PHILADELPHIA — Eighteen days before the trade deadline, the Phillies might have resolved their bullpen crisis.

They took right-handed fireballer Gage Wood, the kid who threw a no-hitter for Arkansas in the College World Series, in the first round of the MLB draft.

They then took left-handed sling-shooter Cade Obermueller, Wes Obermueller’s...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The name was a surprise, but the pick should not have been.

The bromide about teams picking the best available player rather than drafting for need does not apply to the Angels, at least not in the Perry Minasian era. The Angels' front office must try to win now, with an ownership that does not believe in rebuilding, and without...Read more

ATLANTA — Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh, whose home run total has been the talk of Major League Baseball, had a power surge when it mattered most in the opening round of the Home Run Derby, propelling him to the championship.

After surviving a real chance of getting knocked out in the opening round, Raleigh cruised through the ...Read more

ATLANTA — The suspension of former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Julio Urías ends Wednesday. The next day, Major League Baseball will remove him from its restricted list, and any team that wishes to sign him can do so.

Scott Boras, the agent for Urías, said the pitcher — the only player suspended twice for violating baseball's policy on ...Read more

ATLANTA — What a difference a year has made for Seattle Mariners pitcher Bryan Woo, an All-Star for the first time in Tuesday's game at Truist Park after having one of the best first halves of any pitcher in baseball.

Woo is among the American League leaders in several pitching categories, ranking tied for first (with Houston's Framber Valdez...Read more

ATLANTA — Seven days ago, Jacob Misiorowski was really only known by the most die-hard of baseball fans.

And even then, he was far from any sort of household commodity.

"I don't even know who I'm pitching against," future Hall of Fame Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw said last week, a day before squaring off against the Milwaukee ...Read more

ATLANTA — Major League Baseball will present its annual Home Run Derby on Monday night, and Shohei Ohtani isn't on the list of scheduled participants.

Aaron Judge isn't either.

A home run contest without baseball's two most famous home-run hitters?

What's the point?

Ohtani pointed to the contest's physical demands as to why he didn't ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — The sale of the Tampa Bay Rays from Stuart Sternberg to a group led by Patrick Zalupski remains on track to be consummated. The Athletic reported Monday there was an agreement in principle and the deal could be completed as soon as September.

Zalupski, a Jacksonville-based developer, struck a deal with Sternberg to buy the Tampa...Read more

NEW YORK — Jazz Chisholm Jr. has a chance to join an illustrious list of Yankees at Monday night’s Home Run Derby.

The slugging second baseman seeks to become the fifth Yankee to win MLB’s annual All-Star power exhibition, following in the footsteps of Tino Martinez (1997), Jason Giambi (2002), Robinson Cano (2011) and Aaron Judge (2017)....Read more

CHICAGO — Minutes before Mark Buehrle’s statue dedication ceremony Friday in the right field concourse at White Sox Park, a ballpark employee with a cart containing four kegs of beer tried to make his way through the gridlocked crowd awaiting the unveiling.

He stopped when he reached an area reserved for members of the 2005 team, failing to...Read more

NEW YORK — Shota Imanaga never seems fazed by road environments.

Yankee Stadium became the latest site of the Chicago Cubs lefty’s dominance.

On the heels of Matthew Boyd’s eight shutout innings in Saturday’s win, Imanaga delivered another stellar performance from a Cubs starter by holding the New York Yankees to one run and two hits ...Read more

ATLANTA — Eight years after its opening, the Braves get to show off Truist Park and The Battery Atlanta to the baseball world.

Hosting Tuesday’s All-Star Game “puts us in a position of great pride and joy, because we now get to welcome the entire baseball world to town to see what we’ve built and what we’ve accomplished and let them ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Twins made Byron Buxton the second pick in the 2012 amateur draft, right after the Houston Astros selected Carlos Correa. Thirteen years later, Buxton is performing like the everyday superstar the Twins hoped he would be.

Because the big-league Twins were inept and Buxton was their primary reason for hope, starting...Read more

ST. LOUIS — On a soggy Sunday in downtown St. Louis that forced two rain delays and kept a sparse crowd of fans late enough at Busch Stadium to cheer on the Cardinals’ first-round selection in this year’s MLB draft, the Cardinals swung their way to a win before heading into the All-Star break.

A fifth-inning swing from Willson Contreras ...Read more

CHICAGO — Several first-half themes played out on Sunday for the Chicago White Sox.

There were mistakes, like pitcher Aaron Civale failing to cover first base on a potential ending-inning double play. That kept the sixth inning alive for the Cleveland Guardians, and Kyle Manzardo followed with a go-ahead three-run home run.

The Sox showed ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — For the first two games of the series, the Phillies could not figure out the Padres bullpen.

The six runs they’d scored across Friday and Saturday’s losses had all come against San Diego’s starters. But after Sunday starter Nick Pivetta walked off the mound with two outs in the seventh, the score tied at 1, the Phillies ...Read more

They’ve underperformed relative to preseason expectations, but worked around serious roster limitations.

They’ve wowed with an undefeated start, a high-scoring offense and a comfortable division lead. And yet, they’ve left so much to also be desired, both on the mound from their injury-plagued pitching staff and at the plate amid ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The New York Mets fell into a similar pattern over the weekend against the Kansas City Royals, failing to produce offense in the early or middle innings, falling behind before coming back late.

The comeback kids scored twice on closer Carlos Estevez in the ninth inning Sunday at Kauffman Stadium, tying the game going into ...Read more

NEW YORK — The Yankees failed to finish the first half with a bang.

In their final game before the All-Star break, the Yankees managed only two hits and three baserunners in a 4-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Sunday afternoon in the Bronx.

The Yankees (53-43) had few answers for crafty Cubs ace Shota Imanaga, who held them to one run over ...Read more

The Colorado Rockies limped into the All-Star break in an altogether fitting fashion.

Poor defense and a failure to deliver key hits, two characteristics that have plagued the club throughout its historically bad first half, again cost Colorado on Sunday in a 4-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park.

The Reds, hanging on to ...Read more