Welcome, everyone, to the first full day of the 2025 ulnar collateral ligament fitness challenge, otherwise known as the Major League Baseball season. Poetry is written about days such as this, when the sun stirs the souls of players and fans of all 30 teams equally — unless, of course, a pitcher crucial to his team’s success is feeling pain in his forearm, triceps or anywhere in the vicinity of his elbow.
As the saying goes, hope springs eternal, unless the UCL springs first.
Such is life in the third decade of baseball in the 21st century, when the caveat “if everyone stays healthy” has become roughly the equivalent of saying “if it never rains again.”
Last year, such fate-altering arms as those belonging to Spencer Strider, Sandy Alcantara, Félix Bautista, Shane Bieber, Shohei Ohtani and Jacob deGrom were largely or entirely absent from their team’s seasons because of elbow surgery. By the time it mattered in October, Tyler Glasnow, Kyle Bradish and many others were sidelined, too.
