Before the Cubs can fly back to Chicago for Thursday’s season opener at Wrigley Field, a two-game exhibition series against the New York Yankees awaits.
The Yankees are playing the games versus the Cubs at Sloan Park as part of their trip to head west for their own opening day in San Francisco. The Cubs will depart for home following Tuesday’s game, though right-hander Jameson Taillon will stay back to pitch in a minor-league game on Wednesday to stay on his rotation turn.
The White Sox wrap up their time in Arizona with a Cactus League finale on Monday, facing the Athletics at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa. They then head to Milwaukee to begin the regular season on Thursday against the Brewers.
Every Monday during spring training, Tribune baseball writers will provide an update on what happened — and what’s ahead — for the Cubs and White Sox.
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Cubs outfielder Michael Conforto excited to make the team after showing flashes in spring
Chicago Cubs’ Michael Conforto stands in to bat against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the first inning of a spring training baseball game Thursday, March 5, 2026, in Mesa, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
The last time outfielder Michael Conforto was told he made a big-league team out of spring training, he was a 23-year-old rookie with the New York Mets in 2016.
Conforto came into Cubs camp feeling like a prospect again. As a nonroster invite, Conforto needed to show enough to earn a spot on the Cubs’ opening day roster. The Cubs liked what they saw from the 33-year-old this spring, combined with his big-league track record. Conforto was informed over the weekend that he will break camp with the Cubs.
“It kind of felt like that excitement, relief, all those feelings come back,” Conforto said Sunday. “And it’s a little different now because I have a wife and two kids and responsibilities, and now I get to tell my wife, hey, we are going, we can plan on everything and get a lease and all that stuff. So that was really great.”
Conforto has a potential path to playing time in right field while Seiya Suzuki is sidelined with his right PCL sprain. The lefty-hitting Conforto could be paired with Matt Shaw in a platoon. He worked in the offseason to clean up his bat path and get into a better routine, something he felt he got away from during his season-long struggles with the Los Angeles Dodgers last year.
“It’s a great feeling for sure, having that uncertainty coming in,” Conforto said. “I was confident. I felt like I did all the right things, but you still have to come out here and perform and show that you can be a part of this team. We have a lot of talent in this camp, so I do think it’s an accomplishment. Work’s not done, though, that’s for sure.
“I still have to show that I can be a part of this team and contribute. So I’m still hungry for sure, but very excited to be part of this group.”
Sox outfielder Austin Hays keeps ‘finding the barrel’ as regular season approaches
Austin Hays of the Chicago White Sox gets hit by a pitch during the first inning of the spring training game against the Seattle Mariners at Peoria Stadium on Feb. 24, 2026, in Peoria, Ariz. (Mike Christy/Getty Images)
Austin Hays was one of the major offensive additions this offseason for the Sox. The outfielder has fit right in, on and off the field, since signing a one-year deal.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” Hays told the Tribune last week of building clubhouse connections. “I’ve enjoyed my time with everybody so far. I feel like I’m really starting to get to know guys now, hung out with some guys away from the field, too.
“You don’t just have relationships in the clubhouse. Starting to make friends outside of the field, too. It’s been really good, I’m excited for the year to start.”
Hays has eight seasons of big-league experience, including spending last year with the Cincinnati Reds.
Hays was one of the most consistent sources of offense for the Sox during Cactus League play. He came into Sunday with a team-leading 18 hits and was tied for the team lead in home runs (three). Hays was 18-for-50 (.360) in 16 games.
“I’m feeling really good, I feel healthy,” Hays said. “I like my at-bats right now. The last week and a half has been really good. I’m barreling a lot of balls, hitting a lot of balls in the air. Body is feeling good, strong. I feel like I’m in shape. Now, ready for spring training games to be over to play some real ones.”
The “real ones” get underway Thursday in Milwaukee. Manager Will Venable said Hays had “an outstanding spring.”
“We joke about it in the dugout a little bit, but he’s finding the barrel pretty much every at-bat,” Venable said. “And wherever the ball is pitched, he’s hitting it there. And finding the barrel and hitting it hard. He’s having a great spring offensively.
