Spring Training continues

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The World Baseball Classic started two days ago. USA’s first game is Saturday, March 11, and Adam Wainwright will start. The opponent will be Team Great Britain.

MLB has a very good story of Team USA’s construction; it started with Mike Trout and snowballed. Great Britain’s story obviously doesn’t include players of Trout’s caliber, but it’s still good.

If spring training standings meant anything, at this stage the 11-2 Kansas City Royals would be headed for the Cactus League Championship Series to face the 9-4 Chicago Cubs. The Grapefruit League series would have the 9-0 Red Sox versus the 7-4 Cardinals. In the Cactus League the Angels and Dodgers are third and fourth in the standings; the Angels are 8-4 and the Dodgers are 6-3.

36 thoughts on “Spring Training continues”

  3. Wow, what a way to end the game. 3-2, two down, bottom of the ninth, Ohtani pitching to Trout. Count goes full. Ohtani’s thrown three straight 100+mph pitches, and then strikes out his Angels teammate to win the game and the tournament for Japan.

  5. Brusdar “Bazooka” Graterol just needs to find a slower pitch to complement his fastball. He needs to get left-handed hitters out with more consistency and develop a more effective slider. That’s all that’s keeping him from being an elite closer, so think the Dodgers.

  6. Today’s edition of Dodgers Dugout from the LA Times. Of note: Gonsolin will be on the 15-day IL to stat the year. Pepiot and Grove are the choices to replace him. Also, the Dodgers have a couple of expert observers of JD Martinez on staff: Mookie and broadcaster Tim Neverett, who says:

    “When he drives the ball to right-center field, he’s got his swing on. He likes to, what he calls, ‘compress his swing,’ so it’s gotta be kind of a tight swing. He can be a real value driving in runs. He’s going to have a slugging percentage especially against lefties — he crushes lefties, and I think he’s going to be a great addition. … If he’s starting to hit those gap doubles to right-center, he’s seeing the ball well.”

    There also a lot of meaningless spring training batting and earned run averages, but they add to fan speculation before the season starts.

  7. Where is everybody these days? USA clubbed the Cubanos last night and, tonight, the Mejicanos may take out the Japanese. Ergo, could be a US-Méjico finale.

  9. Julito did not have a good outing against the Boricuas, who lead the Mexicanos 4-1 after four.

  10. I’ve been watching Puerto Rico and the Dominican on a one-hour Fox Sports preview which expires in eight minutes, after which I’ll look at Gameday before switching to Kershaw. I will immediately delete the Fox Sports app.

    • If there can be 14 atmospheric rivers that have hit California so far this spring, then Arizona can get some rain. I hope it’s just a steady flow for about five days. Those reservoirs desprately need to refill.

      • We’re due for another atmospheric river early next week, but these couple days of sunshine have been more than welcome. We took a bike ride out the Bay Bridge to Yerba Buena Island this morning.

  13. Dodgers doing the right thing.

    Included among the pre-arbitration-eligible MLB players to have their contracts renewed by teams this year, compiled by Ronald Blum at the Associated Press, is Dodgers outfielder Andrew Toles, who hasn’t played since 2018 but by being under contract can have access to health insurance, among other things.

    • “Because Pederson’s mother is Jewish and Pederson is therefore Jewish by birth, he is eligible for Israeli citizenship. Players who are eligible for Israeli citizenship are also eligible to compete for Israel in the World Baseball Classic.”

      That explains that.

      • There are many players, not just Israelis, who were born outside the country they represent – Austin Barnes, for example, whose mother is Mexican. Quite a few of GB’s players are Bahamian-born. Trayce Thompson’s father Mychal is from Bahamas, which acknowledges the British monarchy, making him eligible to play for the Brits.