What made Friday night’s season-ending loss extra painful to the San Diego Padres and their fans was that the pitching hadn’t run out of high-octane fuel.

Pitching can crumble fast in a journey that’s pushing 170 games, but the Padres seemed to have enough arm health to rate a coin-flip chance of upending a good Mets team and reach the ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — No one is happier than I am that the Pohlads have decided to sell the Twins.

I’m just happy for a different reason than most.

The loudest voices in local fandom and media are thrilled because the next owners will undoubtedly spend more and thus win more, and will never consider threatening to move the franchise. That’s the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Blake Treinen threw his hands in the sky. His teammates poured out of the dugout and swallowed him near the mound.

Around them, the collective force of 53,000 fans all too accustomed to October frustration and heartbreak roared in delirious unison.

And not for the last time this fall, either.

Not after a nearly flawless ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — This time, they didn’t choke.

This time, they did the choking.

On a glorious night amid a roiling sea of joyful blue, the Dodgers wrapped their weary, weathered arms around the San Diego Padres Friday and crushed those brown jerseys like an empty paper sack, eventually exhaling with redemption, relief and a coveted spot just ...Read more

NEW YORK — The Mets’ California flight will officially head to Los Angeles.

The Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres in Game 5 of the NLDS on Friday night at Dodger Stadium. Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivered five shutout innings and a pair of solo homers from Kike Hernandez and Teoscar Hernandez punched their ticket to the NLCS.

In addition to...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The night needed a hero.

The Dodgers got two. The Padres did not get one.

It could have been Yu Darvish, save for one fastball and one slider that both got hit a long way and the fact that none of his teammates stepped into the breach to stop the season from bleeding out.

Instead, at the end of a season that will, once the ...Read more

CLEVELAND — It feels like the Tigers have been here before, but they haven’t.

Yes, their backs were to the wall for the last two months of the season, as they went on a no-margin-for-error, 31-13 rampage to get into the playoffs. Yes, the situation would have been dire had Kerry Carpenter not swatted a three-run homer in Game 2 to send this...Read more

NEW YORK — With the Mets and Yankees both moving on to their respective League Championship Series, it’s tempting not to think about the next round.

New York City hasn’t seen a Subway World Series in 24 years. New York City might not be a hotbed for talent, but make no mistake, this city is just as baseball-crazed as it’s ever been. ...Read more

DETROIT — They’ll worry about tomorrow when it comes.

Today, though, the Tigers will be content to live in the moment, mostly because they know that’s what got them to this moment in the first place.

A winner-take-all Game 5 in the American League Division Series? On the road? Against the AL Central champion Cleveland Guardians?

For the...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The most stunning season in franchise history ended at 9:44 p.m. Thursday, its demise slow and painful.

The Royals scored in just three of the final 30 innings of the American League Division Series, the middle of their order vanquished once more. They somehow completed their best single-year turnaround without a home ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As reporters entered the visiting clubhouse at Kauffman Stadium on Thursday night, a loud chant echoed throughout the dark room.

With champagne spraying and music blasting, the Yankees thunderously yelled over it all.

“MVP, MVP,” they bellowed from the back of the room.

As players screamed and jumped for joy, they ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Trea Turner had better leave Philly this weekend. He’d better turn off his social media, and ignore all things Phillies-related until the full team reports to spring training in Clearwater, Fla., in late February. If he doesn’t, it’s going to be a long, hard winter for Trea.

Somebody’s got to bear the burden of the ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — With a chance to advance, the Yankees never had a doubt in their No. 1 starter.

The Royals roughed Gerrit Cole up in Game 1 of the ALDS, as the reigning Cy Young winner allowed four runs (3 earned), seven hits and 11-hard-hit balls over five innings on Oct. 5. The Yankees squeaked by with a win that night, but the Royals ...Read more

DETROIT — The magical mystery tour took a slight detour Thursday for Detroit Tigers fans.

The team’s 5-4 loss to the Cleveland Guardians sent their series back to Ohio for a fifth and deciding game Saturday.

Patti Tyson of Woodhaven said she was sad but hopeful about a team that has defied the odds the past two months.

“It’s too bad ...Read more

DETROIT — They were nine outs away from another celebration Thursday night and another record crowd at Comerica Park (44,923) was ready to party.

The only problem: The American League Central Division champions weren’t ready to die.

The Cleveland Guardians forced a Game 5 with a gritty 5-4 comeback win over the Tigers in Game 4. This ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — The opening statement came two batters into the game, Mookie Betts hitting a ball to Chula Vista, the stunned stadium enveloping him in the sweetest of silence.

The follow-up statement came soon thereafter, Shohei Ohtani driving a ball down the right-field line at about 1,000 mph, the silence turning to shock.

The closing ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Joe Pohlad rejected the notion last February that his family might consider selling the Twins, saying “it’s not something that interests us.”

It is now.

Pohlad, grandson of the family patriarch who bought the state’s Major League Baseball team four decades ago, announced Thursday that “after months of thoughtful ...Read more