucas Ramirez [VIDEO], the 20 year-old son of former slugger Manny Ramirez.

The US tacked on another run in the third inning when Cal Raleigh walked with the bases loaded.

It looked like the rout was on when the US scored four runs in the top of the fifth inning. Byron Buxton was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded for one run, then Brice Turang emptied the bases with this three-run double [VIDEO]

But Michael Wacha let the Brazilians back in the game when he allowed three runs in the bottom of the seventh. Former Astros minor leaguer Victo Masai hit a two-run home run. [VIDEO] which was the key hit of the inning.

Team USA got a run back in the top of the eighth with a Roman Anthony RBI single. But Brazil got that run back with Lucas Ramirez’s second home run of the game [VIDEO].

But Brazil ran out of pitchers who could throw a strike and Team USA scored seven runs on three singles and five walks in the top of the ninth.

Brazil’s pitching staff clearly struggled to find the plate as they walked 17 (!!) US batters and hit two of them.

Alex Bregman was 0 for 1 with four walks and one hit by pitch. He scored twice and had one RBI.

Pete Crow-Armstrong took over center field after Byron Buxton was hit by a pitch (purely precautionary, we were told) and was 0 for 2 with a bases-loaded walk in the ninth.

Pool C (Tokyo)

Chinese Taipei 14 Czechia 0 (7 innings)

Jan Novák, who had two years in rookie ball with the Orioles over a decade ago, got the start against Chinese Taipei and got rocked for two runs in the first and four in the second.

Stuart Fairchild, who signed a minor league deal with the Guardians this past winter, hit a grand slam off Novák in the second inning [VIDEO]

After Fairchild’s home run, the game was pretty much over as Czechia could only manage four hits. A’s minor leaguer Chen Zhong-Ao Zhuang, Diamondbacks minor leaguer Yu-Min Lin and former Diamondbacks farmhand Kai-Wei Lin combined on the shutout, which ended after seven innings because of the mercy rule.

Japan 8 Korea 6

Korea jumped out to an early lead over the favored hosts, but in the end Japan had too much talent and prevailed 8-6.

Korea jumped all over Samurai Japan starter Yusei Kikuchi, scoring three runs in the top of the first. Jung Ho Lee hit an RBI single, followed by a two-run double by LG Twins first baseman Bo Gyeong Moon [VIDEO].

As you can see in that highlight, Moon’s double got past center fielder Seiya Suzuki. But Suzuki got those two runs back with a 385-foot two-run home run in the bottom of the inning. [VIDEO]

Shohei Ohtani (who else?) brought Japan level with a solo home run in the third. But Japan wasn’t done. After Softbank outfielder Kensuke Kondoh struck out, Suzuki and Masataka Yoshida went back-to-back to give Japan a 5-3 lead.

Here are all three Japanese home runs in the third [VIDEO].

But Korea struck back with a 410-foot two-run home run in the top of the fourth by Dodgers infielder Hyeseong Kim. [VIDEO]

But Japan proved to be too much for Korea and scored three more times in the seventh. Suzuki walked with the bases loaded and then Yoshida hit a two-run single.

Korea tried to rally off of Softbank Hawks reliever Yuki Matsumoto in the top of the eighth. Jung Hoo Lee led off the inning with a double and would come around to score on a two-out single by the NC Dino’s Ju Won Kim. Matsumoto then loaded the bases, but Hyeseong Kim struck out with the go-ahead run on first to end th threat.

Pool D (Miami):

Venezuela 6, Netherlands 2

Venezuela scored four runs in the fifth inning and had little trouble in their first game against the Netherlands.

Ronald Acuña Jr. led off the bottom of the first inning with a double off of Netherlands starter Antwone Kelly, who pitched for the Pirates Double-A affiliate in Altoona last year. Acuña scored two batters later on a single by Luis Arraez.

The Netherlands tied the game up in the top of the second with a double by Diamondbacks minor leaguer Druw Jones off of Venezuela starter Ranger Suárez. [VIDEO]

Druw’s Hall-of-Fame father is the Netherlands manager.

Marlins outfielder Javier Sanoja put Venezuela back on top with a solo home run on a pitch up in his eyes [VIDEO] in the bottom of the second.

Venezuela put this game out of reach with a four-run fifth inning. The rally was highlighted by a two-run single by Willson Contreras.

