Worldwide Sports News

The San Francisco Giants knew their part on Tuesday and they played it well. Perhaps a little too well, if you ask me. The Giants hosted a star-studded Team USA on Tuesday at Scottsdale Stadium, serving as the tune-up appetizer before the World Baseball Classic starts later this week.

And an appetizer they were. A tasty one, it seemed, as the Americans plated enough runs to win the game before recording a single out, while cruising to a 15-1 win in a game that was exactly as competitive as the score suggests.

It was over as soon as it started. Not just because Team USA was rolling out a lineup befitting an All-Star Game, while the Giants were missing Rafael Devers, Luis Arráez, and their entire starting outfield, and not just because it was a battle of the best starting pitcher in the National League vs. San Francisco’s fifth starter.

No, it was over because, on the second pitch that Adrian Houser threw, Bobby Witt Jr. smacked a 99-mph single. Five pitches later, Bryce Harper roped a 110.3-mph double. Exactly one pitch later, Aaron Judge scored them both with a 108.5-mph two-run single. It was clear, then, what kind of day it would be.

To Houser’s credit, he settled down quite nicely. After giving up those back-to-back-to-back hits to open the game, which he promptly followed up with walk issued to Kyle Schwarber, he got Alex Bregman to ground into a double play (with huge help from Willy Adames), before striking out Cal Raleigh. He set down the side in order in the second inning, and in the third, he handled the top of the lineup much more comfortably, allowing just one baserunner (a walk to Judge) while retiring Witt, Harper, and Schwarber, the latter by way of strikes.

But suffice to say, the offense was not flowing on the other end, as the Giants got a very up close and personal look at just how dominant Paul Skenes can be. Adames opened the first inning with one of the more impressive Giants at-bats of the day, hitting a double into the corner, but Skenes would then retire the next (and final) nine batters that he faced. Still, it was enough to score a run against the ace, as Matt Chapman and Patrick Bailey followed Adames’ double with a pair of productive groundouts, resulting in San Francisco’s lone run scored on the day.

Things really started to fall apart for the Giants when Houser left the game and was replaced by fellow righty Blade Tidwell. It’s been an excellent spring for Tidwell, one of the top pitching prospects in the organization, and one outing against a group of MVPs and All-Stars doesn’t change that. But while no team outside of Los Angeles possesses the talent of the American WBC squad, this game was still a reminder that there’s a difference between facing Spring Training teams and honest-to-goodness MLB teams. And for Tidwell, that reminder was painful.

The rookie took the bump to start the fourth, and the second pitch he threw was tattooed over the fence by Alex Bregman, who cleared the wall with ease on a 437-foot dinger. He recovered to retire the next three batters, but couldn’t miss bats in the fifth inning, when he gave up four consecutive singles to open the inning, with Brice Turang, Witt, Harper, and Judge all doing damage that resulted in a two-run inning.

The sixth inning would also get away from Tidwell, who issued a leadoff walk to Raleigh, before ceding a towering home run to Roman Anthony. He would get two outs, but then be pulled from the inning.

In all, it was a rough game for a player trying to prove that they should be tasked with getting key outs in meaningful MLB games. Tidwell gave up eight baserunners and five earned runs in just 2.2 innings, while inducing just five swings-and-misses in his 45 pitches (though his final two pitches of the night were whiffs). Still and all, it’s not every day that you get to face Harper and Judge back-to-back, on national television, and it surely was both an exciting and instructional experience for Tidwell. And while the results may have been humbling, it does nothing to dampen the shine of his prospect.

After all, baseball is baseball, and anyone can get the better of anyone. And for further evidence of that, we turn to the top of the seventh inning.

Matt Gage took the bump to open the frame, and we’d reached the part of the game where both teams were starting to replace their regulars, and speckle in some Minor Leaguers. As is customary for these exhibitions, Team USA had some Giants prospects on loan from Minor League camp, since they don’t exactly carry players fit for mop-up duty on the American WBC team.

Those players came to bat in seventh, facing Gage, who will almost certainly be on San Francisco’s Opening Day roster, perhaps as their top lefty out of the bullpen given Erik Miller’s health status. And that’s when baseball got to baseballing.

It started in more normal fashion, as Gage was first tasked with facing budding superstar Pete Crow-Armstrong, who reached on an error by Bryce Eldridge, and then stole second base. And then came the friendly fire from the prospects.

