Earning a start on the opening day lineup card etches your name in a team’s lore forever. particularly those pitchers bestowed the honor of taking the mound. While the 2025 campaign officially began in Tokyo last week with two games between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs, 28 of 30 teams are in action Thursday for the stateside opener.

The slate of 14 games begins at 3:05 p.m. in the Bronx with the defending American League champion New York Yankees taking on the Milwaukee Brewers.

Here’s a look at all the probable pitchers and lineups Thursday as they are announced:

Milwaukee Brewers at New York Yankees, 3:05 p.m. ET

Austin Wells (L) C
Aaron Judge (R) RF
Cody Bellinger (L) CF
Paul Goldschmidt (R) 1B
Jazz Chisholm Jr. (L) 2B
Jasson Domínguez (S) LF
Anthony Volpe (R) SS
Ben Rice (L) DH
Oswaldo Cabrera (S) 3B

Baltimore Orioles at Toronto Blue Jays, 3:07 p.m.

Orioles: RHP Zach Eflin

Bo Bichette (R) SS
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (R) 1B
Anthony Santander (S) LF
Andrés Giménez (L) 2B
Alejandro Kirk (R) C
George Springer (R) CF
Will Wagner (L) DH
Ernie Clement (R) 3B
Alan Roden (L) RF

Boston Red Sox at Texas Rangers, 4:05 p.m.

Rangers: RHP Nathan Eovaldi

Philadelphia Phillies at Washington Nationals, 4:05 p.m.

Nationals: LHP MacKenzie Gore

Cleveland Guardians at Kansas City Royals, 4:10 p.m.

Guardians: RHP Tanner Bibee

Royals: LHP Cole Ragans

New York Mets at Houston Astros, 4:10 p.m.

Mets: RHP Clay Holmes

San Francisco Giants at Cincinnati Reds, 4:10 p.m.

Giants: RHP Logan Webb

TJ Friedl (L) CF
Matt McLain (R) 2B
Elly De La Cruz (S) SS
Gavin Lux (L) LF
Jeimer Candelario (S) 3B
Spencer Steer (R) DH
Christian Encarnacion-Strand (R) 1B
Jake Fraley (L) RF
Jose Trevino (R) C

Atlanta Braves at San Diego Padres, 4:10 p.m.

Padres: RHP Michael King

Los Angeles Angels at Chicago White Sox, 4:10 p.m.

Angels: LHP Yusei Kikuchi

White Sox: RHP Sean Burke

Pittsburgh Pirates at Miami Marlins, 4:10 p.m.

Pirates: RHP Paul Skenes

Marlins: RHP Sandy Alcantara

Minnesota Twins at St. Louis Cardinals, 4:15 p.m.

Matt Wallner (L) RF
Carlos Correa (R) SS
Byron Buxton (R) CF
Trevor Larnach (L) DH
Ryan Jeffers (R) C
Ty France (R) 1B
Willi Castro (S) 2B
Jose Miranda (R) 3B
Harrison Bader (R) LF

Lars Nootbaar (L) LF
Willson Contreras (R) 1B
Brendan Donovan (L) 2B
Nolan Arenado (R) 3B
Alec Burleson (L) DH
Iván Herrera (R) C
Jordan Walker (R) RF
Victor Scott II (L) CF
Masyn Winn (R) SS

Detroit Tigers at Los Angeles Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.

Tigers: LHP Tarik Skubal

Dodgers: LHP Blake Snell

Chicago Cubs at Arizona Diamondbacks, 10:10 p.m.

Cubs: LHP Justin Steele

Athletics at Seattle Mariners, 10:10 p.m.

Athletics: RHP Luis Severino

Mariners: RHP Logan Gilbert

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This week’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament round of 16 is where three different approaches to rewarding a coach for his team’s success meet.

Tennessee, stacking bonus upon bonus for Rick Barnes, faces Southeastern Conference rival Kentucky, which has been setting up an increasingly lucrative present and future for Mark Pope through a contract extension and bonuses.

