Pete Rose died last Monday at age 83 and so ended one of the great American tragedies.

Throughout his entire playing career — which encompassed three batting titles, the Rookie of the Year award in 1963, a Most Valuable Player award in 1973, 10 200-hit seasons, a National League record 44-game hitting streak, four runs-scored titles, a .321 ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — For a first act, it was deafening madness.

For a first step, it was a dizzying leap.

For a Game 1, it was a Game 7, nine innings fought and cheered and inhaled by more than 53,000 bouncing fans as if it were the last bit of baseball on Earth.

Wait, the Dodgers are going to play more of these?

Yes, absolutely, at least 10 more...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The redemption tour began just as the Los Angeles Dodgers imagined it, back when they signed Shohei Ohtani to his $700 million contract in the offseason.

With one of the superstar’s thunderous, no-doubt, game-changing home run swings.

One inning into their postseason opener on Saturday night, the Dodgers were having nightmare...Read more

NEW YORK — After waiting 713 days for playoff baseball to return to the Bronx, a restless crowd filled the seats inside Yankee Stadium on Saturday night.

Long before Gerrit Cole threw the first pitch of the ALDS, Yankees fans booed the visiting Kansas City Royals, roared for Juan Soto’s pinstriped postseason debut, and thunderously declared...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — They couldn’t lose this one. Not with Zack Wheeler on the mound. Not with the opposition running on empty. Not with a home crowd that was ready to combust.

The Phillies squandered all of these advantages on Saturday evening. They did it in a fashion that can deflate a team for good. Seven of the best-pitched innings a team ...Read more

CLEVELAND – From the very first time the Detroit Tigers deployed an opener ahead of a bulk-innings reliever, manager AJ Hinch warned, it’s not always going to be perfect.

It picked a bad time to be critically imperfect.

The Cleveland Guardians capsized the strategy Saturday with a five-run barrage in the first inning and seized control of ...Read more

NEW YORK — The two broken fingers on Anthony Rizzo’s right hand no longer had a protective brace or a wrap around them when he spoke to reporters on Friday night, but that didn’t stop the first baseman from announcing that he will not be on the Yankees’ ALDS roster.

“I feel good. I feel a lot better than I did six days ago,” said ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Freddie Freeman prides himself on his durability, the Dodgers first baseman having played all 162 games twice and 157 games or more six other times, a resolve that has required him to play through numerous injuries throughout his 15-year career, including a broken right-middle finger in August.

But Freeman has never fought ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The first laugh line of this National League Division Series came on Friday afternoon, when San Diego Padres manager Mike Shildt was asked how his club planned to attack Shohei Ohtani.

“I’m not telling you,” Shildt responded with a chuckle, one reciprocated by the mass of media members before him at his pre-NLDS news ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — Amid the rumble and roar of Petco Park after the Padres stiff-armed the Braves in a wild-card playoff series Wednesday, Sheel Seidler paused in a tunnel next to the dugout. The emotions hit in flashes, blurring into something unexpected, knotting up both her head and heart.

There was a complicated jumble of happiness, relief and ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — You can buy an autographed baseball in a million places, but you can buy a $75 autographed baseball from a U.S. Senate candidate in one place.

The candidate, of course, is Steve Garvey, who is a household name in California not because of a life spent in politics, but because of a distinguished career for the Dodgers and San ...Read more

NEW YORK — For most of the past decade, Michael Wacha has been a dependable MLB pitcher.

But against Aaron Judge, the Royals right-hander has been at another level.

Judge, the AL MVP favorite, enters the Yankees‘ ALDS matchup with Kansas City just 1 for 18 with 11 strikeouts and three walks in his career against Wacha, the Royals’ Game 1...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Shockingly, J.D. Martinez has never faced Zack Wheeler.

Of the hundreds of pitchers Martinez has faced in his 14 years in the big leagues, Wheeler, the former Mets right-hander, isn’t one of them. That could change Saturday when the Philadelphia Phillies and the Mets begin the NLDS at Citizens Bank Park.

Wheeler, who signed ...Read more

NEW YORK — Gerrit Cole flashed a smile.

On the eve of Game 1 of the ALDS, the Yankees ace considered his answer to a short, but not necessarily simple, question: What would winning the World Series mean to him?

“I’ve been trying to do that for a long time,” Cole, 34, said with a laugh. “That would be great. That would be amazing. We�...Read more

DETROIT — Here's a position-to-position breakdown of the Tigers-Guardians American League Division Series, which gets under way at 1 p.m. Saturday in Cleveland:

Catcher

If you haven't paid much attention to the Tigers, it's easy to dismiss catcher Jake Rogers, because of the barely .600 OPS. But he's a big part of the heart and soul of this ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — This time, they aren't overthinking. This time, they don't have a choice.

The Dodgers will start Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the opening game of their National League Division Series against the San Diego Padres on Saturday but not necessarily because they trust him more than Jack Flaherty.

In the regular season, Yamamoto never once ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When the Royals signed Bobby Witt Jr. to an 11-year contract worth nearly $300 million in February, the superstar shortstop noted that a “pretty fired up” team investor had texted him to say that he “can’t wait to see what you do for this city and what’s to come.”

Never mind that said investor, Patrick Mahomes, ...Read more

NEW YORK — As Bobby Witt Jr. talked to a room full of reporters at Yankee Stadium on Friday, a larger-than-life Derek Jeter, pictured in a blown-up Sports Illustrated cover hanging on the wall, smiled in the young shortstop’s direction.

As Witt spoke, he revealed that “Jeter was my guy” growing up, even though he rooted for the Red Sox ...Read more

NEW YORK — The Mets pulled yet another rabbit out of their hat.

In a stunning turn of events, manager Carlos Mendoza announced on Friday that Kodai Senga would be their Game 1 starter against the Phillies in the NLDS on Saturday. A team that seemingly can do no wrong at the moment just got their ace back.

The 31-year-old has thrown just 5 1/...Read more