Daniel Palencia retired the Netherlands side in order in the ninth with pure gasolina [VIDEO], striking out two on pitches of 100 and 101 miles per hour.

Dominican Republic 12 Nicaragua 3

Nicaragua gave the powerhouse Dominicans an early scare, but eventually won going away thanks to home runs by Junior Caminero, Julio Rodríguez and Oneil Cruz.

Dominican starter Christopher Sánchez struggled, giving up one run in the top of the first inning and two in the second. Blue Jays minor league outfielder Ismael Munguia had one RBI single of Sánchez in the first. Brewers Triple-A shortstop Freddy Zamora had an RBI double in the second and Chase Dawson of the indy ball Schaumburg Boomers had an RBI single. [VIDEO]

However, the Dominicans scored twice in the bottom of the first with an RBI double by Ketel Marte and an RBI groundout by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. So it was 3-2 Nicaragua until the bottom of the third inning, when Rodríguez singled home Juan Soto.

That tie lasted until the bottom of the sixth when Caminero went deep to center field with a man on. [VIDEO]

Julio Rodríguez made it 6-3 with a solo home run in the seventh. Then the Dominicans exploded for six runs in the bottom of the eighth, highlighted by this monster 450-foot three-run home run by Oneil Cruz. [VIDEO]

Kyle Leahy will have another opportunity to prove to the St. Louis Cardinals that he has what it takes to be a starter as he’ll be on the mound to do battle with the New York Mets at Roger Dean Stadium. According to MLB.com, Kodai Senga will make the Spring Training start for the Mets. The Cardinals have Masyn Winn leading off again for some reason while JJ Wetherholt is in the cleanup spot.

Saturday notes…

• FORMER CUBS IN ATHLETICS CAMP: Mark Leiter Jr., Brooks Kriske.
• CUBS IN THE WBC: Alex Bregman, 0-for-1 with four walks and a HBP. Pete Crow-Armstrong, 0-for-2, one walk. Miguel Amaya, 0-for-3. Seiya Suzuki, 3-for-7, two home runs, two walks, four RBI, four runs. Daniel Palencia: 1 IP, two strikeouts. Javier Assad, 3 IP, 0.00 ERA, two strikeouts.

Here are today’s particulars.

The Cubs lineup was not available at posting time. Please check BCB social media for the Cubs lineup.

A’s lineup:

Today's lineup at Chicago (NL) – March 7, 2026 at Sloan Park pic.twitter.com/cWYYEM6P3v

— A's Communications (@AthleticsPR) March 7, 2026

Shōta Imanaga will start for the Cubs. Other Cubs pitchers scheduled today: Gavin Hollowell, Riley Martin, Jack Neely, Jeff Brigham and Connor Schultz.

Mason Barnett will start for the A’s. Other A’s pitchers scheduled today: Hogan Harris, Justin Sterner and Matt
Krook. The A’s are a split squad today.

No TV today. There will be a radio broadcast on The Score.

MLB.com Gameday

Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page for today.

Please visit our SB Nation A’s site Athletics Nation. If you do go there to interact with A’s fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.

As we have done in the past, we’ll have a first pitch thread at five minutes to game time and one overflow thread, 90 minutes after game time. For today, that will be 2 p.m. CT and 3:30 p.m. CT.

These threads will not post individually onto the front page; instead, you can find links to them in the box marked ”Chicago Cubs Game Threads” at the bottom of the front page. There will also be a StoryStream on the front page with all the game thread links, as well as the recap after the game is over. The pitcher photos and regular-season stats will return on Opening Day.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

One of the oddities of spring training is when you get a split squad and two different sets of Orioles are playing at once. That’s what’s happening here on Saturday, with one set of Orioles staying in Sarasota to play some Twins, and another set of Orioles traveling to the Braves spring home to play a game there.

Tough luck if you want to watch on TV or streaming. Although this game was initially listed for a MASN broadcast, it isn’t now. I don’t know why they changed their plans. The Sarasota game is Orioles radio only. If you have access to the Braves feed on MLB.tv, you can watch the road guys in action. That game has a Braves radio feed as well.

Home Orioles starting lineup

1. Heston Kjerstad – RF
2. Adley Rutschman – C
3. Pete Alonso – 1B
4. Taylor Ward – DH
5. Blaze Alexander – CF
6. Coby Mayo – 3B
7. Leody Taveras – RF
8. Thairo Estrada – 2B
9. Wehiwa Aloy – SS

Cade Povich is the starting pitcher for the home Orioles today.