Meanwhile, a USA TODAY analysis of coaches’ contracts shows that Arkansas coach John Calipari is the only public-school men’s basketball head coach at a Power Four conference school whose agreement does not include a prescribed set of lump-sum bonuses. But the Razorbacks’ tournament bid meant an automatic one-year contract extension, plus a $50,000 raise starting next season. And each of their victories so far has meant an increase to that raise, which now is set to total $250,000.

Altogether, Calipari’s 10th-seeded team being among the tournament’s final 16 teams has added just over $8.7 million to the scheduled value of his contract, with just over $6.15 million guaranteed if he were to be fired without cause.

Calipari — who moved to Arkansas from Kentucky after last season — had been scheduled to make $8.5 million from Kentucky this season and $9 million next season.

He is making $8 million from Arkansas this season, including a $1 million signing bonus, and had been set to make $7.5 million next season, absent an NCAA appearance this season.

Pope, his successor with the Wildcats, got no bonuses from SEC regular-season or conference tournament play, as Auburn won the former title and Florida the latter. So, he needed the team to make the NCAA Tournament round of 16 to get any incentive. Kentucky has done so, an achievement that gives Pope a $50,000 bonus and a one-year contract extension. That added year is set to follow his scheduled set of annual pay increases and be worth $6.25 million.

Barnes, meanwhile, won’t hit his $3 million annual bonus maximum — the largest for a public-school basketball coach — because of how the regular season played out.

However, he picked up a $200,000 bonus for the Vols’ NCAA Tournament appearance, a $200,000 bonus for their first-round win and a $200,000 bonus for their second-round win. Being in the Sweet 16 all but assures them of being ranked no worse than No. 25 through No. 11 in the final Associated Press media poll, which would give Barnes an additional $100,000 bonus.

His $700,000 total is more than double the next-greatest lump-sum bonus total for any coach to this point. And it comes atop $5.8 million in scheduled basic pay from the school for this season, an amount that makes Barnes the seventh-highest-paid basketball coach in the nation this season.

This will be on top of the combined $3.6 million in bonuses, including those for team academic performance, that Barnes collected over the three previous seasons. Those seasons, sequentially, have ended in the round of 32, the round of 16 and the round of 8.

NCAA FORECAST: How our experts predict the Sweet 16 and beyond

SWEET 16 RESEED: Ranking the remaining NCAA teams from best to worst

If Tennessee reaches the Final Four this season, he’ll again surpass $1 million in bonuses. That’s a total only one other public-school coach whose team remains in the tournament can reach — Houston’s Kelvin Sampson. And Sampson would need to lead the Cougars to the national championship to get there.

Below is a school-by-school list for all coaches, alphabetical by school within each tournament, of bonus amounts achieved so far this season and amounts available for the remainder of the tournament.

Except as noted, the list does not take into account contingencies that could alter or prevent payment of bonuses, such as academic achievement by players, the coach’s departure from the school, future investigations and/or sanctions related to rules violations. It also does not include bonuses for national coach-of-the-year honors not yet announced, team academic performance (except as noted), attendance, season-ticket sales, or the value of tickets or perks tied to tournament participation.

In addition, it does not include bonuses and/or pay increases for assistant coaches, staff and athletics directors that also may be resulting from these achievements.

Amounts for coaches at private schools — Brigham Young and Duke — are not available because those institutions are not required to release their employment contracts.

Alabama’s Nate Oats

Has:

►$50,000: NCAA Tournament bid

►$25,000: NCAA round of 32 appearance

►$25,000: NCAA round of 16 appearance

Can get:

►$25,000: NCAA round of 8 appearance

►$25,000: NCAA Final Four appearance

►$300,000: NCAA title game appearance

►$200,000: Win NCAA title

Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd

Has:

►$20,000: 20 to 24 regular-season wins

►$25,000: NCAA round of 32 appearance

►$50,000: NCAA round of 16 appearance

Can get:

►$50,000: NCAA round of 8 appearance

►$175,000: NCAA Final Four appearance

►$500,000: Win NCAA title

►Best of:

    –$20,000: No. 15 through 11 in final USA TODAY Coaches Poll or Associated Press media poll

    –$30,000: No. 10 through No. 1 in either poll

Arkansas’ John Calipari

Note: Calipari can get no lump sum bonuses.

