Sports
Five Early 2026 MLB Takes That Might Already Be True
Mar 24, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani (17) on deck in the fourth against the Los Angeles Angels at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images A week of games is never enough time to evaluate anything in Major League Baseball.
Unless, of course, it is enough time.
The Los Angeles Dodgers will win the N.L. West by 25 games.
This is more of a first impression of the rest of the division, and not even a “if everything goes perfectly” projection. But if the Dodgers win 110 games, which seems not far-fetched, second place needs to go 85-77 for a 25-game margin. That seems about right for the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks, and don’t even bother worrying about the San Francisco Giants or Colorado Rockies winning more than 85. (Seventy-five? Sixty-five?)
The record margin for winning a division is 23.5 games by the 1995 Cleveland Indians in the AL Central, which came in a strike-shortened season. The top mark for a full season is the 2001 Seattle Mariners, who won the AL West by 20 games, finishing with a 116-46 record. If the Dodgers win that many, they’ll take the West by 30.
Or more.
The San Francisco Giants will lose 95 games.
It’s going to take new manager Tony Vitello a moment to adjust to the big leagues after serving his apprenticeship in college.
But the Giants have had a questionable roster composition all along, which should make everyone also question how long it’s going to take team president Buster Posey to transition from team legend as a catcher to credible as a major league executive.
Brian Cashman will win Executive of the Year for running it back with the New York Yankees.
source: Getty Images The Yanks are 6-1 having played the Giants (oof), Seattle Mariners (middling start) and Miami Marlins (OK, but still meh) so far, not exactly a Murderer’s Row schedule. But they look pret-ty, pre-ty good, especially with Aaron Judge not having to carry them. And without having pitchers Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón and Clarke Schmidt on the active roster yet because of injury rehab.
New players include only left-hander Ryan Weathers, backup outfielder Randal Grichuk and Rule 5 reliever Cade Winquest. Well done, Cash! It’s not a World Series champion yet, of course…
You might have heard about rookie catcher Carter Jensen oversleeping and being scratched from the lineup Thursday afternoon. Jensen has a bright future if he’d just literally wake up.
Well, back in Spring Training, KC social media produced a TikTok video asking their players how many alarms and snoozes it takes for them to wake up. The answers varied, but the best one (and also the worst) came from Jensen.
“This is embarrassing,” Jensen began. “I need at least, like, six-to-eight alarms. It’s not good.”
It was all right there in the TikTok scouting report. When people tell you who they are, believe them!
The ABS system will be good for all parties, as long as umpires keep their cool.
Hawk-Eye tracking cameras are positioned around the stadium. Five cameras are used to track pitches. Additional cameras around the stadium are used to track player position and ball location. Major League Baseball is testing an Automated Ball-Stike (ABS) challenge system at select spring training parks. The system allows players to challenge a limited number of ball/stike calls during a game. Calls can be overturned if the pitch tracking technology shows an umpire got a call wrong. On a cold and wet night Wednesday, a hot mic caught umpire Andy Fletcher complaining about the Minnesota Twins challenging his strike zone.
“For God’s sake,” Fletcher whined after one of 11 challenges went up, including nine by the Twins — who were right about eight of them.
As they challenged, the Twins chipped away at an 11-run deficit, losing 13-9 to the Royals but bringing the tying run to the on-deck circle in the ninth. It would have been a less competitive game without ABS.
“There will be some umpires that have an ego behind it,” Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers told reporters. “But at the end of the day, I think most of them understand that it’s part of the game now.”
Sports
Braves face D-backs, seeking third straight series win
Mar 31, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Braves relief pitcher Martin Perez (33) throws against the Athletics in the sixth inning at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images
The visiting Atlanta Braves can begin the season with three straight series wins for the first time since 2018 when they face the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday afternoon in Phoenix.
Atlanta took two of three from both the Kansas City Royals and the Athletics and will finish a four-game set on Sunday. The Braves outscored Arizona 19-2 across their first two wins of the series before falling 2-1 on Saturday.
First-year manager Walt Weiss is far from worried about superstar Ronald Acuna Jr., but a .161 batting average through nine games has been an unwanted surprise.