It is not worth getting worked up too much about spring training lineups and this is doubly true on a split squad day where the team is required to send a minimum number of MLB players along on its road game. Still, there are a couple of interesting things.

One, Alexander playing center field. It seems like “maybe this fast middle-infielder can handle center field” is one of those perpetual thoughts that is seldom tried. Remember how often we heard it about Jorge Mateo, for instance. He started a total of 14 games in center field for the Orioles. It wasn’t an ongoing thing. We’ll see if Alexander playing there becomes a thing or if it’s just a weird one-off for this split squad day.

Two, Aloy is in the starting lineup. It’s not typical to see a player who isn’t even a non-roster invite make a start – Aloy’s appearances are “borrowed from minor league camp.” Easier to make it work on a split squad day, especially when the expected starting shortstop, Gunnar Henderson, is away with Team USA for the World Baseball Classic, not that Team USA’s manager seems to have the savvy to recognize Henderson as a starting lineup-caliber player there.

Road Orioles starting lineup

1. Dylan Beavers – CF
2. Ryan Mountcastle – 1B
3. Samuel Basallo – C
4. Bryan Ramos – 3B
5. Reed Trimble – RF
6. Weston Wilson – LF
7. Sam Huff – DH
8. Willy Vasquez – 2B
9. José Barrero – SS

Luis De León is the starting pitcher for the road team. It’s too bad there’s not a local broadcast for one of the team’s top pitching prospects in action. On the other hand, there’s not much to see with the rest of this.

Probably it means nothing, but I do have a slight eyebrow raised at Colton Cowser not being in either of these starting lineups. If he doesn’t play tomorrow either, that might be a thing to keep an eye on.

I follow Orioles news very closely and I could not tell you one thing about Willy Vasquez or José Barrero.

I don’t know whether Vance Honeycutt is available for either of these teams to try to continue his perfect and homer-heavy sporadic spring at-bat streak.

Detroit Tigers vs. Pittsburgh Pirates

Time/Place: 1:05 p.m., Joker Marchant Stadium – Lakeland, FL
SB Nation Site: Bucs Dugout
Media: MLB Network, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network

Tigers today in Lakeland: pic.twitter.com/Rtz1egjHl3

— Evan Woodbery (@evanwoodbery) March 7, 2026

Houston brings back a member of it’s 2022 World Series Champion team to back up Yainer Diaz.

The Houston Astros finally addressed their backup catcher situation today, bringing back catcher Christian Vazquez on a minor league deal.

Vazquez was a member of the Astros’ 2022 World Championship team, acquired at the deadline to boost catcher production down the stretch and in the playoffs.

Vazquez has always had an excellent defensive reputation, and still grades as an above average defensive catcher. It’s his offense that has fallen since 2022, but that may not be the Astros’ primary decision for making this move.

While Vazquez had always been a decent to solid hitter for the Red Sox, his limited playing time after being acquired by the Astros in a deadline deal that sent Enmanuel Valdez and Wilyer Abreu to Boston had a notable impact on his offensive production.

Vazquez arrived in Houston batting .282 with a .759 OPS. However, he would find himself on the bench more often than not and his production dropped. He would bat .250 with a .585 OPS in 104 AB for the Astros in the second half of 2022.

Vazquez, who has a career .262 AVG and .700 OPS as a member of the Red Sox, would never approach his Boston numbers again. After leaving Houston following the 2022 season, he has played the last 3 seasons in Minnesota, where the bat has been invisible.

2023: .223 AVG .598 OPS

2024: .221 AVG .575 OPS

2025: .189 AVG .545 OPS

Those numbers are actually slightly worse than Martin Maldonado’s numbers with Houston from 2021-2023, when his offense became a major concern as his defense began to slide. Maldonado, to his credit, could hit double digit HRs, twice in that span hitting 15 HR in a single season. Vazquez has 16 HR over the last 3 years combined.

It would seem, however, that Vazquez is being brought back more for his defense, leadership, and ability to help develop young pitchers. Vazquez has a reputation for tremendous preparation work, keen awareness and a very high baseball IQ.

