Shortstop is the fun zone of fantasy baseball, the donut shop with endless variety. Everything you want is here, just choose your own adventure. A whopping 16 players with shortstop eligibility finished in the top 100 fantasy players last season, assuming a 5×5 scoring system.

In an earlier era, the shortstop position was seen as “glove first, hitting a bonus” situation, but that’s gone the way of the dinosaur now. MLB clubs understand you need offense and defense at this critical spot.

Because the position has so many good options, you don’t really need a specific strategy for filling the shortstop spot. You’re going to draft these guys by accident because you’re focused on getting the offensive stats you need. Take note that if your league requires starting a utility middle in addition to a second baseman and shortstop, that UM player will probably be a shortstop because that position is considerably deeper.

More positional previews

• Catcher

• First Base

• Second Base

• Third Base

• Shortstop

• Outfield

• Starting Pitcher

• Relief Pitcher

Proactive Picks

Zach Neto, Angels (Yahoo ADP 39.0)

Neto won’t be a screaming bargain, but he’s likely undervalued simply because he missed 36 games last year and it slightly muted his counting stats. Neto has improved his average every season and already has the category juice you demand in the early rounds. Even with a pedestrian Anaheim lineup supporting him, I’ll consider Neto in the second round and pounce on him in the third. You want players on the escalator, and Neto steps into his age-25 season.

Geraldo Perdomo, Diamondbacks (ADP 62.9)

Perdomo was the No. 11 player in 5×5 value last year but his ADP is nowhere near that for the fresh season. This presents an attractive “regress and win” opportunity where Perdomo can actually give back a significant amount of last year’s stats and still be a fantasy profit. Perdomo is a high-percentage base stealer, just entering his age-26 season, so I’m not worried about that column. And he’s the rare player who had more walks than strikeouts last year, and those players are always attractive targets. Maybe the 20 homers won’t come back, but there’s enough broad profile here to make Perdomo a cornerstone player.

Colson Montgomery, White Sox (ADP 160.9)

It’s fair to worry about the average, which was .239 with the White Sox last year and just .246 during 376 games in the minors. But Montgomery at least does exciting things when he does make contact, conking 21 homers in just 255 at-bats with Chicago. His Baseball Savant page is full of validation, with plus marks in expected slugging, hard-hit rate, barrel rate and bat speed. Montgomery feels like a cinch for 30-plus homers and he’ll get extra volume as the No. 3 hitter in Chicago. Picking him might require some batting average care later, but we can manage that.

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Likely Fades

Mookie Betts, Dodgers (ADP 38.5)

I’ve often stated that you never lose money on a player like Betts, but maybe the loss years are here. It’s his age-33 season. The steals have all but evaporated. He’s playing a more demanding defensive position. His OPS+ last year was merely 104, slightly above the league mean. He’s also coming off his worst season in all three slash columns. Player ascension isn’t always linear, but player decline almost always is. I take no joy in writing any of this, because Betts himself is a joy. 

Corey Seager, Rangers (ADP 65.9)

It hurt me to fade Betts above and the same applies to Seager, one of the best hitters in baseball. Seager’s plate discipline is so perfect that there’s a popular zone-judgment metric that’s named after him. But the reality is that Seager has played just one full season out of the last seven (ignoring the 2020 truncated year) and that’s not a trend to swim against as he turns 32. Seager’s average has dropped into the .270s the last two years and he’s never been interested in stealing bases. I’ll stay open-minded if his price slips in my rooms, but I can’t consider him at current ADP.

Carlos Correa, Astros (ADP 200)

Esteemed colleague Fred Zinkie listed Correa as one of his third base sleepers, and I know from experience that disagreeing with Fred is not a +EV strategy. But I’d like to point out that Correa’s Yahoo ADP is about 60 spots higher than his global ADP, and he’s always going to carry batting-average and injury risk, in addition to the zero you’ll get in the stolen base column. This is also the weakest Houston lineup we’ve seen in a while; the Astros were 21st in runs scored last season.

