FORT WORTH, Texas — Pete Rose played the game as well as anyone who ever lived, and yet his inability to “play the game” prevented him from reaching the one place he sought above all others.

ABC News confirmed that The Hit King died Monday at the age of 83 in Nevada. Pete always felt like one of those guys who may just live forever.

...Read more

ATLANTA — Few expected the Mets to be in this position last summer when they traded away Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander and every other player they weren’t committed to past 2023. The Mets were left for dead when they fell to 11 games under .500 in late May, and left without an ace all season.

The odds weren’t great this season, and yet ...Read more

ATLANTA — Charlie Morton, who has seen it all in baseball, believes people often make assumptions based on broad narratives. So the fact that Chris Sale, plagued by injuries over the last few seasons, has returned to form as one of baseball’s elite pitchers? It is not your traditional underdog comeback story because, well, he has always been...Read more

ATLANTA — An eventful Monday at Truist Park ended with the one result the Braves needed: After losing an 8-7 thriller in the first game, the Braves defeated the Mets, 3-0, in the second contest to qualify for the postseason.

Here are five takeaways from Monday:

— 1. The Braves finished the regular season 89-73, earning the No. 5 seed. This...Read more

LAS VEGAS — The Tigers were 1,000 to 1 long shots at the Westgate SuperBook in August to win the American League pennant.

Detroit is now 10-1 to win the pennant after going 31-13 down the stretch to finish 86-76 and earn its first playoff berth in 10 years.

“We don’t have significant World Series liability. Ours lies with the Tigers for ...Read more

DETROIT — We’ve never seen a team like this. Truth is, neither has major-league baseball.

The Tigers have a roster virtually devoid of playoff experience, a pitching rotation virtually devoid of starters, and a transcendent star virtually devoid of ego. They’re in the playoffs or the first time in 10 years and about to face the Houston ...Read more

ST. LOUIS — After overseeing a "reset" of the Cardinals' player development pipeline through 2025, Chaim Bloom will take over as president of baseball operations ahead of the 2026 season.

Bloom signed a five-year contract with the Cardinals as he transitions from an advisor role to eventually take over for John Mozeliak, chairman Bill DeWitt ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — Former Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, a man who once said he would bet on two cockroaches racing across a kitchen floor, detested Pete Rose’ lifetime ban from Major League Baseball.

“Major League Baseball disgraced itself, the way they treated Pete Rose,” Goodman said Monday afternoon after learning Rose had died at age 83. ...Read more

ATLANTA — No Ronald Acuña Jr. No Spencer Strider. No Austin Riley. No A.J. Minter. Tons of other injuries throughout the course of the season.

And yet, the Braves have clinched a postseason berth for the seventh consecutive year.

With a 3-0 win over the Mets in the second game of Monday’s doubleheader, the Braves locked in a date with the...Read more

LOS ANGELES — As a boy, Bryce Harper loved watching the All-Star Game, with the game's best players taking the field in their team's uniform.

"If we could change back to that," Harper said on the day before this year's All-Star Game, "I think it would be really cool."

The next day, commissioner Rob Manfred said he would think about it. On ...Read more

Yes, Farhan Zaidi had to go.

And, of course, Buster Posey is a San Francisco Giants legend.

But what the Giants did on Monday reeks of desperation.

Yes, hiring Posey to replace Zaidi as the team’s top baseball decision maker is a great bit of public relations — everyone loves Buster — but we don’t do PR here.

PR doesn’t win games. ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — After six seasons, Farhan Zaidi is done leading the Giants’ baseball operations.

The new guy? You might have heard of him.

In a release Monday morning, less than 24 hours after they ended a disappointing 80-82 campaign, the Giants announced the organization decided to “part ways” with Zaidi and replace him with longtime...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The plot has thickened over the fate of Shohei Ohtani's 50th home run ball as another person is claiming legal ownership of the piece of baseball history.

Joseph Davidov, a 32-year-old Broward County, Fla., resident, filed a lawsuit Friday in Florida's 11th Judicial Circuit Court stating that he is the rightful owner of the ...Read more

BOSTON — As promising as the Red Sox have looked at times, and as much progress as their young players have made, the club ultimately hasn’t been able to escape the gravitational pull of .500.

Fittingly, the Red Sox concluded what has been a thoroughly middling season in middling fashion, beating the Tampa Bay Rays 3-1 to finish exactly 81-...Read more

The Kansas City Royals finished the 2024 regular season with a 4-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Sunday at Truist Park.

Now the Royals will turn their attention to the Major League Baseball playoffs: They learned Sunday that they will face the Baltimore Orioles in the American League wild-card round.

The postseason series starts Tuesday. ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — The season is over. The work must begin.

With a rookie-record outing from Michael McGreevy, the St. Louis Cardinals completed the 2024 regular season with a 6-1 victory Sunday afternoon against the Giants at Oracle Park. The finality of the season was a formality that brings them to one of the more significant junctures under...Read more

MILWAUKEE — Plastic sheets have been hanging from the ceiling of the visitor’s clubhouse at American Family Field all weekend. The champagne and beer were there somewhere as well, but never put on ice.

It will all travel with the Mets to Atlanta. The Amazins’ have a chance to clinch a postseason berth with one win over the Atlanta Braves ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — The Baltimore Orioles won 91 games this season, and for much of the second half, it felt like a disappointment.

At any point in the previous 40 years, that sentence would’ve been absurd to write about this franchise. It’s even more so considering, three seasons ago, the rebuilding Orioles lost 110 games — their third time ...Read more