Has:

►1-year contract extension, $50,000 raise, beginning next season: NCAA Tournament bid (Agreement set to run through April 30, 2030.)

►Additional $50,000 raise: NCAA round of 32 appearance

►Additional $150,000 raise: NCAA round of 16 appearance (Scheduled total pay for added contract year now stands at $7.75 million, with $5,437,500 guaranteed.)

Can get:

►Additional $100,000 raise: NCAA Final Four appearance

►Additional $150,000 raise: Win NCAA title

Auburn’s Bruce Pearl

Has:►$100,000: Southeastern Conference regular-season title

►$50,000: SEC coach of the year

►$50,000: NCAA Tournament bid

►$50,000: NCAA round of 16 appearance

Can get:

►$100,000: NCAA round of 8 appearance

►$100,000: NCAA Final Four appearance

►$100,000: NCAA championship game appearance

►$200,000: Win NCAA title

Florida’s Todd Golden

Has:

►$25,000: SEC tournament title

►$37,500: NCAA Tournament bid

►$37,500: NCAA round of 16 appearance

Can get:

►$25,000: NCAA Final Four appearance

►$50,000: Win NCAA title

Houston’s Kelvin Sampson

Has:

►$100,000: NCAA round of 16 appearance

Can get:

►$100,000: NCAA round of 8 appearance

►$300,000: NCAA Final Four appearance

►$500,000: Win NCAA title

Kentucky’s Mark Pope

Has:

►1-year contract extension, $50,000 bonus: NCAA round of 16 appearance (Agreement set to run through March 31, 2030. Scheduled total pay for added contract year is $6.25 million, with $4,687,500 guaranteed.)

Can get:

►$50,000: NCAA round of 8 appearance

►$150,000: NCAA Final Four appearance

►$250,000: Win NCAA title

Maryland’s Kevin Willard

Has:

►$25,000: NCAA Tournament bid

►$30,000: NCAA round of 32 appearance

►$75,000: NCAA round of 16 appearance

Can get:

►$75,000: NCAA round of 8 appearance

►$50,000: NCAA Final Four appearance

►$50,000: NCAA championship game appearance

►$150,000: Win NCAA title

Michigan’s Dusty May

Note: School has announced it reached new contract agreement with May, but school has not yet released that document.

Has:

►$50,000: Big Ten Conference tournament title

►$50,000: NCAA Tournament bid (round of 64)

►$25,000: NCAA round of 32 appearance

►$25,000: NCAA round of 16 appearance

Can get:

►$50,000: NCAA round of 8 appearance

►$50,000: NCAA Final Four appearance

►$100,000: NCAA championship game appearance

►$100,000: Win NCAA title

Michigan State’s Tom Izzo

Has:

►$100,000: Big Ten Conference regular-season title

►$25,000: NCAA Tournament bid

►$75,000: NCAA round of 16 appearance

Can get:

►$150,000: NCAA Final Four appearance*

►$300,000: Win NCAA title*

*Does not include amounts Izzo receives from Nike if the team appears in the Final Four ($25,000) and if the team wins the national championship ($50,000).

Mississippi’s Chris Beard

Has:

►$100,000: NCAA Tournament bid

►$50,000: NCAA round of 32 appearance

►$50,000: NCAA round of 16 appearance

Can get:

►$50,000: NCAA round of 8 appearance

►$125,000: NCAA Final Four appearance

Note: Beard’s total bonuses based on NCAA Tournament play are capped at $375,000.

Purdue’s Matt Painter

Has:

►$30,000: NCAA Tournament bid

►$30,000: NCAA round of 32 appearance

►$30,000: NCAA round of 16 appearance

Can get:

►$60,000 plus an amount to be determined by the university’s president in consultation with the athletics director, but the additional amount must be at least $120,000: NCAA round of 8 appearance

►$60,000: NCAA Final Four appearance

►$60,000: NCAA championship game appearance

►$60,000: Win NCAA title

Tennessee’s Rick Barnes

Has:

►$200,000: NCAA tournament bid

►$200,000: NCAA round of 32 appearance

►$200,000: NCAA round of 16 appearance

Can get:

