Category: Baseball

The Seattle Mariners have agreed to a $95 million, eight-year contract with top prospect Colt Emerson, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The contract, which starts this season and includes a team option for 2034, would be the largest ever for a player who has not made his major-league debut.

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the deal hasn’t been announced.

The Mariners selected the 20-year-old shortstop with the 22nd overall pick in the 2023 amateur draft. Emerson entered the season as Baseball America’s No. 7 prospect.

Emerson batted .357 with one home run, a double and a 1.000 on-base percentage plus slugging in three games for Triple-A Tacoma. He appeared in 18 spring training games for the Mariners and batted .268 with two homers, eight RBIs and an .828 OPS.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports

Now that we have a sense of how the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System is used in an MLB game, what are our initial impressions?

Consider FOX Sports’ Dontrelle Willis a fan.

“I love it for multiple reasons,” Willis said when asked about his early impressions of the ABS challenge system on Monday night. “No. 1, how they’re doing it, it’s very quick. Also, they’re using the scoreboard, so the fans can interact with it, so the speed of it is elite.

“Also, strategically, how managers are using it: Who’s going to be able to call it? They’re taking it out of the pitchers’ hands. [Seattle Mariners manager] Dan Wilson and [Athletics manager] Stephen Vogt said the pitchers do not have that responsibility. It’s either going to be on the hitter or the catcher we trust behind the plate.”

In what’s its first full season in the big leagues (the ABS Challenge System was previously used in the minor leagues and during the 2025 MLB All-Star Game), teams get two ABS challenges per game, with only the pitcher, catcher or hitter able to challenge a call promptly after a pitch. A graphic of the pitch relative to the strike zone then appears on the big screen to determine if the pitch was a ball or a strike.

If a team correctly challenges a call, they keep their challenge. Should the game go to extra innings and a team has exhausted its challenges, they get another one for the extra inning and every one that follows.

“That’s going to be a team-to-team thing about who they trust. There are some guys in the locker room who think everything is a strike or a ball, and there are some guys that you trust that have really good eyes that walk and take a lot of pitches,” Willis said about the strategy for teams in challenging calls.

“When are you going to use this ABS? Who’s going to use it? What type of count? You are going to see, day by day, different scenarios. Hey, you might have bases loaded, a 3-2 count and a close pitch in the first inning; that could be the game for you if you feel that way. If you get the call right, hey, you retain that. But, if not, it’s going to be tricky.”

Willis also noted that he agrees with teams taking the decision to challenge calls out of pitchers’ hands because their “depth perception” can be different from a catcher or hitter due to the angles they’re releasing pitches at.

Through the first series of the 2026 MLB season (series began as early as Wednesday, Mar. 25 and ended as late as Sunday, Mar. 29), catchers were successful on 64.1% of their challenges; hitters were successful on 42.3% of their challenges; pitchers were successful on 40.0% of their challenges; in all, 53.7% of challenges by teams were successful.

Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports

Clearly, we can extrapolate a lot from the first few games of a season. Remember last year when the Brewers started 0-4 with a minus-32 run differential, and then they…uhh, they did what, now? Led all of Major League Baseball in wins? 

Look, it’s deflating to start a season winless (as the Giants, Diamondbacks, Rockies, Athletics and White Sox have), and it feels more exciting winning the first three games of the year (as the Dodgers, Brewers, Blue Jays, Yankees, Marlins have) than three games in the middle of June. 

But, as the Brewers example goes to show, it’s best not to overreact or draw any sweeping conclusions over a single series. The Giants probably aren’t going to shatter the record for fewest runs scored in a season, and the NL East isn’t likely to end with the Marlins in first and the Phillies in last. If your favorite team got off to a slow start, don’t let a couple bad games stifle your optimism. 

For now, all we can do is take what we’ve seen so far in a small sample, try to factor in what we know about the teams and expect moving forward, and do our best to provide a starting point for conversation based on my preseason power rankings.

So, without further ado, below are my power rankings after the first weekend of play, which includes at least one player on every team who has jumped out to a hot start.

