With so many Kansas City Royals at the center, Craig Brown looks at what made Venezuela-Italy so joyous.
Was this what is was like when Richard Williams watched Venus and Serena square off in a tennis tournament? Truly, I could not bring myself to root for either team, yet I was transfixed, hanging on every single pitch. I just wanted a good showing from the boys. I feel bad for Lorenzen, but good for Garcia. It’s too bad that Vinnie and Jac aren’t going to play in the final, but I sure hope Salvy
gets in the lineup. I loved those espresso-chugging Italians. I don’t think they were underdogs. This was a legit team with plenty of talent.
But those Venezuelans…they make you feel something. You knew they had a run in them. You knew they were going to make things very uncomfortable for Italy. That game should’ve been the final.
Anne Rogers talks with new Royals pitcher Nick Mears about joining the team and the changes in store.
“If we’re looking at my pitches, it’s four-seam up, slider away, curveball down,” Mears said. “It’s moving away from a righty. If it’s away, they’re committing to away. With the two-seam, it’s taking advantage of that commitment to the outside, and it just goes, ‘Whoosh,’ inside. It’s not like a metrically glorious pitch. It’s a different look from everything else that I’m throwing.”
Mears wasn’t as sure about a changeup because he had tried to throw one in 2019 and “it was bad, just being blunt,” he said. He also tried a splitter a few offseasons ago, and it looked too much like his gyro slider. But then the Royals brought up a kick-changeup. The R&D department had scoured through video and data to find pitchers similar to Mears — who throw from the same slot and release point, along with a similar repertoire — who also throw a changeup. There were a few different grips they brought to Mears, including a splitter, a three-finger change and a kick-change.
Derek Jeter caught some flak for asking Maikel Garcia to compare the World Baseball Classic to Kauffman Stadium.
You could say Garcia has been Captain Clutch for Venezuela, which has enjoyed a decided home advantage in games played in Miami during the WBC. Captain Clutch was one of the nicknames Yankees fans gave Derek Jeter, who is now a broadcaster for Fox Sports. After Venezuela defeated Italy, Jeter asked Garcia about the enthusiastic pro-Venezuela crowd. “Take a look around, does it remind you of Kansas City?” Jeter asked. Garcia replied: “Not even close.”
David Lesky looks at the pitching rotation and the resumed depth ahead of 2026, but let’s remember just how healthy the 2024 rotation was.
In 2024,as we all remember so well, the Royals got 151 starts from the original five-some, and then six more from a guy they traded for to replace one of the original five. That left five starts to be made by someone else. Five! One of the five was a true bullpen game. Daniel Lynch IV started three of the other four and then Jonathan Bowlan started the last one. Those four starts for Lynch and Bowlan marked the end of their careers as starters, for whatever that’s worth. It was pretty magical.
FanGraphs’ positional power rankings were not kind to the Royals on Tuesday. Both first base and second base earned below-average rankings from the site, including a 28th-place rank at the keystone.
The Athletic looks at how the world off the diamond causes “complicated feelings” from Team Venezuela fans ahead of the WBC final.
Andscape looks at Dusty Baker’s time and energy managing Team Nicaragua in the World Baseball Classic.
Is college baseball focusing too much on velocity? Baseball America breaks down how that correlates to success in collegiate action.
Famed sportswriter Joe Posnanski ponders what the humanity of umpiring is in 2026.
Lance Brozdowski has updated rankings and data for 40 top pitching prospects.
Under the Knife has some updates on two veteran Toronto Blue Jays starters.
Shohei Ohtani is set to make his spring training pitching debut today.
Gerrit Cole is also scheduled for his first spring game since Tommy John surgery.
Seiya Suzuki suffered a ligament strain in the World Baseball Classic, casting doubt on Opening Day availability.
The Denver Broncos traded for wide receiver Jaylen Waddle.
Michigan’s Yaxel Lendeborg admits Kentucky offered him “$7 (million) to $9 (million)” when he was in the transfer portal.
How is F1 staying on the leading edge with global brands?
Nicole Kidman returns to streaming in new Prime Video series Scarpetta.
Story time. I had the better part of a year between when I graduated high school in May 2014 and shipped out to basic training in January 2015. I found ways to pass the time, but the most important thing I did during that time was be a friend to someone. My mom was a special education teacher for most of my life, nearly 20 years in all. She had a student, let’s call him T, who loved to go to school sports games. Did not matter the sport, T always had a friend there or a great time at least. But T was raised by a single dad, and that made getting to these events, with no post-event travel provided, hard. There was a program in Kansas that paid very little, enough for gas, snacks, and admission, in our case, for me to be there for T. That fall, we went to every game we could. It was amazing, honestly. But more often than not, we had to leave early because T was overstimulated by the environment. It was just part of the deal. So that is why, when these sensory areas became more popular, like what the Omaha Storm Chasers are doing with Autism Action Partnership for the 2026 season, I love it. You may never need it, but this makes a world of difference for those who need it.
Today’s song of the day is Could Have Been Me by The Struts.
