He wasn't available for those games as the timing wouldn't allow him to be on regular rest for opening day. There is a reason Yamamoto and Skenes pitched in the quarters.
I was going to say "To be fair, when is the last time the #1 and #2 ranked prospects won", then I decided to look into it and found it happened in 2023 with Gunnar and Corbin Caroll and 2018 with Shohei and Acuna
Defense usually evaporates due to decreases in speed. Where Varsho gets his value from reads and routes moreso than speed I wonder if his defense will persist similar to KK.
I wonder how much of this is to keep him away from opposing teams, scouts and statcast setups in the early season so there is less data on his delivery point. I suppose pitching in the World Series means this is all out there anyway.
That tie breaker really needs to change going forward as it actually penalizes a team for mercy ruling a week team.
So I think right now we are looking at
PR - 7 runs
Canada - 10
Ven - 12
Not that I think either of those guys will have close to the impact Springer had last year, but please take a look at Springer's 2025 spring training numbers. His triple slash line was .108/.298/.216 for an OPS of .514. Trayce Thompson had 6 homers and an OPS of 1.280. Joc Pederson hit 5 homers with a 1.027 OPS. Spring stats mean nothing.
The Yankees miss the playoffs as Cole struggles coming back from injury, Rodon takes longer than expected to come back, Trent Grisham reverts to being Trent Grisham and Judge spends time on the IL.
It's good but I foresee myself throwing something at my TV the tenth time we are out of challenges in the first inning because Vlad challenged two balls that were 6 inches outside.
Given his first inning splits last year, I'm not positive this would work out...although I will admit going in knowing you are only throwing 1 inning is completely different.
Something Buster Olney recently mentioned that I hadn't heard or read anywhere else is that Vlad started focusing more on the opposing pitchers in the playoffs and less on his own mechanics. If that is a meaningful change (hard to say if it would be) it could unlock a better season overall for him too.
I have long said Kirk is a better batter when he gets more time. Hopefully they continue to trust him at the work rate he had last year.