Sleepers

Otto Lopez, Marlins (ADP 213.1)

Lopez already showed us category juice last year (15 homers, 15 steals), and his .246 average is somewhat misleading. Lopez gets plus marks for his contact rate and zone discipline, and his expected average based on contact data was a solid .269. The typical Miami discount applies, too; it’s a fairly pedestrian roster, which often makes players like Lopez a few rounds cheaper in drafts than is justified.

Ezequiel Tovar, Rockies (ADP 197.7)

Let’s play some Occam’s Razor with the Tovar case. He plays in Colorado. He was a 26-homer guy two years ago. The 2025 mess is mostly excused by injury. Tovar will swing at just about anything but he’s maintained a career .258 average despite that approach. He also has a reasonable chance at double-digit steals over a full season.

2026 top-12 shortstop rankings

1. Bobby Witt Jr., Royals

2. Elly De La Cruz, Reds

3. Gunnar Henderson, Orioles

4. Francisco Lindor, Mets

5. Zach Neto, Angels

6. Trea Turner, Phillies

7. Mookie Betts, Dodgers

8. Geraldo Perdomo, Diamondbacks

9. Corey Seager, Rangers

10. Jeremy Peña, Astros

11. Bo Bichette, Mets

12. Maikel Garcia, Royals

You can find our complete shortstop rankings for the 2026 fantasy baseball season here.

There’s finally NBA buzz in Charlotte again. That’s because the Hornets, amid the league’s longest active playoff drought, have won eight games in a row for the first time since the 1998-99 season.

They extended that head-turning streak with a 109-99 road win over the Houston Rockets, despite Kevin Durant scoring at least 30 points for the fifth time in his past eight games.

In their first game since acquiring Coby White in a trade with the Chicago Bulls before the deadline, the Hornets (24-28) pulled away from the Rockets (31-19), causing the Western Conference’s fourth-place team to pull its starters for the back half of the fourth quarter in a game that wasn’t even as close as the 10-point differential suggests.

Continuing his standout rookie campaign, Kon Knueppel poured in a team-high 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting. LaMelo Ball made five 3s and wasn’t far behind with 20 points. 

White didn’t play, and he’s not expected to until after the All-Star break due to a lingering calf injury, but the former UNC star is excited for this new chapter of his career.

“Every time I come back to Charlotte to play, I would just tell people it just felt different,” White, a Goldsboro, North Carolina, native told The Charlotte Observer on Thursday. 

“I just felt the love every time I was in the building just being there, it was just weird. … Something triggers every time I was in there. So I’m excited I get to play there more.” 

White was talking about the Spectrum Center. The guard averaged 22.5 points per game in his two outings there with the Bulls earlier this season.

It’s also where Hornets fans will anxiously await their up-and-coming squad on Monday, when Charlotte returns home to host the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons.  

That matchup will mark the first of four consecutive home contests for the Hornets.

But first they’ll head to Atlanta to play the Hawks on Saturday. With a win there, they’ll officially match that 1999 surge, which occurred during a strike-shortened season that saw the late Paul Silas take over as interim head coach after Dave Cowens resigned in the wake of a 4-11 start.

That Hornets team lost eight of its first nine games. Similarly, the 2025-26 Hornets recorded only three victories in their first 10 games and were a meager 4-14 by late November.

This time, a coaching change hasn’t precipitated the turnaround.

In his second year on the job, Charles Lee has overseen the midseason transformation.

The Hornets are getting production from an assortment of young players. In addition to the 20-year-old Knueppel and 24-year-old Ball, Brandon Miller is making a sizable impact. In his third season, Miller, 23, is leading the team in scoring at 20.4 ppg. Plus, it helps that big man Moussa Diabaté, 24, has become a reliable rebounder for the group.

Miles Bridges is still doing his thing, too. The Hornets’ future is bright, and they’re suddenly 1.5 games back of the Hawks for ninth place in the East — prime play-in position.

Charlotte plays Atlanta twice in the next three games, starting on Saturday night.

Each week during the 2025-26 NBA season, we will take a deeper dive into some of the league’s biggest storylines in an attempt to determine whether trends are based more in fact or fiction moving forward.

