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K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS

No longer anonymous, John Seidler takes over Padres with vow to 'continue trajectory towards the World Series championship'

Sports / Baseball /

PEORIA, Ariz. — John Seidler leaned back and shifted his glance upward while appearing to not be looking at anything.

He sighed.

It had just been pointed out to him that it seemed the situation was clear — that the beloved Padres chairman was being replaced by a man who did not ever want to run a baseball team and under normal ...Read more

Christian Petersen/Getty Images North America/TNS

Analysis: Why Dodgers don't necessarily need Shohei Ohtani to pitch to start the season

Sports / Baseball /

LOS ANGELES — Twenty-eight days later, the Dodgers have already packed up from Camelback Ranch and embarked on their defense of last year's World Series championship.

Their first stop: Japan, with the team flying out on Wednesday ahead of its season-opening two-game series against the Chicago Cubs next week at the Tokyo Dome.

Because of that...Read more

-/JAPAN POOL/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Plenty of fanfare awaits Cubs for anticipated Tokyo Series vs. Dodgers. Here's what to know.

Sports / Baseball /

In the week separating his final spring training start and taking the mound at the Tokyo Dome, Chicago Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga has plenty of time to envision how he might attack the first hitter to open the regular season in his home country.

The anticipated matchup between the Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers will feature plenty of fanfare ...Read more

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Bill Shaikin: The A's promised tourists for Nevada. Does Las Vegas risk pricing them out?

Sports / Baseball /

LAS VEGAS — In the days leading up to last month's Super Bowl, something curious happened in Las Vegas: The price of a hotel room crashed. In some of the fancier hotels, you could get a room for under $100. In some of the older hotels, you could get a room for under $50.

It was almost as if the Las Vegas of old had returned, the one where you...Read more

Jefferee Woo/Tampa Bay Times/TNS

John Romano: If stadium deal is dead, it's time for Stuart Sternberg to sell Rays

Sports / Baseball /

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — We never wanted any of them to leave.

Not Longo and not CC. Not Price, not Snell, not Kiermaier, not Zobrist.

All of the greatest players in Rays history have eventually been traded or walked away because of money issues. It’s the reality of the game, and the ramifications of a market that has always been near the ...Read more

Jason Mackey: Why Pirates' Henry Davis has struggled and what important changes await in 2025

Sports / Baseball /

BRADENTON, Fla. — The differences in Henry Davis' work at the plate so far this spring have been hard to miss. He's more upright in his stance. His bat is quicker through the zone, and he's been focused on hitting the ball to all fields.

Great stuff, all of it. But the biggest change I've seen with Davis isn't physical, at least when it comes...Read more

Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Hyeseong Kim, Bobby Miller optioned as Dodgers reassign players to minor league camp

Sports / Baseball /

LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers will board their charter flight for Japan early Wednesday but as of Tuesday night, they hadn't released a list of the 31 players who will be on that plane.

Manager Dave Roberts wouldn't even say if he was taking 16 pitchers and 15 field players or whether it was the other way around.

"It's one of those two ...Read more

Jim McIsaac/Getty Images North America/TNS

Brian Cashman talks Yankees' approach to filling Gerrit Cole's rotation spot

Sports / Baseball /

NEW YORK — When Gerrit Cole left Tampa for a Los Angeles visit with Dr. Neal ElAttrache on Monday, Brian Cashman said he “fully expected” a Tommy John diagnosis.

That came to fruition, with Cole scheduling surgery for Tuesday. Cashman, speaking to the YES Network, wasn’t sure if Cole was getting the newer internal brace version of the ...Read more

Christian Petersen/Getty Images North America/TNS

As Dodgers break camp, Roki Sasaki continues to shine with another scoreless outing

Sports / Baseball /

PHOENIX — It felt like the last day of school at Camelback Ranch on Tuesday as the Dodgers cleaned out lockers and prepared to break camp, with some heading to Tokyo for the first two games of the season and the others moving over to the minor league complex.

Dozens of Dodger blue duffel bags filled with gloves and bats littered the carpeted ...Read more

Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trying to buy that NSFW hat for the Angels, Rangers and Astros? You may be out of luck.

Sports / Baseball /

LOS ANGELES — A unique, new line of MLB hats for fans displays a team's uniform logo with the same team's hat logo superimposed on top of it in the center.

Sounds kind of fun, right?

