3/26/19: Exhibition Game Thread

On Tuesday afternoon, the Seattle Mariners and San Diego Padres will close out their slate of 2019 exhibition games. The friendly at T-Mobile Park carries some intrigue despite its inherent irrelevance.

For the Mariners, first base prospect Evan White gets the start, facing the Padres’ varsity team and setting his cleats in the T-Mobile dirt. He’s joined in the starting lineup by Daniel Vogelbach, who slots into the cleanup spot right behind Seattle’s big boppers. Crafty lefty Wade LeBlanc gets his final tuneup of the preseason as well.

From an entertainment standpoint, the Padres roll out a very good group of players. Apart from the gazillionaire duo of Hosmer & Machado, the Friars are also playing some of their heralded rugrats. Francisco Mejía, Luis Urías and starting pitcher Matt Strahm are among the fleet of prospects that have San Diego’s beaches buzzing with excitement over their local baseball team. (Probably not, actually. I lived in San Diego for four years and people there are extremely apathetic about sports. Some of them probably haven’t even realized the Chargers are gone yet.)

With an affordable get-in-the-door price, beautiful weather, and several players that are legitimately exciting, this matchup serves as a wonderful appetizer before the 162-game main course.

Lineups

Padres

2B Ian Kinsler

1B Eric Hosmer

3B Manny Machado

DH Franmil Reyes

LF Wil Myers

RF Hunter Renfroe

C Francisco Mejía

CF Manny Margot

SS Luis Urías

SP Matt Strahm

Mariners

CF Mallex Smith

RF Mitch Haniger

LF Domingo Santana

DH Daniel Vogelbach

3B Ryon Healy

SS Tim Beckham

2B Dylan Moore

1B Evan White

C David Freitas

SP Wade LeBlanc

First pitch: 1:10 p.m. PDT

TV: ROOT Sports

Radio: 710 ESPN