PITTSBURGH — The first games of the newborn baseball season have channeled more than enough obsessing over balls and strikes, due no doubt to the long-anticipated introduction of ABS technology, or officially, the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System Brought to You by Some Corporate Tech Behemoth.

As long as there have been arguments over ...Read more

A fastball up and off the plate to Guardians left-handed hitter Steven Kwan was an inauspicious beginning to Dodgers right-hander Roki Sasaki’s season debut.

The arm-side miss fell in line with a persistent spring-training pattern for Sasaki, who struggled with command from his first Cactus League start through his Freeway Series appearance ...Read more

The Tigers just about took future Hall-of-Famer Justin Verlander off the hook Monday night.

Things didn’t exactly go according to script in Verlander’s first start as a Tiger since Aug. 30, 2017. The Arizona Diamondbacks ruined that with five runs in the first two innings, highlighted by Corbin Carroll’s RBI triple and 403-foot, three-run...Read more

SAN DIEGO — For the first time in the Tony Vitello era, the Giants have a win.

Behind Landen Roupp’s six brilliant shutout innings and production from the bottom of the order, the Giants defeated the San Diego Padres 3-2 on Monday evening at Petco Park.

For Roupp, who struck out seven batters, Monday marked his first start since Aug. 20, ...Read more

A day off?

No, just a little early rest to allow him to win the game at the end.

Out of the starting lineup for Monday’s series opener vs. the Yankees, an unusual occurrence for this early in the season, Cal Raleigh watched the early innings, trying to stay warm on an impossibly frigid night at T-Mobile Park.

But as the two teams struggled ...Read more

Beyond Garrett Crochet and Roman Anthony on Opening Day, and Wilyer Abreu, in general, not much is going right for the Boston Red Sox in the first games of the 2026 season.

After dropping the last two games of their opening series in Cincinnati, the underwhelming road trip moved on to Houston, where two Red Sox offseason pitching additions were...Read more

MILWAUKEE — The Tampa Bay Rays did a lot of good things on Monday that led to a 3-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers:

— Yandy Diaz hit a leadoff homer as part of another multi-hit night.

— Nick Martinez became the latest veteran to show a bad spring training doesn’t mean much, delivering a solid six-inning outing.

— Jonny DeLuca hit a...Read more

CHICAGO — The clean games the Los Angeles Angels played to start the season with two victories seem far in the rear-view mirror now.

Since then they’ve dropped three in a row because of sloppy pitching, defense and decision-making, culminating with an ugly 7-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Monday night.

Most of the trouble on this night came...Read more

The Denver Rockies turned Toronto Blue Jays fans into boo birds on Monday night at Rogers Centre.

Despite landing in Toronto at 3 a.m. after their flight was delayed by nearly six hours in Miami, the Rockies beat up the defending American League champions, 14-5, rapping out 17 hits. After getting swept by the Miami Marlins in three one-run ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Chris Bassitt and the Baltimore Orioles’ bullpen gave them a chance.

The right-hander had a tough time putting hitters away and was 50 pitches in before he recorded his fifth out Monday against the Texas Rangers, but the veteran starter gritted through 4 1/3 innings with four runs allowed in his Orioles debut, and the bullpen ...Read more

Bo Bichette didn’t get the moment he wanted at Citi Field in front of New York Mets fans over the weekend, but his two RBI on Monday night in St. Louis gave the fans watching on TV something to cheer about.

One day after getting booed by the Mets faithful, Bichette drove in two of the Mets’ four runs in a 4-2 win over the St. Louis ...Read more

CINCINNATI — The Pittsburgh Pirates were shut out for the first time in 2026 on Monday night at Great American Ball Park, falling, 2-0, to the Cincinnati Reds.

It’s a too-familiar sight for the Pirates, as they were shut out a major league-high 16 times in 2025.

Four Reds combined on a four-hitter: starter Chase Burns, Juan Franco, Graham ...Read more

The Kansas City Royals moved in the fences at Kauffman Stadium by about 10 feet over the winter, starting from each foul pole before tapering to the original 410-foot distance in center field from home plate.

It was prompted by the Royals front office, which researched ways to benefit the team’s offense in a ballpark that is known for doubles...Read more

Walker Buehler is plenty familiar with the NL West.

But the right-hander has spent his career looking down from the mountaintop. Buehler’s two World Series rings have dozens of sapphires arranged in an interlocking “LA” on beds of diamonds. The only time his Dodgers didn’t run away with the NL West during his time in Chavez Ravine was ...Read more

When Shane Baz takes the mound, Drew French thinks of the movie “Tombstone.”

The Orioles’ pitching coach first met Baz in January, flying down to Houston to visit the flamethrowing right-hander after Baltimore traded for him in December. French had dinner with Baz and then watched him work out and throw a bullpen session the next day. ...Read more

In this modern era of baseball where Major League teams and major college baseball programs have “pitching labs” featuring an array of coaches and analysts and state of the art of facilities to hone pitching success.

And seemingly every private indoor pitching facility from Seattle to South Beach features the latest technology like TrackMan...Read more

Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell and his staff felt Shota Imanaga’s preparation in Arizona provided the perfect platform to bounce back from a rocky ending to 2025.

“I thought it happened exactly how you’d want a spring training to happen, really,” Counsell said before Sunday’s 6-3 loss to the Washington Nationals. “I think it ...Read more

A new way for MLB managers be ejected was just unlocked.

Minnesota Twins skipper Derek Shelton was tossed from Sunday’s game against the Orioles in the ninth inning after arguing that Baltimore closer Ryan Helsley didn’t tap his cap quickly enough to signal for an automated ball-strike (ABS) challenge.

“I didn’t think Helsley tapped ...Read more

NEW YORK — The Pirates earned their first win of the season on Sunday afternoon at Citi Field, but they needed some free baseball to do it.

The Pirates beat the New York Mets, 4-3, avoiding a sweep on 10th-inning RBI singles from Ryan O’Hearn and Henry Davis. O’Hearn’s single, his third of the game, was just the Pirates’ second hit ...Read more

HOUSTON — Now that we are in the era of the automated ball-strike system, the focus of questionable calls late in games will go from the umpires to players.

Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe found himself in just such a spot in the eighth inning of a 9-7 loss to the Houston Astros on Sunday.

O’Hoppe caught a 2-and-2, two-out pitch from Drew ...Read more