First up was Charlie Szykowny, a ninth-round pick in 2023 who spent last year in High-A. He doubled off of Gage, scoring PCA. We then paused for some honest-to-goodness Team USA members — Ernie Clement drew a walk, and Raleigh flew out — and then back to the Minor Leaguers. Dakota Jordan, who is one of the team’s top prospects but who hasn’t advanced past Low-A yet, singled to score Szykowny. Gage then struck out Scott Bandura — a seventh-round pick in 2023 who made it to AA last year — before facing off with the Giants 2025 first-round pick, Gavin Kilen. It was an impressive at-bat by Kilen, who, in an 0-2 count against a fellow lefty, hit a 100.9-mph single to plate a pair of runs, and end Gage’s night.

Slightly conflicting times for Giants fans!

While that ended Gage’s rough outing, it didn’t end the tough inning. As happens in spring, the Giants turned to a Minor Leaguer to clean up the mess of an inning, preferring to give clean innings to the players fighting for roster spots. Greg Farone, a 2024 seventh-round pick who finished last year in High-A, entered only to find out that the string of fellow Minor Leaguers was done, and he now had to face a star. That star, Gunnar Henderson, ripped a 105.7-mph double on the second pitch that Farone threw, plating a pair of runs. Paul Goldschmidt then walked, and Crow-Armstrong brought the inning full circle with an RBI double. At long last, Farone retired Szykowny on strikes, putting an end to the 11-batter, six-running inning that broke the game wide open, and ended any dreams the Giants harbored of competitiveness.

Some other highlights and lowlights from the game:

• On paper, Eldridge had a poor game, as he hit 0-3 with two strikeouts and committed the aforementioned error. In reality, though, he did a lot of impressive things. Most notably, he had a phenomenal third-inning at-bat against Skenes, in which he hit an absolute rocket to center field which, were it not for the all-world defense of Byron Buxton, would have been a double. Instead, it served as the most impressive out of the day, tattooed at 111.9 mph and traveling 397 feet. In a game featuring Judge, Harper, Raleigh, and so many other stars, Eldridge managed to have the hardest-hit ball of the entire game.
• But it was’t just on offense! While Eldridge did commit an error, I was extremely impressed by his defensive outing. He ended the second inning by snagging a tough hopper down the line, and opened the third with a remarkably rangy diving play, and later in the game facilitated the never-easy 3-6-1 double play. He looked good out there.

• In the bottom of the seventh inning, All-Star closer David Bednar took the mound for Team USA. When his stint ended, and the eighth began, it was his brother on the mound: Giants relief prospect and NRI Will Bednar. The Bednar Bros both pitched scoreless innings in what was an extremely cool moment.
• For perhaps the last time in baseball history, this was a 15-1 game that went 10 innings. Obviously that didn’t happen due to a tie and a 14-run extra inning, but Team USA needed to get a handful of pitchers some reps, so the game extended to 10 innings. That’s doubly funny since teams normally don’t play a 10th inning in Spring Training even if there’s a tie. Nothing like early March baseball!
• The final count on the Minor Leaguers that the Giants loaned to Team USA: Szykowny, who was the designated hitter, went 1-3 with a double and a strikeout; Jordan, who played left field, hit 1-3 with two strikeouts, including a good morning, good evening, and good night, three-pitches, three swings, and three misses showing against Bednar; Bandura played right field and hit 1-2 with a walk and a double; Kilen slotted in at third, where he went 1-3; catcher Zach Morgan got in the game as a defensive replacement, but didn’t have an at-bat; and right-handed pitcher R.J. Dabovich faced two batters, and gave up a double to Bailey, while retiring Victor Bericoto.
• Trent Harris pitched the ninth for the Giants and had an odd outing. He gave up three hits, a walk, and two earned runs, but struck out the side.
• Since it was an exhibition, the broadcast spent a lot of the game talking to various people, including Logan Webb, Buster Posey, and Tony Vitello. Webb’s segment was especially funny, because it coincided with Anthony’s home run off of Tidwell, while Webb playfully talked about being happy that his teammate hit a home run, but upset that his teammate allowed one.
• It seems that the stars of the game hold Eldridge in high regard, and that’s awesome:

• The Giants now get back to Cactus League play. They return to action Wednesday night, when they host the Seattle Mariners at 6:05 p.m. PT on NBC Bay Area. Team USA, meanwhile, heads to pool play, which begins on Friday against Brazil, with Webb on the mound.

PHOENIX –– Last year, Dalton Rushing felt like he was playing on “thin ice.”

As a rookie back-up catcher with the juggernaut Dodgers, he spent most of his debut season almost walking on eggshells.

Maybe on another team, or in a less star-studded clubhouse, his big-league introduction would’ve felt different. In many organizations, his arrival as a top-ranked, power-hitting catching prospect would have been a very big deal.

But with the Dodgers, the former first-round draft pick got a reality check. 

