Shohei Ohtani has mixed results in first pitching start with Angels  —  Shohei Ohtani didn't quite dazzle in his spring pitching debut with the Los Angeles Angels.  —  Maybe things will change when he swings the bat for the first time in a Cactus League game.

Next Slide  —  LAKELAND, Fla. — Joker Marchant Stadium was packed with fans Saturday afternoon when the Detroit Tigers hosted the Toronto Blue Jays.  —  This isn't surprising.  It was Lakeland's opening day.  —  The retirees and vacationing families that flood central Florida …

Mets' Dominic Smith returns to lineup, ready to move on after benching  —  PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Dominic Smith guessed that he kept waking up every 25 minutes as he tried to sleep Friday night.  After being late for a team meeting Friday and being benched, Smith did not want to make the same mistake Saturday.

Inside the Rays' plan to prove the tanking truthers wrong  —  PORT CHARLOTTE - The Rays know tanking.  —  “We tanked in 2006 and '07, if you want to call it that,” principal owner Stuart Sternberg said.  “We were the original tankers.  Or tankees.  It seems to be all the fad now.”

Pitcher Hector Santiago glad to be ‘back home’ with White Sox  —  Chicago Tribune  —  Until he took the mound for Saturday's Cactus League game against the Mariners, it hadn't really hit home for Hector Santiago that he was back with the White Sox.  —  “You put your uniform on in spring training …

Spring training Rangers things: Jurickson Profar's good first impression; Connor Sadzeck, not so much  —  Welcome to Spring Training Ranger Things or ST Ranger Things, for short, because it looks like Stranger Things and all the kids tell me that's hot, so now I'm hip.

Rockies 11, Reds 4  —  GOODYEAR, Ariz. — The Colorado Rockies pounded the Reds 11-4 Saturday before a gathering of 2,936 at Goodyear Ballpark.  —  The game in three paragraphs:  —Right-hander Michael Lorenzen was solid in his return to starting.  He went two innings, allowing one run on two hits.

Rays prospect Brent Honeywell to have Tommy John surgery  —  PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — Brent Honeywell, the top pitching prospect for the Tampa Bay Rays, has a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right arm and will have Tommy John surgery, sidelining him for the entire season.  —  EDITOR'S PICKS

‘Lost season’ brings Trayce Thompson to an uncertain future with Dodgers  —  GLENDALE, Ariz. — Trayce Thompson's future is uncertain.  But at least it's not his recent past.  —  “He's probably one of the happiest to turn the page on 2017,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts says of Thompson's difficult year.

Astros offseason report: Club loaded, eyeing a repeat  —  SportsPulse: The Houston Astros looked primed to repeat as World Series champs.  Recent history suggests otherwise.  USA TODAY Sports  —  CONNECT  —  After winning the first World Series championship in franchise history …

Source: Martinez's immediate readiness to play not in question; medical experts involved  —  FORT MYERS, Fla. — J.D. Martinez and the Red Sox are indeed sorting through a medical matter, but one that a baseball source with knowledge of the situation said would not have any effect on Martinez in the immediate future.

As a sign of the times, Cardinals shifting signals, breaking habits  —  PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla.  • As the first inning of his first spring start went sideways this afternoon for Carlos Martinez, the Cardinals starter hit one batter, walked two batters, needed 31 pitches to get three outs …

Phillies 3B Will Middlebrooks leaves game after collision  —  Veteran infielder Will Middlebrooks, who signed a minor-league contract with the Philadelphia Phillies last month, left Saturday's spring training game with what appeared to be an injury to his left ankle or leg.

Brandon Drury plunked in the hand in his spring debut with Yankees  —  BRADENTON, Fla. - Brandon Drury had an eventful spring debut as a Yankee, which included a scare.  —  Drury, the team's third-base acquisition from Arizona, lined a single in his first at-bat, but was hit in the left hand during his second.

Clint Frazier, Estevan Florial — both are different points in development — show why Yankees have such high hopes for them  —  BRADENTON, Fla. — Clint Frazier's “legendary bat speed” and Estevan Florial's five-tool potential are attributes that people within the Yankees' organization often say are “easy to dream on.”

Cubs' infield combinations on Joe Maddon's mind as Ben Zobrist heals  —  Chicago Tribune  —  As Ben Zobrist attempts to gradually recover from back tightness, Cubs manager Joe Maddon continues to experiment with infield combinations.  —  Maddon was impressed with Tommy La Stella's barehanded stop …