‘NBA teams have been tracking this kind of stuff for years’: Why load management is MLB’s next big thing
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Jesse Rogers, ESPN Staff Writer
FOR DECADES, the story of a major league game has been told by the familiar numbers in a box score: runs, hits, errors, home runs, strikeouts.
But now, there is another chart your favorite team looks at after games, one that few outside the sport’s inner circle have seen: color-coded grid-like documents that measure the workload of every player who took the field that day.
Baseball might not be the first sport that comes to mind when you hear the term “load management,” but MLB teams are becoming obsessed with it. In baseball, the discussion is about keeping position players on the field and performing their best.
Teams monitor everything players do, starting with the obvious — how much distance has he covered on a given night, both on the basepaths and defensively in the field. Tracking also takes into account the small details that go into the equation — how many times did a player take off from first base on a full count? How frequently did he dive for a ball in the infield? Each bit of information helps teams get ahead of potential health problems or dips in production.
“I’ve taken a lot of interest in it in my second career as a manager,” Cincinnati Reds skipper David Bell said. “As a player, you think you’re invincible and can play every day. But the grind of the season in baseball is an extreme challenge. Over time, it’s compounded.
“The grind is harder. The game is more difficult.”
At a time when analytics have become a standard element of almost every front office decision, optimizing player workload is seen as one of the few remaining areas teams can gain an edge. Now that technology has emerged to allow clubs to measure movement like never before, the race to find the best information — and how to communicate it to players — is on.
“There are other sports that are way ahead of us,” Milwaukee Brewers general manager Matt Arnold said. “Soccer and NBA teams have been tracking this kind of stuff for years. We have room to grow in our industry.”
With clubs learning every day, ESPN asked MLB executives, managers and players what the increasing interest in load management means to their sport — and how their teams are using the data.
THERE IS NO other sport that demands its athletes take the field as often as professional baseball does. Sure, MLB players aren’t tasked with constant running, but every movement adds up and leads to a cumulative fatigue over the length of the season.
“You might go 10 games without ever accelerating, but you might throw a bunch from the outfield,” Chicago Cubs general manager Carter Hawkins said.
Enter the grids, which track each of those movements cumulatively. The San Diego Padres, for example, track workloads for their players in running 30-day increments, using sheets color-coded for high-effort runs, top sprint speed and taxing defensive movements. Some teams believe their information is proprietary, keeping it close to the vest. Everyone has a different slant as to how they track load management.
“We have a report that comes out every morning that includes what’s pertinent from the last game,” Seattle Mariners executive vice president and general manager of baseball operations Justin Hollander said. “Sort of a running total on where guys might be at, based on workload over a longer period of time.”
ESPN was granted permission to observe several teams’ load management grids, and while the tracking tools look different in every front office, there is a common theme in many of the printouts: The darker the color, the more that player has moved around, often on a gradient of white to dark red.
As you would expect, baseball’s biggest stars often have their names in the darkest hues, as they are in the lineup every day and, with a few exceptions, run the bases more than the average player.
“He lives in the red zone,” Houston Astros manager Joe Espada said of two-time All-Star third baseman Alex Bregman.
Once a team has identified a player entering that danger range, the process shifts from spreadsheets to action plans. The challenge in adjusting pre and postgame work is that fatigue is a moving target. Is the team in a stretch of the schedule without days off? Did it play extra innings recently? And what has the player actually been doing on the field?
“We have a more evidenced-based way to measure where you’re truly at, fatigue-wise,” Hollander said. “I think a lot of teams incorporate that into routines, work you do in pregame, work you do in postgame and, of course, days off.”
Each manager faces a different challenge. After his team’s deal for Luis Arraez, Padres manager Mike Shildt revolves around rotating infielders between their regular position and DHing. In the Astros’ case, Espada is particularly cognizant of the additional workload over the past few years thanks to the team’s postseason success. As one rival executive put it: “The whole team lives in the red zone.”
“I take into consideration that our players have played the most games of any team over the last six, seven years,” Espada said. “When guys are starting to trend in the red zone, we try to make sure to control the volume of their pregame work or give them a day at DH or a day off. But we try to do that before they get into the red zone.”
FRONT OFFICES ALSO face the reality that players don’t all love the idea of being told to sit down because a heat map says it might be time. It’s been ingrained in many of them to play every day no matter how their bodies feel, and some simply prefer to play through fatigue rather than listen to what tracking technology tells them.
Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson had that mindset, playing in all but two regular-season games from 2020 to 2022. Now, though, a late-season dip in production at the end of last year and a slow start to this season have him thinking differently.
“I don’t like changing what works for me but I’ve had to this year, in order to be the best player possible,” said Swanson, who turned 30 during the offseason. “We all sat down and collaborated on a new [pre/postgame] plan that would work for me like just two weeks ago.
“It’s a different way of putting pennies into the piggy bank.”
Other stars still prefer the heavier workload, fearing that sitting even for a game will hurt their production more than resting would help it.
“I feel like I play better when I’m in the red,” Bregman said. “I feel like I show up to the ballpark to play every single day and I want to play 162 plus postseason every year.”
This is where front offices and coaching staffs have learned to collaborate with players, finding ways to lighten their load behind the scenes while still allowing them to appear in games. The manager is often the middleman between the medical team, strength coaches and players.