“His swing looks kind of late,” Weiss said. “But they all go through ruts. We’ve seen all these guys go through ruts before. When he gets rolling, it’s going to be fun to watch. But he seems kind of late to me, right now.”
Atlanta’s pitching staff has allowed just three earned runs across the last four games and will turn to veteran Martin Perez (0-0, 0.00 ERA) in the series finale.
Perez, 35, threw 4 1/3 scoreless innings in relief on Tuesday against the A’s. After signing a minor league contract with the club in January, Perez had his contract selected as a dependable left-handed arm who can be plugged into the starting rotation.
“(Perez) is just a crafty veteran,” Weiss said. “He knows how to pitch. He’s a salty veteran. He’s been a good pitcher in this league for a long time. He threw the ball really well for us in that relief appearance last time out, so I expect him to be good again.”
Perez is slated to make the 280th start of his career and fourth against Arizona. He’s 0-2 with a 6.43 ERA in three appearances against the Diamondbacks.
Arizona, meanwhile, can stamp a successful first homestand of the season. The Diamondbacks swept the Detroit Tigers and have bounced back from a 17-2 Thursday loss to Atlanta with a pair of competitive outings.
Still, offense has been an issue for manager Torey Lovullo’s club. Albeit a small sample size, Arizona is batting just .204 and has failed to score more than two runs in any of the last four games. For Lovullo, an emphasis needs to be placed on honing in on pitches around the plate.
“If we zone in, try not to do too much, wait for our pitch, it’s the art of hitting and the beauty of baseball. When you do it, it’s sweet music,” Lovullo said. “When you chase, you get yourself into bad counts.”
Both of Arizona’s runs were unearned on Saturday. Rookie Jose Fernandez has been a bright spot, batting .333 with two home runs for the Diamondbacks.
On the mound Sunday, Brandon Pfaadt (0-0, 7.50 ERA) will look to bounce back after allowing five runs across six innings in a no-decision against the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday. The Diamondbacks won 7-5. Pfaadt, 27, is 2-0 with a 5.66 ERA in four career starts against the Braves.
–Field Level Media
–Field Level Media
Sports
A's manager Mark Kotsay wants better effort against Astros
Apr 4, 2026; West Sacramento, California, USA; Athletics manager Mark Kotsay (7) pulls Athletics pitcher Luis Morales (19) out of the game during the fourth inning against the Houston Astros at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Scott Marshall-Imagn Images The Athletics will be looking for better results on Sunday as they host the Houston Astros in West Sacramento, Calif., with each team vying for its first series win against a divisional opponent in 2026.
It’s been a tale of two blowouts so far in this first meeting between American League West rivals this season, with the A’s taking the opener 11-4 on Friday night and Houston responding with an 11-0 shutout on Saturday.
Athletics manager Mark Kotsay is looking for a better effort from his team after that big loss.
“We didn’t do anything well today,” he said postgame on Saturday. “That game was reflective of, in my opinion, past performances that we feel like we have put behind us, and we need to put behind us as a team.”
He was critical of the pitching staff’s performance after five pitchers combined to give up 18 hits, walk 13 batters and strike out only five.
“This is not reflective of the expectation level of our staff right now,” Kotsay said. “We talk about beating ourselves all the time. Today, we completely beat ourselves.”
The A’s are second in walks in the majors with 47 as a staff in eight games, trailing only the Los Angeles Angels (48). Kotsay said his pitchers need to start locating their offspeed offerings better.
“You’ve got to be able to keep big-league hitters off-balance,” he said. “You’ve got to have some type of secondary (pitch) you can throw in the zone for a strike and land it and get ahead.”
He’ll also be hoping for an improvement from Jacob Lopez as he makes his first home start of 2026.
Lopez (0-1, 6.75 ERA) struggled for control as he walked five batters and gave up three runs in four innings of a 4-0 loss to the Atlanta Braves on Monday.
He did not take a decision in either of his previous two career starts against Houston, putting up a 0.87 ERA in 10 1/3 innings, allowing one run on six hits.