►$200,000: NCAA round of 8 appearance

►$200,000: NCAA Final Four appearance

►$200,000: NCAA championship game appearance

►$300,000: Win NCAA title

►Best of:

    –$100,000: No. 25 through 11 in final Associated Press media poll

    –$200,000: No. 10 through No. 6 in final AP poll

    –$400,000: No. 5 through No. 1 in final AP poll

Texas Tech’s Grant McCasland

Has:

►$50,000: NCAA Tournament bid, excluding First Four

►$50,000: NCAA round of 32 appearance

►$50,000: NCAA round of 16 appearance

Can get:

►$50,000: NCAA round of 8 appearance

►$75,000: NCAA Final Four appearance

►$150,000: Win NCAA title

►Best of:

    –$10,000: No. 25 through 11 in final USA TODAY Coaches or Associated Press media poll

    –$25,000: No. 10 through No. 1 in final AP poll

PHOENIX — Atlanta manager Brian Snitker, sitting behind his desk in the visiting clubhouse at Sloan Park for the team’s spring-training finale, loves his club, but isn’t ready to make any bold predictions.

He believes they should be back the postseason once again, are capable of winning the rugged NL East, and have a legitimate shot at winning their second World Series title in five years.

But for now, he has one simple wish as Atlanta opens the 2025 season at Petco Park on Thursday against the San Diego Padres.

“Just once,’ he tells USA TODAY Sports, “I’d like to take a healthy team into the playoffs again just to see what we could accomplish. We haven’t had our best players, so I’d like to try and do that again.’

They were swept in the best-of-three wild-card series against the Padres, playing without 2023 MVP Ronald Acuña Jr., 2024 Cy Young award winner Chris Sale, All-Star pitcher Spencer Strider, All-Star third baseman Austin Riley, and switch-hitting second baseman Ozzie Albies only able to hit right-handed after returning from a broken wrist.

They went into the offseason and barely whipped out their checkbook, signing only left fielder Jurickson Profar to a major deal with a three-year, $42 million contract. They let starting pitchers Max Fried and Charlie Morton depart without an offer, reliever A.J. Minter left for the Mets, catcher Travis d’Arnaud went to the Angels, and Jorge Soler was traded.

Their other splashiest moves were at the end of the camp adding nine-time All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel, catcher James McCann and outfielder Alex Verdugo to minor-league contracts.

Yet, here they were Tuesday afternoon, departing on a 96-degree Phoenix afternoon wearing suits, packing a whole lot of confidence in their carry-on bags to San Diego.

“Obviously, we have the talent,’ said Riley, who missed 52 games last season after playing 160, 159 and 159 games the previous three seasons. “I’m excited. We’ve got the pitching. The offense is there. This team is so talented. I think we definitely have the team to do it.

“We just have to stay healthy, that’s the name of the game.

‘If we do that, we’ve got ourselves a chance.”

When does Ronald Acuña come back?

Patience will come in handy, too. No team is looking forward to the month of May more than these guys, knowing that Strider could return by late April and Acuña in May.

“The crazy part is that we feel extremely comfortable with what we have now,’ Harris said, “and then to get an MVP and a Cy Young caliber pitcher back will be huge for this team. I know we lost some pieces, but this is such a confident team. I feel we have the guys to come up and step into those spots that need to be filled.

“I think we’ll be just fine, really, more than fine.’

Atlanta failed to win the NL East for the first time since 2017 last year, but it’s almost miraculous they even made the postseason. They had six players from their opening-day roster miss two or more months, with Strider’s season ending in April and Acuña’s in May.

Still, they won 89 games, which was one more than they produced in their World Series year, continuing their postseason streak of seven consecutive seasons.

“We’ve got a lot of confidence,’ first baseman Matt Olson said. “Last year wasn’t the best for us, but we still won 89 games and we got into the playoffs. Obviously, the goal is to win the World Series, but even in a bad year we were able to grind and get it done. That’s a good accomplishment.

“Now, when we get Ronnie and Strider back, and are at full strength, that’s be a great confidence boost.

