Author: rincon

Jason Heyward, who launched his 16-year major-league career with the Atlanta Braves in 2010 and won a World Series title with the Chicago Cubs in 2016, announced his retirement on Friday.

Heyward played in 34 games with the San Diego Padres in 2025, hitting .176.

For his career, Heyward hit .255 with 186 home runs with six teams. He also played for the St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The outfielder won five Gold Gloves, including four straight seasons from 2014 through 2017.

Heyward, whose nickname is “J Hey,” played his first five seasons with the Braves and set career highs with 27 homers and 82 RBIs for Atlanta in 2012. He was drafted by the Braves in 2007 from Henry County High School in suburban Atlanta.

Heyward played for the Cubs for seven seasons, from 2016 through 2022. He said he plans to focus on his Jason Heyward Baseball Academy, a youth development program based in Chicago.

“I wanted to reach this moment and know without a doubt that it was time to walk away, and I do,” Heyward said in a statement. “No second-guessing, no looking back, just gratitude.”

Heyward said playing 16 years in the major leagues “gave me everything, and now I get to give some of that back. Through the Jason Heyward Baseball Academy, I get to mentor the next generation, keep my hands in the game, and make sure kids in my community have the opportunities and the space to dream the same way I did.”

Reporting by The Associated Press.

Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports

Terry Francona had every reason not be a fan of the Automated Ball-Strike System, after the Cincinnati Reds‘ 3-0 loss to the Boston Red Sox on Thursday.

However, the longtime manager was taking the long view after game one of 162.

Francona saw a walk by Eugenio Suarez on a full count overturned to a strikeout in the fourth inning while Connor Phillips‘ ninth-inning strikeout of Boston’s Roman Anthony — also on a full count — overturned to a walk.

“I think our pitchers are going to have to get used to thinking the inning might be over, and it’s not,” Francona said. “It’s almost like when a guy comes out and you say, ‘Hey, way to go. Can you get one more?’ So you’re going to have to stay dialed in.”

Teams had a 61.3% success rate on challenges, going 19 of 31 through the first 12 games of the regular season.

Using Hawk-Eye technology, 12 cameras measure whether a pitch crosses the strike zone with accuracy of about one-sixth of an inch.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora was pleased after they were 2 of 3 on challenges. Even though there was one challenge he wished one of his hitters would have made.

Trevor Story was up with two outs and runners on first and second in the fifth inning. Story was caught looking on a fastball by Andrew Abbott that looked to be a ball.

“You just have to make sure. There was one early where Trevor is in that situation again, he’d probably challenge,” Cora said. “We thought the pitch was up. We don’t mind him challenging there because it changes the whole thing, right? We were talking about it. It’s a different ballgame now.”

The Red Sox did have a successful challenge in the bottom of the inning when Garrett Crochet’s cutter just got the lower half of the strike zone against Suárez. Instead of Suárez drawing a walk, catcher Carlos Narvaez’s challenge resulted in the third out of the inning.

“He made a really good pitch right there. I thought it stayed down and it was a ball, but with the new ABS, good for him,” Suárez said.

[More MLB: A Three-Peat In Sight But Dodgers Aren’t Thinking October … Yet]

Anthony’s challenge paid off. Instead of the third out of the inning and a strikeout, it was overturned to a walk and put runners at first and second. Story and Jarren Duran followed with RBI singles to give the Red Sox a 3-0 lead.

“I knew it was a ball. I was pretty confident,” Anthony said. “It turned the game around in a sense. It was good to turn that around, get on base and score there. I trust my instincts and discipline at the plate. I’ve had many in the past, up, down, in and out. That was a good example. Probably not even close. Just kind of knew it there.”

Pittsburgh’s Oneil Cruz became the first batter to have a ball four overturned to strike three during the third inning against the Mets. New York catcher Francisco Alvarez challenged and it showed the pitch caught the inside corner. The Mets were 2 for 3 on their challenges.

Minnesota and the Chicago White Sox both went 3 for 4 on their challenges, while Tampa Bay was 2 for 2.

Phillies reliever Zach Pop failed his team’s first challenge in the eighth inning against Texas’ Brandon Nimmo. Pop challenged James Hoye’s ball four call but it was confirmed on replay and Nimmo walked.

Manager Rob Thomson didn’t mind the challenge.