While he would’ve liked to stand out, he instead needed to learn how to blend in.

“I was told to view it as an internship,” Rushing said of his rookie season, in which he batted just .204 over 155 plate appearances while spending most of his time riding the bench and building a rapport with pitchers behind the scenes.

“I don’t like viewing it like that, I don’t like viewing this game as an internship,” he added. “But at the same time, I see the perspective they were coming from, and the idea of what they wanted to do last year. They wanted to make sure I understand these guys as much as possible moving forward.”

Now, the 25-year-old is ready for the next step.

“I by no means anticipate being a role player like this for my whole career, and I don’t think they do either,” he told the California Post on Monday. “But I think last year was a really good learning year for me … I learned a lot about myself and understand the game a little better now.”

Where Rushing fits into the Dodgers’ long-term plans, of course, remains up in the air.

His primary position is blocked, with All-Star backstop Will Smith under contract for the next eight years. Other pathways to playing time also appear complicated, with everything from first base to DH to even the outfield –– a position Rushing said he volunteered to play again this season, before the team signed Kyle Tucker –– occupied by established MLB stars.

His name has been in trade rumors before. It’s likely such speculation will percolate again.

But for now, Rushing is doing the only thing he can: Embracing his reality as a part-time player, and preparing himself for unforeseen potential opportunities.

“I think there could be avenues and opportunities where I get on the field more regularly this year,” he said. “And it’s up to me to take advantage of that and show them what I can do to help this team win.”

On the field, Rushing failed to capitalize on the chances he did get last season, after being called up to replace Austin Barnes as the team’s backup catcher in mid-May.

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He started swinging too hard, losing the simple mechanics that helped him post a .933 OPS with 54 home runs in his minor-league career. He chased too many pitches, resulting in a 37.4% strikeout rate that ranked fourth-highest in the majors among players with 150 plate appearances.

As a result, he was passed over when the doorway to more playing time finally did open, supplanted by trade deadline acquisition Ben Rortvedt early in the playoffs while Smith was out with a hand fracture.

And in hindsight, Rushing acknowledged, “I worried too much about how sporadic the playing time was, instead of worrying about the consistency of where my body is at, where my swing is at.”

“It felt,” he continued, “as if I had to step in the box and show these guys I could hit.”

That’s why Rushing has tried to reframe his mindset this spring.

He feels like he has now forged strong relationships with the team’s pitching staff, something he hopes will “take some stress off the bat” and “let it do its thing a little better.”

He has also adopted a new mindset at the plate.

“Just be a hitter,” he said. “I’m blessed enough to not have to try and hit a homer to hit a homer, or try and hit a double to hit a double. My goal this year is, let’s see if I can hit 200 singles.”

That’s an exaggerated number, of course. If everyone stays healthy, Rushing might be lucky to get 200 total at-bats.

But it’s the mentality he knows he has to have to carve out a place on the team –– to be more of an impact player now, and remain a key part of the club’s future as well.

“At the end of the day, doing damage every week will keep me in the lineup,” he said. “And I’m gonna do whatever I have to do to try and find myself in the lineup as much as possible.”

Observations from Mets spring training on Tuesday:

What a relief

The two major additions to the bullpen were in good form against Team Nicaragua, as Luke Weaver and Devin Williams each pitched a scoreless inning in a 6-3 win. Weaver struck out one in his inning, while Williams fanned three.

Tough start

Craig Kimbrel allowed a run on three hits. Carlos Mendoza remains impressed with Kimbrel’s stuff, though, as the 37-year-old looks to find a place in the pen on his eighth team in the past six years.

Caught my eye

Mark Vientos was back at third base, this time for Team Nicaragua, as they prepare for the WBC.

Vientos has mostly been working at first base this spring, as the Mets look to use him, Brett Baty and newly signed Jorge Polanco there this year.

Facing the Mets on Tuesday, Vientos went 1-for-3.

Wednesday’s schedule

David Peterson will make his first Grapefruit League start, facing Team Israel in an exhibition game before the start of the WBC at 1:10 p.m. at Clover Park.

Nolan McLean and Luis Robert Jr. are also slated to play in a minor league game on a back field. 

The Mariners lost another tough one in the later innings in today’s spring training game against the Angels, who staged a three-run comeback in the ninth inning to snatch victory away from the Mariners, who now stand at 3-7 on the spring.

Angels starter George Klassen looked tough today in his three-inning sample, busting fastballs up to the plate at an average of 97.5 mph, paired with a changeup that was his actual whiff-getting weapon: all four of his whiffs (and therefore all four of his strikeouts) came on the changeup. You might have read about Klassen in our writeup of the Angels’ farm system; John’s analysis of Klassen is there are questions if he’ll be a starter or reliever due to his limited repertoire and occasional command outages. Three spring training innings isn’t enough to judge, but we’ll certainly see him in some form when facing Anaheim this season.

