Which MLB players exceeded and fell short of expectations in an eventful spring training?

A look at the most shocking surprises of 2026 spring training as the MLB season starts Wednesday night and early trends begin to take shape.

After an undeniably thrilling World Baseball Classic, it’s time to shift our attention back to Spring Training, with just one week to go until the real thing. Yes, that’s right, and we double-checked our calendars.

There's nothing in sports like attending a spiring training game under the sunny Arizona and Florida skies, with fans camped out on the berms beyond the outfield walls to watch Major League Baseball's exhibition games before the regular season gets underway.

After throwing 4 1/3 scoreless innings with four strikeouts, hitting 99.9 mph against the Giants in his training stint debut, reports confirmed that Shohei Ohtani is the 2026 highest-paid MLB star.

So it was merely a matter of time before I found my way to MLB spring training, having moved to Lakewood Ranch in August 2025. This past week, I set aside my book bag and left my press pass behind to become a spectator at the three ballparks closest to me.

The first official full Spring Training with the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System, powered by T-Mobile is just about in the books, and we’re mere days away from it happening for the first

A deep dive into the data on five of the loudest names in camp. Four have real signal underneath. One is noise.