“I was good with it. It was a 10th of an inch off. That pitch decided an at-bat late in the game, we’ve got the lead. On the defensive side you want to use that challenge,” he said.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports

The Major League Baseball season is underway, but don’t sweat if you haven’t placed any season-long bets yet. It’s not 2005 anymore — you can make these bets through September and there’s a handful that are ripe. 

And, if you’re looking for L.A. Dodgers tickets, I’m not your guy.

It’s crazy to me that a team is as low as +115 ($10 wins $11.50) to win a baseball pennant. Sure, it speaks to the Dodgers’ loaded roster and their recent National League dominance, but come on.

Here are four bets I would make right now.

This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. If you sign up or place a wager, FOX Sports may be compensated. Read more about Sports Betting on FOX Sports.

Detroit Tigers to win AL Central 

“So, you won’t bet +115, but you’ll take +110?!”

Fair counter, but this bet is about being better than four teams in an extremely weak division. It’s not about surviving the entire National League side of the bracket at a coin-flip price. More on that in a little bit.

The Tigers have an insane 1-2-3 in the rotation with Tarik Skubal, Framber Valdez and Jack Flaherty. Then there’s 43-year-old Justin Verlander, who will win games, too. I really like the pitching depth and the bullpen, and if the lineup reaches its potential, we’re talking about a 90-win team here.

There’s a lot of Royals love around baseball circles and I get it. Kansas City will fight valiantly, but it’ll be Detroit’s division to lose down the stretch.

PICK: Detroit Tigers (+110) to win AL Central

Miami Marlins Over 72.5 wins 
Miami Marlins to make playoffs 

Let’s get frisky.

The Fish don’t possess heaps of depth, and they reside in the same division as the Mets and Phillies, but they’ve improved immensely over the last few years. Manager Clayton McCullough took a 62-win team in 2024 to 79 wins last season and I don’t think it was an aberration at all.

Miami starts the 2026 campaign with six winnable games against the Rockies and White Sox, and the schedule doesn’t get too difficult until late April when it heads west to San Francisco and Los Angeles. By that time, All-Star outfielder Kyle Stowers will be back from injury. Assuming this team doesn’t get buried early, it will find ways to stay afloat.  

Also, look out if 22-year-old righty Eury Perez puts it all together.  

PICK: Marlins (-110) Over 72.5 wins
PICK: Marlins (+650) to make playoffs

New York Mets win National League

I promise this is not an overreaction to the Metropolitans pinging around Pirates ace Paul Skenes on Opening Day.

That was impressive, though.  

Look, you’re either a Dodgers backer or you’re looking for a team down the board at a nice price to present a fighting chance in the postseason. The Mets’ front office is serious about winning, as evidenced by the offseason acquisitions of Bo Bichette, Freddy Peralta and Marcus Semien to name a few.

And I like 7/1 a whole lot more than +115 on Los Angeles.

Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto and Bichette anchor a deep lineup, and I would bet GM David Stearns deals for pitching help at the trade deadline. If anyone can beat the Dodgers, I think it’s the Mets. 

Famous last words. 

PICK: Mets (+700) to win National League

Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports

NEW YORK — Nobody could’ve predicted the first Citi Field standing ovation of the season would be for Paul Skenes.

The new-look Mets lineup pummeled the reigning National League Cy Young award winner, with contributions from fresh and familiar faces alike, in an 11-7 win over the Pirates on a sunny Opening Day in Flushing. Skenes shockingly gave up five earned runs and didn’t make it out of the first inning — much to the delight of the sold-out crowd of 41,449. Once they picked up their jaws off the floor, fans got on their feet and applauded as the Pirates ace gave the ball to the bullpen and walked off the mound with his head down. 

Considered the best pitcher in baseball, Skenes was pulled by Pirates manager Don Kelly after recording just two outs on 37 pitches. Yes, the Mets offense was that relentless. Skenes had only two whiffs on 17 swings. The first seven Mets batters all had productive at-bats, either getting on base or contributing with a sacrifice fly. Skenes, coming off an early-season start after pitching in this year’s World Baseball Classic, didn’t have his best stuff on Opening Day, and the Mets were all over it. Brett Baty’s three-run triple that Pirates center fielder Oneil Cruz misjudged was the exclamation point of the Mets’ commanding opening frame.

“That first inning was pretty impressive,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said in the press conference room. “I’m not going to lie. If you want to beat guys like this, you’re going to have to play perfect baseball.”

