Braves face Phillies in NLDS looking for payback after shocking playoff loss a year agoVideo
ATLANTA — The Atlanta Braves walked off the field a year ago a thoroughly beaten team, their defense of the World Series championship wiped out in less than a week. Now, they’ve got another shot at the team that delivered the playoff heartache. The 104-win Braves romped to their sixth...
Clayton Kershaw overcomes shoulder injury to will himself into another Dodgers postseasonVideo
LOS ANGELES — Clayton Kershaw has never been one for making excuses. Whether it’s his health or velocity, both of which have taken hits in recent years, he would rather gut out whatever is going on in silence. “He’s a survivor. He’s a competitor,” Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts...
Correa leads Twins in ALDS against his former team the Houston AstrosVideo
HOUSTON — Houston manager Dusty Baker admitted Carlos Correa is one of his favorite players. That goodwill toward the former Astros star turned Minnesota mainstay won’t extend into this weekend, when Houston hosts the Twins in the AL Division Series. “Personally, I don’t care if it’s my brother or my...
The Orioles and Rangers took different paths to recover after losing over 100 games in 2021Video
BALTIMORE — In two years, the Baltimore Orioles and Texas Rangers went from triple-digit losses to the postseason. That’s about the extent of their similarities. Baltimore rebuilt through high draft picks and a loaded farm system. Texas was aggressive in free agency. The Orioles have the lowest payroll of any...
Mets GM Billy Eppler quits 3 days after David Stearns hired above him
NEW YORK — Billy Eppler quit as New York Mets general manager Thursday, three days after David Stearns was hired above him as the team’s first president of baseball operations. “I wanted David to have a clean slate, and that meant me stepping down,” Eppler said in a statement released...
Phillies sweep Marlins, on to NL Division Series rematch with Braves
PHILADELPHIA — Bryson Stott crushed the second grand slam in Philadelphia Phillies postseason history, and Aaron Nola tossed seven shutout innings in a performance worthy of a postseason ace that led to a 7-1 win and a two-game sweep over the Miami Marlins in their NL wild-card series Wednesday night....
Diamondbacks erase early deficit again, finish sweep of BrewersVideo
MILWAUKEE — Zac Gallen settled down after a shaky start, and Arizona’s bullpen stepped up at the end, helping the Diamondbacks sweep their NL wild-card Series against the Milwaukee Brewers with a 5-2 victory in Game 2 on Wednesday night. Just two years after suffering through a 110-loss season, Arizona...
Twins sweep Blue Jays, advance in playoffs for 1st time in 21 yearsVideo
MINNEAPOLIS — Carlos Correa contributed an RBI single and a quick-twitch tag off a pickoff throw from Sonny Gray, and the Minnesota Twins swept the Toronto Blue Jays with a 2-0 win in Game 2 of their AL wild-card series Wednesday. The Twins advanced — for the first time in...
Rangers beat Rays for wild-card sweep behind HRs by Adolis Garcia, Evan CarterVideo
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Adolis García and Evan Carter homered to back Nathan Eovaldi, and the Texas Rangers beat the punchless Tampa Bay Rays, 7-1, on Wednesday to finish a two-game AL Wild Card Series sweep. Garcia and Carter, a 20-year-old rookie who became the second-youngest postseason player in franchise...
Twins stop record 18-game postseason skid on strength of Royce Lewis home runsVideo
MINNEAPOLIS — Royce Lewis smashed Minnesota’s 18-game postseason losing streak into the seats, homering in each of his first two at-bats to carry the Twins to a 3-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in the opener of their AL wild-card series on Tuesday. Lewis hit a two-run shot off...
MLB committee on Athletics’ move to meet this week
MILWAUKEE — Mark Attanasio, who chairs the Major League Baseball committee regarding the Oakland Athletics’ move to Las Vegas, said Tuesday the group met a couple of days ago and will meet again this week. Attanasio, the Milwaukee Brewers’ controlling owner, declined additional comment on the committee’s progress while speaking...
Montgomery sparkles, Rangers beat sloppy Rays 4-0 in AL Wild Card Series openerVideo
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Jordan Montgomery scattered six hits over seven innings, helping the Texas Rangers beat the sloppy Tampa Bay Rays, 4-0, on Tuesday in their AL wild-card series opener. Corey Seager and Josh Jung drove in runs, and the Rangers benefitted from four errors by the Rays, who...
