National League
— Diamondbacks- Zac Gallen- Last year was his option year; he had a rough year, going 13-15, 4.83 in 33 starts, but he was 4-2, 3.48 in his last six outings.
He signed a one-year deal with Arizona, so its another option year for him. We’ll see if he can have a big year and strike it rich next winter.
— Braves- Ronald Acuna Jr- He played in only 95 games last year, coming back from knee surgery; he’s played in 100+ games in only two of the last five years. Atlanta had its first losing season in eight years in 2025; they’ll need Acuna to be productive to bounce back this year.
— Cubs- Alex Bregman- He’s played his whole career for Houston/Boston, where both home parks have a short porch in left field. How will playing 81 games in Wrigley Field affect his production? Statcast said that if he played for the Cubs last year, he still would’ve put up good numbers, since left-center in Wrigley can be inviting to hitters. We’ll see.
— Reds- Andrew Abbott- Cincinnati made the playoffs last year, but they haven’t won a playoff game since 2012, going 0-5 in three appearances since then. Reds will need someone to step up as an ace pitcher; Abbott was 10-7, 2.89 in 29 starts LY, so he would be the likeliest candidate.
— Rockies- Paul DePodesta runs the Rockies now; he is Jonah Hill’s character from Moneyball, who spent the last eight years working for the NFL’s Cleveland Browns (he played football in college at Harvard).
How much will the Rockies platoon players? When he was with the A’s, they platooned a lot. It’ll be interesting to see how things will be different in Denver this year.
— Dodgers- Kyle Tucker is getting paid $60M/year for the next four years; considering LA just won two World Series without him, it is a curious move, but Tucker is the Dodgers’ only position player star who is under 30 years old.
Tucker has a career OPS of .865, which should make the Dodgers even better.
— Marlins- In his last ten starts last year, Sandy Alcantara was 5-3, 3.70, as he came back from missing the 2024 season. He is a free agent after the 2027 season; will the Marlins hang onto him or deal him for prospects who make less money?
Marlins have had only two winning seasons since 2009, and they got swept in the playoffs both of those years, but their nucleus of position players is pretty good.
— Brewers- Jason Misiorowski- Milwaukee doesn’t pay its star pitchers, which is why Freddy Peralta plays for the Mets now. Misiorowski was 5-3, 4.36 in 14 starts as a rookie; can he pick up where Peralta left off and be an ace for the Brewers?
Milwaukee has made the players seven of the last eight years; Peralta will be missed.
— Mets- Mets dumped Alonso, Nimmo, McNeil, Marte; most of last year’s coaches are gone now too, after the Mets missed the playoffs. That would put the spotlight for 2026 squarely on Carlos Mendoza, who has managed the Mets for two years, going 179-158, 7-6 in playoff games.
Not sure why you dump several key players and most of your coaching stuff, but you keep the same manager? Lot of pressure on Mendoza this year.
— Phillies- Justin Crawford is starting this season as the Phillies’ center fielder; he is the son of Carl Crawford, who played 15 years in the big leagues. Will he hit enough to keep the job? Last year, Crawford hit .334 in AAA; he needs to defend well more than he needs to hit.
— Pirates- Two players here; Pirates added Marcell Ozuna/Ryan O’Hearn as Pittsburgh tries to spruce up its lineup with a couple older hitters, one from each side of the plate. Pirates haven’t had a winning season since 2018, haven’t made the playoffs since 2015.
Pittsburgh’s starting pitching is pretty good; if they hit more, they could contend for the playoffs.
— Cardinals- Chaim Bloom is the Cardinals’ president of baseball operations; Red Sox made the playoffs once in the four years he worked there (he traded Mookie Betts), now St Louis is in a rebuild, having missed the playoffs the last three years.
Cardinals haven’t missed the playoffs four years in a row since 1988-95; we’ll see how quickly the Cardinals get better. Fans there are used to winning.
— Padres- San Diego traded their best prospect Leo DeVries to acquire closer Mason Miller, who had 50 saves the last two years. There were murmurs that the Padres were going to make Miller a starting pitcher, but apparently that’s not going to happen.
Dylan Cease, Luis Arraez, Ryan O’Hearn aren’t in San Diego anymore; might be tough for them to equal last year’s 90-72 record.
— Giants- San Francisco hired a new manager, Tony Vitello, who managed the Tennessee Vols for eight years, winning the 2024 national title. Not many college managers become skippers in the big leagues; Pat Murphy in Milwaukee, Bobby Winkles back in the day with the Angels.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Giants fare with their new manager.
— Nationals- I watch a lot of podcasts about fantasy baseball; last couple of weeks, there was a lot of enthusiasm about Cade Cavalli, a pitcher who was 3-1, 4.25 in 10 starts last year.
Nationals’ leadership got A LOT younger this winter; curious to see how they do. Expectations are very, very low, that’s for sure.