It was the shortest outing of Skenes’ career, and the shortest Opening Day start ever by a reigning Cy Young winner. There was no better image than Skenes’ dejected face in the visitor’s dugout to portray just how dangerous this Mets offense can be this year. 

After the club’s humiliating end to the 2025 season, letting the Cincinnati Reds sneak into the playoffs while the Mets packed up their lockers in September, Mets fans waited five long months to feel any amount of hope or optimism that this winter’s extreme and emotional roster turnover just might work. Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns took a sledgehammer to the team’s longtime core, and then he asked loyalists who have been waiting 40 years for the Amazins to win a World Series to trust him. After the fireworks show the Mets displayed on Thursday, it’s hard not to believe in Stearns’ vision.  

Mets right fielder Carson Benge’s first major-league hit was also his first-career home run, a solo shot to right field in the sixth inning. He became the first Met to homer in his MLB debut on Opening Day since Kazuo Matsui did so in 2004. New offseason additions Jorge Polanco, Luis Robert Jr. and Marcus Semien combined to go 5-for-12. Francisco Lindor (three walks and three runs scored) and Juan Soto (2-for-4 with a walk, RBI and run scored) set the tone at the top of the lineup. Francisco Alvarez sent a moonshot off the face of the second deck. The Mets’ 11 runs scored are tied for the second-most runs they’ve scored on Opening Day. 

New ace Freddy Peralta threw two mistakes in his Mets debut, and Pirates second baseman Brandon Lowe took him deep on both of them. Peralta gave up four earned runs, struck out seven, and walked away with a win. Afterward, Peralta waited patiently for dozens of reporters to flood into the Mets clubhouse before answering questions on his debut in New York. The enormous media presence doesn’t compare to the smaller scrums he handled during his eight years in Milwaukee. If Peralta was phased by the ridiculous amount of microphones in his face, no one could tell. 

“Amazing,” the always-smiling Peralta said of the jubilant Opening Day atmosphere at his new home ballpark. “Personally, it’s something that helps me get better. I can’t wait to see the fans like that the rest of the year, the same way.”

The Mets clubhouse was already injected with new confidence before Thursday’s first pitch. Leaving spring training, the team had high expectations for itself. One look at a locker room brimming with championship-pedigree veterans and young stars with everything to prove, and it was obvious to anyone paying attention that this blend of big-leaguers might just be the answer to the organization’s championship drought. But after a win like that? Players flashed some noticeable swagger. They found an edge. They walked with an attitude. 

It showed up in the quiet confidence of Semien’s been there, done that perspective. It showed up in Soto’s unique and everpresent hunger to be the best, to do whatever it takes to win. It showed up on the field during the team’s no-error defensive day, despite the Mets rostering two players in Polanco and Bo Bichette who had never played their new positions in a major-league game. 

It even showed up in Bichette’s 13-pitch at-bat against Isaac Mattson in the fifth inning. Bichette fouled off seven straight pitches as the crowd’s interest and noise level grew on every swing. He eventually struck out on a high heater, but the entire at-bat was electric, and it was still advantageous to the dialed-in Mets offense. Polanco was in the on-deck circle watching Mattson empty his entire arsenal against Bichette. When Polanco came up to the plate, he worked a walk with the bases loaded, scoring the eighth run of the game. 

“We got a lot of guys that are going to grind at-bats,” Mendoza said. “And that was the perfect example. Even if we didn’t get the result we wanted in that particular situation, the other guy benefitted from it.”

Throughout all the high points of Opening Day, what stood out above everything else was Benge’s big smile and excitement about his headline-making debut. It was infectious. Nobody in the dugout could stop smiling after Benge rounded first base and leaped into the air once his home-run ball landed in the home bullpen. Not even a dead pigeon, which dropped with a “thud” next to Benge in right field at some point during the game, could break his positive attitude. Not even his first at-bat, a strikeout against Skenes, prevented him from keeping his head up.

“Just calm down,” Benge said of his internal monologue after he whiffed on three fastballs in his first-ever trip to a big-league plate. “Just take a deep breath. Calm down. Great atmosphere, great fans. Just trying to bring myself back down so I can compete.”

All the new personalities in the Mets clubhouse have helped to answer the myriad questions that followed the organization throughout the offseason. But, despite the good vibes in Queens after a celebratory season opener, players were cautious about how to describe their victory. They know they have to sustain Thursday’s level of excellence throughout the course of the full season. This was only the first page of a 162-game journey. And even after all that, these new-look, new-attitude Mets expect their year to end with a ring in November.

