Category: Baseball

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“New York, New York” first was played at the end of Yankees wins after Steinbrenner learned of Sinatra’s version from a disc jockey at Le Club, a Manhattan restaurant and disco, former team media relations director Marty Appel told The New York Times in 2015.

The song, with music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb, was first sung by Liza Minnelli for the 1977 Martin Scorsese film “New York, New York” and Sinatra performed it in a Don Costa arrangement for his 1980 recording “Trilogy: Past Present Future.”

For several years, the Yankees alternated the Sinatra version after wins and the Minnelli version following defeats. In recent years, the Sinatra rendition has been played after all final outs.

The Yankees said Friday they were ending their ban on beards, fearing the prohibition might hamper player recruitment.

Hal Steinbrenner took over in 2008 as controlling owner from his father, who died in 2010.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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As Rodriguez’s shot went in, the crowd at Sojka Pavilion went wild. Rodriguez ran over to the fan who won the $10,000 prize and picked him up in celebration. That fan was a Bucknell student from Philadelphia named Owen, who Rodriguez jokingly said had converted from being a Philadelphia Phillies fan to a New York Yankees fan. Owen plans to use the money to help pay for his college tuition.

“That’s a beautiful thing,” Rodriguez said in a social media video provided by the school. “Parents, you’re welcome. You should be Yankees fans, too. Owen’s a good boy. We won together today.”

Rodriguez was at Bucknell’s campus in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, as part of a forum to speak about Jump Platforms, a company he founded alongside Lore and Leiser.

Rodriguez is an employee of FOX Sports.

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The two long balls combined for 859 feet.

De La Cruz has been electric in the roughly year-and-a-half he has been in the show. The 6-foot-5 shortstop has a cannon for an arm, blazing speed and overwhelming power.

Last season, De La Cruz totaled 25 home runs, 76 RBIs, a 5.2 WAR and an MLB-high 67 stolen bases, while posting a .259/.339/.471 slash line and earning an All-Star nod. Furthermore, he was in the 90th percentile in bat speed, 88th in average exit velocity and 86th in barrel percentage, per Statcast.

At the same time, De La Cruz has been a bit erratic, recording an MLB-high 218 strikeouts and also a league-high 29 errors at shortstop last season.

“I always put in hard work in the offseason,” De La Cruz said after the game Saturday, according to MLB.com. “That will come out in the [regular] season.”

New Reds manager Terry Francona recently said that he wants De La Cruz to be “the best player in baseball on the best team in baseball.”

The Reds are coming off a 77-85 campaign in which they missed the playoffs for a fourth consecutive season.

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This punishment is seemingly a tradition in the Blue Jays’ dugout. Tim Mayza carried out a similar punishment during a spring training game in 2024. And props to Blue Jays catcher Dalton Varsho, the fantasy league’s commissioner, who has consistently convinced the losers to go through with their punishment to keep things competitive and interesting.

Bassitt is coming off a 2024 season in which he posted a 4.16 ERA, the worst of his career (except for in 2016, when he started two games for the Oakland Athletics and had a 6.11 ERA). The Blue Jays will hope Bassitt’s fantasy football performance doesn’t translate to the field and that he will have a bounce-back season in 2025.

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Tyler Glasnow

Perhaps the forgotten member of this pitching staff due to injury (Glasnow’s 2024 season ended after 22 starts, which was the most he had made in a single season in his MLB career, due to an elbow injury), Glasnow can be hugely impactful. A one-time All-Star, Glasnow cranks his four-seamer up in the high 90s, while also deploying his slider and curveball and striking out batters at a high clip. Last season, he posted a 3.49 ERA, 2.90 FIP, 0.95 WHIP and 168 strikeouts in 134 innings.

Tony Gonsolin

Once upon a time in 2022, Gonsolin was arguably the Dodgers’ best starting pitcher. Unfortunately, forearm injuries have kept him off an MLB mound since 2023. Gonsolin has posted a combined 3.19 ERA and 1.05 WHIP across 79 career appearances (71 starts). The still-30-year-old has effectively leaned on his four-seamer and split-fingered fastball.