Last week: LeBron James belongs in the All-Star Game

Fact or Fiction: The Thunder won the trade deadline

If nobody drastically improved at the NBA’s 2026 trade deadline, did the Oklahoma City Thunder — heavy betting favorites for this year’s championship, before and after — win it?

There were more winners and losers, of course, but in terms of the title picture — what actually matters this season — can anyone match the defending champions on talent?

After all, the Thunder were the only serious contender — and the only team with a winning record, in fact — to trade a first-round draft pick at the deadline. They traded one of their many first-round picks (probably the one belonging to the fourth-place Houston Rockets), along with a trio of second-rounders, to the Philadelphia 76ers for Jared McCain, who was in the Rookie of the Year conversation last season before surgery on a torn left meniscus.

McCain averaged a 14-4-4 (on 39/38/88 shooting splits) per 36 minutes, almost entirely off the bench, for the Sixers in 37 appearances this season. It will be difficult for him to crack a guard rotation that is headlined by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Lu Dort, Cason Wallace, Alex Caruso and Ajay Mitchell, though injuries to SGA (now out through the All-Star break with an abdominal strain) and Mitchell (hip) have left the door open for additional contributions.

And McCain could contribute. He was averaging a far more efficient 21.4 points per 36 minutes before his knee injury, and he remains on a rookie contract through the 2027-28 season. The Thunder must have liked him more than whoever they figured they might get with Houston’s pick, and for good reason. McCain is good. He may not meaningfully alter their championship odds, but they were already the team to beat, and they got deeper.

(Of course, this all hinges on the health of Gilgeous-Alexander, as it does for any team and its superstar. Let us not pretend that McCain is some sort of SGA insurance. He may help in the absences of Mitchell, who hardly played on last year’s title run, and other guards.)

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And if the Thunder are willing to spend a first-round pick to get deeper, then shouldn’t everyone else in pursuit of the defending champions be willing to spend even more?

Well, not so fast. The Thunder own a dozen first-round picks over the next handful of years, as many as any other team, and that is what makes them so unique. They have both constructed the best roster and compiled the most draft assets, all at the same time.

In fact, the Thunder own the Los Angeles Clippers’ 2026 first-round pick, and they just traded two of their three best players — James Harden and Ivica Zubac — for a collection that includes Darius Garland, Bennedict Mathurin and multiple picks in each round of the draft. They all but guaranteed they will hand-deliver a lottery pick to the Thunder in June. Another reason the Thunder may have won the deadline.

It’s not as though nobody tried to get better. It’s just that no contender took a big swing.

The Minnesota Timberwolves scored Ayo Dosunmu from the Chicago Bulls for a package that included Rob Dillingham and four second-round picks. Dosunmu is very good, posting a 21-4-5 on 51/45/85 shooting splits(!) per 36 minutes, mostly off the bench, for Chicago.

Dosunmu deepens a playoff outfit that includes Anthony Edwards, Julius Randle, Rudy Gobert, Jaden McDaniels, Donte DiVincenzo and Naz Reid. They were already capable of giving the Thunder a series, as their 2-1 record against OKC indicates, and with Dosunmu in place of a 38-year-old Mike Conley they are a little deeper on the back end of their rotation.

[Get more Thunder news: Oklahoma City team feed]

The Timberwolves failed in rumored pursuits of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Ja Morant. Three of the bigger names to move ahead of the deadline — Anthony Davis, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Trae Young — joined the Washington Wizards and Utah Jazz, two teams that have strong incentive (with picks protected only for the top eight) to lose the rest of the year.

(The Jazz owe their pick to the Thunder if it falls anywhere from 9-30.)

The other big name, Harden, joined a Cleveland Cavaliers team that was looking up in the Eastern Conference standings at the Detroit Pistons, New York Knicks and Boston Celtics. It was a bet on a 36-year-old against a 26-year-old’s health, and it is unclear whether it made the Cavaliers any better than the second-round playoff fodder they were in 2025.

