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...

Bullpens could decide Yankees-Rays clash in ALDS

Bullpens could decide Yankees-Rays clash in ALDS
The Tampa Bay Rays, who last won the American League East in 2010, beat the New York Yankees in eight of 10 games during the regular season. Can they do it again and get a chance to win their first AL pennant since losing to the Phillies in the 2008 World Series? The best-of-five Yankees-Rays AL Division Series will be played with no days off starting today in San Diego's Petco Park, one of the bubbles established by Major League Baseball for the postseason. The Rays and Yankees have tension,...

Astros rally to eliminate Twins in wild card series, extending playoff losing streak

Astros rally to eliminate Twins in wild card series, extending playoff losing streak
The Twins won the American League Central by not losing two consecutive games at home during the season. Then everything changed when the postseason started. The Astros came to Target Field and added more history-making agony to the Twins' postseason record. After losing 4-1 and 3-1 to the Astros in the first two wild card games, the Twins extended their postseason losing streak to 18 consecutive games, more than any other National Basketball Association, National Hockey League, National...

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...

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...

AL East preview: Rays challenging Yankees for divisional supremacy

AL East preview: Rays challenging Yankees for divisional supremacy
Projected finish: Rays, Yankees, Orioles, Blue Jays, Red Sox. The Yankees and Rays couldn't be more distant financially or historically. The Yankees' 2020 season will be considered a bust if they don't win their franchise's 28th World Series come October. The Rays have been to the World Series once, losing to Philadelphia in 2008. Just getting there again would be a dream. The Rays play in a domed stadium in St. Petersburg, Fla., that is usually more empty than full, even with a winning...

AL Central preview: Can White Sox or Indians overcome Twins' powerful lineup?

AL Central preview: Can White Sox or Indians overcome Twins' powerful lineup?
Projected order of finish in 2020: Twins, White Sox, Indians, Tigers, Royals. The Twins slugged their way to an American League Central championship in 2019 with 307 home runs. Their lineup may even be more dangerous in this shortened season. The Twins signed Josh Donaldson, who hit 37 home runs for the Braves, in the offseason. Donaldson, 34, will be an upgrade defensively at third base over Miguel Sanó, who moves to first base after C.J. Cron (25 home runs) wasn't offered a contract. The...

AL West preview: A's look strong, but cannot afford to be slow out of the gate

AL West preview: A's look strong, but cannot afford to be slow out of the gate
Projected finish for 2020: A's, Rangers, Astros, Angels, Mariners. After two consecutive seasons of 97 victories and wild card postseason losses, the Athletics are the favorites to win American League West this season. That's assuming Oakland gets off to a fast start, something that hasn't happened in the last two years. In a 60-game season, the Athletics can't afford another slow start. In 2018, the A's were 31-29 after 60 games, good for fourth place in the AL West. Last season, the team...

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...

AL East camp preview: Pitching-strong Rays will challenge Yankees for division supremacy

AL East camp preview: Pitching-strong Rays will challenge Yankees for division supremacy
Baseball is back with the wackiest, shortest and potentially dangerous season of all time. Haul out the asterisks. A schedule has yet to be released, but games start July 23-24. A batter chasing a .400 average could define this season. A 10-game hitting streak could mean MVP candidacy. There will be no fans in the stands - at least at the start of the 60-game schedule - and a summer version of spring training starts Wednesday when players begin reporting to home parks across the...

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...

Manfred: Investigation of Astros on sign stealing continues toward uncertain discipline

Manfred: Investigation of Astros on sign stealing continues toward uncertain discipline
SAN DIEGO - Evev though Major League Baseball has interviewed 60 witnesses, and read 76,000 emails and troves of instant messages investigating the Astros' alleged electronic sign stealing, commissioner Rob Manfred isn't sure when the investigation will finish and what the appropriate discipline will be. "The review has caused us to conclude that we have to some followup interviewing," Manfred said at a Winter Meetings press conference Wednesday at the Manchester Grand Hyatt. "It is my...

Cole's deal eclipses Strasburg's, focus turns to Bumgarner, Ryu

Cole's deal eclipses Strasburg's, focus turns to Bumgarner, Ryu
SAN DIEGO - Stephen Strasburg's record $245 million contract with the Nationals didn't last long. That's because the New York Yankees are back. They've shed their conservative financial image. The Yankees signed free-agent starter Gerrit Cole to richest contract ever given to a pitcher - nine years and $324 million - late Tuesday night at the Winter Meetings. Cole's average salary is $36 million, also a record, beating Zack Greinke's $34.4 million. Cole's yearly average is higher than...