Jasson Domínguez takes charge in spring win over Cubs
The Martian clearly wants his MLB job back.
Mar 19, 2026; Tampa, Florida, USA; New York Yankees left fielder Jasson Dominguez (24) slides into second base at the end of the first inning against the Baltimore Orioles during spring training at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images | Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images Spring training is over!
The Yankees wrapped up the exhibition portion of their season with a big win over the Cubs down in Arizona — 8-3 is your final. Let’s talk about it so we can turn our attention to the stuff that will matter in pursuit of #28. Gerrit Cole had a power pitcher’s outing today, striking out Pete Crow-Armstrong and Michael Busch to start the game, Alex Bregman took him deep, and then sitting down Ian Happ to end the first inning.
He would get two outs in the second before being replaced by Harrison Cohen (??? ), for a total of 26 pitches, 17 of them strikes, a crisp 65 percent strike rate. While we don’t have video of his outing, Statcast still tracks nontelevised games.
Cole was red hot in the first, sitting 96mph and getting it up to 98, before taking a little off in the second and sitting 94-95. I said in the gamethread that this phase of Cole’s rehab is built around balancing his velocity and command, and I think that’s reflected in how he approached his start today. The first inning was proof positive that his fastball can still pop, which is encouraging to see given how hard he was throwing in his first Grapefruit League game last week.