Be on the lookout for new rankings every week, each with a slightly different theme. 

After only hitting nine home runs last year, Ezequiel Tovar already has his first of 2026. I’m expecting a bigger year ahead for the 24-year-old shortstop. 

The White Sox have only scored 10 runs, but three of them have come on solo shots from Munetaka Murakami, who has homered in each of his first three big-league games.  

I can’t expect this to be a good year in Anaheim, but a Mike Trout resurgence? We can all get behind that. He’s 6-for-13 with two homers, seven walks and a stolen base in a sizzling start to the year. 

Brady House, a 2021 first-round pick, had a .574 OPS with an average exit velocity of 89.8 mph in 73 games last season. This year, three of his four batted balls have been hard hit (95+ mph) while starting the season with an .895 OPS. 

Joe Ryan had the best start of the weekend for the Twins, firing 5.1 scoreless innings while only allowing one hit. The most intriguing performance, however, might’ve been Taj Bradley, who struck out nine batters in 4.1 innings. 

Shea Langeliers has started the year 6-for-12 with three home runs; the rest of the team is a combined 10-for-90 (.111) with 46 strikeouts. 

Well, that was not the start new manager Tony Vitello was looking for. The Giants scored one run…total…in three games against the Yankees. Hard to find a standout there, but I guess we can go with Robbie Ray who gave his team a chance when he allowed two runs in 5.1 innings. 

Coming off a standout performance against Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, Eduardo Rodriguez held the potent Dodgers offense to one unearned run in five innings in his first start of 2026. The Diamondbacks’ shaky bullpen, however, could not hold the lead.

Brandon Lowe provided the boost all Pirates fans hoped to see for the lineup with three home runs in three games. Here’s assuming Paul Skenes won’t get chased in the first inning … maybe ever again?

The Rays scored 23 runs in three games against St. Louis…and still lost the series. They have five players with an OPS over 1.000, including Yandy Díaz, who leads MLB with nine hits. 

Top prospect JJ Wetherholt homered in his first career game and then walked the Cardinals off with a win one day later. Also keep an eye on Jordan Walker, who’s 4-for-10 with a homer and two doubles to start the year. 

Sure, it was against the Rockies. But Sandy Alcántara didn’t allow an earned run in seven innings in his first start of 2026, and prospect Owen Caissie’s walk-off home run secured Miami’s first 3-0 start since 2009. 

The Royals dropped two of three games in Atlanta despite Michael Wacha throwing six scoreless innings and Seth Lugo throwing 6.1 scoreless innings in their respective starts. 

Last year, Randy Vásquez struck out more than five batters in a game just once in 26 starts. He has already accomplished that feat in his first start of 2026, fanning eight batters in six scoreless innings against the Tigers. 

MLB’s home run leader after opening weekend? That would be rookie Chase DeLauter, who joined Trevor Story as the only players in MLB history with four home runs in their first three career regular-season games. 

In case anyone missed what Sal Stewart did late last year in Cincinnati, he’s showing why he should be among the top contenders for the NL Rookie of the Year Award this year by starting the season 7-for-10 with a homer, three doubles and three walks. The 22-year-old can flat-out hit. 

After missing the playoffs for the first time since 2016, a rebound season may depend on the health of Yordan Alvarez, who has already reached base nine times in the Astros’ four games. 

Cristopher Sánchez struck out 10 in six scoreless innings on Opening Day, securing the only win of the opening series for the Phillies. A better week should vault them back in the top 10, but for now they have to take a hit as the only one-win team in the NL East. 

Important weekend for the Jakes: After Jacob deGrom was scratched with neck stiffness, Jacob Latz stepped in and delivered four hitless innings in a Rangers win. Meanwhile, Jake Burger led the Rangers on the weekend with six hits and two home runs. 

If anyone’s going to challenge Tarik Skubal for the Cy Young Award this year, Garrett Crochet is as good of a bet as anyone. Crochet struck out eight in six scoreless innings in his 2026 debut. Meanwhile, Wilyer Abreu kept building off a standout World Baseball Classic with two home runs on the weekend. The offense overall, however, managed just 10 runs over three games in Cincinnati. 