Clayton Kershaw

The three-time National League Cy Young and five-time ERA winner may be on his last stand, but Kershaw can still hurl. Last season, the southpaw was limited to seven starts due to elbow and toe injuries, and he hasn’t made 30 starts in the regular season since 2015. However, when healthy, the soon-to-be 37-year-old Kershaw, who boasts a career 2.50 regular-season ERA, can still be an effective finesse pitcher, inducing weak contact with his slider.

Landon Knack

Knack flaunted upside in the 15 games (12 starts) he appeared in last season. Posting a 3.65 ERA and 69 strikeouts in 69 innings, the right-hander displayed a consistent, four-pitch arsenal: four-seamer, slider, curveball and changeup. The former second-round draft pick could potentially either come out of the bullpen or begin the 2025 season at Triple A due to the number of rotation options manager Dave Roberts has. If and when injuries present themselves, Knack can hold his own.

Dustin May

Much like Gonsolin, May once looked like a vital part of the Dodgers’ future, but elbow issues got in the way, as he has been limited to just 46 appearances (34 starts) since first appearing on the scene in 2019. In those appearances, he has posted a combined 3.10 ERA and 1.05 WHIP, hit the high 90s on the radar and showcased a power sinker. 

Bobby Miller

The Dodgers’ 2020 first-rounder is coming off two polar opposite seasons. Miller posted an 8.52 ERA in 13 starts last season. The season prior, though, he recorded a 3.76 ERA and 1.10 WHIP in 22 regular-season starts. Miller has also been able to consistently deploy five pitches at a reasonable rate for each offering: four-seamer, changeup, curveball, sinker and slider.

Shohei Ohtani

A three-time MLB MVP, Ohtani hasn’t pitched since 2023 due to a torn UCL, and it appears he won’t be part of the opening-day rotation. When Ohtani is fully recovered, he gives the Dodgers an electric right-hander. Across 86 career starts with the Los Angeles Angels, he posted a 3.01 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 608 strikeouts in 481 2/3 innings. Ohtani has effectively thrown a sweeper and cutter, among other pitches. 

Roki Sasaki

Sasaki is arguably the most compelling arm on the Dodgers’ pitching staff next season based solely on not knowing what to expect from the 23-year-old. Sasaki posted a 2.02 ERA, 0.88 WHIP and 524 strikeouts in 414 2/3 innings across a combined 69 appearances in the Japan Pacific League and Japan Eastern League. Sasaki’s fastball has clocked in at triple digits, and he pitched for Japan in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

Blake Snell

One of the most unique pitchers in MLB history now plays for the Dodgers. Snell, a two-time Cy Young Award winner and two-time ERA winner, won the 2023 NL Cy Young Award with an MLB-best 2.25 ERA and an MLB-high 99 walks, while getting more than 18 outs in just three starts for the San Diego Padres. After a 2024 season that saw him start late due to not signing until March and then hitting the injured list twice, Snell bounced back down the stretch with the San Francisco Giants, posting a 1.23 ERA over his last 14 starts, which included throwing a no-hitter. He tends to rely heavily on his four-seamer and curveball, but Snell gets the job done and sports a career 3.19 regular-season ERA. 

Gavin Stone

In a 2024 season that saw the Dodgers’ rotation get ravaged by injuries, Stone made the most starts (25) on their staff in the regular season. In those outings, he posted a 3.53 ERA, while not severely relying on any one pitch; Stone actually threw his changeup more than any other pitch (26.6% of the time, per Statcast). That said, Stone suffered a shoulder injury late in the season, which required surgery and could keep him off the mound for the entire 2025 season. Should Stone recover faster than expected, though, he could provide the Dodgers with another pitcher that can go multiple innings per appearance in the postseason.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto

Yamamoto was limited to 18 regular-season starts in his first MLB season due to triceps tightness on his throwing arm, and he was a mixed bag in the postseason. In all, though, he pitched at a high level. Across said regular-season starts, Yamamoto posted a 3.00 ERA, 2.61 FIP, 1.11 WHIP and 105 strikeouts in 90.0 innings, while leaning on his four-seamer and showcasing a flaming, split-fingered fastball and curveball. The Dodgers made a $325 million investment in Yamamoto. While a full season of work is needed for a more accurate portrayal, the right-hander showed his ace potential in 2024.

