CHICAGO -- Alex Wood could not contain Chicago Cubs second baseman Javier Baez, the lineup could not defuse the effective wildness of Chicago starting pitcher Jake Arrieta and the Los Angeles Dodgers could not topple Cubs closer Wade Davis as they missed a chance to sweep in the National League Championship Series, falling 3-2 in Game 4 in front...Read more

NEW YORK -- This week, Dallas Keuchel mentioned two particular joys of his job as a Houston Astros starting pitcher. One is when he takes the mound for the first inning, his nerves cresting within him. He likes to take one deep breath and soak in the stadium's atmosphere. The other is when he warms up in the opposing bullpen and hears alcohol-...Read more

CHICAGO -- After battling first-half fatigue, succumbing to the Brewers in a three-game sweep in mid-September and overcoming the Nationals in a draining five-game division series, the Cubs' 2017 season is on subsisting on fumes.

The ominous task of repeating as World Series champion reached the critical stage after the deeper and refreshed ...Read more

CHICAGO -- Yu Darvish stepped outside the batter's box as his eyes registered the location of the last pitch. It was a fastball from Cubs reliever Carl Edwards Jr., like the three pitches before it, and it was not a strike, like the three before it. Darvish roared and chucked his bat into the grass. The trajectory of the lumber was not majestic ...Read more

A new terminology has entered baseball vernacular: "bullpenning."

It started with a phone call ... to the bullpen.

Cubs fans got a major dose of it during the team's run to the 2016 World Series title, especially when manager Joe Maddon pulled starter Kyle Hendricks with two outs in the fifth inning of Game 7 and his team leading 5-1.

In the ...Read more

NEW YORK -- Three pitches into Monday's fourth inning, Aaron Judge galloped onto Yankee Stadium's warning track and hurtled into its right-field wall to retrieve a deep drive. As ball met glove, Judge's oversized torso smashed into an advertisement that foretold the night's events.

GREATNESS AWAITS, it read.

In the bottom of the inning, Judge ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- Carl Edwards Jr. had lost his way.

But panicking wasn't an option.

The Cubs relief pitcher calmly wandered the maze of hallways outside the team's clubhouse at Dodger Stadium on Saturday night after a 5-2 loss in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.

He was looking for an exit.

"It's not easy to remember," he said...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- On the 29th anniversary of Kirk Gibson's walk-off blast, the Los Angeles Dodgers added another chapter to franchise lore when Justin Turner thundered a game-winning, three-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning to give the Dodgers a 4-1 victory in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series against the Chicago Cubs.

...Read more

Cubs manager Joe Maddon said he will meet with Major League Baseball executive Joe Torre before Sunday's Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.

Maddon said Torre reached out to him following Maddon's ejection in Saturday's night's Game 1 after Maddon voiced his displeasure with MLB's obstruction rule, in which catcher Willson ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- Fatigue didn't set in Saturday night for the Cubs as much as another outbreak of control problems, an ineffective bullpen and a dormant offense.

By the time manager Joe Maddon released some frustration in the form of an ejection, the Dodgers were putting the finishing touches on their 5-2 victory in Game 1 of the National League ...Read more