PITTSBURGH — So much of baseball tends to be binary. Ball or strike. Out or safe. Win or loss.

Every once in a while, however, there are exceptions, seasons or events that don't fit one specific category.

What Bryan Reynolds did in 2025 feels that way, the Pirates' longest-tenured player producing numbers below his career standards ... but ...Read more

SEATTLE — On March 21, 2024, a fan was invited into the press box at the Peoria Sports Complex in Arizona. In a 3-3 spring training tie between the Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds, the young boy was tasked with playing public address announcer for the bottom of the fourth inning. After leadoff hitter Mitch Garver struck out, the boy ...Read more

BALTIMORE — The Orioles on Sunday evening are finalizing a deal to hire Craig Albernaz to be their next manager, according to multiple reports.

The team is set to hire Albernaz, who served as the Cleveland Guardians’ associate manager for the 2025 season, after a nearly monthlong managerial search following their disappointing 75-87 ...Read more

TORONTO — There might be no greater reminder of how far the Dodgers have come than the opposing pitcher on Monday. When the World Series returns to Dodger Stadium for Game 3, the starting pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays is scheduled to be Max Scherzer.

You may remember his brief tenure with the Dodgers four years ago, which ended with an ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — As the trial about whether the Angels should be held at least partially liable for the death of Tyler Skaggs enters its third week, major league officials are closely monitoring the proceedings.

The trial is scheduled to last several more weeks, and it would be premature for the league to determine what action it might take ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — The clock is ticking, and the stakes are high.

The Tampa Bay Rays are under new ownership, and the team’s zip code looms larger than its winning percentage. Everyone wants to know what Major League Baseball is thinking and where the Rays will eventually land.

If I may offer a suggestion:

Somewhere outside the gated community...Read more

TORONTO — Will Smith had no choice but to ease his way into the postseason.

After missing the final three weeks of the regular season with a hairline fracture in his right hand, the Dodgers’ All-Star catcher sat out of the National League wild-card series, then came off the bench late in the first two games against the Phillies in the ...Read more

TORONTO — Technically, Game 2 of the World Series started out as a pitchers’ duel.

But in reality, the Dodgers’ star-studded lineup was letting Kevin Gausman off the hook.

For six innings Saturday night, the Toronto Blue Jays’ right-hander had cruised against the Dodgers’ recently slumping lineup. Despite filling up the zone with a ...Read more

Will Smith stared into left field, then turned to ignite the Dodgers dugout with a scream.

Max Muncy stared into left field, then turned to quiet the stands with a finger on his lips.

Two batters, two reactions, one saved World Series.

Sputtering after making 17 consecutive outs, threatening to ruin more brilliance by Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the ...Read more

SEATTLE — At 8:33 p.m. Monday, minutes after his season sank below the waves, Bryan Woo was asked how he’d describe the legacy of the 2025 Mariners. Before he could answer, a scream rang through the quiet clubhouse, as an unknown teammate in an adjoining room summarized Seattle’s sorrow.

“That,” Woo said, nodding in the direction of ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Alec Bohm returned from the injured list last month and got eight hits in three games, giving rise to a theory: If Bohm stayed hot, maybe the star hitter who precedes him in the Phillies’ batting order would see more strikes.

“I doubt it,” Bryce Harper said.

Harper knew how that sounded, so he made clear that he meant no...Read more

Ouch, Canada.

The World Series wasn’t supposed to start like this. The Dodgers weren’t supposed to begin their inevitable championship march like this.

Even playing in their raucous Rogers Centre north of the border in the opener Friday, the cute little Toronto Blue Jays were supposed to be a far inferior team, eh?

Uhhhh …

For baseball...Read more

TORONTO — The Dodgers might be baseball’s version of the Death Star.

But in a raucous World Series opener on Friday night in Toronto, the Blue Jays found their exhaust vent, and triggered an implosion of galactic proportions.

In a nine-run sixth inning that had Rogers Centre rocking and the previously invincible Dodgers reeling, the Blue ...Read more

CHICAGO — Michael Jordan versus LeBron James is a debate so old school, you almost need to be in a barbershop chair to fully engage.

But anyone can be an instant expert on the latest great debate: Jordan versus Shohei Ohtani. Who had the greatest individual postseason performance in North American sports history?

Or is it Ohtani versus ...Read more

TORONTO — The Dodgers released their roster for the World Series on Friday, and a key piece in the bullpen was missing as expected.

Left-handed reliever Alex Vesia was not on the roster, as he and his wife handle what the club said on Thursday was “a deeply personal family matter.”

Vesia was also not placed on the Family Medical ...Read more

Tony Vitello will arrive in the Bay Area next week with a clear conscience. That doesn’t mean the Giants’ new manager didn’t agonize over his decision to leave the University of Tennessee.

“It was selfish,” Vitello told a handful of reporters, including from the Knoxville News Sentinel, this week in Knoxville. “It was personal ...Read more

TORONTO — The Dodgers released their roster for the World Series on Friday, and a key piece in the bullpen was missing as expected.

Left-handed reliever Alex Vesia was not on the roster, as he and his wife handle what the club said on Thursday was "a deeply personal family matter."

He is not expected to be placed on the Family Medical ...Read more

TORONTO — Trey Yesavage took a deep breath.

The noise around him was deafening. But he looked up at the top of the dugout and focused there for a beat. Then he put his hat on and he walked out to the mound to do his job.

“It was funny,” said Boyertown (Pa.) Area head baseball coach Todd Moyer, “because I’ve seen him do that lots of ...Read more

TORONTO — They did not come charging out of the dugout. They did not mob one another with a dog pile by the mound.

When the Dodgers won the National League pennant last week, their on-field celebration hardly looked any different than normal. What would be a frenzied moment of accomplishment for others, they seemed to treat as almost routine....Read more