PHILADELPHIA — The decision was looming in June 2021 for the National League to adopt the designated hitter when Rick Wise thought that meant his night — pairing a no-hitter in 1971 with the Phillies with two homers — would never be matched.

“If they do the DH, no one is ever going to break the record,” Wise said. “Maybe it might ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — The most interesting candidate to succeed Mike Shildt as Padres manager, at this seemingly early stage?

It’s Ruben Niebla, the team’s pitching coach of the past four years.

I’m surprised to have reached that opinion. Niebla has never managed, nor did he play in the big leagues, and now wouldn’t be the time for a Padres ...Read more

TORONTO — In a game defined by numbers, what they mean, how they’re analyzed, dissected down into percentages and decimal points that help tell the story, these are now the two sitting directly in front of the Seattle Mariners.

48 and 27.

Forty-eight seasons to date of going without, while every other franchise currently in Major League ...Read more

They are still recovering in Detroit after the Tigers’ crushing Division Series loss to the Seattle Mariners when it was reported the other day they will very likely be losing their best player, Tarik Skubal.

The disheartening news, which came via a report from Skubal’s agent Scott Boras’ principal media operative, was that there is a gap...Read more

A new frontrunner appears to have emerged for the Giants’ managerial vacancy — one that comes from a very unlikely source.

According to a report from The Athletic, the Giants are “closing in” on hiring 47-year-old University of Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello, who has transformed the Vols into one of the nation’s best collegiate ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Would the Dodgers have paid $4 million for Shohei Ohtani's production on Friday night?

"Maybe I would have," team owner Mark Walter said with a laugh.

Four million dollars is how much Ohtani has received from the Dodgers.

Not for the game. Not for the week. Not for the year.

For this year and last year.

Ohtani could be the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — You. And you. And you too.

You all ripped the Dodgers for standing fairly pat at the trade deadline, despite glaring holes in left field and in the bullpen. Heck, this was the headline in this very newspaper: "Andrew Friedman struck out on the Dodgers' urgent need for a closer."

How ever would the Dodgers return to the World ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — One minute he was burning through the top of the first inning with three flaming strikeouts.

Roar!

The next minute — literally — he was slugging through the bottom of the first by driving a ball 446 feet into the back of the right-field pavilion.

Roar! Roar!

Three innings later he was doing it again, striking out two ...Read more

SEATTLE — As Bryce Miller took a solitary stroll from the bullpen Friday, he did so with an anthem serenading his steps. It was 3:04 p.m., six minutes before the Mariners’ most massive game in recent memory. A sellout crowd at T-Mobile Park applauded his arrival. With a blond mustache and a gritty glare, the Texan looked like a lone outlaw, ...Read more

SEATTLE — Not since Boeing’s first plane took off from Lake Union 109 years ago has a flight had so many people in Seattle collectively holding their breath for so long.

The ball Cal Raleigh launched into the stratosphere at 5:48 p.m. Friday leading off the bottom of the eighth inning hung in the air for 6.7 seconds. It might as well have ...Read more

SEATTLE — Not since Boeing’s first plane took off from Lake Union 109 years ago has a flight had so many people in Seattle collectively holding their breath for so long.

The ball Cal Raleigh launched into the stratosphere at 5:48 p.m. Friday leading off the bottom of the eighth inning hung in the air for 6.7 seconds. It might as well have ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A smile started to form on the face of Dodgers closer Roki Sasaki as he described his disposition in the bullpen.

"Every time," Sasaki said, "I'm praying the starter will pitch a complete game."

The Japanese speakers in the Dodger Stadium interview room broke into laughter.

The overwhelming performance of the Dodgers in this ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani has done next to nothing in the National League Championship Series. The Dodgers could sweep their way into the World Series on Friday, with Ohtani as a footnote in the NLCS story, but baseball's best player has a flair for the dramatic.

Bring on the latest Babe Ruth comparison!

Baseball's contemporary two-way ...Read more

SEATTLE — The notion of clinching their first-ever berth in the World Series this week in front of their home fans ended Thursday evening. Any hasty plans for an overdone Champagne celebration at T-Mobile Park featuring Humpy the Salmon should have been incinerated after the drubbing they absorbed 24 hours earlier.

The now-questionable ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — The smart money is on José Alvarado, Justin Crawford and Kyle Schwarber being part of the Phillies roster next season.

Max Kepler, Ranger Suárez and, yes, Nick Castellanos are a different story.

Dave Dombrowski didn’t offer many direct answers in his year-end news conference Thursday, but the Phillies president did provide...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The Milwaukee Brewers have no chance.

Neither will the Seattle Mariners or Toronto Blue Jays.

The clear truth emerged from the Dodger Stadium shadows late Thursday amid a downtown-shaking roar of delight and disbelief.

This is ridiculous. This is simply ridiculous, how well the Dodgers are playing, how close the history books ...Read more

NEW YORK — With Aaron Boone and Brian Cashman hosting a postmortem press conference at Yankee Stadium on Thursday, the Yankees’ surgically repaired shortstop dominated the conversation.

Anthony Volpe, who underwent a left shoulder arthroscopic labral procedure on Tuesday after playing with a partially torn labrum for most of the 2025 season...Read more