“That’s what we showed today, what we can do,” Bichette said in a quiet and steady voice in front of his locker, which is tucked away in a corner of the clubhouse. “But I think a great offense brings it every day. Today’s a good thing to build off for sure. But, looking forward to doing more.”

Deesha Thosar covers Major League Baseball as a reporter and columnist for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.

Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports

The Chicago Cubs have made another move to ensure that their core will remain intact for the foreseeable future.

Second baseman Nico Hoerner has agreed to a six-year extension with the Cubs, ESPN reported Thursday. The value of the deal is unknown. 

Hoerner, 28, was entering his final season of team control prior to Thursday’s agreement. The standout infielder likely would’ve been one of the top position players in next offseason’s free agent class, which is headlined by New York Yankees infielder Jazz Chisholm and potentially New York Mets infielder Bo Bichette.

Now, Hoerner will remain in the Windy City through his age-35 season as he could potentially play his entire career with the Cubs. Hoerner, who Chicago took in the first round of the 2018 MLB Draft, has been one of the game’s top all-around players in recent years. While Hoerner’s power hasn’t been significant (33 home runs in the last four years), he’s been elite or nearly elite at everything else. He’s hit .284 over the last three years, averaging roughly 34 stolen bases per season over that stretch.

Defensively, Hoerner might be one of the best fielders in all of baseball. He’s won a Gold Glove in two of the last three seasons, and his 15 Outs Above Average was one of the top marks in MLB in 2025. 

News of Hoerner’s extension came a couple of days after star outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong agreed to a long-term deal with the Cubs. Crow-Armstrong, who turned 24 on Wednesday, agreed to a six-year, $115 million contract to keep him under team control through the end of the 2032 season.

Chicago’s extensions for two of its top players also followed what was a pretty active offseason for the organization. The Cubs lost star outfielder Kyle Tucker to the Los Angeles Dodgers a year after trading for him, but they were able to sign All-Star third baseman Alex Bregman. They also traded for standout starting pitcher Edward Cabrera from the Miami Marlins and bolstered their bullpen following their playoff appearance in 2025. 

Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports

To their fans and many players around the league, the Dodgers are the blueprint, an ideal model of the success and synergy that’s possible when a willing ownership group supports an adept front office. 

To the 29 other fanbases, they represent a different kind of poster child, a quintessential example of everything wrong with the sport’s economic system and competitive imbalance. 

The narrative hasn’t changed as they embark on a new season, certainly not after adding the best free agent on the market and the best closer available to their championship core. Only now, they’re looking to become the first team in a quarter-century to win three World Series in a row. 

The pressure of that task does not appear to intimidate a veteran group that is already coming off of one triumphant title defense. 

“It’s going to be weird to say, but this year feels, to me, almost a little more relaxed,” Max Muncy told me last month, attributing the ease he felt this spring to the Dodgers’ normal build-up after starting the 2024 and 2025 seasons early in Seoul and Tokyo, respectively. “With that, you don’t even think about, ‘Oh, we’re trying to three-peat.’… You can’t focus on October yet. 

“Obviously we know that’s our goal, and we expect to be there, but you can’t go about your work with that in mind. You’ve got to go about your work thinking, ‘How am I getting better today? How are we getting better today as a team? What are we doing as a team today?’ That’s the message we’ve always tried to preach here.”

Dave Roberts relayed similar thoughts to his group in February when the Dodgers reconvened for the first time as a full group this spring. On paper, he knows this is probably the best roster he has ever managed, no small feat for a team that has won three championships in the last six years and 12 division titles in the last 13 seasons. 

But Roberts, like Muncy, doesn’t feel any added pressure compared to recent years. In the midst of the Dodgers’ golden era, winning the World Series has become the annual expectation, and the Dodgers are returning all the core pieces from an experienced squad that already demonstrated its resolve last season. 

“I thought we did a very good job of keeping our eyes looking forward at our goal versus looking to the side and looking at who’s around us, who’s chasing us,” Roberts said. “Knowing you have a target — as we should if we’re the defending champions — but to still focus on yourselves and what’s forward, that’s what we do a good job of.” 

So the goal, and his message, remain largely the same. 