Two Mariners did get to Klassen: Patrick Wisdom ambushed a first-pitch fastball for a well-struck solo home run in the second inning, and two batters later Rhylan Thomas dropped the barrel on a slider for a turn-and-burn pull solo homer.

The Mariners couldn’t hold that lead, however. Bryan Woo was good-not-great in his second outing of the spring, with four punchouts of his own over 2.1 innings. The first two innings went smoothly, but he opened the third inning with a walk followed by a single off the bat of Bryce Teodosio and then used up the remainder of his pitch count for the day on a nine-pitch battle with Chris Taylor that ended up with Taylor striking out chasing a fastball off the plate. Michael Rucker, called in to polish off the inning, couldn’t keep his inherited runners from scoring, eventually walking off the mound to a 2-2 tie.

The Angels went ahead in the following inning. Casey Legumina got into another lengthy battle with an Angels hitter, eventually walking Kyren Paris on ten pitches. He then fell behind Jeimer Candelario, who is apparently an Angel now, 3-1 before serving up a 93 mph fastball right in the lefty loop zone for a two-run homer to make the game 4-2. No, Casey! Don’t do that, Casey! It’s an unfortunate step back for Legumina, who has looked better this spring, but as they say, growth isn’t linear.

Seattle got one of those runs back in the fourth; Brent Suter walked J.P. Crawford and Ryan Bliss doubled him over to third (the crowd was very unhappy with third base coach Carlos Cardoza’s refusal to send J.P. home; friends, this is spring training). 19-year-old Colt Emerson then came up with a sacrifice fly off the 36-year-old Suter, a fact that amuses me and also feels very appropriate for a player who, as Ryan Divish says, was “a 27 year old when he came out of the womb.”

The Mariners were able to tie things up in the fifth thanks to Brendan Donovan, doing his best Josh Naylor impression by walking, stealing second, and then taking third on a wild pitch from Ryan Zeferjahn, which I spelled right on the first try, thank you. Brian O’Keefe walked and moved to second when Zeferjahn hit Jakson Reetz with a 92 mph sinker, and Patrick Wisdom singled to bring home both the tying and go-ahead run.

The second line added another insurance run in the sixth. Rhylan Thomas singled off old friend and Tacoma teammate Tayler Saucedo and moved to second on a wild pitch before scoring on a Spencer Packard single, making it 6-4 Mariners.

It wasn’t pretty but the bullpen held the line <— a line from another, more fun recap I was writing before Michael Morales, after barely escaping the eighth inning, went back out for the ninth and gave up a double followed by a walk, forcing Dan Wilson to call on one of his “jicky” (Just In Case) players in Reid Easterly, who is someone I didn’t know was a Mariner until today. Maybe faced with a clean inning Easterly would have gotten out of the jam, but as it was, he immediately gave up a game-tying double followed by a go-ahead single. The Mariners had one last chance—Carson Taylor hit a two-out double and Cole Young worked a walk behind him—but Brock Rodden popped out to end the game.

Pitching Pile Update:

Today’s clear winner was Cole Wilcox, who pitched a sterling 1-2-3 inning and looked dominant, needing just nine pitches, eight of which he threw for strikes—a big development for a player whose bugaboo has been command. Wilcox spammed his off-speed today: six of those nine pitches were the slider/sweeper (although only one a sweeper, per Statcast); the other three were sinkers. It seems like each of Wilcox’s innings has been stronger than the last; I’m very intrigued by him and what he does next.

Robinson Ortiz technically worked a scoreless inning, but it should be noted he got bailed out by a dazzling double play from Will Wilson at third base, who handled a very sharply-hit ground ball (105.5 EV) on a tricky hop for a seamless double play. While Brennan Davis has sucked up most of the post-hype-prospect redemption-arc attention, I am intrigued by Will Wilson, who soothes the ache somewhat of losing the surehanded Ben Williamson at third (although the Rays are apparently using Williamson as a utility infielder, playing him at second, third, and short this spring).

Fringe Friends Update:

Speaking of Brennan Davis, he had another loud single today. You know how they say “it just sounds different off his bat”? I experienced that firsthand with Davis, as the contact he made on a single that came off the bat at 111 mph was so loud in the press box I literally gasped out loud like I was in a telenovela. On a team that is pretty well settled as far as position battles go, following the Brennan Davis storyline is one of the most fun things about this spring.