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The five-time Silver Slugger and four-time All-Star spent last season with the New York Yankees, helping them reach the World Series for the first time since 2009. In the regular season, Soto totaled a career-high 41 RBIs and 109 RBIs, while posting a .288/.419/.569 slash line. In the postseason, he totaled four home runs and nine RBIs, while posting a .327/.469/.633 slash line.

The Yankees acquired Soto from the San Diego Padres after the 2023 season. Soto spent the first four-plus seasons of his MLB career with the Washington Nationals, helping them win the 2019 World Series, before being traded to the Padres in 2022 and spending the next season-plus in San Diego.

The Mets are coming off an 89-73 season that saw them reach the National League Championship Series before losing in six games to the eventual World Series-champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

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So why was now the right time for Hal Steinbrenner to change the rule?

It was a decision that came down to winning, Steinbrenner said, which is why he believes his father, who died in 2010, would respect his choice. Ultimately, the Yankees do not want to be put in a position where they fail to acquire a player because of the club’s antiquated facial-hair policy. 

“I don’t like addressing hypotheticals, but I’m going to break my own rule today because this was a part of my thought process and a part of the decision that I made,” Steinbrenner said in a press conference Friday. “If I ever found out that a player we wanted to acquire to make us better, to get us a championship, did not want to be here — and if he had the ability, would not come here because of that policy, as important as it is to that generation — that would be very, very concerning. I’m fairly convinced that that’s a real concern.”

Added Yankees manager Aaron Boone: “If we miss out on one player because of that, that’s too many.”

Steinbrenner said, to his knowledge, there are no actual instances of players refusing to join the Yankees due to their facial-hair policy, but it’s been a topic of conversation. Cashman said CC Sabathia hesitated to sign with the Yankees as a free agent back in 2008 because he wanted to keep his facial hair. There have been players that preferred not to get drafted by the Yankees because of the policy, and even this spring, Cashman talked to a non-roster invitee about whether he had to shave to be included in camp. 

Steinbrenner said, for the past several years, the previous facial-hair policy came up “on a frequent and regular basis.” But this past offseason, he took an extra step by talking to various individuals, ranging from Yankees staffers to people in other organizations, to people he knows in the industry. Steinbrenner was trying to understand why facial hair was such an important topic to the current generation of players. 

That research continued this week at the Yankees spring training complex, where Steinbrenner sat down and had a face-to-face, one-on-one conversation about the hair policy with a variety of players, including Aaron Judge, Gerrit Cole, and Giancarlo Stanton. Cole said he was surprised that Steinbrenner wanted to talk about the policy. Yankees catcher Austin Wells said, although it’s always a conversation point with his teammates, he thought the rule would never change. After speaking to what Steinbrenner termed “a diverse group in that all of them have been here for a different period of time,” he decided the policy was “outdated and somewhat unreasonable” for his employees to maintain. 

“It still embodies our look and our neatness,” Cole said. “But it allows for some individual freedom and a few less razor burns.”

Yankees players are interested in seeing which of their teammates will actually start growing beards. Wells, for one, is happy to spend less time with his razor; the catcher shaves around 5–6 times per week. Anthony Volpe said he struggles to grow facial hair so he’ll stick to the old rule. New closer Devin Williams, whom the Yankees acquired via trade this winter, showed up to spring training with his usual beard, but it was shaved off the next day. Cole, who sported a full beard with the Astros in 2019 right before he signed with the Yankees, is undecided about whether he’ll let his facial hair grow again, in part because he doesn’t want his gray hair to show. 

Though there are mixed feelings in the clubhouse about whether to utilize their newfound facial-hair freedom, players are at least happy to have the option. Steinbrenner’s surprising rule change has paved the way for the Yankees to begin a new legacy, and it highlights the healthy modernization of a franchise that is steeped in tradition. Still, the core value of the Yankees organization is winning, and if getting rid of an outdated policy opens up more pathways to acquire the game’s most talented players, then Steinbrenner is all-in.