“Defensively, the same thing, he’s made some great plays. He’s that steady presence out there that knows how to get to the ball, knows where to throw the baseball and a guy you can depend on in all phases of the game.”
Number of the week: 22
Chicago Cubs’ Moisés Ballesteros makes contact with the ball during the first inning of a spring training baseball game against the Kansas City Royals, Wednesday, March 11, 2026, in Mesa, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
If Moisés Ballesteros is in the Cubs’ opening day lineup Thursday as their designated hitter, he will be the youngest Cub to DH in the opener (22 years, 134 days).
Week ahead: Cubs
Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell talks with Ethan Conrad, who the Cubs selected at No. 17 in the first round of the 2025 MLB draft, before the Cubs play the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Monday: vs. Yankees, 2:05 p.m., Marquee, 104.3 the Score (exhibition)
Tuesday: vs. Yankees, 2:05 p.m., Marquee, 104.3 the Score (exhibition)
Wednesday: off
Thursday: vs. Nationals, 1:20 p.m., Marquee (opening day)
Friday: off
Saturday: vs. Nationals, 1:20 p.m., Marquee
Sunday: vs. Nationals, 1:20 p.m., Marquee
The Cubs’ 2025 first-round draft pick Ethan Conrad will have the start of his minor-league season delayed.
Conrad has been sidelined by a low-back injury this spring, said director of player development Jason Kanzler, and will miss the first month of the minor-league season. Kanzler said he doesn’t have a concrete timeline yet for Conrad, adding it’s a pretty fluid situation.
“There’s nothing really to point to, there was no acute injury event,” Kanzler said Sunday. “Something arose and now we’re obviously going to manage it under our expert medical care and make sure that he comes back strong and healthy and ready to play.”
Conrad, 21, was limited to 21 games with Wake Forest last year and subsequently couldn’t debut during the 2025 minor-league season following left shoulder surgery after sustaining the injury diving for a ball in the outfield.
“When he was doing his hitting work with us on the backfields and the cages, it is aggressive, it’s loud tools, it’s exactly what we expected when we drafted him,” Kanzler said. “He’s got tools, he’s got skills, so we’re just going to manage this right now so that we can get him back on the field.”
Week ahead: White Sox
Chicago White Sox pitcher Seranthony Domínguez participates in media day during spring training at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Ariz., on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
Monday: at Athletics, 1:05 p.m., (Cactus League finale)
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: off
Thursday: at Brewers, 1:10 p.m., CHSN (opening day)
Friday: off
Saturday: at Brewers, 6:10 p.m., CHSN
Sunday: at Brewers, 1:10 p.m., CHSN
Seranthony Domínguez allowed one hit in four scoreless innings while making four appearances for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic.
The Sox reliever believes those games will be beneficial for the upcoming regular season.
“It helped me a lot because it made me click to compete right now,” Domínguez said on Thursday at Camelback Ranch. “In a spring training game, you’re throwing some pitches to work on it. Right now (during the WBC), you have to go out and compete and get people out.”
Domínguez is one of the new members of the Sox bullpen after signing a two-year deal in the offseason.
“I’m happy to be here,” Domínguez said. “I can’t wait to start. I’m ready to be there and help this team win. I know we are going to do a really good job this year.”
He added that it is because “the group, and the way we have been playing here in spring training, and looks like we are ready to compete.”
Domínguez, who has seven years of MLB experience, joins the Sox after spending 2025 with the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays.
“We’ve talked about what that kind of arm in the back end does for us and opening up some opportunities for (fellow relievers) Grant (Taylor) and (Jordan) Leasure to help us close out games here,” Venable said on Friday. “That’s obviously something last year that we tried to be creative in finding ways. But when you have somebody like Seranthony back there, it really opens up a lot of stuff.”
What we’re reading today
Quotable
“It’s tough when you’re breathing in warm air.” — Sox starter Shane Smith on pitching in temperatures hovering around 100 degrees against the Los Angeles Angels on Friday in Tempe, Ariz.