CHICAGO -- Like every other fan, Chicago Cubs reliever Jeremy Jeffress is crossing his fingers and hoping for an agreement between Major League Baseball and the players union to restart the season in July.

But if baseball strikes out, he knows the ramifications could be far-reaching.

"It's going to impact, the game, the city, a lot of stuff," ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- On May 11, the day major league owners approved a plan to start the season in early July, California Gov. Gavin Newsom declined to endorse the proposal.

"We'll see where we will be in July," Newsom said that day.

On May 18, Newsom said baseball and other pro sports would be invited to play within California "in that first week ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- San Diego County is annually among the nation's biggest hotbeds for amateur baseball talent, with dozens of players selected each year in the MLB draft.

Expect the number of local players to be counted on one hand with MLB's plan to scale back next month's draft from 40 to five rounds.

One result of this development is that both ...Read more

ATLANTA -- Felix Hernandez is aspiring to play a few more seasons, if his recent comments are any indication.

In an interview with "The Bob, Dave and Moore Show" on 710 ESPN Seattle, Hernandez laid out his late-career hopes: 200 wins and 3,000 strikeouts.

"I'm going to go year-by-year," Hernandez said Tuesday. "Because my goal is to get to 200...Read more

Two months into the shutdown of the 2020 season, the Cubs have instituted pay cuts throughout the organization, a source said Wednesday.

Employees in the baseball operations and business operations departments and those with uniform employee contracts (UECs) -- which includes manager David Ross and his coaches, scouts, minor-league managers ...Read more

OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Oakland Athletics have refused to pay $1.2 million required under contract to use the Coliseum, the head of the stadium authority confirmed Tuesday.

A's executives told Coliseum Authority Interim Executive Director Henry Gardner they had "no ability to pay" the annual payment, due April 1. An attorney for the A's, however...Read more

The Padres' streak of postseason futility would be over. The Nationals' 2019 World Series run would never have been.

Those are just two of the peculiarities that would have occurred (or not) had the past five seasons consisted of just 82 games apiece. And a look at the standings at the midpoint (plus one game) in those five years shows how ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- Count the Angels among the businesses that have succumbed to the financial stresses caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

The team will begin furloughing some non-playing employees in June. The affected group includes members of the player development support staff and minor league coaches and coordinators. All will continue to ...Read more

The Miami Marlins are taking the first step toward resuming regular baseball activities.

Starting on Tuesday, players on the team's 40-man roster are allowed to use certain parts of the Marlins' spring training facility in Jupiter. This includes the batting cages and throwing off mounds. The clubhouse will remain closed. Local radio host Andy ...Read more

There will be no spitting in baseball this season. And no high-fives, fist-bumps, hugs, smokeless tobacco and the chewing of sunflower seeds.

Something there will be an abundance of if Major League Baseball can reach an agreement with players on salaries and launch an abbreviated 82-game season in empty stadiums in early July: COVID-19 tests.

...Read more

Casey Mize, one of the Detroit Tigers' top prospects, is running out of patience.

"He's itchin' to go," Jason Mize, Casey's father, said. "He's ready to go and be out with his friends and ready to play ball. He's like any 23-year-old would be. He's ready to get back on a baseball field and get back to work."

Amen to that.

I don't think you ...Read more

The worst part about playing baseball in Korea isn't the lack of fans.

That's a new way of life, though, as the Korea Baseball Organization gives its season a go in a country considered one of the models for flattening the coronavirus curve.

The worst part is the COVID-19 test, essentially a long Q-tip being stuffed down the throat and jammed ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- There will be no spitting in baseball this season. And no high-fives, fist-bumps, hugs, smokeless tobacco and the chewing of sunflower seeds.

Something there will be an abundance of if Major League Baseball can reach an agreement with players on salaries and launch an abbreviated 82-game season in empty stadiums in early July: ...Read more

Just in case anybody doubts the Herculean challenge of trying to put on a 2020 Major League Baseball season, consider this: It took 67 pages for the commissioner's office to cover all of the health and safety protocols that its medical advisers believe are essential for at least minimizing the risk of COVID-19 to players, coaches, and other ...Read more

Arizona hung an "open-for-business" sign on its door this week, with pools, spas, gyms and fitness centers opening Wednesday and Gov. Doug Ducey announcing that major league teams could start playing games in empty stadiums and arenas in the state on Saturday.

Major League Baseball isn't ready to start up its season, but if the owners and the ...Read more

Former A's manager Art Howe, who led Oakland to three consecutive postseason appearances in the early 2000s, is in intensive care in a Houston hospital with coronavirus.

The 73-year-old Howe confirmed to Houston's KPRC-TV on Thursday he is still hospitalized while receiving treatment.

"Never experienced anything like it before," said Howe, who...Read more

Part of Kansas City Royals star and fan favorite Salvador Perez's larger-than-life personality comes from his physical stature. An athletic 6-foot-4, 240-pound catcher, he's built to be able to take on almost anything.

But neither his strong, sturdy frame nor his seemingly perpetual jovial demeanor protected from the heart-wrenching blow Major ...Read more