Cole Young Appreciation Post:

Cole Young played the back half of this game in order to give Ryan Bliss a chance to play at second, which is a little like your teenage cousin being forced to sit at the kids’ table, but Young handled it well. He worked a walk to extend the ninth inning with yet another polished plate appearance, and he also showed off what’s becoming a theme this spring of improved infield defense. Hobby horse alert: you will be seeing something on the site soon about Young’s improved (re-proved?) defense. Look at the ground he covers on this bunt!

David Ross is headed back to the Worldwide Leader. 

ESPN announced Tuesday that the longtime MLB catcher and ex-Cubs manager is coming back to the network on a multiyear deal after having previously been on its airwaves from 2017-19. 

Ross, 48, joined his former broadcast partner, Jon “Boog” Sciambi, during Tuesday’s Team USA exhibition game against the Giants on ESPN to break the news of his return. 

“I’m so fired up,” Ross, who is serving as Team USA’s bullpen coach during the World Baseball Classic, said during the broadcast.

“Pumped to be back. The ESPN family has been special to me, and I can’t wait to watch some more baseball and be more involved.”

Ross will serve as an MLB analyst for both the network’s game and studio coverage, ESPN added. 

A seventh-round pick by the Dodgers in 1998, Ross went on to play 15 big league seasons with seven different teams largely as a backup catcher, retiring after the 2016 season. 

Former Cubs manager and current Team USA WBC bullpen coach David Ross is returning to ESPN as an MLB analyst. #MLBpic.twitter.com/stmEO9p0az

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 3, 2026

He won two World Series titles during his career in 2013 with the Red Sox and in 2016 with the curse-breaking Cubs. 

Ross was especially key during Chicago’s 2016 run, hitting two postseason home runs, including a solo shot — in the last official at-bat of his career — during the epic World Series Game 7 against Cleveland.

In October 2019, Ross signed a three-year deal to take over as the Cubs’ manager. 

He was fired and later replaced by Craig Counsell after the 2023 season amid a three-season playoff drought.

MESA, Arizona — The Cubs wore their white pinstripe home jerseys for the exhibition game against Team Italy, and that was more than just a pleasant view. Before the game started I saw a few Cubs minor leaguers enter Sloan Park wearing the blue alternates and wondered why.

“Why” was because several of them played for Team Italy, and that had them match Italy’s blue jerseys. And a couple of the Cubs prospects hit Cubs pitching pretty hard. Owen Ayers, a catching prospect who did well in the Arizona Fall League, smashed a two-run homer and also singled, and Parker Chavers was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

All of this led to Team Italy’s 9-4 win over the Cubs in front of a very small crowd at Sloan Park, just 8,068.

While Cubs major leaguers were in the game, though, things went quite well. Cade Horton threw three strong innings, allowing a walk and single and striking out three. Here are the three K’s [VIDEO].

Dansby Swanson gave the Cubs a 1-0 lead with this solo homer in the second [VIDEO].

That ball was up and out right in the middle of the zone and was hit a long way:

The Cubs scored three more times in the fourth. Matt Shaw led off with a double and Pedro Ramirez walked. Both runners moved up on a fly ball by Jefferson Rojas and both scored on an infield hit by Nico Hoerner, after the ball was thrown away by Italy shortstop Thomas Saggese, who you’ll remember as a member of the Cardinals.

Jacob Webb and Ethan Roberts threw scoreless innings in the fourth and fifth and so the game went to the sixth with the Cubs up 4-0 and Italy having only one hit.

Jack Neely should have had a scoreless inning, too, only Ben Cowles, just returned from his waiver sojourn to Toronto, threw a ball away for a throwing error to lead off the sixth. Neely retired the next two hitters, but then Ayers homered, and another single and homer made it a four-run inning, all the runs unearned due to the Cowles error.

Another homer in the seventh, by Saggese off Jeff Brigham, gave Italy the lead and they put the game away with a four-spot off Cubs minor leaguers Ben Heller and Tyler Santana.

So, basically, the Cubs major leaguers did what they needed to do and the loss was all off guys who won’t be on this team, some of the runs produced by their own Cubs minor-league teammates.

As noted, only 8,068 paid to see this one. This is one of the smallest crowds in the history of Sloan Park. It makes the total for seven dates this spring 79,377, or 11,340 per date.

The Cubs head to the west side of Phoenix to play the Brewers Wednesday afternoon. Edward Cabrera will start for the Cubs and Brandon Sproat, one of the two top Mets prospects the Brewers got in the Freddy Peralta deal, will start for Milwaukee. Game time Wednesday is 2:10 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on Marquee Sports Network and also Brewers TV. There will also be a radio broadcast on the Brewers flagship station, WTMJ 620.