After Dodgers eclipse Rays in World Series, what's next for baseball?

After Dodgers eclipse Rays in World Series, what's next for baseball?
The Los Angeles Dodgers and pitcher Clayton Kershaw are finally celebrating a World Series victory, the franchise's first since 1988, the year the Dodgers beat the Oakland Athletics. Dodgers infielder Justin Turner tested positive for COVID-19 and is under investigation by Major League Baseball for joining teammates in the on-field celebration. How fitting is that for the coronavirus season? So what's next? There's always second-guessing, trade and free agent talk, and discussion about how...

Would Astros reaching World Series punch Baker's ticket to Cooperstown?

Would Astros reaching World Series punch Baker's ticket to Cooperstown?
The Astros beat the Athletics 11-6 on Thursday in Game 4 of the American League Division Series, punching their ticket to a fourth consecutive AL Championship Series. And it brings Dusty Baker a step closer to a championship he has been eyeing for more than two decades as a manager. Baker has 1,862 career victories, 15th on the all-time list. He has been named Manager of the Year three times and won seven division titles. But the 70-year-old is searching for his first World Series title, the...

Can rookie Marlins hurlers tame tough Braves lineup in NLDS?

Can rookie Marlins hurlers tame tough Braves lineup in NLDS?
Baseball teams are measured with an endless numbers, from traditional statistics to a new-age analytics such as Wins Above Replacement. The Miami Marlins have another set of numbers unique to the season of the pandemic: As the season started, they had 18 players test positive for the coronavirus and were quarantined for a week in Philadelphia. They used 61 players for 60 games, including pitchers manager Don Mattingly met for the first time as he brought them into a game. Olympic speed skater...

Checking out the postseason storylines

Checking out the postseason storylines
The Marlins finished in last place in the National League East in 2018 with 95 losses and 2019 with 105 losses. In the first week of this season, they were quarantined in a Philadelphia hotel for a week after 20 positive coronavirus tests that disrupted their schedule, as well as schedules for other teams, and they needed 17 new players to compete, including former Orioles reliever Richard Bleier helping their bullpen. The Marlins, who tore down World Series title teams after championships in...

Havana-born Sierra among former Negro Leagues players being celebrated Sunday by MLB

Havana-born Sierra among former Negro Leagues players being celebrated Sunday by MLB
As a boy growing up in Havana, Cuba, Pedro Sierra heard stories about the high levels of racism in United States baseball, but that didn't deter him from dreaming of becoming a professional. At 16, after making an impression on Cuban Negro League scouts on a field 13 blocks from his home, Sierra signed for $100 and played with the Indianapolis Clowns in 1954. The scout assured Sierra's dad, Pedro Sr., that his son would be safe because there would be older Cubans on the team to guide him. So...

Rotation's renaissance leads Rockies' rebound in suddenly competitive NL West

Rotation's renaissance leads Rockies' rebound in suddenly competitive NL West
As the 2020 season began, the Rockies weren't considered a legitimate playoff contender, not even in a 60-game season. After all, they finished last in 2019 with a rotation that had the highest ERA (5.87) in the National League. And the Rockies didn't bother to fix their starting staff. That brought second-guessing from critics. Colorado stuck with Jon Gray, Germán Márquez, Kyle Freeland and Antonio Senzatela, four pitchers that helped them get to the playoffs in 2017 and 2018 who...

In lieu of fans, creative cutouts dot ballparks during pandemic baseball

In lieu of fans, creative cutouts dot ballparks during pandemic baseball
When the Orioles play in Philadelphia this week, they need to check out a humorous piece of baseball history in section 302V, Row 21, Seat 1. Tip: Use binoculars because the seat is high above right field, likely the worst seat at Citizens Bank Park. The seat is where the Phillies have a cutout of Bob Uecker, the Brewers' Hall of Fame radio broadcaster who was a catcher for the 1966 Phillies and made a famous commercial for Miller Lite during the 1980s. In the commercial, Uecker gets ready to...

New extra-innings rule brings varied wrinkles on first weekend of play

New extra-innings rule brings varied wrinkles on first weekend of play
Like it or not, baseball's experiment with an automatic runner affected four games of the first weekend of the 60-game 2020 season. And there were varied wrinkles. The first free runner in major league history was given second base in extra innings was the Angels' Shohei Ohtani, who made the last out of the ninth inning against the Athletics on Friday. But it didn't work out well. The Angels' Jared Walsh hit a grounder to Oakland first baseman Matt Olson, but Ohtani had was slow to break...

MLB, players union roll the dice on expanded postseason for 2020

MLB, players union roll the dice on expanded postseason for 2020
Baseball's postseason will have a new NBA- and NHL-like wrinkle when October arrives, at least with the number of playoff teams. Baseball's wacky season will continue into a newly designed postseason. As the 60-game schedule began Thursday night in Washington, Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association announced an agreement that six more teams will be added to the postseason. Originally, there were 10 teams. Now 16 teams have a chance to make the World Series. The NBA and NHL each...

NL East preview: Nats boast pitching prowess to take division crown from Braves

NL East preview: Nats boast pitching prowess to take division crown from Braves
Projected finish: Nationals, Braves, Phillies, Mets, Marlins The Braves are taking aim at winning their third consecutive National League East title. And if they make it to October, the goal is to redirect their losing postseason history. Since 2002, the Braves have been to the postseason nine times without advancing beyond their first series or game. They've lost in one wild card game and eight NL Division Series. In a sense, they are reliving their 1990s, when the Braves won 14 consecutive...

