“The Rights of Spring” Baseball is Here

Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports

NEW YORK, NY — My passion is boxing and love is baseball. After counting down the days, pitchers and catchers have arrived, the time of year I always refer to as “The Rights of Spring.” Yes, baseball season after another brief offseason of activity is here.

Well, almost here. Opening Day is six weeks away and then we can say the 2026 season begins. For now though we can talk and discuss the teams, players, where 30 teams will conclude in late September and the postseason. Baseball is spring bringing sunshine, warmer temperatures, though climate change plays games in late March and April, the cold elements will persist.

Regardless, this week it’s pitchers and catchers. Next it’s position players. Full squads and cracks of the bat with a baseball in the glove. The superstars in camps, names with mega-contracts in different uniforms. Rookies and non-roster invites hoping to land a roster spot on the big team or sent to the minors for another look.

Baseball in 2026 will be the same, though a new ball-strike challenge system has been implemented. The season will be surrounded with questions and speculation about 2027, a collective bargaining agreement that could shut down the game with salary caps the major issue.

But for now, it’s play ball. New names on uniforms and injuries to start the spring that become a nightmare for the GM or manager. And spring exhibition games that will have a good amount of players absent from the fields in Florida and Arizona since there is the World Baseball Classic that will disrupt a flow for managers and coaches.

Then again Major League Baseball still needs to find a way to play the World Baseball Classic another time on the calendar and alleviate risking an injured player that opted to compete in the WBC for national pride. The WBC is great for the game, but not this time of year.

I will at another time base a column on how it all ends in late September, postseason and if the dynasty of the Los Angeles Dodgers is headed to a three-peat as World Series champions. So I begin here, my 23rd consecutive season of covering MLB at LatinoSports.com and anticipate a return to the ballpark soon.

Will the Dodgers three-peat and do so with the former Mets closer Edwin Díaz? The Mets had a complete overhaul and revamped with new additions including Bo Bichette, Luis Robert Jr., Jorge Polanco, and Marcus Semien.

And Juan Soto shifting from right field to left as Francisco Lindor sits out six weeks with surgery to repair a stress reaction in the hamate bone of his left hand.

The Mets will look different and name tags will be needed in the clubhouse, chemistry they said was not there after a disappointing 2025. Bullpen revamp, coming across town from the Bronx with backend additions of Luke Weaver and Devin Williams. And right-hander Freddy Peralta who provides a capable front-end starter with Nolan McClean, a good one-two punch for a Mets rotation that failed last year.

Always the Yankees are certain to be postseason bound and nothing less is not achieved with Aaron Judge, the reigning American League MVP. Manager Aaron Boone in his ninth season, will he make a 10th if the Yankees fail to achieve their first World Series title since 2009? Yankees and baseball always makes for the center of attention.

But there is more to focus down in Florida. More to analyze before Opening Day at camps in the desert of Arizona. I questioned some scouts who begin their ritual of analyzing, they know the game and are a backbone of baseball that are always the forgotten entity.

They say the Dodgers, Yankees, and Mets. Some like the Tigers and their pitching rotation of Tarik Skubal and Framber Valdez. And the Blue Jays rivaling the Yankees and Red Sox in the AL East as RHP Dylan Cease inked a seven-year, $210 million contract with Toronto who are seeking a return to the World Series. Then again, will we find a more compelling and interesting series than the one that ended in October of 2025 with the Blue Jays and Dodgers?

Anything is possible in October and baseball will need another good conclusion with an imminent labor dispute.

Will Pete Alonso and a winning contract lead to tons of home runs in Baltimore at Camden Yards? Scouts say it’s a winner for Alonso and mention the Orioles as a team to watch in a division with the Yankees, Red Sox and Blue Jays. And of course, there are the always competitive pesky Rays.

The Cubs in Arizona, looking towards October baseball at Wrigley Field in Chicago with Alex Bregman at third and Edward Cabrera who is the arm projected to anchor their rotation. Other teams will have to find themselves throughout the year, like the Brewers who will look different.

However, Judge and Shohei Ohtani won’t. The same goes for their respective teams, the Yankees and Dodgers as Spring Training is here with many already dreaming of a LAD-NYY meeting in the Fall Classic. Plenty of time to analyze and start new.

It’s the “Rights of Spring.” It’s baseball in 2026 and that sounds good.

Rich Mancuso is a senior writer and columnist at LatinoSports.com covering boxing, MLB, and MLS – X: @Ring786, Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso

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