Had the Dodgers stood pat this offseason, they still would have been the favorites to win it all again in 2026. Instead, they targeted “needle-movers” and kept pushing, addressing the two biggest concerns on their roster by adding four-time All-Star outfielder Kyle Tucker and three-time All-Star closer Edwin Diaz. 

Both could have signed a longer deal elsewhere, but both chose the Dodgers on lucrative shorter-term pacts. The three-year, $69 million deal for Díaz set a record for average annual value for a reliever. The staggering four-year, $240 million deal for Tucker set a record for present-day average annual value for any player. 

“We’ve built something really special around here,” said Freddie Freeman, “and everybody wants to be a part of it.”

The Dodgers aren’t concerned about complacency, but the injection of new talent helps in that regard. 

– MLB Team-By-Team Season Preview
– MVP? Cy Young? Making Our Picks
– 30 MLB Breakout Stars for 2026

When Roberts gathered his team together for the first time in February, he discussed the 2025 championship run and the little things that got the Dodgers back to baseball’s apogee. Then he handed the floor to newcomers Tucker and Díaz, who shared their views of the Dodgers’ organization from the outside.   

“It was just more about what made the Dodgers attractive to them,” Roberts explained, “and I think it’s powerful for our guys to hear it from the other side, from somebody who hasn’t been here.”

For Díaz, who has yet to make it to a World Series in his nine-year career, he felt this move gave him his best shot to win. 

For the Dodgers, this winter’s spending was just the latest example of their desire to cement their place atop the sport’s pedestal, regardless of the staggering cost, the tax penalties incurred or the simmering hostility around the league as they operate in a different financial stratosphere. 

“When you see your front office go out and add more guys, saying, ‘We’re not done,’ it just kind of creates a message of we have to keep winning,” Muncy said. “It’s very invigorating for the players to know the organization wants to keep winning. They’re not just set with one win. They want to keep going, and that creates a hunger in itself.”

Building A Juggernaut

The Dodgers have built their juggernaut, and become the envy and epicenter of the sport, for a multitude of reasons. They’ve chosen their long-term deals carefully, they’ve drafted and developed well internally and they’ve spent exorbitantly, using their many revenue streams to invest back into the product unlike any team before. The result is back-to-back World Series championships and a team that is the overwhelming favorite to win a third straight, something that hasn’t been done since the 1998-2000 Yankees. Prior to that, it was the 1972-74 Oakland Athletics. 

Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA standings project the Dodgers to win 103 games, nine more than the next closest team. FanGraphs gives the Dodgers a 19.7% chance to win the World Series, 10% higher than the next closest team. 

“You always have to have somebody that teams and fans enjoy disliking,” Roberts said, leaning into the villain role. “That’s good for fans and sports, I think. I was one of those guys that didn’t like the Yankees but saw their value to the sport, certainly…when you can get put in that vein of the Yankees of the ‘90s, you’re doing something right.”

Whether or not the Dodgers win it all again, the acrimony felt by fans and owners of other teams is certain to bleed into the upcoming labor negotiations. Most of the players on those 29 other teams, however, don’t see any problem with the way the Dodgers operate. 

Last month, Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. of the rival Padres both praised the way the Dodgers built their team. So did Bryce Harper, whose Phillies came up short against the Dodgers in last year’s NLDS. 

“They pay the money, they spend the money, they run their team like a business,” Harper said. “They run it the right way. They understand where they need to put their money into but also, people don’t look at this either, their draft and their development is unbelievable.”

Those supporting pieces make it feel inevitable that the Dodgers could sleepwalk their way to the 2026 postseason, even with Blake Snell, Tommy Edman, Kiké Hernández and a plethora of talented relievers starting the season on the injured list and Roki Sasaki coming off an ominous spring. For most teams, those obstacles could derail a season. The Dodgers, however, are not most teams. They’ve built a roster seemingly deep enough to provide an answer for any problem that might arise. 

And yet, despite the fan vitriol, they are not an indomitable force. Getting to the playoffs hasn’t and shouldn’t be a problem. Once there, though, they know that nothing is guaranteed. 

In 2024, the Padres had two chances to knock off their rivals in the NLDS and came up short both times, despite the Dodgers needing to patch together bullpen games to survive the gauntlet. The Dodgers have harkened back to that series victory as a turning point for the franchise. 