If the A’s are able to pull out a victory, they will win their first series of the young season after starting 1-5 against the Toronto Blue Jays and Atlanta Braves.
Lance McCullers Jr. (1-0, 1.29 ERA) will take the mound for Houston for the rubber game. McCullers picked up the win in his season debut on Monday against Boston, striking out nine and allowing one run over seven innings. Over 15 starts against the Athletics in his career, McCullers is 7-3 with a 3.32 ERA.
“He kept attacking,” Astros manager Joe Espada said after McCullers’ outing against the Red Sox. “He set the tone from the very beginning. He was going to control the at-bats.”
McCullers has been in the Houston organization for his entire career, drafted in 2012 and debuting in 2015. He was an All-Star in 2017 when the Astros won the World Series, but he has thrown more than 100 innings in a season just once since 2018 while battling multiple injuries. He missed the 2019, 2023 and 2024 campaigns.
He will be looking to build on the work of Tatsuya Imai, who worked 5 2/3 scoreless innings and struck out nine in Houston’s win on Saturday to set up Sunday’s decisive Game 3.
Last season, the Athletics won the head-to-head series with Houston 8-5.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Kodai Senga aims to extend Mets' pitching prowess vs. Giants
Mar 31, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Kodai Senga (34) reacts after the third out of the first inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images Two pitchers with Cy Young Award aspirations wil meet for the first time Sunday when right-handers Kodai Senga and Logan Webb go head-to-head as the New York Mets and host San Francisco Giants complete a four-game series.
The Mets have won two of the first three in a series in which no outcome has been closer than five runs.
New York starters Nolan McLean and Clay Holmes have dominated 10-3 and 9-0 wins the past two nights, limiting the Giants to a total of one earned run and four hits in 12 1/3 innings.
They will hand the ball and a slumping opponent to Senga (0-1, 3.00 ERA), who had teammates and coaches gushing after his first start of the season, when he allowed just four hits and two runs over six innings at St. Louis on Tuesday. He struck out nine of the 25 batters he faced but got no support in a 3-0 defeat.
“It was a great start to the year,” Senga said afterward. “It makes me excited for this year. It felt like I’m a starting pitcher again.”
The 33-year-old right-hander battled injuries during a 7-6 campaign a year ago. But he was back on his 2023 All-Star form, pitching coach Justin Willard told reporters, which already is doing wonders for his confidence.
“This guy wants to be great,” Willard said. “I think you saw it (in 2023) when he was here, and then a couple injuries derailed him a bit. But he wants to be great. He wants to be the best pitcher in baseball. And he’s going to do things he needs to do to be that.”
While his 1-0 record wouldn’t indicate it, Senga has struggled in his three career starts against the Giants, roughed up for 14 hits and 11 runs in 14 innings. He also has walked 12, contributing to a 7.07 ERA.
Senga will see a Giants team that has struggled both in the field and at the plate in the past two games. Manager Tony Vitello clearly was more concerned about the former when defending his losing pitcher, Landen Roupp, after Saturday’s defeat.
“Too many innings where there are four outs that have to be recorded,” he lamented in his postgame press conference.
“They (the Mets) have done a really good job of swinging the bat, but you’d be hard-pressed to find an inning where they scored where there wasn’t the potential for the inning to be over. Our defense, we can certainly do better.”
Hoping for more help behind him will be Webb (1-1, 7.36), who bounced back from a shaky Opening Day start against the New York Yankees to limit the San Diego Padres to three hits and three runs over six innings in a 9-3 road win Tuesday. He allowed seven runs (six earned) in five innings in a 7-0 loss to the Yankees.
The two-time All-Star is 3-2 with a 3.21 ERA in seven career starts against the Mets.
After racking up a total of 27 hits in its last two games, New York likely will once again be without Juan Soto, who experienced tightness in his right calf in the first inning of Friday’s win.
Jared Young started in his spot Saturday, then gave way to Tyrone Taylor, who belted a game-breaking, three-run home run as a pinch hitter. Taylor finished the game with four RBIs.
–Field Level Media
Braves face D-backs, seeking third straight series win
A's manager Mark Kotsay wants better effort against Astros