The Pistons, Knicks and Celtics all made moves on the fringes, respectively turning Jaden Ivey, Guerschon Yabusele and Anfernee Simons into Kevin Huerter, Jose Alvarado and Nikola Vučević. While all of those deals extend their rotations, none of them close what is perceived to be a significant gap between the East and whoever emerges from the West.

Speaking of which, neither the Denver Nuggets nor San Antonio Spurs — arguably the two biggest threats to the Thunder, when healthy — made any moves ahead of the deadline. Likewise, the Rockets, who were already teetering on the brink of serious contention, with injuries to both Fred VanVleet and Steven Adams, did nothing to further bolster the roster.

The Los Angeles Lakers, the fringiest of title contenders, turned two-way guard Gabe Vincent and a second-round pick into sharpshooter Luke Kennard, and it is hard to see how that move helps their 24th-rated defense. Maybe they just stun OKC on offense.

In reality, though, where there are only a handful of challengers who could upset the Thunder, none of them closed the gap on the current betting favorites. While that does not guarantee the defending champions of a repeat, it allows them to breathe a sigh of relief, as they are now assured of carrying their edge on talent into the playoffs, if healthy.

Determination: Fact. The Thunder won the deadline.

Mike Conley Jr. is returning to Minnesota after a trade deadline pinball trip through the league.

After being traded twice and waived this week, the longtime NBA veteran is planning to return to the Timberwolves as a free agent, according to ESPN. Conley and Minnesota are working out the timing of him re-signing with the team. 

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Conley, 38, was first dealt this week from the Wolves to the Chicago Bulls as part of a three-team trade that sent Kevin Huerter and Dario Šarić to the Detroit Pistons. Detroit also received a 2026 protected first-round swap with Minnesota. Also in the deal, Jaden Ivey went from the Pistons to the Bulls. 

A day later, Conley was on his way to the Charlotte Hornets with Coby White in exchange for Collin Sexton and three second-round picks. The Bulls also acquired Ousmane Dieng from Charlotte in a deal in which the Oklahoma City Thunder got Mason Plumlee. 

Yet neither the Bulls nor Hornets intended to keep Conley and his $10.7 million salary for the 2025-26 campaign. He can be a free agent after the season. 

[Get more Timberwolves news: Minnesota team feed]

The NBA’s collective bargaining agreement says teams are not allowed to trade a player and then re-sign him if he’s waived. However, Conley can return to Minnesota since he was traded a second time before he was let go. 

Following the brief interruption to his stay, Conley will resume his fourth season with the Timberwolves. He returns to a Minnesota team that added Ayo Dosunmu and Julian Phillips in another deadline deal that sent Rob Dillingham, Leonard Miller and four second-round picks to Chicago.

Before being dealt, Conley was averaging 4.4 points, 2.9 assists and 1.8 rebounds while limited to 44 games with back spasms and tendinopathy in his right Achilles.  

Overall, Conley has played 19 seasons in the NBA, 12 for the Memphis Grizzlies and four with the Utah Jazz. During his career, he has averaged 13.7 points and 5.6 assists while shooting 39% on 3-pointers. 

Minnesota is 32-20 and in sixth place in the West.

Longtime Toronto Blue Jays broadcaster Buck Martinez announced his retirement Friday.

Martinez, 77, began as a color analyst for the team in 1987 after his 17-year playing career ended. He ended up managing the Blue Jays in 2001 and 2002 before joining the Baltimore Orioles’ television booth from 2003 to 2009 and then returning to Toronto in 2010.

In a statement, Martinez said that following the 2025 World Series, he made the decision to walk away following conversations with his wife, saying, “It was time for me to step out of the booth and enjoy the years ahead.”

It has been a fantastic journey with Sportsnet, the Blue Jays and the wonderful Blue Jays fans all over the world. Thank you all for embracing me and welcoming my family and me in a way that has made us feel like we are part of yours. I will dearly miss my working partners, the leadership at Rogers, and the Toronto Blue Jays baseball club, all of whom made it so much fun to be at the ballpark talking about the game I’ve loved for my whole life. As to the fans specifically, I will miss the “selfies,” the handshakes and the welcoming smiles. I will never forget any of those, nor the unwavering support and generosity, which has meant more than words can say. I look forward to continuing to root for the Blue Jays along with you, and you’ll always be in my heart. My sincere appreciation to all of you.