While the first starts of the year didn’t go well for Matthew Boyd and Shota Imanaga, 2025 Rookie of the Year runner-up Cade Horton kept his arrow trending up by securing the Cubs’ lone win of the weekend, allowing just two runs in 6.1 innings. 

In case anyone needed a reminder of what Trevor Rogers did last year (1.81 ERA in 18 starts), the Orioles lefty fired seven scoreless innings in his first start of 2026. 

If the Braves want to bounce back, a rebound from Michael Harris II will be crucial. So far, so good. He had four hits and a home run in the opening series. 

For a team that didn’t do anything to change its lineup, there was a lot of faith placed in top prospect Kevin McGonigle. He spent the weekend demonstrating why, joining Billy Bean as the only players in Tigers history with four hits in their MLB debut. One night later, McGonigle broke a tie game in the eighth inning with a two-run base hit to lift Detroit to victory in San Diego. 

For all the standout prospect performances over the weekend, there were also a handful of players turning back the clock. Christian Yelich’s pinch-hit go-ahead homer in the eighth inning Sunday finished off the Brewers’ sweep of the White Sox, and he went 6-for-10 in the opening series. 

Coming off two seasons in which he was a below league average hitter with the White Sox, Luis Robert Jr. has started his Mets career 5-for-11 with a home run and more walks (3) than strikeouts (2). 

Strong start to the Brendan Donovan era in Seattle: He became the first player in franchise history to hit a leadoff homer on Opening Day, and he has started his Mariners career 6-for-14 with two homers. On the pitching side, Emerson Hancock delivered six hitless innings with a career-high nine strikeouts Sunday against the Guardians. 

While the Yankees wait on Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón, the pitching staff still seems to be in good hands. As a team, the Yankees allowed just one run all weekend to the Giants. Starter Cam Schlittler was especially overpowering, holding the Giants to just one hit while striking out eight in 5.1 scoreless innings. 

Welcome to Toronto, Dylan Cease. Fresh off securing a $210 million contract, Cease backed up the Blue Jays’ faith by following Kevin Gausman’s 11-strikeout performance with 12 strikeouts against the A’s, setting a record for a Blue Jays debut.  Together, Gausman and Cease became the first duo to strike out at least 11 batters apiece in a team’s first two games in MLB’s modern era.

Will Smith was back at it with another game-changing home run, this time providing a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning Saturday on his bobblehead night to finish off a sweep over the Diamondbacks. He also helped navigate a Dodgers bullpen that fired 11.2 scoreless innings on the weekend. 

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Tony Vitello has struggled to start the 2026 MLB season, as the San Francisco Giants’ new manager dropped all of his first three games in the team’s opening series against the New York Yankees at Oracle Park. After leading the Tennessee Volunteers to a College World Series victory in 2024, he has yet to find the same success as one of the first college coaches to make the leap.

“This worked in college, maybe this isn’t going to work in the big leagues,” FOX Sports baseball analyst Dontrelle Willis said on Monday ahead of the Giants game against the San Diego Padres on FS1. 

Willis is slightly skeptical of Vitello, but he’s confident in the signs he’s seeing despite the results. In Willis’ opinion, Vitello’s road to success entails taking accountability in the locker room — with his players and coaches — and with the media. Each of which Vitello has done. 

“I love what he said,” Willis said of Vitello’s comments. “‘Hey, I came into this with this type of tone, I’m going to make an adjustment.'”

That adjustment that professional baseball players and college baseball players are different.

“He understands, yes, they have to do their jobs, but you have to hold your players, and really, yourself, accountable,” Willis said. “That’s what he’s doing right there. I love and respect that.”

 “You have to be yourself,” he added.

Vitello’s acclimation to the majors will go smoother if he has the confidence of all those in and around his organization. It might take a while, but it’s a long season and patience will lead to results. 

“The bottom line is, you have to go out there and win ball games,” Willis said. “The key is to get guys to run through a wall for you and believe in what you’re doing. Hopefully he has a chance to do that. There’s still a lot of time left.”

Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports

The hottest hitter to start the 2026 MLB season has come out of nowhere. 

Washington Nationals outfielder Joey Wiemer reached base on each of his first 12 plate appearances. He went 3-for-3 on Opening Day with a home run and a walk, and followed that up with the same statline on Sunday, helping the Nationals to two wins over the Chicago Cubs. He continued that hot start on Monday, when he went 2-for-4 with a run in Washington’s 13-2 win against the Philadelphia Phillies.  

Wiemer has batted all around the lineup, hitting fifth on Opening Day and on Sunday, and batting ninth on Monday. He’s made the most of his opportunity as Wiemer wasn’t expected to be on Washington’s major league roster to start the season. 

Wiemer tied a major-league record by reaching base in 10 straight at-bats to start the season. The previous player to do so was former first baseman Carlos Delgado, who did it in 2002.

A former fourth-round pick by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2020, Wiemer struggled to start his career. During his rookie season in 2023, he slashed .204/.283/.362 for the Brewers with 13 home runs and 42 RBIs across 410 plate appearances. Then, during his second MLB season, Milwaukee optioned him back down to Triple-A before trading him to the Cincinnati Reds for starter Frankie Montas, who kept him in the minors after the move.

Following the 2024 season, Wiemer was moved in another trade — to the Kansas City Royals, but he was waived and didn’t appear in a single game for the organization. The Miami Marlins picked up his contract, where he had a .236 batting average over 61 plate appearances. The same saga ensued — the Marlins moved on from Weimer, trading him to the San Francisco Giants for cash considerations, but he never appeared in a game. 

So, he moved onto his sixth team in four seasons, as the Nationals picked up his contract before this season, and he found himself in a battle for an outfield spot with Washington’s top prospect, Dylan Crews. But Crews struggled in Spring Training, hitting .103 in 29 at-bats, and Weimer won the battle for an outfield position. 

He’s since capitalized on that opportunity. 

Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports

There is always baseball happening — almost too much baseball for one person to follow themselves.

Don’t worry, we’re here to help you by figuring out what you missed but shouldn’t have. Here are all the best moments from the weekend in Major League Baseball:

Blue Jays pick up where they left off

The Blue Jays lost the World Series last fall, but that Toronto got there at all was a massive success — hey, only one team wins the World Series but just one loses it, too, and that was the Blue Jays’ first chance at either result since 1993. They kicked off the 2026 season looking like it won’t be anywhere near that long of a wait for a repeat trip, starting out 3-0 with a sweep of the Athletics — Toronto joins the Dodgers, Yankees, Brewers and Marlins as teams to wrap the first weekend of the season undefeated.

Toronto did get there the hard way, but also the exciting one: the first two wins were both walk-off dubs, making the Blue Jays the first team to pull that off since 2014. On Friday, A’s catcher Shea Langeliers hit a home run in the top of the ninth to tie the game at 2-2, but Toronto responded in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single off the bat of shortstop Andres Gimenez.

On Saturday, it was a much steeper climb for Toronto: following a Langeliers’ grand slam, the A’s were up 6-2 in the seventh. First baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. drove in pinch-hitter Jesus Sanchez, who had reached on a hit by pitch, then Sanchez drove in catcher Alejandro Kirk the next inning to cut the lead to two. Gimenez would single to center to make it 6-5, then Kirk would homer to tie things up in the bottom of the ninth, sending the game to extras. The Athletics would finally get on the board again courtesy an RBI single by designated hitter Brent Rooker, but that lead was short-lived: pinch-hitter Addison Barger hit a sac fly to force the game to the 11th, where second baseman Ernie Clement would deliver the second walk-off hit for the Jays in as many days.

Sunday went much more easily for Toronto. It opened with DH George Springer hitting the 64th leadoff homer of his career — second only behind Rickey Henderson’s 81…

…then Jesus Sanchez hit a two-run shot in the third. That would prove to be the game winner, with Blue Jays’ pitching, led by starter Eric Lauer (5.1 innings, 9 Ks, 2 ER) limiting the A’s to just two runs. But another notable blast came later, when Japanese free-agent signing Kazuma Okamoto hit his first MLB dinger.