In 2025, the additions of Snell and Tanner Scott seemingly pushed them to heights unseen. Many projected them to shatter the all-time wins record. Instead, they won 93 games, their fewest in a full season since 2018. They treated the regular season like a dress rehearsal, carefully handling their pitching staff so their best arms could be available when needed most at season’s end. And still, they needed to use their starters in relief to survive October. The Blue Jays came two outs away from conquering Goliath before falling victim to an unlikely protagonist. 

It was Miguel Rojas, not Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts or Freeman, who was the Game 7 hero with a game-tying, series-altering, life-changing home run. 

“I waited 20 years in professional baseball to have that moment, and it happens to me at the end of my career,” Rojas said last month. “In Italy, I’m walking around Rome and I’m seeing Dodgers fans over there saying, ‘Thank you for hitting that home run.’ It’s crazy. It’s overwhelming.” 

The ninth-inning blast from Rojas, who had just one home run the final two months of the season, and a back-and-forth World Series for the ages demonstrated the unpredictability of postseason baseball. 

The result made the target on the Dodgers’ back even bigger entering 2026.  

“It’s a challenge, but it’s something we get to look forward to,” Muncy said. “We get to embrace it. That’s what makes it fun.” 

In Touching Base, we check on which are the biggest topics in baseball and what comes next for the players and teams involved.

Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports

Expectations are rising on the North Side of Chicago. After breaking a four-year playoff drought, the Cubs know that simply getting a spot in the dance won’t be enough in 2026. 

Not after the breakouts of Pete Crow-Armstrong and Cade Horton. Not after the additions of Alex Bregman and Edward Cabrera. And not after losing in the National League Division Series to a Brewers team that won the NL Central for a third straight year. 

“Everyone had high expectations last year, and I think they’re higher this year,” Cubs owner Tom Ricketts acknowledged to reporters last month. “Obviously, we want to win the division. We should win the division.” 

His players stand by that assessment. 

“I fully expect us to win the division,” new Cubs reliever Hoby Milner echoed this spring. “I would assume everyone else expects us to win the division.”

They do, at least according to most projection systems. 

If the Brewers are going to shock the world again by winning a fourth straight division title, it will require defying the models. 

Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA standings project the Cubs for 90.5 wins and the Brewers for 82.2. BetMGM set the over/under for Cubs wins at 88.5 and the Brewers at 84.5. FanGraphs gives the Cubs a 43.1% chance to win the NL Central this year.

There’s a reason for all of that, beyond the typical Milwaukee neglect. 

The Brewers traded away from their big-league roster, dealing ace Freddy Peralta to the Mets and 2025 standout Caleb Durbin to the Red Sox. The Cubs, meanwhile, continued building this winter in search of their first division title since the shortened 2020 season. 

They needed another difference-maker in the lineup after Kyle Tucker hit free agency, and they added Bregman. They sought another impact arm, and they traded for Cabrera. They watched most of their relievers depart and replaced them with new ones, including a trio of arms in Phil Maton, Jacob Webb and Milner who helped lift a Rangers bullpen that defied expectations in 2025 by producing the fifth-best ERA among all relief units. 

“It’s the biggest market that I’ll have had an opportunity to play in,” said Milner, who played for the Brewers from 2021-24. “I’m looking forward to being on the road and having Cubs fans matching the home fans, that kind of thing. I’ve always been on the opposite end of that. Going to play in Milwaukee and it being a home game, for the most part, that sounds pretty appealing to me. But also being expected to win the division, that’s where I want to be.”

If it’s all going to finally come together for this Cubs core, it may need to happen now.

Nico Hoerner, Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki, Shota Imanaga and Jameson Taillon are among the Cubs mainstays entering their final season under contract in Chicago. In addition, 2025 All-Star Matthew Boyd, catcher Carson Kelly and pitchers Hunter Harvey and Caleb Thielbar have mutual options in 2027, which rarely get exercised. Dansby Swanson, Bregman and Crow-Armstrong, who just signed a six-year extension through 2032, are the only players signed beyond 2027. 

“When the group knows each other and knows each other’s expectations — we know we’re going to play great defense, we know the expectation is to be the best baserunning team in baseball — and when you have that standard, it makes it a lot easier to just go out there and focus on winning,” said Happ, who was drafted in 2015 and a top prospect when the Cubs last won the World Series in 2016. “I think the expectations as a whole for the team are a deep playoff run, but that starts with your process every day.” 