I had hoped to be part of the 50th year of the Toronto Blue Jays, but it’s time to pass the torch. Enjoy 2026 and beyond, I will see you down the road.

With the utmost gratitude and respect,

Buck Martinez

As a player, Martinez began his MLB career with the Kansas City Royals in 1969. After eight seasons, Martinez was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers and remained with the team through the 1980 season. Early in the 1981 season, he was dealt to Toronto, where he would stay until retiring in 1986.

In 2022, Martinez announced he was taking a leave of absence from the Blue Jays’ booth after being diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma, a type of skin cancer. After three months of treatment, he returned briefly to a warm welcome from fans.

In May 2025, Martinez took another leave from his broadcasting duties to undergo treatment for lung cancer before returning late in the summer.

The Los Angeles Lakers had to play the second half without Luka Dončić on Thursday. His absence figures to extend into at least their next game.

According to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, there is “initial optimism” that Luka Dončić may have avoided major injury as he deals with a hamstring strain, but he is doubtful to play on Saturday against the Golden State Warriors.

Dončić exited Thursday’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers with an apparent leg injury and was later announced to be out for the rest of the game, with the Lakers describing the injury as left leg soreness. The injury occurred in the second quarter, on a stepback from the paint that led to Dončić grabbing his hamstring.

Dončić was not pleased with the development.

Dončić finished the game with 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting with 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 5 turnovers.

After the game, Lakers head coach JJ Redick said Dončić “felt some soreness in his hamstring” and the Lakers medical staff opted to hold him out. Dončić was also seen walking gingerly out of the building.

It had mostly been a healthy season for Dončić, with appearances in 42 of the Lakers’ games this season. His longest absence was early in the season, when he missed three games with a finger sprain and leg contusion.

This injury comes at a sensitive time for the Lakers, who entered the game in sixth place in the Western Conference and only one game ahead of the seventh-place Phoenix Suns. After a strong start, they’ve been a significantly up-and-down team since the start of December but were hoping to get a shot in the arm with the return of Austin Reaves, who had been out for more than a month with a calf strain.

Instead, they can only hope this isn’t the start of an absence for another of their top players.

Thursday saw the arrival of all 20 rosters set to compete in the 2026 World Baseball Classic. As expected, the United States was the most star-studded, with a handful of other teams possessing the talent usually needed to make a deep run.

Team USA is the strong favorite to shake off its dramatic loss to the Japan, at +110 with BetMGM, followed by Japan (+325) and the Dominican Republic (+350). The next-closest country to that trio is Venezuela at +1400.

Per MLB.com’s Sarah Langs, the rosters collectively feature a record 78 players who have been named to an MLB All-Star team, with 36 of them making the cut last year. Naturally, many of those are on the tournament’s top teams; the U.S., the D.R. and Venezuela collectively account for 50 of those players.

Mitchell Leff via Getty Images

Here’s every single All-Star currently slated to play when the WBC begins March 5. Obviously, the term All-Star doesn’t quite mean a player is currently a star. Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge and Tarik Skubal are on this list, yes, but so is 44-year-old Alexei Ramírez, who made the All-Star Game once in 2014 and is still playing in the Cuban leagues.

Full WBC rosters are available on MLB’s website.

