Sports
Three Storylines Entering 2025 MLB Spring Training: Dodgers, Mets, & More
It is that time of the year for all things grapefruit and cactus to distract from winter’s deep freeze while allowing a window into summer.
Spring has sprung for all 30 MLB teams, with 29 of those left to wonder how they can sling their way past the goliath under construction in Los Angeles.
Those World Series champion Dodgers are set to begin the season first when they take on the Chicago Cubs at Tokyo in mid-March. Do the mightiest of all really need a head start?
Here are three of the biggest stories to watch as the 2025 season works its way to Opening Day:
Will the rich get richer in L.A.?
The criticism of the Dodgers’ front office for trying to make their roster better than yours has fast-forwarded all the way to the annihilation of the game itself. Criticizing one team for doing what your team won’t, or can’t, surely is one way to go.
The Dodgers do seem intent on becoming the first repeat champion in 25 years. They have two decades of evidence on what doesn’t work, so they went out and made the game’s best roster even better.
A pair of Hernandezs were re-signed: Kiké and Teoscar. A Cy Young winner from two different countries was added: Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki. Infielder Hyesong Kim of South Korea already has impressed. The bullpen should be better with Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates, while veteran Michael Conforto will try to deliver his eighth season of double-digit home runs.
Yet none of it holds the intrigue of Shohei Ohtani returning to the mound after a second elbow surgery since arriving from Japan into the United States in 2018. After one of the greatest offensive seasons in baseball history, Ohtani will add what he can from the mound. It will make astoundingly great theater.
Will the Dodgers win 120 games? Will they crumble under the weight of expectation? No matter the case, everybody will be watching.
What is the empire state of mind?
After a season when MLB was this close to another Subway World Series, expectations abound in a pair of New York boroughs for 2025.
After they helped the Dodgers’ cause in the deciding game of the World Series, the Yankees hope to give themselves another chance with additions like lefty Max Fried and first baseman Paul Goldschmidt. Outfielder Cody Bellinger and closer Devin Williams arrived in trades.
Can all of it cover for the departure of the dynamic Juan Soto? An even more well-rounded roster suggests it will, although depth might be the biggest indicator of how far the Yankees go.
Soto’s new home is with the Mets, and he has promised to be the same guy as always. A small step back in production still would make him one of the top players in the game. The road to Pete Alonso’s return was slow and awkward. The veteran slugger insists he is “happy” now. He said it over and over. Was he convincing us, or himself?
Are summer rentals good for the game?
Baseball’s rentals used to be players arriving at the deadline with a few months to produce in the stretch drive before their contracts expired. Right-hander Jack Flaherty was a quintessential example, pitching in 15 games, counting playoffs, for the Dodgers, then going back to where he came from in Detroit this offseason.
In 2025, rentals now refer to entire teams taking up residence in temporary locales. The Oakland/Northern California/Sacramento A’s are going Airbnb style with a move to the California capital to play in a minor league park for a few seasons. The Tampa Bay Rays are being true to their name by moving into a spring training park for regular season games in … Tampa.
Two of baseball’s smaller draws now will be a tough ticket, although the ultimate goal is for both to be in brand new stadiums at some point down the road. So is it a good time for baseball to have reduced attendance for two teams?
Last season, 71.3 million fans saw games in person. That’s 17th all-time in MLB history and well below the record 79.5 million in 2007. World Series TV ratings were slightly up in 2024 with an average of 15 million viewers per game, but nowhere near the late 1970s and early 80s, when those numbers were in the area of 40 million.
Yet payroll is higher than it has ever been, and so is revenue sharing, with summer’s ultimate sporting draw healthy as ever, even if fewer tickets are available.
Sports
Red Sox tackle Blue Jays to secure sixth straight series win
Jul 26, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Red Sox pitcher Ranger Suarez (55) pitches against the Toronto Blue Jays during the first inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images Boston Red Sox starter Ranger Suarez and four relievers combined to shut down the visiting Toronto Blue Jays in a 6-1 win Sunday.
Boston, which has won 17 of its last 19 games, won a sixth straight series.
Suarez, pitching for the first time since July 5 due to a groin strain, was taken out after four scoreless innings and 64 pitches. The southpaw allowed four hits with no walks and struck out six.
Greg Weissert (3-2), Tyron Guerrero, Justin Slaten and Ryan Watson scattered five Blue Jays hits the rest of the way.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman (4-10) allowed three runs and five hits in six innings. The right-hander walked one and struck out six in 98 pitches.
Toronto has lost eight straight Gausman starts, and the 35-year-old has not won since May 22.
Boston jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the third when Andruw Monasterio led off with a single off the Green Monster. He scored on a two-out single by Ceddanne Rafaela.
The Red Sox added two more in the fourth when Willson Contreras led off with a walk and Caleb Durbin singled. Romy Gonzalez laid down a bunt to sacrifice the runners to second and third, and Jarren Duran drove them both in with a single to center for a 3-0 lead.
Suarez, meanwhile, kept the Blue Jays off balance.
His only trouble came in the fourth inning when Alejandro Kirk and George Springer hit back-to-back one-out singles. Suarez, however, induced Daulton Varsho to hit into a fielder’s choice and then struck out Kazuma Okamoto looking to end the threat.
The Red Sox scored three more in the seventh.
