Charles (Chuck) King had quit baseball after finishing his college career at TCU. He took a job with the Padres as a performance analyst. A pitcher in San Diego's system asked why he wasn't playing since he could clearly pitch. After working his way back into playing shape, he signed with the Phillies.

The Red Sox made major changes to their roster after a disappointing 2025. Despite adding the likes of Ranger Suarez and Sonny Gray to their starting rotation, they need homegrown arms like Brayan Bello to perform if their championship hopes have a chance of coming to pass.

Jacob Latz, soon to be 30, finally established himself as a big leaguer with the Rangers in 2024. He was used primarily as a reliever. But now, under new manager Skip Schumaker, Texas is giving him a chance to start.

Sean Manaea received a long-term contract from the Mets after his excellent 2024 season in which he posted a 3.0 bWAR, won 12 games, struck out 184 in 181.2 innings, and surrendered 134 hits. He was crucial to New York's run to the NLCS.

The Pirates are hoping their veteran additions of Ryan O'Hearn and Marcell Ozuna join with young stars Paul Skenes and Oneil Cruz to leap into contention. So far this spring, they have looked good, winning 12 of their first 17 games.

The D-Backs are 8-9 this spring. They made moderate changes to their 2025 roster, including adding 3rd baseman Nolan Arenado in a Cardinals' salary dump. Arenado is with Puerto Rico at the WBC. In fact, a big chunk of the D-Backs' big league roster is at the WBC, including Ketel Marte, Geraldo Perdomo, and Alex Thomas.

Spring training stats are generally discarded for a reason: They mean nothing once the regular season starts. However, with the Giants making such a fundamental and outside-the-box change at manager by hiring Tony Vitello, it is clearly important to them that they set a winning tone even if it's only March.

A big chunk of the Yankees' projected roster is away at the WBC. That includes captain Aaron Judge, closer David Bednar, catcher Austin Wells, infielder Jazz Chisholm, and others.

Lefty Connelly Early, 23, has a good chance to break camp with the Red Sox and be in their starting rotation. In 4 starts in 2025, he posted a 0.6 bWAR, tossed 19.1 innings, surrendered 17 hits, allowed 5 earned runs, walked only 4, and struck out 29. Even more impressive, he did not surrender any home runs.

Dylan Cease signed a 7-year, $175 million contract with the Blue Jays this past offseason. After a rough season for the Padres in 2025 going 8-12 with a 4.55 ERA, Cease hopes to regain the form he showed in 2022 with the White Sox, when he was 2nd in the AL Cy Young Award voting, and the 2024 form in San Diego, when he finished 4th in the NL voting.

The 2024 AL Rookie of the Year, Luis Gil, hopes to rebound from his injury-plagued 2025 campaign and return to pending star status.

While the Dodgers' age has shown at times this season, so has their experience in the postseason. That has never been more evident than in their must-win victory in Game 6 to push the series to a deciding Game 7.