In the Astros’ case, Bregman works with Espada to control pregame volume. Padres infielder Xander Bogaerts does the same with Shildt, starting with eliminating batting practice and then, if needed, cutting down on lifting weights.
In his first year as San Diego’s manager after spending last year as the team’s bench coach, Shildt has learned that telling a player he needs to take a game off isn’t the best approach. Instead, he’ll suggest a DH day or an altered plan for before and after the game.
“If that collaboration isn’t taking place and we don’t mesh those things appropriately, you’re going to have a much higher risk of injury or poor performance,” Shildt said. “From my seat, what’s important is the daily schedule. We monitor the efficiency of the pregame work. That’s the best word to use, I think. How efficient are we with our work beyond the game?”
As the concept of load management spreads through baseball, the sheets telling the story of a player’s status might look a little different in every front office. But the goal for every team is the same: Getting ahead of fatigue so players can perform at their best — instead of learning too late that they could have used a day off after experiencing an injury or a prolonged slump.
“It’s not about trying to limit anybody,” Arnold said. “It’s about keeping them on the field as much as possible.”
After a two-game opening night, the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs continue Sunday with a trio of Game 1s:
Which teams will earn the early edge in their series? Who are the key players to watch?
Read on for game previews, recaps of what went down last night, and the Three Stars of the Night from Arda Öcal.
Matchup notes
New Jersey Devils at Carolina Hurricanes
Game 1 | 3 p.m. ET, ESPN
These two teams split the regular-season series with two wins apiece; notably, all four of those games were played before Devils star Jack Hughes sustained a season-ending injury. The Hurricanes were led in scoring this season by Finland native Sebastian Aho (29 goals, 45 assists), while Sweden’s Jesper Bratt was the Devils’ leading scorer (21 goals, 67 assists). The two teams’ most recent postseason clash occurred in 2023, which the Canes won 4-1.
Ottawa Senators at Toronto Maple Leafs
Game 1 | 7 p.m. ET, ESPN2
The opening skirmish in the Battle of Ontario is the first postseason appearance for the Senators since 2017 — and the first ever for Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk. On the other side, this will be the Maple Leafs’ ninth consecutive playoff appearance — with just one series win to show for it. Toronto has had its scoring prowess vanish in past postseasons, so leading scorer Mitch Marner (27 goals, 75 assists) & Co. will hope to reverse that trend. And while Toronto is the favorite in the series, Ottawa won all three regular-season games between the teams.
Minnesota Wild at Vegas Golden Knights
Game 1 | 10 p.m. ET, ESPN
Sunday’s nightcap sees the wild-card Wild face one of the more complete teams in the West. Newly signed Minnesota defenseman Zeev Buium — fresh off a run to the NCAA Frozen Four final with the University of Denver — didn’t see action in the regular-season finale; how much will he be deployed in this series? The Knights will come at the Wild in waves, led by center Jack Eichel, who earned some Hart Trophy votes in the final edition of ESPN’s NHL Awards Watch. Vegas won all three regular-season games between the two clubs, by an aggregate score of 12-4.
Arda’s Three Stars of Saturday
A goal and two assists for Connor, who kept the Jets’ offense soaring in a game that set the tone for Winnipeg in this series — including a third period comeback. This team is still motivated by a five-game first-round exit last postseason, and they also want to keep the Presidents’ Trophy vibes going.
One of the best players of the game, and he showed up Saturday. Three points in Game 1 (on the road, no less), including the eventual game-winning goal and an empty-netter to help the Avalanche take the early lead in the series.
The chemistry between Scheifele and Connor was on display. The center finished with three points in Game 1, including a great play to get Connor the puck late in the third period on the game-winning goal.
Saturday’s results
Winnipeg Jets 5, St. Louis Blues 3
Jets lead series 1-0
A furious first period included a pair of goals for both teams, as the clubs elected to throw haymakers at the start of the series instead of patiently reading their opponents. The Blues carried a 3-2 lead into the third after a second-period tally from Jordan Kyrou, but the Jets took over the third — first with the momentum in front of a “White Out” crowd, and then with a trio of goals. Alex Iafallo had the game-tying score at 9:18 of the third, followed by the game-winner by Kyle Connor with 1:36 left and an empty-net goal by Adam Lowry to put the game away.
1:30
Jets score 5 goals in a thrilling Game 1 win over the Blues
The Jets best the Blues 5-3 in Game 1 of their playoff series.
Colorado Avalanche 5, Dallas Stars 2
Avs lead series 1-0
Unlike Saturday’s earlier game, these two contenders started with a 0-0 first period. But from the second period onward, it was all Avalanche. Artturi Lehkonen opened the scoring with one of the most unique goals in memory, with the puck going in off of his skate and over Jake Oettinger‘s shoulder — the play was ruled a good goal upon review. Nathan MacKinnon added a power-play tally after Roope Hintz high-sticked him to push it to 2-0 and the Avs never looked back. Although Hintz scored a power-play goal of his own in the third, the Avs got goals from Devon Toews, an empty-netter from MacKinnon and a final tally from Charlie Coyle.
2:01
Avs make easy work of Stars in dominant Game 1 win
The Avalanche put five goals past the Stars to take a 1-0 series lead in dominant fashion.
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