Duran led off with a single and Monasterio walked. Carlos Narvaez bunted them over and pinch hitter Jahmai Jones doubled them both in with a drive off the wall in center.
Jones came home when Wilyer Abreu broke an 0-for-20 streak with a double off the wall in left.
The Blue Jays finally broke through in the ninth with three hits. Andres Gimenez drove in Varsho with two outs for their lone run.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Birthday boy Ryan O'Hearn leads Pirates past Cubs
Jul 26, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman Brandon Lowe (left) and designated hitter Bryan Reynolds (10) greet first baseman Ryan O’Hearn (29) crossing home plate on a grand slam home run against the Chicago Cubs during the third inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images Ryan O’Hearn celebrated his 32nd birthday by belting his second grand slam of the season and fourth of his career as the host Pittsburgh Pirates held on for an 8-7 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Sunday.
Pittsburgh’s Shawn Ross launched a two-run homer in his second MLB game while rookie Esmerlyn Valdez also went deep and added an RBI single
Brandon Lowe collected three hits and two runs as the Pirates snapped a three-game losing streak in the finale of the three-game series.
The offensive explosion proved just enough for Braxton Ashcraft (10-4), who allowed four runs on seven hits in six innings.
Carmen Mlodzinski bridged the gap to Mason Montgomery, who surrendered Seiya Suzuki’s two-run homer in the ninth before retiring the next two batters to secure his second save.
Pete Crow-Armstrong ripped an RBI triple and Dansby Swanson, Nico Hoerner and Pedro Ramirez each had an RBI single for the Cubs.
Swanson opened the scoring in the second with an RBI single, but that slim advantage didn’t last long.
Valdez sent a 1-1 cutter from Jameson Taillon (2-6) over the left center wall to lead off the second inning. Valdez’s homer was his 14th of the season and eighth in his last 13 games. After O’Hearn walked, Ross deposited a 3-2 cutter over the wall in left.
The Pirates loaded the bases in the third before O’Hearn deposited a 0-1 fastball from Taillon over the wall in center to stake his team to a 7-1 lead. The homer by O’Hearn was his 17th of the season and first since he went deep three times — highlighted by a grand slam — in a 12-4 victory over the Atlanta Braves on July 7.
Taillon permitted seven runs on six hits in four innings to fall to 0-5 in his last eight outings.
Chicago scored three times in the fourth before Valdez’s broken-bat RBI single off Ryan Rolison extended Pittsburgh’s advantage to 8-5 in the fifth.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Jerry Kelly holds on to win 'indescribable' Senior Open title
Jerry Kelly hits out of a bunker on hole No. 14 during round 3 of the Kaulig Companies PGA Championship, July 11, 2026, at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio. Jerry Kelly turned a clutch bunker shot on the final hole into a birdie and won the ISPS Handa Senior Open by two shots on Sunday in Auchterarder, Scotland.
Kelly, 59, delivered his third consecutive round of 2-under-par 68 on The King’s Gleneagles course and finished at 10-under 270 to win the fifth and final major tournament of the season.
Matt Gogel, Darren Fichardt of South Africa and Cameron Percy of Australia all finished two shots back in a tie for second place.
With a one-shot lead on the par-5 closing hole, Kelly found the bunker with his second shot. The Madison, Wisc., native put the bunker shot to within 4 feet and made the putt for his first Senior Open title and his third major victory on the Champions Tour.
“It’s indescribable to win it,” said Kelly, who now has 15 overall victories on the Champions Tour. “The senior Claret Jug is the trophy that I’ve wanted as an over-50 golfer other than any other. To do it in Scotland, at the home of golf … I mean, I’m absolutely speechless.”
Tied for the lead with Percy at the start of the final round, Kelly was 2 under through five holes before his first bogey of the day at No. 6. He bounced back by birdieing the par-3 eighth. Kelly also had a bogey at No. 11 before he reeled off six consecutive pars that led into his birdie at 18.
“My brain, actually, was the most successful part of my game,” Kelly said. “In the past I would have gotten down that I wasn’t striking it the way I’d like to strike it. But instead of worrying about that, I just went and took care of the next shot.
“I learned a lot about myself today, and I wish I would have learned it about 20, 30 years ago.”
Gogel worked his way into contention with a 7-under 63 in the final round as he shot a 4-under 30 on the front nine. He also had birdies at Nos. 10 and 12 to close the gap, then wrapped his round with his seventh birdie of the day at No. 18.
“Certainly by 10, when I had a two-putt birdie there, I was thinking, ‘Geez, we keep this thing going, we have a chance to get a high finish,'” Gogel said.
Percy (even-par 70) had a rocky ride in the final round and was at 2 over the front nine. He had his first birdie of the day at No. 10 before another bogey at No. 11. He gathered himself down the stretch for two more birdies but was unable to collect another at the 18th.
Percy missed a 6-foot birdie putt on the final hole that would have put more pressure on Kelly.
Fichardt shot a 4-under 66 to close in on Kelly. He started his round with a bogey on the first hole, but had a strong finish with birdies at Nos. 14, 15 and 18.
Kely remained undaunted with his one-putt birdie to win it.
“To be on this trophy, to be a part of this trophy, to be a part of the R&A — I just love it over here, I really do,” Kelly said. “It brings it full circle that I didn’t do what I wanted to in the Open Championship but to get it done here, I mean, I’m over the moon.”
–Field Level Media