United States (22)

Pitchers: David Bednar (New York Yankees), Matthew Boyd (Chicago Cubs), Clay Holmes (New York Mets), Clayton Kershaw (retired), Mason Miller (San Diego Padres), Joe Ryan (Minnesota Twins), Paul Skenes (Pittsburgh Pirates), Tarik Skubal (Detroit Tigers), Michael Wacha (Kansas City Royals), Logan Webb (San Francisco Giants)

Infielders: Alex Bregman (Chicago Cubs), Paul Goldschmidt (free agent), Bryce Harper (Philadelphia Phillies), Gunnar Henderson (Gunnar Henderson), Cal Raleigh (Seattle Mariners), Will Smith (Los Angeles Dodgers), Bobby Witt Jr. (Kansas City Royals)

Outfielders: Byron Buxton (Minnesota Twins), Corbin Carroll (Arizona Diamondbacks), Pete Crow-Armstrong (Chicago Cubs), Aaron Judge (New York Yankees)

Designated hitter: Kyle Schwarber (Philadelphia Phillies)

Dominican Republic (16)

Pitchers: Sandy Alcantara (Miami Marlins), Camilo Doval (New York Yankees), Carlos Estévez (Kansas City Royals), Cristopher Sánchez (Philadelphia Phillies), Luis Severino (Athletics), Gregory Soto (Pittsburgh Pirates)

Infielders: Junior Caminero (Tampa Bay Rays), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Toronto Blue Jays), Manny Machado (San Diego Padres), Ketel Marte (Arizona Diamondbacks), Jeremy Peña (Houston Astros), Geraldo Perdomo (Arizona Diamondbacks), Carlos Santana (Arizona Diamondbacks)

Outfielders: Julio Rodríguez (Seattle Mariners), Juan Soto (New York Mets), Fernando Tatis Jr. (San Diego Padres)

Venezuela (12)

Pitchers: Pablo López (Minnesota Twins), Germán Márquez (free agent), Ranger Suárez (Boston Red Sox)

Infielders: Luis Arráez (San Francisco Giants), William Contreras (Milwaukee Brewers), Willson Contreras (Boston Red Sox), Maikel Garcia (Kansas City Royals), Andrés Giménez (Toronto Blue Jays), Salvador Perez (Kansas City Royals), Eugenio Suárez (Cincinnati Reds), Gleyber Torres (Detroit Tigers)

Outfielder: Ronald Acuña Jr. (Atlanta Braves)

Puerto Rico (6)

Pitchers: Edwin Díaz (Los Angeles Dodgers), Jorge López (free agent), Seth Lugo (Kansas City Royals)

Infielder: Nolan Arenado (Arizona Diamondbacks)

Outfielders: Willi Castro (Colorado Rockies), Heliot Ramos (San Francisco Giants)

Mexico (5)

Pitchers: Andrés Muñoz (Seattle Mariners), Taijuan Walker (Philadelphia Phillies)

Infielder: Alejandro Kirk (Toronto Blue Jays)

Outfielders: Randy Arozarena (Seattle Mariners), Jarren Duran (Boston Red Sox)

Netherlands (4)

Pitcher: Kenley Jansen (Detroit Tigers)

Infielders: Ozzie Albies (Atlanta Braves), Xander Bogaerts (San Diego Padres)

Outfielder: Jurickson Profar (Atlanta Braves)

Colombia (3)

Pitchers: Jose Quintana (free agent), Julio Teheran (free agent)

Infielder: Elias Díaz (free agent)

Japan (3)

Pitchers: Yusei Kikuchi (Los Angeles Angels), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Los Angeles Dodgers)

Designated hitter: Shohei Ohtani (Los Angeles Dodgers)

Canada (2)

Pitcher: Michael Soroka (Arizona Diamondbacks)

Infielder: Josh Naylor (Seattle Mariners)

Italy (2)

Pitcher: Michael Lorenson (Colorado Rockies)

Infielder: Aaron Nola (Philadelphia Phillies)

Great Britain (1)

Infielder: Jazz Chisholm Jr. (New York Yankees)

Cuba (1)

Infielder: Alexei Ramírez (Vegueros de Pinar del Río)

Korea (1)

Pitcher: Hyun-jin Ryu (Hanwha Eagles)

Australia, Brazil, Chinese Taipei, Czechia, Israel, Nicaragua, Panama (0)

The final six teams don’t have an All-Star, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth watching. There are fun stories all over these rosters.

