Brett Sullivan caught a couple of games at the University of the Pacific, but he didn’t truly move behind the plate until 2016, his second year in the Tampa Bay Rays system. The 30-year-old veteran continues to bounce around the diamond to remain a versatile bench option for the Padres, but it would not be wise to question his command of the ...Read more

PHOENIX — The Dodgers' first official game of 2025 began with a reminder of 2024.

"Now taking the field," said the public address announcer at Camelback Ranch on Thursday afternoon, "your 2024 world champion Los Angeles Dodgers!"

Come October, the Dodgers' hope is to be back in the World Series, trying to become Major League Baseball's first...Read more

CLEARWATER, Fla. — The hype is easier to ignore when you sleep where you did before the hype began.

On Tuesday morning, one of baseball’s best prospects walked out the front door of his parents house, climbed into his car, and made the half-hour drive down U.S. Route 19 for his second day of work with the NL East champs.

“Sleeping in my ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — Some of you might be burning over comments Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred made Tuesday.

Speaking in Phoenix, Manfred addressed the grotesque financial inequities in his sport — namely, the Los Angeles Dodgers boasting a payroll of nearly $400 million, which is practically a decade of Pirate payrolls.

"They've ...Read more

PHOENIX — The last time Major League Baseball and the players association negotiated a collective bargaining agreement, the owners locked out the players before the 2022 season, a work stoppage that nearly resulted in the loss of regular-season games for the first time since 1995.

Now, with that CBA set to expire after the 2026 season, there ...Read more

PEORIA, Ariz. — The last six weeks of success and solid baseball couldn't save the Mariners from watching the MLB playoffs for a second straight season. The last six weeks of strong at-bats where he smashed baseballs with power while swinging and missing at fewer pitches than the previous 4 1/2 months of the 2024 season couldn't salvage the ...Read more

NORTH PORT, Fla. — Marcell Ozuna finished last season with 39 home runs and 104 RBIs over the regular season. For the first time in his career, he played all 162 games.

Behind the numbers was an exhausted Big Bear.

“At the end of the year, yeah, when you’re close to having a goal and you put a little bit extra work and you try a little ...Read more

PEORIA, Ariz. — The Padres had a real leadoff batter in 2024 for the first time in nearly two decades.

This year, maybe they will have the real Luis Arraez.

Arraez won his third consecutive batting title last season, and his .345 on-base percentage in 520 trips to the plate as the Padres’ leadoff hitter was the highest in 18 years by any ...Read more

PHOENIX — Everywhere Roki Sasaki looked Wednesday afternoon, curious eyes stared back at him.

Facing hitters for the first time in Dodgers camp this spring, and still just barely a month removed from his blockbuster signing with the team, the 23-year-old Japanese phenom was the center of attention at Camelback Ranch during the team's latest ...Read more

LAKELAND, Fla. — Tigers’ ace lefty Tarik Skubal isn’t big on setting individual statistical goals. Team wins are more his thing.

But there is one stat he sets his sights on: 200 innings.

“I plan on doing that the rest of my career,” he said. “This job is to pitch as deep into every single start I have and make the job hard on AJ (...Read more

PHOENIX — Troy Tulowitzki never knew Mookie Betts particularly well during their time together in Major League Baseball.

A five-time All-Star and two-time Gold Glove shortstop, Tulowitzki played against Betts plenty near the end of his 13-year career, overlapping with the start of Betts’ rise to stardom with the Boston Red Sox. The two had...Read more

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The city of Anaheim wanted out of the business of running a stadium. By selling Angel Stadium and the surrounding property to Angels owner Arte Moreno, the city would let him build a village atop the parking lots, and he could use the money he made to renovate or replace the ballpark.

In 2022, after the city killed the deal ...Read more

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — Now that the last of the big-name free agents have come off the board, here’s a question you do not often hear:

Did the Rays finish near the top in value added?

Sounds goofy, no? For all their success in recent seasons, the Rays rarely chase players on the free-agent market. Yet, between Ha-Seong Kim, Danny Jansen ...Read more

PHOENIX — For roughly a decade, Bruce Bochy counted on Buster Posey as the backbone of the San Francisco Giants on the field. Now, entering his third year as the Texas Rangers’ manager, Bochy will be tasked with beating the teams that Posey creates in San Francisco’s front office.

“I was excited for Buster,” Bochy said at Cactus ...Read more

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Chicago White Sox prospect Colson Montgomery formed an early bond with manager Will Venable over basketball.

Montgomery was a high school star in the sport in Indiana. Venable earned All-Ivy honors in basketball and baseball at Princeton.

“Someone brought it to my attention really quickly, so I had to look him up and ...Read more

LAKELAND, Fla.— Jackson Jobe stands up, adjusts his jersey and straightens his cap. With a mop of brown hair and a polite demeanor, he looks like a teen interviewing for a job, with the appropriate mix of humility and confidence.

The job is a spot in the Detroit Tigers rotation, and it’s open. Even as an elite pitching prospect, even as he ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — Back when Aaron Boone worked for ESPN, he became well acquainted with his new first baseman while living in the same Arizona neighborhood.

“When he was first having kids and my kids were little rugrats running around the park, Paul Goldschmidt, [then] with the Diamondbacks, used to step out and play a little bit with them,” ...Read more