Maybe not so much for three American League West teams — the Angels, Texas Rangers and Houston Astros — whose New Era Overlap 59FIFTY caps garnered so much ...Read more

Ivy Ceballo/Tampa Bay Times/TNS

John Romano: A move to the pen turned his world around. And turned a lot of heads.

Sports / Baseball /

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — Forget the three seasons at Texas Tech. Forget the award he received as the Tampa Bay Rays' minor-league pitcher of the year in 2022, and forget all the starts he made across four seasons from rookie ball to Triple A.

Here’s what you need to know about Mason Montgomery today:

Since becoming a relief pitcher last ...Read more

Jason Mackey: Pirates' first-base situation has been wild. It would be nice if it matters.

Sports / Baseball /

LAKELAND, Fla. — It's the subject of baseball's greatest comedy skit, as well as something that has framed a sizable portion of spring training for the Pirates thus far: Who's on first?

An entire team, evidently.

Through 16 Grapefruit League games (after Sunday), the Pirates have used nine players at first base while attempting to fill a ...Read more

Yong Kim/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

David Murphy: Otto Kemp is the best story in Phillies camp, and a relevant one

Sports / Baseball /

PHILADELPHIA — The best story of Phillies spring training almost never began.

Three years before Otto Kemp crossed home plate on a Bryce Harper base hit on Sunday afternoon, the 25-year-old utility man sat in a living room in San Clemente, Calif., and watched his career flash before his eyes.

There were multiple flashes, really. Six-hundred-...Read more

Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Bill Plaschke: Dave Roberts is Dodgers' real MVP? New contract removes all doubt.

Sports / Baseball /

LOS ANGELES — Nearly a decade ago, I was tipped off that an outlier had interviewed for the vacant Dodgers managerial job.

It was the first time anybody had connected his name to the job, yet, what the heck, the surprise candidate seemed like a good fit.

"If the Dodgers want a combination of old-school hardball and new-thinking smartball, ...Read more

Jim McIsaac/Getty Images North America/TNS

Yankees' Gerrit Cole to undergo Tommy John surgery, won't pitch in 2025

Sports / Baseball /

NEW YORK — The Yankees’ worst nightmare has come true, though there were certainly signs that foreshadowed their most devastating injury yet this spring.

Their ace, Gerrit Cole, will undergo Tommy John surgery on Tuesday after seeking multiple opinions on his right elbow. That means the 34-year-old will miss the entire 2025 season and then...Read more

Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Dave Roberts agrees to 4-year contract extension with Dodgers

Sports / Baseball /

LOS ANGELES — The season will mark one full decade for Dave Roberts as manager of the Dodgers, a decorated run in which Roberts has led the team to eight division titles, four National League pennants, two World Series titles and more regular-season wins than any other franchise in baseball.

On Monday, Roberts added one more distinction to ...Read more

California judge postpones trial for ex-MLB pitcher accused of murder in Tahoe-area shooting

Sports / Baseball /

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Placer Superior Court judge on Monday postponed a murder trial for a former Major League Baseball player accused of shooting his wife’s parents at their Lake Tahoe-area home.

Daniel Serafini, 51, is accused in a reported burglary at the home of the married couple, 70-year-old Gary Spohr and 68-year-old Wendy Wood.

...Read more

Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Paul Sullivan: Cubs -- back as NL Central favorites again -- will only go as far as their bullpen takes them

Sports / Baseball /

CHICAGO — The Chicago Cubs enter 2025 as the consensus favorites to win the National League Central, thanks to the addition of Kyle Tucker and a general lack of offseason spending by their division counterparts.

While it should be a given considering the team’s many resources and big-market status, this is a new feeling for some in the ...Read more

Harry How/Getty Images North America/TNS

With increased emphasis on versatility, MLB players need the right gloves to make it work

Sports / Baseball /

LOS ANGELES — Tim Anderson pulled an extra-large glove off the top shelf of his locker in the Angels clubhouse, slipped it on his left hand and began pounding his right fist into the massive pocket.

"It feels weird," he admitted.

Anderson has started 946 regular-season games in the major leagues, all but two at shortstop. But six seasons ...Read more

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Jason Mackey: How Tommy Pham has challenged younger Pirates to correct fundamental mistakes

Sports / Baseball /

LAKELAND, Fla. — It hasn’t taken Tommy Pham long to make his present felt around the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The home run he hit Sunday during a 5-3 loss to the Detroit Tigers at Joker Marchant Stadium was fun, sure. Fastball away, 97 mph, other way out to right.

Even the throw he made to nail Detroit right fielder Kerry Carpenter trying to ...Read more