The Major League Baseball Players Association rejected the proposal from the owners to delay the start of the season and implement the universal designated hitter and the expanded postseason for a second straight year. That's bad for the Yankees who will never not be in the top eight teams in the American League, but it's good for baseball.  

The Rangers finally broke through and won against in the Penguins in their fourth try this season. Rather than blow a lead to the Penguins like they had in the first three games against them, the Rangers overcame a deficit to win 3-1 on Monday. The Rangers are now undefeated with Tony DeAngelo no longer part of the team.

Scott Reinen of Bronx Pinstripes joined me to talk about the state of the Yankees as spring training approaches, including the Yankees' decision to stay under the luxury-tax threshold, saying goodbye to Adam Ottavino and Masahiro Tanaka, bringing back the same exact lineup and why an expanded postseason field will ruin the regular season.

The Rangers have played the Penguins three times this season. They have held a third-period lead in all three games. They have lost all three games. The Rangers have blown every lead they have had since the second game of the season.

The Rangers had to win on Thursday night in Buffalo. At 1-4-1 and in the midst of a four-game losing streak, they desperately needed to salvage the fourth and final game of their road trip and get two points. And they did just that. After blowing another two leads in the game, Alexis Lafreniere scored the overtime game-winner for the first goal of his career.

The Red Sox were happy to take Adam Ottavino in the Yankees' salary dump of the right-hander. Why wouldn't they be? He makes the Red Sox better and his removal from the Yankees makes them worse.

Sure, the Yankees then went and signed Darren O'Day, but why couldn't they have both? Why couldn't they have five elite relievers? For 2019, on paper, they had six. Now they have four.

For the second time in three years, the Yankees have cut payroll by $50 million in the middle of a championship window.

The Rangers lost to the Sabres 3-2 on Tuesday and have now lost four straight games, all by one goal. To make matters worse, it was their third straight lost in which they had a lead in the game. They blew three leads in two games in Pittsburgh and blew another two leads in Buffalo. The Rangers' postseason chances are declining by the day, and they need to turn their season around before they no longer can.

Two games in Pittsburgh and two losses for the Rangers. The Rangers blew two one-goal leads and have now lost three straight and four of five to begin the season. The Rangers sit alone in eighth and last place in the East tied with Ottawa for the worst winning percentage in the league. Things need to change and change quickly if the Rangers want to think about the postseason.

The Yankees added another starting pitcher to their rotation by trading for the Pirates' Jameson Taillon. The right-hander hasn't pitched since 2019 after undergoing a second Tommy John surgery, and he joins a Yankees staff that is full of starters who returning from injuries and who haven't pitched much, if at all, over the last few seasons. The trade was a no-brainer for the Yankees considering Taillon's salary ($2.25 million) and what they had to give up. If healthy, the Yankees would have a very good rotation. But "if healthy" is asking a lot.

The Rangers had a two-goal lead in Pittsburgh and they blew it, losing 4-3 in a shootout. Yes, the young Rangers played well, but it was a bad loss. The Rangers have now lost three of four this season, and in their first loss they didn't show up, in their second lost they dominated play and couldn't score, and on Friday in Pittsburgh, they blew a 3-1 lead. At some point, moral victories in these games can't be enough.