NL Central preview: Retooled Reds could be tough to beat in wide-open division

NL Central preview: Retooled Reds could be tough to beat in wide-open division
Projected finish: Reds, Cardinals, Brewers, Cubs, Pirates. After missing the postseason for three consecutive Octobers, the Cardinals will defend their National League Central title without one of their best power hitters and questions about their run-scoring capabilities. The Cardinals finished two games ahead of the wild card Brewers in 2019 and their season ended when the Nationals swept them in the NL Championship Series. Their weak lineup was no match for Nationals pitching. Last season,...

NL West preview: Dodgers again look like class of the division

NL West preview: Dodgers again look like class of the division
Projected order of finish for 2020: Dodgers, Diamondbacks, Padres, Giants, Rockies. Since 2013, the Dodgers have averaged 96 victories a season in winning seven consecutive National League West championships. That consistency hasn't shown up in the postseason. The Dodgers lost to Houston in 2017 World Series and to Boston in 2018 World Series. Last season, the Nationals eliminated the Dodgers in the Division Series. The Dodgers haven't won a World Series since 1988, the year of Kirk Gibson's...

Nats fan Fauci hopes fans can return to MLB games later this season

Nats fan Fauci hopes fans can return to MLB games later this season
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, is a baseball nut. His voice fills with excitement talking about the Nationals' World Series title. His coronavirus mask is covered with Nationals logos. An autographed Patrick Corbin jersey hangs in his D.C. home. And even though a deadly coronavirus outbreak has hammered the United States and caused Major League Baseball to reduce this season's schedule to 60 games played in stadiums with no fans, hope springs eternal with...

Looking at MLB's pandemic response and the 2020 schedule

Looking at MLB's pandemic response and the 2020 schedule
Major League Baseball's summer version of spring training is off to a rocky start with conflicting messages for a sport trying to restart during a pandemic. On Monday, the fourth day of training, the inefficient return of the players' coronavirus test results brought new questions about whether baseball can get its 60-game season off the ground. Also on Monday, Major League Baseball announced the schedule for a 60-game season that reduces travel by keeping American League East, West and...

NL East camp preview: Looking at possible DHs as pitchers will focus on mound work

NL East camp preview: Looking at possible DHs as pitchers will focus on mound work
The century-old debate about the designated hitter has come to an end - at least for this season. The coronavirus changed for 2020 the look of baseball - no fans at games, runner on second to start extra innings, a 60-game schedule - but it also might change history and tear down the final wall that stands between the National and American leagues. When the regular season starts July 23-24, the NL teams will use the designated hitter in all of its games, not just when they are playing in AL...

A personal tale from the front line of battling COVID-19

A personal tale from the front line of battling COVID-19
Baseball is ramping up, and so is the coronavirus. As fans anticipate baseball's start next month, the acceleration of COVID-19 could still put a premature end to the 60-game season or even to the postseason. The virus is nothing to take lightly. I know first-hand. In 2020, I have battled two formidable foes while facing life-and-death situations: I knocked out a rare autoimmune disease that attacked my liver and gave me - at best - a 50-50 chance of survival. Before my treatments ended, I...

Change is the buzz word as baseball revs up to resume 2020 campaign

Change is the buzz word as baseball revs up to resume 2020 campaign
Finally. After months of acrimonious negotiations, there's going to be a baseball season. It will be the most abbreviated season in the game's history - 60 games - and brings back memories of 1981, when labor issues couldn't be resolved and teams played about 105 games each. So forget about watching those replays of classic historical games. Say goodbye to watching Game 7 of the Braves-Twins World Series in 1991. Or the 1995 American League Division Series Game 5 between the Mariners and the...

Astros fire Luhnow and Hinch after MLB levies penalties in sign-stealing case

Astros fire Luhnow and Hinch after MLB levies penalties in sign-stealing case
Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch were suspended by Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred Monday for allowing the team's uniformed personnel to steal signs electronically during the 2017 and 2018 seasons. Luhnow and Hinch were suspended through the 2020 World Series. The Astros also were fined $5 million - the maximum allowed under MLB rules - and they'll have to forfeit first- and second-round draft picks in 2020 and 2021. About an hour the initial report...

With rotation shored up, Rangers on the rise

With rotation shored up, Rangers on the rise
Anthony Rendon, are you paying attention? Do you think that you made a bad career decision? The Angels have third baseman Rendon, but the team that might have the best chance of beating the Astros in the American League West in 2020 is the Texas Rangers. Why? Because the Rangers are building a rotation this offseason, and their latest addition is Corey Kluber, the two-time American League Cy Young Award winner the Rangers got from Cleveland in a trade on Sunday. So, I wonder if Rendon, after...

Addition of Rendon gives Angels powerful lineup, but they still need pitching help

Addition of Rendon gives Angels powerful lineup, but they still need pitching help
SAN DIEGO - The Nationals lost another home-grown superstar and the Angels have another superstar in their lineup. And it looks as though there are going to be plenty of 13-11 games next season in Anaheim. Anthony Rendon, a free-agent third baseman whose late-inning postseason heroics helped the Nationals win the World Series, has signed a seven-year, $245 million contract with the Los Angeles Angels. Last offseason, the Nationals lost outfielder Bryce Harper, who signed a $330 million contract...