The Blue Jays would win, 5-2, ending a very exciting weekend for them and a nightmare first three games for the A’s.

A walk-off grand slam!

Just saying “a walk-off grand slam!” might get you in the door, but there was more to the Braves’ Saturday win over the Royals than that. Atlanta entered the bottom of the ninth against Kansas City down 2-0, and had to face 6-foot-6, 277-pound closer Carlos Estevez. Luckily for them, the right-hander’s velocity is down and his mechanics seem a bit all over the place, and the Braves were able to capitalize on this.

[MLB Opening Weekend: 4 Takeaways]

Left fielder Mike Yastrzemski singled to drive in catcher Drake Baldwin, cutting Kansas City’s lead in half and pushing Jorge Mateo to third. Yaz was lifted for pinch-runner Eli White, and then second baseman Ozzie Albies walked to load the bases. Center fielder Michael Harris would keep things going with an RBI single, leaving the bases loaded for DH Dominic Smith. Smith worked the count to 3-2 — the fourth pitch was overturned and adjusted to be the second strike — and then Estevez left a 92.3 mph four-seamer up in the zone, where Smith turned on it and drilled it 386 feet for a game-winning grand slam.

Royals’ catcher Salvador Perez didn’t even wait for it to land before getting up and walking away from the plate — he knew, as well as anyone else who saw the shot, that it was ballgame.

Yelich’s first-ever PH home run wins it

Christian Yelich is in the 14th season of his career, and yet, the Brewers’ designated hitter-outfielder has never hit a pinch-hit home run. Or, at least, Yelich had not hit a pinch-hit homer: Sunday marked his first, and it ended up being the game-winner for Milwaukee against  the White Sox:

Granted, Yelich has been a pinch-hitter on just 38 occasions in his career — this is a guy who tends to play. He had just seven hits total in this scenario before this, though, and none of them home runs. Problem solved, for both Yelich and the Brewers.

Fitting that a notable home run would end up being the dedicating factor, since this contest opened up with one: White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery bashed a grand slam in the first inning to put Chicago up 4-0, and the White Sox would score three more runs over the next two innings to build a 7-2 lead. 

The Brewers would score seven unanswered runs after that, however, and come away with a 9-7 W and the sweep.

Caissie’s first homer for the Marlins is a big one 

The Marlins are 3-0 for the first time since 2009, and can thank Owen Caissie for at least part of that. The rookie outfielder was the big return for dealing right-hander Edward Cabrera to the Cubs this offseason, and he came to the plate with Miami down 3-2 to the Rockies in the bottom of the ninth. Colorado had scored all three runs in the first inning, and had been held in check since then, but Miami had been similarly held scoreless since the second inning. Until Caissie unloaded on a changeup from righty Victor Vodnik, anyway.

That’s not the first dinger of Caissie’s MLB career — he picked that up in his cup of coffee last summer — but it was his first with the Marlins, and he could not have picked a better time for it.

Murakami showed off his power

There are questions about just how good first baseman Munetaka Murakami is going to be in MLB after coming over from Japan and Nippon Professional Baseball this offseason — he would have signed for more than he did if those questions didn’t exist — but he’s at least started his career stateside on a high note. Murakami went deep three times in the season’s opening series.

Whether he will keep up with the higher average velocity of MLB is the most significant question to ponder — one a single weekend isn’t going to answer, especially not one where he homered off of a 90.5 mph cutter, a 91.8 mph four-seamer and a 93.2 mph cutter — but hey. Three dingers in three games isn’t nothing.

Chase DeLauter is on fire

As impressive as Murakami’s opening shots were, Guardians’ outfielder Chase DeLauter went beyond them. Thanks to four long balls in three games, he became just the second player in MLB history to manage as much in his first three career games, joining Trevor Story, who accomplished the feat in 2016 per MLB. 