“He’s looking for any edge he can get,” Cole said of Steinbrenner. “He certainly doesn’t want to turn anybody away that could be impactful for us, but at the same time, maintaining our team look. Shaving can get a little bit mundane through the whole year and uncomfortable at times. But by and large, every year that I’ve been here, we all generally like the idea that we look good, we look clean, and we look, you know, neat and tidy. So I think that those aspects are not going to go away, but just a little bit of individual freedom in terms of being more comfortable is a nice balance.”

Ready or not, here come the Bearded Bronx Bombers.

Deesha Thosar is a MLB reporter and columnist for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets for four years as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.

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Ohtani stunned the organization during last year’s camp when he revealed his marriage in an Instagram post. About two weeks later, Ohtani revealed the identity of his new wife, a former professional basketball player from Japan.

Sasaki joined the Dodgers last month on a minor-league contract with a $6.5 million signing bonus as an international amateur free agent, under Major League Baseball‘s rules.

He left the Pacific League’s Chiba Lotte Marines under the posting system. Had he waited two more years, Sasaki likely could have earned a nine-figure contract as a free agent not subject to signing bonus pools.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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“These most recent conversations are an extension of ongoing internal dialogue that dates back several years,” he said. “Ultimately the final decision rests with me, and after great consideration, we will be amending our expectations to allow our players and uniformed personnel to have well-groomed beards moving forward. It is the appropriate time to move beyond the familiar comfort of our former policy.”

As recently as Monday, the Yankees had left reminders on the clubhouse chair of each player to arrive clean shaven the following morning for photo day. Closer Devin Williams, acquired in an offseason trade from Milwaukee, had hair on his chin for his photo.

Outfielder Alex Verdugo was forced to trim his previously long hair when he was traded to the Yankees ahead of the 2024 season.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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Robot umpires arrived in the big leagues, at least in exhibition games. The Cubs and World Series champion Dodgers opened the spring training schedule with an added wrinkle: Camelback Ranch is among the test sites for the ABS, which could be used in big league regular-season games as soon as 2026.

Human umpires still call every pitch, but each team has the ability to challenge two calls per game, with no additions for extra innings. A team retains its challenge if successful, similar to the regulations for big league teams with video reviews, which were first used for home run calls in August 2008 and widely expanded to many calls for the 2014 season.

Only a batter, pitcher or catcher may challenge a call, signaling with the tap of a helmet or cap. Assistance from the dugout is not allowed. A challenge must be made within 2 seconds, and the graphic of the pitch and strike zone will be shown on the scoreboard and broadcast feed. The umpire then announces the updated count.

MLB estimates the process averages 17 seconds.

The Cubs and Dodgers opened this year’s spring training schedule earlier than the other 28 teams because they’re playing each other in Tokyo to open the regular season on March 18-19. There will be five games on Friday before all teams get started this weekend.

The Dodgers played a few of their regulars in the opener, including shortstop Mookie Betts, third baseman Max Muncy and right fielder Teoscar Hernández. Yoshinobu Yamamoto started on the mound as he prepares to start the opener in Tokyo.

Yamamoto threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings, giving up three hits and striking out two. He threw 19 of 27 pitches for strikes.

Japanese two-way star Shohei Ohtani was not in the lineup as he continues to recover from offseason surgery on a partially torn labrum in his left (non-throwing) shoulder, an injury sustained during the World Series. He’s expected to get some Cactus League at-bats and be ready to hit by the regular season but likely won’t pitch until May.

MLB has installed the ABS system in 13 spring training ballparks that are home to 19 teams. The Florida stadiums, all in the Florida State League, are Detroit, Minnesota, the New York Mets, New York Yankees, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Toronto, plus the ballpark shared by Miami and St. Louis.

Five test sites in Arizona all are shared: the Diamondbacks/Colorado, Chicago White Sox/Los Angeles Dodgers, Cleveland/Cincinnati, Kansas City/Texas and Seattle/San Diego.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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