With the band back together in May, Atlanta truly believes it can play with anyone. Sale and Strider will be one of baseball’s finest 1-2 punches. Riley, who averaged 36 homers and 99 RBI from 2021-2023, is fully recovered from the broken hand that ended his season last August.

Ozuna is back for perhaps his final season in Atlanta hitting .289 and averaging 40 homers and 102 RBI with a .916 OPS the last two years. Albies, who broke his wrist and toe last season, and center fielder Michael Harris, who missed two months with a hamstring strain, are fully healthy. Even with catcher Sean Murphy opening the year on the IL, prized catching prospect Drake Baldwin is ready to step in and help.

Their rotation has talent beyond Sale and Strider, too, with Reynaldo Lopez (1.99 ERA in 25 starts last year), Spencer Schwellenbach (3.35 ERA in 21 starts), rookie AJ Smith-Shawver and Grant Holmes (3.56 ERA).

Few pitchers in baseball were more electrifying than Schwellenbach this spring, striking out 26 batters with only two walks in 18 ⅔ innings, without giving up home run. He struck out 127 batters with just 23 walks in 123 ⅔ innings in his starts last year, with a 5.52 strikeouts-to-walks ratio, fifth-best by a rookie since 1900. He was also dominant against Atlanta’s rivals in the NL East, going 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA in three starts against the Philadelphia Phillies and 2-0 with a 0.86 ERA in three against the New York Mets.

They have talented arms in the bullpen, but there are few certainties, with Raisel Iglesias as their closer and Pierce Johnson as the setup man. Kimbrel, who has 440 career saves, could prove invaluable if he bounces back from his struggles in the second half of last season with the Baltimore Orioles.

“The division keeps getting tougher and tougher,’ Snitker says, “but you know what, I feel good. There’s still there’s some question marks like everybody has going into the year with the back end of the rotation and the bullpen thing. But usually, they figure it out themselves.

“We lost two big pieces in [relievers] Joe Jimenez and A.J. Minter. Those are hard guys to replace because they were just so dependable. They were clean-inning guys and high leveraged guys and loved it.

“But somebody will step up. Someone always steps up. Everything has a way of working itself out. We’ll figure it out.’

They always do.

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There are still seven months and 2,428 regular season games to go in Major League Baseball’s 2025 season. Plenty of time to chug vinegar.

Today, though, we’re looking at the sweeter side, a world devoid of contention (we’re talking a lack of heated disagreement, not the world the Colorado Rockies live in year after year).

Look, there’s plenty of dark times in this game, and in a couple of years we’ll be fortunate to have an Opening Day, what with the labor storm already projected to come ashore after next season. For now, how about we appreciate the best of what’s around and adopt a positive attitude as another season tips off in earnest Thursday?

Let’s call it the non-hater’s guide to the 2025 season:

The Dodgers are a Major League Baseball team

As every unproven or unmotivated owner grouses about how some guys have all the luck, this year and the next shape up to produce binary outcomes:

Dodgers don’t win World Series – Everything is fine, see, and anything can happen in October.

It’s never that simple, of course, especially in a league that’s at its best when championship contention tends to be cyclical, at least when a majority of teams exhibit some level of competence and desire.

But that piece of it has proven elusive in many quarters, even in a competitive landscape where 22 franchises have advanced to a World Series this century. And though 36 years lapsed between the Dodgers’ full-season World Series titles, you’d think their 2024 crown capped a run of Kansas City Chiefs-like monotony.

Baltimore Orioles owner David Rubenstein, approaching the one-year anniversary of taking the reins in Charm City, got through one tepid offseason and decided to sing the praises of a salary cap. Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner, holding the line strongly at a mere $310 million payroll, strangely sang a similar tune.

And then there’s Rockies owner Dick Monfort, whose club has lost between 87 and 103 games in 11 of the past 13 full seasons, yet nonetheless crowed to the Denver Gazette that “competitive balance has gotten to the point of ludicrosity. … We need a salary cap and a floor.”

That might help things, but has Monfort tried many of the industry’s other delicacies, such as effective management or avoiding questionable and uncreative hiring practices?

Yes, two things can be true: Economic disparities exist among franchises. And securing the keys to Fort Knox would have sliced into the Rockies’ 37-game deficit in the NL West only so much.

