Despite the exit of integral pieces such as Nelson Cruz, Nick Markakis and Andrew Miller, the O’s have a chance to repeat as AL East champions due to the skill of manager Buck Showalter and the return of Manny Machado, Matt Wieters and Chris Davis.

A dozen years after he bounced onto the baseball scene as a 21-year-old with seemingly endless energy, Dontrelle Willis’ body is telling him to call it a career.

As he considers undergoing Tommy John surgery to replace a stretched ligament in his pitching elbow, Mets left-hander Josh Edgin plans to seek a second opinion from renowned orthopedist Dr. James Andrews, who performed a similar procedure on Matt Harvey.

Outfielder Eddie Rosario and middle infielder Jorge Polanco have both impressed early in camp, as they’re both off to hot starts offensively, while Molitor also believes Polanco’s defense has improved at shortstop.

The list of Tigers with nagging injuries expanded Friday, when second baseman Ian Kinsler was scratched from their lineup against the Braves with left shoulder soreness.

A few days after having surgery to repair his rectus abdominis (abdominal) muscle, Nationals center fielder Denard Span has been cleared to perform walking drills and lower abdominal exercises. In a couple of days, the doctor would like him to play catch lightly to see how the muscle responds.

The Pirates scratched center fielder Andrew McCutchen from Friday’s starting lineup about an hour before first pitch due to “lower body soreness.”

The Nationals are shutting down third baseman Anthony Rendon for a few days, after an MRI revealed a mild MCL sprain in his left knee. He sustained the injury on a diving play in Monday’s 2-1 loss to the Braves.

The Astros trimmed their roster for the first time this spring when they optioned outfielder Domingo Santana and left-handed pitcher Luis Cruz to Minor League camp and reassigned catcher Luis Flores to Minor League camp.

When Jacob Lindgren was selected by the Yankees in the 2014 First-Year Player Draft, it was suggested that he could jump to the big leagues quickly. That commentary proved prescient, as Lindgren saw his fastball-slider combination translate into immediate strikeouts in the Yankees’ system, and a call to the Bronx seems to be in Lindgren’s future.

Spring is in full swing, with those initial and sometimes awkward first games out of the way and starters creeping toward more recognizable workloads. It’s still way too early to make a call on any of the earnest position battles taking place in a variety of camps, but it’s not too early to at least check in on a few of the more prominent ones and see how things are trending.

Baseball players are collectively recognized as among the most superstitious people on the planet. Not the Pirates. According to an informal yet widespread survey, the majority of them disavow having any rituals that could be classified as a superstition.

Will Ferrell’s 10-team, five-ballpark, nine-position excursion lasted about 15 hours on Thursday and included dozens of hilarious and memorable moments, more than we can count. Narrowing it down to 10 is no easy task. Here’s what we picked, in rough order of entertainment value.

Will Ferrell had himself a perfect day, one he’ll remember forever. Baseball had a great day, too, perhaps a transformative day. In the end, the whole thing couldn’t be simpler than that.

With Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear the Reaper” blasting over the loudspeaker and images of the famous “More Cowbell” SNL sketch dancing in everyone’s heads, Will Ferrell made his entrance at Camelback Ranch in dramatic fashion — by helicopter.

Will Ferrell’s Dodgers career may have been short-lived, but it was certainly memorable.

Will Ferrell’s quest to play 10 positions for 10 teams Thursday in honor of Bert Campaneris and to raise money for the Cancer for College charity began with a stint at shortstop for the A’s and at second base for the Mariners.