Forty Days

 The Brushback.

⚾️ Forty Days Out

Hard to believe, but spring training is forty days away.

Forty.

This is usually the point in the offseason when things stop being theoretical and start feeling defined.

Big names off the free agency board.
Depth pieces slotted.
Front offices quietly circling reporting dates.

Direction.

Right now?
Not so much.

Instead, we’ve got a traffic jam.

A-list free agents are standing by with their bags packed, waiting for someone — anyone — to blink. A few names have landed — Alonso, Schwarber, Díaz — but nearly half of the top 30 free agents remain unsigned.

No urgency.
Just a league-wide game of chicken.

Paralysis.

Everyone’s waiting for the market to declare itself — and the market refuses.

So we sit.

Kyle Tucker and that absurd $400-million whisper campaign.
Cody Bellinger — New York? The other New York? Back to L.A.?
Alex Bregman still floating.

And yes, maybe everyone’s just waiting for Scott Boras to clear his throat.

But the funny thing is, baseball never really waits.
Every year, a last-place team sneaks into relevance.
Every year, someone we wrote off is playing meaningful baseball in September.

In 2024, the Toronto Blue Jays finished last in the AL East.
One year later, they were World Series runners-up.

We call it chaos.
We call it luck.

But the truth is simpler: baseball’s middle class is shrinking.

The gap between the haves and the hopefuls keeps widening, and that uncertainty leaks into everything — roster construction, spending, patience.

Play it safe.
Don’t overcommit.
Don’t tip their hand.

That mindset doesn’t stop at free agency.

In 2026, Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) goes full-time. Hitters, pitchers, and catchers all with the ability to challenge the zone. Stop the moment. Let technology overrule the call.

We’ve seen it in spring training. We saw it at the 2025 All-Star Game. Other than the usual complaints — looking at you, Max Scherzer — there’s real support for it.

And hovering over all of this are two dark clouds the sport can’t ignore.

One: the upcoming trial involving Cleveland pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, and the league’s ongoing gambling nightmare.

Two: the elephant everyone sees coming — the 2027 work stoppage. The CBA expires after 2026, and pretending a lockout isn’t coming is just bad faith at this point.

So yes, spring training will start on time.
It always does.

Pitchers and catchers will report.
Hitters will take their hacks.
Someone will show up in the best shape of their life.

Forty days away.

And with so much at stake, this doesn’t feel like just another season ahead. With rule changes, money tightening, and labor talks looming, what happens in 2026 could dramatically change how the game looks moving forward.

Baseball isn’t broken.

But it’s clearly standing at a crossroads.