Will Warren #98 of the New York Yankees throws a pitch during the fourth inning of a spring training game against the Philadelphia Phillies at George M. Steinbrenner Field on March 22, 2026 in Tampa, Florida. Diamond Images/Getty Images Will Warren will take the mound for the Yankees in the home opener against the Marlins on Friday afternoon in the Bronx.
On paper, the right-hander gets to face a solid lineup if you go by the numbers through the first week of the season, but a look under the hood shows Miami’s output so far at the plate may be fools gold.
The Marlins entered Thursday leading MLB in batting average (.290), slugging percentage (.482) and OPS (.847), and they ranked third in on-base percentage (.365).
But there’s one major problem: their production during this 5-1 start has come against perhaps the two worst pitching staffs in baseball.
The Marlins opened the season at home with a sweep of the Rockies, who lost 119 games and allowed over 1,000 runs last season.
Then, they welcomed the White Sox, who weren’t much better a year ago, and won two of three.
That gives Warren the perfect chance to prove who the Marlins truly are offensively.
After seemingly figuring it out in the second half last season, Warren dominated during spring training, posting a 1.42 ERA across six starts.
Will Warren #29 of the New York Yankees pitches in the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park on March 28, 2026 in San Francisco, California. Getty Images He carried over that success into his season opener, allowing just one run over 4 ⅓ innings against the Giants during the Yankees’ three-game sweep.
Small sample size aside, Warren’s stuff looked improved.
His fastball was more than one mph faster than his average last season while his breaking and offspeed pitches were more than two MPH faster, per Statcast.
Look for Warren to have another solid outing in front of the Yankee faithful.
The play: Will Warren Under 1.5 earned runs (-110, DraftKings) | Will Warren Over 5.5 strikeouts (+130, FanDuel)
Dylan Svoboda is a versatile writer and analyst across many sports. He’s particularly knowledgeable about the big three — MLB, the NFL and the NBA.
