OAKLAND, Calif. -- Just as Seren Smith Wheelwright walked to the microphone to sing the national anthem, Bruce Maxwell, his back facing the crowd and his face toward the flag out in left field, dropped down to a knee on the Coliseum dirt. He covered the left side of his chest with the classic A's green and gold hat held in his right hand. To his...Read more

HOUSTON -- The Major League Baseball season is a beast, a monstrosity unlike anything else in sports. For at least eight months, there is almost always a game the next day. That truth offers unceasing opportunities to avenge defeat, constant chances to spoil victory and, at the end, a particular sense of torment.

After their sixth straight loss...Read more

CHICAGO -- Eighteen days ago, Alex Gordon finished 0 for 4 in a blowout loss in Detroit. His batting average sank to .196, matching its low point since July 19. His slugging percentage was a dreadful .282. He owned just five home runs in more than five months.

To have a starting left fielder performing at such an offensive level represented a ...Read more

ATLANTA -- Johan Camargo's stock soared earlier this season, and the Braves rookie provided another reminder why Saturday night.

Camargo's two-out, two-run pinch-hit double in the eighth inning lifted the Braves to a 4-2 win against the Phillies in the penultimate home game of the season at SunTrust Park.

Julio Teheran pitched seven solid ...Read more

DETROIT -- If the Twins will be playing deep into the postseason, surely they can expect to face starting pitchers that tie them up for most of the game.

That happened Saturday night against the last-place Tigers, when left-hander Matt Boyd gave up a fluke run to the first batter of the game, then nearly shut down the Twins from there.

But the...Read more

BALTIMORE -- Before their biggest home crowd in a month at Camden Yards, the Orioles played out an array of inevitable outcomes Saturday night that combine to explain plenty about their lost 2017 season.

With a 9-6 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays before an announced 42,802 fans Saturday, combined with a Minnesota Twins win, the Orioles were ...Read more

PITTSBURGH -- In short, it was the worst of 160 starts in Lance Lynn's big-league career. And it scarcely could have come at a worse time.

The St. Louis Cardinals' righthander failed to last the first inning Saturday night as the Pittsburgh Pirates laid into him for eight runs and then played out an 11-6 victory, costing the Cardinals position ...Read more

OAKLAND, Calif. -- There's hitters going on hot streaks to begin their careers and then there's what Matt Olson has accomplished, which is now just ridiculous.

Olson blasted yet another home run in Friday's 4-1 victory over the Texas Rangers in front of 13,848 fans at the Coliseum. The two-run bomb came in the second inning off an 0-2 pitch ...Read more

SEATTLE--The team that had lost six consecutive games and looked lifeless meets the team that had won 27 of 28 games and looked unstoppable.

What happens?

Well, baseball.

Of course, the Seattle Mariners, a team with a pulse near flatline, and on the verge of mathematical elimination beats the hottest team in baseball, the Cleveland Indians, ...Read more

SAN DIEGO--Jordan Lyles was perfect through four innings Friday at Petco Park. Considering it was his fourth start of the season, and given how the first three had gone, it was an unexpected development.

An untimely interruption would mar a largely positive appearance for the San Diego Padres right-hander. Nolan Arenado clubbed a deep drive ...Read more

CHICAGO -- Mike Moustakas dropped his bat to the dirt and shrugged his shoulders, his feet still planted in the dirt of the batter's box. He pulled his helmet off his head and looked out toward the outfield at Guaranteed Rate Park.

It was the top of the fifth inning on Friday, and Moustakas had just ripped a baseball toward first base with ...Read more

ATLANTA -- The last time the Braves opened a game with six consecutive hits, they went on to win a World Series. That was 1995, when they did the six-hit first-inning thing on Opening Day against the Giants.

The Braves pulled off the feat Friday night in a 7-2 win against the Phillies at SunTrust Park, where Kurt Suzuki had his third two-homer ...Read more

HOUSTON -- This is nearly it. The Angels' postseason dreams can sustain no more body blows. They lost again on Friday night, fell another game out of the wild-card race, and are on the verge of elimination, not mathematically but practically.

Houston beat them, 3-0, before 34,127 enthused fans at Minute Maid Park. In a virtual postseason ...Read more

Derek Jeter doesn't even own the Marlins yet, but he already has informed the team that he plans to fire two special assistants who are in Baseball's Hall of Fame (Andre Dawson and Tony Perez), the manager who led them to the 2003 World Series championship (Jack McKeon) and the player known as Mr. Marlin (Jeff Conine), according to two MLB ...Read more

BALTIMORE -- It remains to be seen whether Ubaldo Jimenez gets another chance to make a good last impression in the waning days of his four-year career in Baltimore, but Friday night's performance against the Tampa Bay Rays certainly didn't qualify.

Jimenez pitched a perfect first inning and then allowed six runs on eight hits before he could ...Read more

DETROIT -- If the Twins get to where they want to go, right-hander Kyle Gibson is going to have a hand in the journey.

And that seemed unlikely earlier this season, when he made not just one, but two visits to Class AAA Rochester.

It took a while for things to click, but the Twins are in position to close out the second wild-card spot. And ...Read more

PITTSBURGH -- Jedd Gyorko's ninth-inning, pinch-hit single off Pittsburgh relief ace Felipe Rivero tied the score, and the go-ahead run scored on a fielder's choice grounder as the Cardinals, two outs from a potentially crushing loss, rallied to beat the Pirates, 4-3.

Stephen Piscotty doubled off left-hander Rivero to start the ninth and was ...Read more

MILWAUKEE -- The three-plus hours Javier Baez spends on the baseball field alleviates some of the stress of coping with the damage caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria to his native Puerto Rico.

"These couple of days I've been doing my best to stay in the game, but really my mind has been over there to find out about my family and how they are ...Read more