NEW YORK — Shohei Ohtani was hitting with one arm.

Limited by the left shoulder he partially dislocated just four days earlier, Ohtani was at this point more or less a decoy, which, coincidentally or not, is the name of his world-famous dog.

Didn't matter.

He wanted to hit. So when Tommy Edman drew a walk in what turned out to be a decisive...Read more

NEW YORK — Magic Johnson smiled, because of course he did. It is the smile that won over a city. It is the smile that eased our anxieties over the decades.

In 1980, the kid smiled and told Los Angeles he would lead the Lakers to a championship on a night without Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. In 2012, the old man smiled and told Los Angeles he would ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Alex Kirilloff, once considered the top prospect in the Twins’ organization, announced Thursday he is retiring from the sport after four injury-plagued seasons in the major leagues.

Kirilloff, who will turn 27 on Nov. 9, played 249 career games with the Twins but never more than 88 games in a season. He dealt with a complex ...Read more

NEW YORK — Aaron Judge’s difficult October came to a miserable end on Wednesday, as the Yankees’ superstar found himself at the center of a game-changing, calamitous fifth inning in Game 5 of the World Series.

With the Yankees fighting to keep their improbable championship aspirations alive, the presumptive American League MVP finally hit...Read more

ATLANTA — Around 14 hours after the World Series ended, the Braves made the first notable move of MLB’s offseason.

The Braves on Thursday traded Jorge Soler to the Los Angeles Angels for right-hander Griffin Canning. A key point: The Braves did not send the Angels any money, which means the team is off the hook for the $26 million Soler ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Job finished.

It's a succinct way of phrasing what the World Series-champion Dodgers accomplished this season, after years of regular-season dominance followed by postseason disappointment.

It's also appropriate because of the Mamba Mentality they showed along the way.

Vanessa Bryant posted the phrase "Job finished" on her ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — TV star Wendell Pierce says he will remember the fifth and final game of the 2024 World Series — but for all the wrong reasons.

In a series of tweets Wednesday, the "Jack Ryan" and "The Wire" actor condemned the unruly behavior and "obnoxious fans" that spoiled his night at Yankee Stadium, where the Los Angeles Dodgers ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Sometimes, you have to play the cards you are dealt. Other times, you have to play the cards you’ve dealt yourself. The Phillies will likely find themselves in that second category this offseason. Their cards are face up in front of them. Their chip stack is in the middle of the table. As Steve Cohen bids on the aces, John ...Read more

NEW YORK — In the biggest start of his Yankees career, Gerrit Cole appeared to be on his way to the performance of a lifetime.

With the Yankees facing elimination in Game 5 of the World Series, Cole retired the Dodgers’ first eight batters Wednesday night in the Bronx and held the loaded Los Angeles lineup hitless through four innings.

The...Read more

NEW YORK — The silent somber Bronx was suddenly bathed in joyous dancing blue, a screaming scrum leaping and bouncing and hugging into history.

The Dodgers did it. They really did it.

The hallowed New York Yankees stood frozen in their dugout, stripped of their aura and bludgeoned at their essence, painfully demolished pinstripe by ...Read more

NEW YORK — It had felt so close, yet remained so difficult to cement.

For more than a decade, the Dodgers had aimed for more than just regular-season success. More than just repeated trips to the postseason. More than just a lone, COVID-bubble championship in a pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

This, as president of baseball operations Andrew ...Read more

After 36 years, the Dodgers have a date for a World Series championship parade: It's Friday.

The Dodgers last paraded with Los Angeles in 1988. The Dodgers won the World Series championship in 2020, but public health protections surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic prevented a parade then.

On Wednesday, the Dodgers defeated the New York Yankees, ...Read more

NEW YORK — When the Yankees’ 2023 campaign ended with the regular season in Kansas City, Mo., Aaron Judge and teammates stared out at Kauffman Stadium’s field.

By not making the playoffs, they knew they had failed in epic fashion. And so they lingered, delaying the start of an early offseason for a few dejected moments.

“I think that�...Read more

NEW YORK — In many ways, Aaron Judge‘s defense in center field was a microcosm of Wednesday night’s Game 5 of the World Series between the Yankees and Dodgers.

When the center fielder made a jumping catch into the left-center field wall to rob Freddie Freeman of extra bases in the fourth inning, the Yankees were cruising with a flight to ...Read more

NEW YORK — Alex Verdugo knows his first season with the Yankees didn’t go as well as many had hoped. He’d like to get a shot at improvement.

If not next season, then perhaps down the road.

An impending free agent, Verdugo discussed his future before Game 5 of the World Series on Wednesday. With the Yankees facing the threat of ...Read more

CHICAGO — Will Venable has been a first-base coach, a third-base coach, a bench coach and associate manager at the major league level.

All that experience — from his time with the Cubs, Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers — has led Venable to the South Side.

The Chicago White Sox will name Venable as their new manager, a source confirmed to...Read more

Baseball’s GM meetings start next Tuesday.

Will the Giants have one to send?

For all the haste of Buster Posey’s takeover as the Giants’ director of baseball operations, the opposite has been true when it comes to hiring the person who will actually build the Giants.

It’s a big decision — likely the most important one Posey will ...Read more