Appreciate Ohtani while you can

With all the Dodger hating going around, you’d think Shohei Ohtani would be impervious to all abuse.

But just to be sure, we’re here to once again say it: Appreciate this man.

To the average fan, Ohtani might represent All That Is Wrong, given that he joined a massive-market, perennially prosperous team and signed the biggest contract in the game’s history (at that point).

Yet it’s also kind of funny how narratives can flip. Just a couple of years ago, the conventional wisdom was that the Los Angeles Angels wasted away Mike Trout and Ohtani’s careers, as if possessing a pair of iconic baseball players correlated to winning championships like trotting out Shaq and Kobe or Taurasi and Griner.

So it goes in today’s Ring Culture, a corrosive discourse that fits baseball like mayonnaise on a hot dog.

Well, Ohtani now works at a place where they print money, surround his MVP exploits with excellence and win a championship in his first season. His unprecedented 50-50 season came on a grand stage, for a playoff club, with a raucous October that followed.

This year, he’ll add pitching back into the repertoire. And odds are excellent we’ll see some two-way brilliance come the postseason, the delicious possibility a man could win a World Series game with his arm and bat, all at once.

And that’s what everyone wanted. Right?

Major League: Back to the minors

Pity the motorist in greater Tampa or West Sacramento who simply wants a frozen treat served with dispatch, only for a charter bus filled with 30 Tampa Bay Rays or Athletics to pull in front of their car at the Dairy Queen drive thru.

OK, so maybe those major league franchises won’t totally cosplay as minor league outfits this year. Yet various disasters of the natural and human kind (Hurricanes Helene and Milton and a guy named John) are forcing both squads into temporary minor league digs for 2025 – and beyond for the A’s.

Sure, they won’t call peanut butter sandwiches dinner, and no one will rock-paper-scissors to avoid sleeping near the lavatory door on a 10-hour bus ride. Yet the Rays and A’s – and, most notably, their opponents – won’t be able to avoid some of the minor league trappings.

The long walk to the visitor’s clubhouse beyond the outfield in Sacramento. The blazing heat and pounding rain that kick in right around Mother’s Day in Tampa. The weird feeling that if they play well enough to reach the postseason, where, exactly, will they play?

Yet necessity can often be the mother of invention, for better or worse. The truncated 2020 season gave us the permanent ghost runner and a foreshadowing of the current expanded playoff format. If nothing else, the Rays’ one-year gig in Tampa should shore up and grow their following on that side of the bay.

For a franchise whose stadium efforts remain curious – from imploding a deal that was finally in place to weird dalliances with a 10-year Tampa Bay commitment to a Montreal-Florida timeshare – perhaps the greater exposure will inspire a permanent solution, even if from a new ownership group.

As for the A’s, well, they’re just a few months from really, totally, for sure breaking ground in Las Vegas, even as the owner seeks more investors. But a three- to four-year stopover in Yolo County might inspire a solid fallback option should Vegas fall through or at least reignite sparks that greater Northern California can support two teams.

Surprise attack

This is where the soliloquys about hope and fresh starts and next year finally arriving and most everyone starting 0-0 should go, and our cynic’s reflex is to gloss over all that pablum.

Hope is not a strategy, they say, and that very crack-of-the-bat, smell-of-the-grass deodorant is most typically used by franchises equally reluctant to show good-faith competitive efforts to fans.

But this is the non-hater’s guide to 2025, right?

So we’ll allow a moment to dream on that surprise season coming out of nowhere, even as this year’s predictions look like so much chalk. Maybe it’ll come in Pittsburgh, where a handful of developing arms might join forces behind the generational Paul Skenes and make the Pirates a threat.

Perhaps it will be in San Francisco, where half-measures at contending look an awful lot like fourth place but the vibes are stronger. Or maybe those wayward Rays, or the “resetting” Cardinals, an ironic twist given their stated desire to burn the place down, yet arrive at the starting line with a representative team.

No, conditions are primed for a just-good-enough team to max out all its projections, mess around and land on 88 wins, somehow. The disappointments? We’ll get to them in time.

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