Terry Francona steps away as Cleveland’s winningest manager
CLEVELAND — Terry Francona stepped away from baseball, at least temporarily, on Tuesday, ending a 23-year managerial career that began in Philadelphia, peaked with two World Series titles in Boston and concluded with an 11-season stay in Cleveland. Guardians president Chris Antonetti said the 64-year-old Francona will have a role...
MLB game time drops 24 minutes to 2:40 with pitch clock. Players steal most bases since 1987
NEW YORK — The average time of a nine-inning major league game dropped to 2 hours, 40 minutes in the first year of the pitch clock, a 24-minute decrease in a season of change that resulted in a spike in batting average and the most stolen bases in nearly 40...
October baseball arrives with 12-team bracket set; postseason action beginning TuesdayVideo
PHOENIX — Ronald Acuña Jr., Matt Olson and the hard-hitting Atlanta Braves have earned a couple days of rest and relaxation after MLB’s long 162-game regular season. So have Jose Altuve, Justin Verlander and the defending World Series champion Houston Astros — who won the AL West on the season’s...
Buck Showalter fired as New York Mets manager
NEW YORK — Buck Showalter was fired Sunday as New York Mets manager after a disappointing season in which baseball’s highest-spending team tumbled from contention by midsummer. The 67-year-old Showalter said before the game against Philadelphia on Sunday that he will not return next year, and a few minutes later...
Former Pirates, Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield dies at 57
BOSTON — Tim Wakefield, who became the knuckleballing workhorse of the Red Sox pitching staff who bounced back after giving up a season-ending home run to the Yankees in the 2003 playoffs to help Boston win its curse-busting World Series title the following year, has died. He was 57. The...
Playoff contending Marlins trying to move on after `disagreement’ over suspension of game vs. MetsVideo
PITTSBURGH — The Miami Marlins are in no mood to go back to New York or talk about New York for that matter. The surprise playoff contenders arrived in Pittsburgh for a three-game series with the Pirates around 6 a.m. after their game against the Mets on Thursday night was...
Red Sox say Tim Wakefield is in treatment, asks for privacy after illness outed by SchillingVideo
BOSTON — The Boston Red Sox said announcer and former knuckleballer Tim Wakefield is undergoing treatment for a disease they did not specify and asked for fans to respect his privacy after his illness was outed without his consent by ex-teammate Curt Schilling. The team issued a statement Thursday after...
Analysis: It looks like it’ll take all 162 games to decide MLB’s postseason racesVideo
PHOENIX — It might take all 162 games to decide the playoff races in the National and American leagues. The epicenter of the wild-card chase this weekend is in Arizona at Chase Field. Thanks to some fortuitous interleague scheduling, the AL’s Houston Astros face the NL’s Arizona Diamondbacks in a...
Phillies deny emotional support alligator from entering ballpark
PHILADELPHIA — A Phillies fan and his emotional support animal, an alligator named WallyGator, were denied entrance to watch Philadelphia host Pittsburgh. Social media posts showed the gator on a leash with a harness with his name on it outside the stadium Wednesday. WallyGator is a working emotional support alligator...
Brooks Robinson appreciation: In 1960s Maryland, nobody was like No. 5
ROCKVILLE, Md. — Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson died Tuesday at the age of 86. Among his many fans in Maryland during his playing days was Ben Walker, a young left-hander who would go on to cover baseball for the Associated Press for more than 40 years. Walker...
Terry Francona’s beloved scooter stolen, stripped as Cleveland manager says goodbye
CLEVELAND — Terry Francona made it to the home finale, his last managing the Guardians before retirement. His beloved scooter didn’t get there. Hours before Cleveland fans saluted the popular manager, who is leaving baseball after 11 seasons with the club, Francona revealed the celebrated motorized scooter he rode to...
Mets owner Steve Cohen apologizes to Marlins for soggy field that forced doubleheader
NEW YORK — The sloppy field that caused a costly postponement for the Miami Marlins left the New York Mets all wet. Mets owner Steven Cohen apologized to the Marlins on Wednesday for the circumstances that led to Tuesday night’s series opener between the teams getting washed out. The game...
Brooks Robinson, Orioles 3rd baseman with 16 Gold Gloves, dies
BALTIMORE — Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson, whose deft glovework and folksy manner made him one of the most beloved and accomplished athletes in Baltimore history, has died. He was 86. The Orioles announced his death in a joint statement with Robinson’s family Tuesday. The statement did not...