Helping with that daily process is a new leader in the clubhouse. When the team reported to camp in February, many of the veteran Cubs players noted a different energy. The presence of a two-time world champion played a part. 

Within days of Bregman leaving Boston for Chicago in a move that shocked many around the sport, the three-time All-Star had already reached out to the Cubs’ front office for reports on all of his new teammates. 

“I feel like you want to know what people are working on because you don’t want to talk about conflicting messages,” Bregman told me last month. “You want to all be pulling on the same end of the rope, get to understand guys and learn what they’re working on. It’s just something I’ve always liked doing and something I’ve always seen my teammates do.”

In past stops, Bregman was renowned and respected for his ability to positively impact teammates. His new ones in Chicago are quickly understanding why. 

“He loves talking baseball, loves being around the field and loves talking about doing little things to help the group win,” Happ said.

– MLB Team-By-Team Season Preview
– MVP? Cy Young? Making Our Picks
– 30 MLB Breakout Stars for 2026

The same way Boyd felt he got better as a young pitcher simply by being around Justin Verlander in Detroit, he sees a similar gravitational pull with Bregman, who changed his number from 2 to 3 as he seeks a third championship title. 

“It’s not some magic equation or mythical thing,” Boyd told me. “It’s someone that shows up every day ready to win and trying to find wins in every single margin…Rising tide raises all ships. It raises the water level.”

As Bregman works to create new relationships and offer bits of advice, he’s just trying to play his part for a team that’s finally returning to relevance after a decade of disappointment. In the nine seasons since the Cubs won the 2016 World Series, they’ve only won the division twice. The last time was in 2020.

Since then, it’s been a slow rise back to prominence: 71 wins in 2021, 74 in 2022, 83 in 2023 and 2024 and 92 in 2025. They ended the four-year playoff drought last season, but another jump forward would likely mean finally knocking the Brewers off the NL Central pedestal. 

The Cubs believe that’s about to happen. 

“We’re a better version of what we were last year, and we’re hungry in that sense,” Boyd said. “We know where we’ve got to go.” 

In Touching Base, we check on which are the biggest topics in baseball and what comes next for the players and teams involved.

Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports

Paul Skenes‘ first start of the 2026 season might not have even lasted a New York minute. 

The Pittsburgh Pirates‘ ace surrendered five runs in his Opening Day start against the New York Mets, and was pulled after pitching just ⅔ of an inning. All five runs were earned, with the Mets logging four hits and two walks off Skenes before he drilled catcher Francisco Alvarez. Skenes also recorded a strikeout.

Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor began the inning with a walk before star outfielder Juan Soto moved him to third on a single in the following at-bat. Third baseman Bo Bichette scored Lindor on a sacrifice fly in his first at-bat with the Mets. A single by first baseman Jorge Polanco and a walk from outfielder Luis Robert Jr. allowed the Mets to load the bases with just one out against Skenes.

That’s where Skenes’ day quickly unraveled, with Pirates center fielder Oneil Cruz making a pair of mistakes to make matters worse for the reigning NL Cy Young winner. Designated hitter Brett Baty hit a bases-clearing triple that might have been caught by Cruz had he not misplayed the ball off the bat. On the very next pitch, second baseman Marcus Semien hit a pop fly that should’ve been caught by Cruz, but dropped in the gap. 

New York took a 5-2 lead by that point, negating the early lead Pittsburgh took off a two-run homer from Brandon Lowe in his first at-bat with the Pirates. While Skenes was able to strike out right fielder Carson Benge in the following at-bat, his day ended after he plunked Alvarez.

Skenes threw 37 pitches in the first inning before getting pulled. Thursday marked the shortest outing of Skenes’ young career, and just the second time he allowed five earned runs in an outing. It’s also the first time that the Mets have scored more than three runs in the first inning on Opening Day in franchise history. 

Skenes’ outing came on the heels of his impressive showing for Team USA at the World Baseball Classic. The righty allowed just one run in 8 ⅓ innings over two outings during the tournament. 

But Pirates manager Don Kelly expressed that he wanted to limit Skenes’ usage after things went south in the first inning. 

“It was all pitch count related, really, for him,” Kelly told the NBC broadcast. “We didn’t want to put him in harms way, up in the 40-pitch count mark. If we get in a foul ball battle there, we don’t want to push him in the mid-40s [in the first inning].”

Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports