A look at what’s happening around the majors Thursday:
WELCOME HOME, SORT OF
The Toronto Blue Jays become the first team in Major League Baseball history to play home openers in three different cities over three consecutive seasons. Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Jays are set to host Mike Trout and the Angels at TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Florida, their spring training stadium.
Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Eduardo RodrÃguez (57) works against the Minnesota Twins in the second inning of a spring training baseball game, Thursday, March 11, 2021, in Fort Myers, Fla.. (AP PhotoJohn Bazemore)
The Blue Jays played in Toronto in 2019. They held home games at their Triple-A site in Buffalo last year after the Canadian government barred them over coronavirus concerns.
A limited-capacity crowd of about 1,300 is expected at night for the Blue Jays’ game at TD Ballpark, which went over a $102 million renovation a year ago.
REMEMBER US?
Los Angeles Dodgers' Mookie Betts runs up the first base line after popping out against Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Mychal Givens in the ninth inning of a baseball game Sunday, April 4, 2021, in Denver. The Dodgers won 4-2. (AP PhotoDavid Zalubowski)
Fans at Busch Stadium, Camden Yards, Citi Field and several other parks will get to see their teams play in person for the first time since 2019.
The Cardinals, Orioles, Mets, Twins, Pirates, Astros, White Sox and Blue Jays will hold home openers in stadiums that didn’t permit fans last year because of COVID-19 protocols.
Heckled and jeered in Oakland and Anaheim while going 5-1, Carlos Correa, Alex Bregman and the Astros figure to get a more friendly reception at Minute Maid Park when Cristian Javier starts against the A’s.
AT LAST
Red Sox lefty Eduardo Rodríguez makes his long-awaited return to a big league mound when he starts at Baltimore a day after his 28th birthday.
Rodríguez was scratched as Boston’s opening day starter because of a “dead arm.”
He went 19-6 in 2019 and had been set to start the 2020 season opener before it was delayed by the coronavirus outbreak. Rodríguez contracted COVID-19 and related heart problems that kept him from pitching at all last season.
SLOW SPRING
George Springer is still waiting to play his first game for Toronto after signing a $150 million, six-year contract during the winter. The 31-year-old outfielder started the season on the injured list with a strained left oblique muscle and now is feeling tightness in his right quad.
There’s no firm date on when the 2017 World Series MVP with Houston will be in the Blue Jays’ lineup.
Manager Charlie Montoyo described Springer as “a little disappointed” on Wednesday.
AILING
Oakland manager Bob Melvin says closer Trevor Rosenthal is “contemplating surgery” for his shoulder injury. Rosenthal is considering a procedure that typically has a three-month recovery time. ... Dodgers star Mookie Betts got the day Wednesday because of a stiff lower back but is expected to play Friday vs. Washington.
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
RHO, Italy (AP) — No ice is colder and harder than speedskating ice. The precision it takes has meant that Olympic speedskaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink – until the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.
In the pursuit of maximum glide and minimum friction, Olympic officials brought on ice master Mark Messer, a veteran of six previous Olympic speedskating tracks and the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada — one of the fastest tracks in the world with over 300 records.
Messer has been putting that experience to work one thin layer of ice at a time since the end of October at the new Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjacent trade fair halls in the city of Rho just north of Milan.
“It’s one of the biggest challenges I’ve had in icemaking,’’ Messer said during an interview less than two weeks into the process.
If Goldilocks were a speedskater, hockey ice would be medium hard, for fast puck movement and sharp turns. Figure skating ice would be softer, allowing push off for jumps and so the ice doesn’t shatter on landing. Curling ice is the softest and warmest of all, for controlled sliding.
For speedskating ice to be just right, it must be hard, cold and clean. And very, very smooth.
“The blades are so sharp, that if there is some dirt, the blade will lose the edge,’’ Messer said, and the skater will lose speed.
Speedskater Enrico Fabris, who won two Olympic golds in Turin in 2006, has traded in his skates to be deputy sports manager at the speedskating venue in Rho. For him, perfect ice means the conditions are the same for all skaters — and then if it's fast ice, so much the better.
"It's more of a pleasure to skate on this ice,'' he said.
Messer’s first Olympics were in Calgary in 1988 — the first time speedskating was held indoors. “That gave us some advantages because we didn’t have to worry about the weather, wind blowing or rain,’’ he said. Now he is upping the challenge by becoming the first ice master to build a temporary rink for the Olympics.
Before Messer arrived in Italy, workers spent weeks setting up insulation to level the floor and then a network of pipes and rubber tubes that carry glycol — an antifreeze — that is brought down to minus 7 or minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 to 19.4 degrees Fahrenheit) to make the ice.
Water is run through a purification system — but it can’t be too pure, or the ice that forms will be too brittle. Just the right amount of impurities “holds the ice together,’’ Messer said.
The first layers of water are applied slowly, with a spray nozzle; after the ice reaches a few centimeters it is painted white — a full day’s work — and the stripes are added to make lanes.
“The first one takes about 45 minutes. And then as soon as it freezes, we go back and do it again, and again and again. So we do it hundreds of times,’’ Messer said.
As the ice gets thicker, and is more stable, workers apply subsequent layers of water with hoses. Messer attaches his hose to hockey sticks for easier spreading.
What must absolutely be avoided is dirt, dust or frost — all of which can cause friction for the skaters, slowing them down. The goal is that when the skaters push “they can go as far as possible with the least amount of effort,’’ Messer said.
The Zamboni ice resurfacing machine plays a key role in keeping the track clean, cutting off a layer and spraying water to make a new surface.
One challenge is gauging how quickly the water from the resurfacing machine freezes in the temporary rink.
Another is getting the ice to the right thickness so that the Zamboni, weighing in at six tons, doesn’t shift the insulation, rubber tubing or ice itself.
“When you drive that out, if there’s anything moving it will move. We don’t want that,’’ Messer said.
The rink got its first big test on Nov. 29-30 during a Junior World Cup event. In a permanent rink, test events are usually held a year before the Olympics, leaving more time for adjustments. “We have a very small window to learn,’’ Messer acknowledged.
Dutch speedskater Kayo Vos, who won the men’s neo-senior 1,000 meters, said the ice was a little soft — but Messer didn’t seem too concerned.
“We went very modest to start, now we can start to change the temperatures and try to make it faster and still maintain it as a safe ice,’’ he said.
Fine-tuning the air temperature and humidity and ice temperature must be done methodically — taking into account that there will be 6,000 spectators in the venue for each event. The next real test will be on Jan. 31, when the Olympians take to the ice for their first training session.
“Eighty percent of the work is done but the hardest part is the last 20 percent, where we have to try to find the values and the way of running the equipment so all the skaters get the same conditions and all the skaters get the best conditions,’’ Messer said.
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Serpentines are set on the ice of the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Workers clean the ice surface during a peed skating Junior World Cup and Olympic test event, in Rho, near Milan, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