— Famous birthdays, March 26th
Martin Short, 76
Catherine Keener, 67
Marcus Allen, 66
John Sotckton, 64
Kevin Seitzer, 64
Michael Imperioli, 60
Keira Knightley, 41
Von Miller, 37
Cristian Javier, 29
Jeremiah Jackson, 26
American League
— Orioles- Why did the Mets trade Pete Alonso? The last five years, Alonso missed a total of 20 games, playing 162-162 games the last two seasons. He hit 195 home runs those five years; he is a really good hitter, and should make the Orioles’ lineup a lot stronger.
— Red Sox- Boston made the playoffs last year, for only the second time in seven years; they did not re-sign Alex Bregman this winter, but added P’s Ranger Suarez, Sonny Gray and 1B Willson Contreras. It looks like Jarren Duran/Wilyer Abreu will play every day instead of platooning, but the AL East is tough. Can they make the playoffs again this season?
— White Sox- Lot of pundits have been praising Munetaka Murakami, Chicago’s new 1B who is supposed to be quite a slugger, but if he’s that good, why didn’t the big $$$ teams gobble him up, instead of the freakin’ White Sox?
Last three years, White Sox have lost 101-121-102 games; they should be a lot better this year.
— Guardians- Jose Ramirez is on his way to the Hall of Fame, but he’ll be 34 in September; how long can he keep being such an excellent hitter?
Cleveland has been in the playoffs seven of the last ten years; AL Central is wide open, for sure.
— Tigers- Last four years, Framber Valdez was 57-35 for the Astros; now he moves from a small Houston ballpark to a bigger one in Detroit, and figures to prosper there.
Valdez had issues with one of his catchers in Houston last year; his new manager in Detroit was a catcher (AJ Hinch) when he played. We’ll see how Valdez makes out in the Motor City.
— Astros- Houston has one too many infielders, which its better than one too few, but what are they going to do with their lineup? GM Dana Brown is under the gun; he added couple of new starting pitchers (Tatsuya Imai/Mike Burrows).
If they can keep Yordan Alvarez healthy this year, Astros should go back to the playoffs, after missing them last season for the first time in nine years.
— Royals- Kansas City moved the fences in at Kauffman Stadium this year; they also shortened some of the fences, so the question is this: how much will it help the hitters/hurt the pitchers?
Royals finished over .500 the last two years; there are expectations now.
— Angels- Angels are a big market team; they had Trout/Ohtani on the same team for several years, but somehow were paying Anthony Rendon more than either one of them. Owner Arte Moreno is the man in the spotlight here; Halos haven’t had a winning season since 2015, and Moreno has inferred that he doesn’t think their fans don’t care much about winning. Huh??
Trout will be 35 in August; the Angels are expected to miss the playoffs again.
— Twins- Fantasy baseball experts are touting young 2B Luke Keaschall; Twins have missed the playoffs four of the last five years and have a new manager in Derek Shelton, who used to be the skipper in Pittsburgh.
I’m still wondering why they didn’t put a dome on the Twins’ ballpark? The weather sucks there.
— New York- Brian Cashman is the GM in the Bronx; he hasn’t won a World Series since 2009, despite having the most $$$ in the sport, until the Dodgers’ spending spree the last few years. Funny part was listening to New York fans whine about the Dodgers; seriously? Welcome to my world, guys. I root for the freakin’ A’s, who made a movie about not spending money.
— A’s- Two more years in Sacramento, before the new ballpark (domed) opens in Las Vegas; A’s have stepped up and signed some of their good position players, so if their pitchers hold up in the hitter-friendly Sacramento ballpark, the A’s could contend for a Wild Card slot.
When the A’s get to Las Vegas, owner John Fisher better try to win, or he might wind up like Joe Pesci in the movie Casino.
— Mariners- Seattle brought in Brendan Donovan from St Louis to play 3B; he has a .772 OPS in four seasons. Mariners have excellent starting pitching; they lost the ALCS in seven games last year, could easily make the World Series this season.
— Rays- Tampa Bay had to play home games outdoors last year in a hitter-friendly minor league ballpark; this year they move back into the Trop, which should help pitchers, hurt the hitters.
How does this affect Junior Caminero? He hit 45 homers last year, had 110 RBI, but here’s the thing: Caminero had a .954 OPS at home, .743 on the road and now the Rays are playing their home games in a more pitching-friendly environment.
— Rangers- Texas traded Marcus Semien for OF Brandon Nimmo, who figures to bat leadoff for the Rangers. Nimmo is durable/productive, hitting 72 homers the last three years. If they can keep Corey Seager healthy, new manager Skip Schumaker should take Texas to the playoffs.
— Blue Jays- Toronto came thisclose to winning the World Series last year, but now Bo Bichette plays for the Mets, with Japanese import Kazumo Okamoto the new 3B. Dylan Cease/Cody Pence are new additions to the starting rotation; can their bullpen hold up?