You might remember DeLauter from last year, sure, but that was in the postseason: he didn’t actually play an MLB regular-season game in 2025! It’s obviously early yet, but DeLauter, the 16th-overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft and a top-50 prospect, is exactly the kind of breakout Cleveland needs to once again compete in the AL Central. It won’t continue to be quite this easy for him, but he also doesn’t have to average better than a homer per game to be productive, yeah?

What a day for Hancock

Things went well for DeLauter, yes, but for the Guardians as a whole? Less so, as they split a four-game series with the Mariners. That’s not a terrible result — Seattle was in the ALCS just last season and all — but an 8-0 loss on Sunday to close out that series is an unsatisfying end to what could have been an even better start, especially with DeLauter going yard again and again in the other games.

The problem for Cleveland on Sunday was Mariners’ right-hander Emerson Hancock. While he has never been a particularly productive pitcher — Hancock produced a 4.90 ERA last year in a career-best 90 innings, and entered 2026 with a 4.81 ERA while allowing 1.5 homers per nine — on Sunday he looked unstoppable. Hancock threw six no-hit innings while striking out nine batters and walking just one. 

Right-handed reliever Cooper Criswell would then finish off the combined shutout with three sterling innings of relief work in which he struck out five batters and allowed a pair of baserunners. On top of this, the Mariners’ bats were the opposite of Cleveland’s: Seattle won, 8-0, with trade acquisition and third baseman Brendan Donovan hitting a three-run home run in the bottom of the fourth off of starter Slade Cecconi, and left fielder Randy Arozarena driving in a pair with a double and then later a single. 

Next up for the Mariners is the Yankees, while the Guardians don’t see things get any easier, either — Cleveland travels to Los Angeles to face the Dodgers. 

5-hit game for Yandy Diaz

Yandy Diaz is off to a hot start for the Rays, as he already has nine hits on the season just three games in — the third baseman is batting .563/.588/.625 in his first 17 plate appearances, which is a small-sample, sure, but also fun to look at.

On Sunday against the Cardinals, Tampa Bay’s slugger collected five hits in an 11-7 victory. Diaz singled on the first pitch off of St. Louis starter Dustin May, then singled in a run in the second, scoring Carson Williams. He would hit a double to left — his first double of the season — in the fourth to pick up his second RBI of the day, then actually recorded an out the next time up on a grounder to first. The Rays’ offense was humming, though, and Diaz would get multiple trips back to the plate: in the next, in the eighth, he notched his third single and third RBI of the day — as well as his second run scored — then made it four singles and four RBIs in the top of the ninth, pushing the Rays’ lead to 11-7.

Tampa Bay needed all of that, too, as they lost the first two games of the series to the Cardinals and were in danger of kicking off the season 0-3. Diaz isn’t about to hit over .500 for the season  or anything, but performances like this one do make you wonder if he’s about to have a season in line with his American League batting title-winning 2023, in which he hit .330. Ah, the dreams of spring baseball.

Sometimes it’s okay to admit defeat

Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman is a lot of things, most of them impressive. He is also 36 years old with ankles that likely feel a lot older at this point, so getting in a rundown might be a pointless endeavor. Freeman decided to admit as much on Saturday against the Diamondbacks, and there is no shame in that. There was, however, a hug in it, provided by Arizona shortstop Ketel Marte.

Baseball is back, baby, and it’s good again.

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Baseball is back, and it looks very different in a few key ways.

The way the game is being umpired has drastically changed, while other young stars made a big impact in their debut weekends. Elsewhere, though, a lot has remained the same (the Dodgers are still very good).

Here are our takeaways:

1. ABS Takes Over MLB

Deesha Thosar: Through the first slate of games, we’ve seen the debut of the Automatic Balls and Strikes (ABS) challenge system bring improved accuracy to MLB.

CB Bucknor is a 27-year veteran umpire, but his strike zone was exposed half a dozen times in the Reds’ win over the Red Sox on Saturday. Bucknor had eight calls challenged and a whopping six overturned. No ABS challenge was more electric than Cincinnati slugger Eugenio Suarez’s with two outs and the bases loaded in the sixth inning. Bucknor called a strike three to end the inning, Suarez challenged, the replay showed the pitch was below the zone, the call was overturned, and the at-bat was kept alive. The home crowd in Cincinnati roared in approval. Fans are loving the robot umps.

