MIAMI — Mick Abel’s fastball to Liam Hicks just clipped the bottom of the strike zone.

If the automatic ball-strike system the Phillies had experimented with in spring training was in use on Monday in Miami, Hicks would have been out and the second inning would have been over with a runner stranded at third base. But the home plate umpire ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — It is not the sexiest of statistics. In fact, it is often derided as a bare minimum standard of efficiency.

But for the Rays, the quality start is becoming one of the most important stories of their season.

The Rays beat the Orioles, 7-1, on Monday night with their American League-leading 36th quality start of the season. That ...Read more

NEW YORK — José Soriano delivered exactly what the Angels needed.

Soriano pitched seven scoreless innings as the Angels pulled out a 1-0, 11-inning victory over the New York Yankees on Monday night, snapping their three-game losing streak.

Nolan Schanuel drove in the game’s only run with a one-out double in the 11th. Even though the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Roughly four hours before first pitch Monday night, Shohei Ohtani sat at his locker in the Dodger Stadium clubhouse and prepared for his biggest game of the season.

First, the reigning MVP unwrapped the black compression sleeve he wears when pitching, and pulled it over his right arm. Then, he grabbed his bat and a pair of ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — Aaron Judge has slammed the gavel down on the American League MVP race less than halfway through the MLB season.

The New York Yankees right fielder has been so dominant — leading the majors in batting average (.378), on-base percentage (.473) and hits (99) entering Monday — that he caused the Westgate SuperBook to take the AL ...Read more

CHICAGO — While Chicago Cubs President Jed Hoyer spoke to reporters last week about being in the “information-gathering stage” before the July 31 trade deadline, his protege, Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, was already a step ahead.

Breslow and San Francisco Giants President Buster Posey executed the season’s ...Read more

CHICAGO — Wider sidewalks and new security bollards could soon come to Wrigley Field after aldermen advanced a ballpark security plan Monday.

But the new $32.1 million package set to face a final City Council vote Wednesday could bring far more than added safety to the Friendly Confines.

Wrigleyville Ald. Bennett Lawson, 44th, hopes the ...Read more

BOSTON — Unpacking the shock and pain of the Rafael Devers trade, a deal equal parts damning and dumbfounding that stripped the city of a superstar and its last player to win a World Series in Boston, leads only to more shock and more pain.

The Red Sox traded their best player without shopping him first.

The Red Sox traded their best player ...Read more

Hours before Shohei Ohtani’s first MLB pitching appearance in nearly two years, his scandal-scarred former interpreter reported to federal prison.

Ippei Mizuhara is in custody at the Federal Correctional Institution, Allenwood Low complex in Allenwood, Pa., the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed to the New York Daily News.

He surrendered to...Read more

NEW YORK — As the Red Sox worked on sweeping the Yankees in Boston, Giancarlo Stanton spent his Sunday facing the Angels’ pitching staff at Yankee Stadium.

Well, sort of.

The designated hitter saw the Halos’ hurlers by way of the Yankees’ high-tech Trajekt machine, which can replicate the movements and velocities of opposing pitchers ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — On the field, he's produced the first 50-50 season in baseball history and won a World Series. Off it, he's sold everything from unsweetened green tea to skin-care products.

As it was, it felt as if Shohei Ohtani was everywhere. In reality, this was just half of the package.

The Dodgers are finally about to have the complete ...Read more

Last week, I asked a simple question:

What makes the 2025 Giants Buster Posey’s team?

Well, a few days later, we have the answer.

Posey’s bold, brash and perhaps even reckless trade for three-time All-Star slugger Rafael Devers on Sunday is a big black-and-orange stamp from the new director of baseball operations on the Giants ...Read more

BOSTON — Hours after homering in the team’s 2-0 win over the New York Yankees, Rafael Devers addressed the media. The last question he was asked before departing the Red Sox clubhouse: Do you feel like all the drama and distractions, all that stuff, is behind you and behind the team?

“Yes, it’s passed us,” Devers said, via interpreter...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Buster Posey has taken his first major trade swing as the Giants’ president of baseball operations by acquiring three-time All-Star third baseman and designated hitter Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox in a stunning deal.

The return for Devers includes left-hander Kyle Harrison and right-hander Jordan Hicks, as well as ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The long-anticipated wait is over — Shohei Ohtani is ready to pitch.

The Dodgers announced after Sunday’s 5-4 win over the Giants that Ohtani will make his Dodgers pitching debut Monday against the San Diego Padres. He will start, but there’s a chance he will be an opener, only pitching one inning.

For Ohtani, it’s been...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Fifteen minutes before first pitch on Sunday, Giants catcher Logan Porter trotted in from the visitor’s bullpen. He’d usually be accompanied by the starting pitcher, which was set to be left-hander Kyle Harrison.

Instead, Porter stood on the first base line for the national anthem, turned to his left and whispered to his ...Read more

PHOENIX — The Padres walked away from what was arguably their worst loss of the season on Saturday night with their shoulders slumped.

And then they shrugged.

“We lost,” Manny Machado said after that game. “It’s all good. We’ll be back. Turn the page. … I wouldn’t change anything today. We just lost. It is what it is. But I ...Read more

BOSTON — Hours after homering in the team’s 2-0 win over the New York Yankees, Rafael Devers addressed the media. The last question he was asked before departing the Red Sox clubhouse: Do you feel like all the drama and distractions, all that stuff, is behind you and behind the team?

“Yes, it’s passed us,” Devers said, via interpreter...Read more