Extra Innings by Joe Boesch

If you love baseball, this quote says it all. The perfect quote for the beginning of Spring Training. I think about baseball when I wake up in the morning. I think about it all day, and I dream about it at night. The only time I don't think about it is when I'm playing it. — Carl "Yaz" Yastrzemski — Joe Boesch 

The Olympics are over, the U.S. Men's Hockey Team won Gold, and it's snowing again in New York City, with a possibility of two feet being dumped on us. Where's baseball when you need it? No matter what, baseball now will take center stage. The time has come for baseball to resurface, to bring the "Boys of Summer" back. This is the time to say goodbye to winter, even though the Northeast is getting hammered with snow and cold, and bring in spring. The crack of the bat, the pounding of the mitt, and the yelling of "play ball" are what the game of baseball is about. Baseball shapes America and the families that make up America. Baseball shapes the summer, where more and more families go to the game to cheer on their favorite team. This is the game of all games. Push aside football, basketball, and, oh yeah, hockey. Baseball is the sport. Spring Training has started, and all the media have their eyes set on Florida and Arizona, the training sites for all the...

For the 2026 season, the Yankees upgraded but also have been financially responsible, which is understandable with the way baseball money is tossed around like a salad being prepared. They signed their top target, Cody Bellinger, and re-signed Paul Goldschmidt, which will complement Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton in the lineup. For the Yankees, it's their time to reset and have their eyes on the World Series. Just the power of Judge, Bellinger, and Goldschmidt last season can be the same this season. Last season's Topps Now card of the three says it all: The Bronx Bombers lived up to their nickname in a 20-9 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger, and Aaron Judge hit three straight homers on the game's first three pitches, marking the first time the New York Yankees ever achieved the feat. The homers kept coming for New York, as the club set a new single-game record with nine. Until then, see you at the park! — Joe Boesch 

Busy, busy, busy. Baseball fans, this is it; the time has come to get ready for the  2026 season . The next couple of weeks will be sports-busy. First, we'll have the  2026 Winter Olympics  from Italy. Then, we will segue right into  Spring Training  and then the  World Baseball Classic . By the time that the  "Rat Race"  is over,  Opening Day  will be here. The fresh cut of the grass, painting of the white lines, and yelling of  "Play Ball." As we sit and wait for the season to begin, we'll be teased with the  Winter Olympics,  but it will be a good tease because the same values the  Olympics  has, so too will the  World Baseball Classic . So, it seemed like years ago that the  Dodgers  won the  World Series , but this is the way of life. The way the baseball hierarchy wants it. See ya at the game. — Joe Boesch 

So it happened. Another sad day in sports journalism as The Washington Post has eliminated its sports section. From The Associated Press X feed: BREAKING: The Washington Post eliminates its sports department and reduces overseas journalists in large-scale cuts, an AP source says. Really not much to say on this, as the newspaper industry is slowly going away. Until then… — Joe Boesch