According to Baseball Savant’s new ABS Dashboard, so far, catchers have had a larger success rate (61%) than hitters (46%) in getting calls overturned. Overall, 54% of challenged calls have been overturned. Already, we’ve seen that some have a better understanding of the strike zone than others. Royals catcher Salvador Perez, a 15-year veteran, went 3-for-3 in helmet taps in the Braves’ 6-0 win on Friday. The Marlins, meanwhile, went 0-for-3.

Questions persist about when to challenge balls and strikes, particularly if it’s a wasted bullet in non-leverage situations. In the fifth inning of Sunday’s Pirates-Mets game, Pittsburgh’s leadoff hitter, Oneil Cruz, challenged a 1-1 called strike from starter Nolan McLean that was upheld after replay review. With only two challenges permitted per team per game, ABS strategies may need to evolve throughout the season to limit more consequential missed calls late in games.

2. Contenders: Expected vs. Surprises

Thosar: It was bad news for opposing teams that vainly hoped the Dodgers would stumble out of the gate in their quest for the three-peat. Catcher Will Smith, celebrating his 31st birthday, crushed a go-ahead two-run home run on Saturday and lifted the Dodgers to an opening-week three-game sweep over the Diamondbacks.

The previous night, outfielder Kyle Tucker delivered a go-ahead single in the eighth inning for the Dodgers. Los Angeles trailed Arizona multiple times throughout the series, but the pitching staff kept games close enough to let the offense claw back and win every time.

The Yankees, too, performed like everyone expected in a three-game sweep over the Giants. After going 0-for-5 on Opening Day, Aaron Judge bounced back and hit a home run in each of the next two games. New York’s rotation was dominant, with Max Fried and Cam Schlittler combining to throw 11 2/3 scoreless innings to begin the season.

Elsewhere in the American League East, the Blue Jays also swept the Athletics to open the season 3-0. Japanese third baseman Kazuma Okamoto swatted his first major-league home run on Sunday, putting a bow on a successful MLB debut weekend in Toronto.

Alas, not all the heavyweights in the league saw their plans come to fruition. This wasn’t the start to the season the Mariners envisioned after closer Andres Munoz served up a 10th-inning two-run home run to the Guardians’ red-hot rookie, outfielder Chase DeLauter, on Saturday. It wasn’t all on Muñoz, though. Seattle’s offense went 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base in that 6-5 loss to Cleveland.

The Phillies, too, have struggled to begin the year. They lost their season-opening series against the Texas Rangers, with a pair of ugly defeats on Saturday and Sunday that elicited boos from the Philly home crowd.

The Phillies’ offense was disappointing, and the defense was sloppy. They were no-hit through 4 2/3 innings in Saturday’s 10-inning loss, only to be no-hit again through five innings in Sunday’s loss. Texas gave the Phillies a handful of chances via free passes to bring runs home, but the offense fell flat. The Phillies are 1-2 to begin the season in a tough NL East, where the Mets and Braves both won their respective matchups.

3. The top prospects went off in their debuts

Rowan Kavner: From 25-year-old Bobby Witt Jr. to 24-year-old Elly De La Cruz to 23-year-old Paul Skenes to 22-year-olds Jackson Merrill and Jackson Chourio, the game is already loaded with young talent.

But there’s plenty of room for more. 

Before this weekend, Boston shortstop Trevor Story was the only player in MLB history to hit four home runs in his first three career regular-season games. Now, add DeLauter to the list.

DeLauter, Cardinals outfielder JJ Wetherholt, Mets outfielder Carson Benge and former NPB star slugger turned White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami all homered in their MLB regular-season debuts this week, and the standout performances from some of the game’s most promising players did not stop there.

Tigers top prospect Kevin McGonigle ripped the first-ever big-league pitch he saw for a two-run double as part of a four-hit day in his MLB debut, joining Billy Bean as the only two players in Detroit history to collect four hits in their first-ever game.