Australia, for example, has Travis Bazzana, the No. 1 pick of the 2024 MLB Draft. Brazil infielder Vitor Ito currently works as an interpreter for the Hanshin Tigers in Japan. And if you like players with day jobs, you’ll love the Czechs.

There are some notable absences, though. Injuries were obviously a factor for some players, and insurance adjusters have played a surprisingly large role in deciding some rosters. Francisco Lindor was set to captain Puerto Rico but can’t compete now, and Carlos Correa is also out. Javier Baez missed out on the same team — but for very different reasons.

The two players who decided the previous tournament, former teammates Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout, also won’t be filling the same roles. Ohtani will be hitting only this year in the WBC, and Trout isn’t on the U.S. roster.

Detroit Tigers All-Star Javier Báez has been ruled ineligible to play for Puerto Rico in the 2026 World Baseball Classic after testing positive for marijuana during the 2023 tournament, The Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen reports. 

Under World Baseball Softball Confederation rules, anyone testing positive for marijuana in its events is ineligible for two years. Báez tested positive in 2023, which made him ineligible to play in WBSC events from April 26, 2024, to April 26, 2026. The 2026 WBC, to be played March 5-17, takes place during that period.

Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association have been working in tandem to restore Báez’s eligibility for the 2026 tournament. But the WBSC isn’t willing to make an exception on its drug policy, according to Stavenhagen.

Báez being ruled ineligible is another setback for Puerto Rico, which has had difficulty assembling a roster for the 2026 WBC due to multiple players being denied insurance coverage because of previous injuries.

New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor had coverage denied due to two surgeries on his right elbow over the past three years. Others unable to get insurance for the tournament include Houston Astros third baseman Carlos Correa, who was left off Puerto Rico’s WBC roster, which was announced Thursday.

With so many players unavailable, Puerto Rico reportedly considered withdrawing from the WBC. 

Báez’s positive marijuana test will not result in any penalty from MLB. The league has allowed marijuana use since 2020.

The 12-year MLB veteran, 33, had a resurgent season for the Tigers in 2025, playing shortstop and center field. He was named a starter for the American League All-Star team and finished with a .257/.282/.398 slash line, 17 doubles, 12 home runs and 57 RBI.

Báez played for Puerto Rico in the 2017 and 2023 editions of the WBC. He has a Puerto Rican flag tattooed on one of his arms.

Amid a three-game losing streak, the Denver Nuggets have lost their fourth-leading scorer with a hamstring injury.

Peyton Watson suffered a Grade 2 left hamstring strain late in Wednesday’s 134-127 double-overtime loss to the New York Knicks and is expected to be sideline for an extended period of time, The Athletic’s Tony Jones reports. 

Watson, 23, was having a breakout season for the Nuggets, averaging 14.9 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2 assists per game. He was also shooting 42% on 180 3-point attempts. 

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The news on the fourth-year guard adds to the Nuggets’ injury woes. Aaron Gordon will be sidelined for at least four to six weeks after reaggravating a strained right hamstring that has limited him to 20 games this season. Watson had replaced Gordon in the starting lineup and was averaging 21.4 points since the beginning of January. 

In addition to Gordon and Watson, MVP runner-up Nikola Jokić missed 17 games with a bone bruise in his left knee. Christian Braun has appeared in only 16 games due to an ankle injury. And Jonas Valanciunas missed nearly a month with a calf strain. 

“It’s deflating when you keep seeing people go down around you when you’re trying to build towards something,” Nuggets coach David Adelman told ESPN’s Tim Bontemps following Wednesday’s game.

[Get more Nuggets news: Denver team feed]

Despite the injuries and losing six of its past 10 games, Denver currently holds the No. 3 spot in the Western Conference with a 33-19 record going into Saturday’s road matchup with the Chicago Bulls. 

The Nuggets did not make any additions before Thursday’s NBA trade deadline, but did send Hunter Tyson and a 2032 second-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets. In exchange, Denver receives the less favorable of a 2026 second-rounder from either the Los Angeles Clippers or Atlanta Hawks. The team also converted Spencer Jones’ contract from a two-way deal to a standard league contract.