Two months ago, during the final week of the season after the Chicago Cubs’ tenuous hold on a playoff spot had slipped away, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer looked across the field in Atlanta at the standard they were trying to reach.

The Braves, winners of six consecutive division titles and a World Series championship in that ...Read more

Jim Leyland, who guided the Marlins to their first World Series title as part of his 22-year career as an MLB manager, has been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

He will be inducted as part of the Class of 2024 in Cooperstown on July 21.

Leyland’s selection, announced Sunday night, came via Contemporary Baseball Era Committee ...Read more

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The argument about where to build a new baseball stadium was long, often feisty, but clearly necessary.

The negotiations about cost, revenues, infrastructure, real estate, amenities, history, housing and all the other details that creep up in a project of this size were extensive and, presumably, contentious but also ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers and reliever Joe Kelly are nearing a deal to keep the right-hander in Los Angeles, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who wasn't authorized to speak publicly.

A longtime fan favorite and member of the club's 2020 World Series-winning team, Kelly was reacquired by the Dodgers at the trade deadline ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — About a month into free agency, a de facto waiting game is underway — for both the Dodgers, and many other clubs around Major League Baseball.

In what has been a quiet offseason around the league, the Dodgers have been no exception; yet to orchestrate much of a ripple, let alone any discernible splash.

Instead, with the ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Chase Utley never stopped running as he rounded third base, but he also never stopped thinking. He played the game like a cyborg, from the way he studied the opposition in the hours before first pitch to the way he never shied away from an inside fastball to the way he moved on the basepaths. Everything had a purpose. His wheels...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — I hate to be that guy. But, here we go again. Except, it’s different now.

For years, there was an easy rebuttal to the city of Philadelphia’s constant ooh-la-la-ing over the thought of Mike Trout in a Phillies uniform. Why would the Angels trade the best player in modern history while he is in the midst of an unprecedented ...Read more

About this time last year, Bob Melvin gussied himself up in a black blazer, took a seat at one of two tables set up in a nondescript hotel ballroom a stone’s throw from the San Diego waterfront and answered questions on the state of the Padres, fulfilling the manager’s media obligations at the annual gathering of the baseball world.

Next ...Read more

NEW YORK — Luis Severino is moving across town. The former Yankee has agreed to a one-year, $13 million deal with the New York Mets, a source confirmed on Wednesday. The right-handed pitcher spent the past eight seasons with the Bombers and will join new manager Carlos Mendoza in his departure to Flushing.

The two-time All-Star has had a ...Read more

CHICAGO — Andre Dawson never has let the odds bother him.

The former Chicago Cubs slugger overcame 12 knee surgeries during his 21-year, Hall of Fame career, and he famously offered the Cubs a blank contract as a free agent in spring training of 1987, telling the team to fill in the blanks with however much they felt comfortable paying him.

...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The only knock on Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the most highly regarded pitcher on the free-agent market besides Shohei Ohtani, is that he's short and light at 5-foot-10 and 175 pounds.

His reputation, however, is huge and his trophy case crammed with heavy metal after winning his third consecutive most valuable player award Tuesday on ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — For the past couple of years, as the Oakland Athletics flirted with Las Vegas, the comparison became painfully obvious: On any given night, the major league team in Oakland could be outdrawn by the minor league team in Las Vegas.

For 2024, we present this delicious possibility: On any given night, the major league team in ...Read more

The Dodgers have yet to make a major roster addition during the opening month of Major League Baseball's offseason. But on Monday, they ensured another important piece of their 2023 team would be back in the fold in 2024.

The club is nearing a new one-year contract with outfielder Jason Heyward worth $9 million pending a physical, according to ...Read more

More than a year after Sandy Alderson stepped down from his role as team president, the Mets have finally hired someone to run the business side of the club. M. Scott Havens, the former CEO of Bloomberg Media, is set to join the Mets in January as the president of business operations, the club announced Monday.

Havens will report directly to ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — On the surface, you have to think this is the last shot for A.J. Preller, the Padres' president of baseball operations. He's been stitching together teams in San Diego since late 2014 with no division titles and one full-season playoff appearance.

It's been a run filled with bold stabs, wild spending and highs sandwiched by ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — The Pirates haven't put one of their own from the modern era into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum since Bill Mazeroski in 2001. It is time for another. Jim Leyland has been nominated for consideration by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee for managers, executives and umpires. He belongs in Cooperstown.

"I'd be ...Read more

SEATTLE — Depending on a person's time of arrival in the Mariners clubhouse for games at T-Mobile Park, they were usually greeted by the smiling face of Eugenio Suarez, whose locker was the first in the line of sight upon entering the posh space.

If Suarez wasn't in front of his locker holding court with teammates, a glaring bright neon sign ...Read more

SEATTLE — On normal occasions, the "Twitter" mailbag will solicit questions from its numerous followers for the sporadic foray into answering questions about the Mariners, Major League Baseball and the mysteries of life.

But given the general mood and reactions right now on all forms of Mariners social media, and the propensity for the same ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — I like the Padres' decision to hire Mike Shildt because each of his three Cardinals teams were winners, and because Shildt learned under wise men such as legendary baseball sensei George Kissell, a longtime ace in player development.

Here's a "George-ism" for a few Padres hitters to chew on:

Destroy the first pitch before it ...Read more