The next night, McGonigle broke a tie game in the eighth inning with a two-run knock to help lift Detroit to a win. Then, on Saturday, Wetherholt walked the Cardinals off with a win while DeLauter launched his fourth home run of the year on an opposite-field shot to stun the Mariners in extras. On Sunday, Murakami added his third home run in his third career game.

Across the league, MLB rookies entered Sunday with a combined OPS over 1.000. Surely, ebbs and flows will come, but it was an auspicious start for some of the game’s top young talents and for teams like the Tigers and Guardians who were counting on a prospect to spark their offense this season.

4. 50th anniversary, 50 strikeouts and a strikingly strong start for Dylan Cease

Kavner: A lot is riding on Dylan Cease being the pitcher the Blue Jays envisioned when they lavished him with their largest free-agent deal in team history, especially with Shane Bieber, Jose Berrios and 2025 breakout star Trey Yesavage beginning the year on the injured list.

Only time will tell the worthiness of the $210 million contract bestowed upon Cease, whose results have fluctuated mightily the last few years (2.20 ERA in 2022, 4.58 ERA in 2023, 3.47 ERA in 2024, 4.55 ERA in 2025), but he passed his first test with flying colors. Cease looked like one of the best pitchers in baseball in his Blue Jays debut on Saturday, striking out 12 batters — the most ever by a pitcher in a Blue Jays debut — while allowing just one run in 5 1/3 innings.

And that was just one example of a promising weekend across the board for Toronto’s shorthanded rotation.

Cease’s performance came a day after right-hander Kevin Gausman struck out 11 Athletics in the Blue Jays’ opener on Friday, making Gausman and Cease the first set of teammates in MLB’s modern era to each record at least 11 strikeouts in a team’s first two games of a season. It didn’t stop there, either, as lefty Eric Lauer followed on Sunday with nine strikeouts as the Blue Jays swept the A’s in Toronto.

By weekend’s end, Toronto’s pitching staff had celebrated the Blue Jays’ 50th anniversary season by striking out 50 batters, setting an MLB record for the first three games of a season.

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Braves designated hitter Dominic Smith’s mother died less than two weeks ago. He said the team has picked him up the last few weeks, and he returned the favor Saturday night.

Smith became the first player in MLB history to hit a walk-off grand slam in his debut with a new team, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. He finished off the Braves’ six-run ninth inning in a 6-2 win over the Kansas City Royals.

“It’s just amazing,” said Smith, who was one of the last players to make the Braves’ opening day roster. “Played against the Braves for a long time, and being on the other side a lot of these endings kind of hurt, so to be on the right side of it this time was so fun.”

Smith told reporters after the game the Braves had been very supportive during spring training when his mother was ill. She was diagnosed with cancer in September and almost died at the start of camp. Smith said he left the team for a little over a week when she had a “scare,” and returned because he was fighting for a job. He was not with her in California when she passed away.

“This team is just so awesome,” Smith said. “I’m so blessed because of the love they showed me, the support every day. They’re asking about her, asking about her well-being, my well-being, and that’s all they really cared about. They didn’t care about baseball.”

Smith was able to show his thanks in the ninth inning off Royals closer Carlos Estevez, who led MLB in saves last season with 42. The Braves erased a 2-0 deficit on RBI singles by Mike Yastrzemski and Michael Harris II and had the bases loaded with one out. On a 3-2 pitch, after calling timeout to gather himself, Smith lifted a fly ball into the right field seats that sent the sold-out crowd into a frenzy.

Smith said he felt his mom’s presence in the celebration, and he looking forward to the Braves road trip to Anaheim next week where he will be able to see family and “say his goodbyes.”

“I got choked up a bunch of times, and it’s, you know, I’m trying to hold back tears now,” he said. “I feel her every day. I miss her dearly. It’s not a moment I don’t think about her. And like I said, I’m just so thankful because this team knows what I’m going through. So they really, you know, picked me up the last few weeks.”

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