MESA, Arizona — The Cubs lost to the White Sox 8-1 in the first Spring Training game of 2026.
To which I say: Who cares? Wins and losses mean nothing until March 26.
A few notable things happened in this game, so let’s look at them.
Seiya Suzuki homered in his first spring at-bat [VIDEO].
So that’s good. That came after Austin Hays homered off Jameson Taillon in the top of the first. Taillon also served up another homer, a two-run job, in the second. I’m not concerned about that sort of thing this early;
often, pitchers work on various things in spring outings and sometimes throw nothing but fastballs.
Of a bit of concern: Porter Hodge looked awful in facing six batters in the fourth inning. He walked four of them and allowed a two-run double to new Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami. It might have been more runs, but Grant Kipp induced an inning-ending double play.
Hopefully this was just Hodge “working on something” because he wasn’t anywhere near the strike zone most of the time, throwing only eight strikes in 25 pitches.
Gavin Hollowell, who also might be in the bullpen mix because he has options, struck out all three batters he faced in the sixth. Two of them (Hays and Murakami) are MLB hitters and the third is top Sox prospect Braden Montgomery. So Hollowell might be someone to watch going forward.
There were three ABS challenges in the game. If you didn’t see it, here are all of them.
A pitch was called a ball on Sox pitcher Jonathan Cannon in the second. It was overturned on review [VIDEO].
A call of ball 3 on Hollowell in the sixth was also overturned [VIDEO].
A pitch was called a ball in the bottom of the eighth and the call was confirmed [VIDEO].
These calls were all made seamlessly, quickly by the players, announced at the park by the plate umpire and all completed within just a few seconds. This is exactly how the ABS challenge system is supposed to work and once it’s in place for regular-season games you probably won’t even notice. I would imagine there will be more challenges in Spring Training games than you’ll see in the regular season so that players get used to doing it.
It was a gorgeous, though a bit coolish (60 degrees at game time) afternoon in Sloan Park, with the berm getting a bit crowded as folks from seats in the shade came to get some sunshine. Announced attendance was 14,419, about 1,000 short of a sellout. It’s still very early, many people aren’t on spring break or taking vacations yet, and I’d expect the crowds to get larger as the spring goes by.
Matthew Boyd will start Saturday afternoon at Sloan Park against the Rangers. Kumar Rocker will take the mound for Texas. Game time is again 2:05 p.m. CT. TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network and there will also be radio broadcasts via The Score as well as the Rangers radio network.