Houston has a lot of young and new pitchers on it’s staff, and Vazquez could be a boon to those players in their development and success.

Vazquez did have some key moments in the Astros 2022 Championship run, including catching the first combined no-hitter (and second ever no-hitter) in World Series history in Game 4 of the 2022 Series.

He also delivered a two-run single in Game 3 of the ALCS leading the Astros to a 5-0 victory over the Yankees.

Vazquez is currently playing for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic, and will join the Astros afterwards.

Vazquez should be considered the favorite to start the season on the main roster as the backup to Yainer Diaz based on his experience alone. Houston has not been shy about it’s reservations regarding Cesar Salazar’s inexperience and ability to perform at the major league level. Despite not yet having joined the team, Vazquez’ leadership and experience will likely be the deciding factors.

The 2026 World Baseball Classic officially kicked off earlier this week, and several Yankees are involved, most notably Aaron Judge. The Yankee captain is also captaining Team USA, while other Yankees around the tournament include Jazz Chihsolm Jr., Austin Wells, David Bednar, Paul Goldschmidt, Ryan Yarbrough, Fernando Cruz, Camilo Doval, and Amed Rosario.

However, seeing the coaching staffs of the teams at the WBC is often an exercise in remembering some guys. The tournament often brings out some of the biggest stars in their respective countries’ histories to take the reins and lead the current-day players, and that often also filters down to all of the coaching roles. With that in mind, let’s dig into the coaching staffs and remember the Yankees, great or not, who you may see in the background on your television in the coming weeks.

We’ll start off with Team USA, who has quite a number of former Yankees around the coaching staff. The most famous, and most beloved, of them is none other than Andy Pettitte. The Yankee hero will be the pitching coach for the U.S., a role he also filled at the last edition in 2023.

The team has two listed hitting coaches, one of which is ill-fated former Yankees’ interim hitting coach Sean Casey. The other is a former 2017 player in Matt Holliday. Also around will be Brian McCann, who is simply listed as “assistant coach,” but I assume he’ll be working with the catchers in some way. Another Yankee connection is that prospect George Lombard Jr.’s dad — George Sr., you could guess — is Team USA’s first base coach.

For Team Canada, mid-2000s relief workhorse Paul Quantrill will also serve as pitching coach, but former Yankee catcher Russell Martin will be manning the first base coaching box as well.

If you watched the opening game between Australia and Chinese Taipei earlier this week, you might have noticed a couple familiar, but slightly older, faces. The bullpen coaches for each respective team were former Yankees Graeme Lloyd and Chien-Ming Wang.

There are no former Yankees’ players on the Dominican Republic’s coaching staff, but Robinson Canó‘s dad, José, who famously was the pitcher for Robbie when he won the Home Run Derby in 2011, will be the DR’s bullpen coach.

Jazz will see some a familiar face in Team Great Britain’s dugout as current Yankee coach Tanner Swanson will serve as bench coach. Former Yankee hitting coach Dillon Lawson will also be their hitting coach.

Another team that will have a current Yankee coach is Israel, where bench coach Brad Ausmus will manage the WBC team.

Kevin Youkilis will be his bench coach, but the less said about his Yankee tenure, the better.

Team Italy’s roster probably won’t win the tournament, but it is probably my favorite, as seemingly any MLBer with an Italian last name could get on the team. The man who played a big role in putting together than team is none other than Francisco Cervelli, who is the manager, having previously played for the team in past editions.

He’s not even the only former Yankee catcher on the coaching staff either. None other than Jorge Posada is one of the team’s hitting coaches, while the hirsute Sal Fasano is the bullpen coach. To round things out, Dave Righetti is the pitching coach, and 1979 backstop Jerry is on the staff as well.

Yet another former Yankee who will manage their country is Andruw Jones. The soon-to-be Hall of Famer will skipper the Netherlands, including former Yankee player Didi Gregorius.

Obviously, the most interesting action in the WBC will be on the field. However, if you’re ever looking up at your tv wondering “Hey, is that…” it might be!

Here are the lineups. For the Phillies:

Saturday vs. the Jays pic.twitter.com/XMQsEuK99C

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) March 7, 2026

For the Blue Jays:

🚨 MAD MAX MOUND DAY 🚨

📻 @FAN590pic.twitter.com/KTewDuV5Wi

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) March 7, 2026

Let’s talk about it.