NEW YORK — Anthony Rizzo‘s place on the ALCS roster was far from a sure thing. It remained to be seen just how much the first baseman could contribute with two fractured fingers.

The Yankees took a gamble and trusted the word of their veteran that he was good to go, and they are reaping the benefits. It wasn’t even a guarantee that the ...Read more

NEW YORK — With the Yankees looking to take a 2-0 ALCS lead over the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday, Gerrit Cole lacked his best stuff for the second time this postseason.

While the ace twirled a dominant clincher in Game 4 of the ALDS, he also allowed four runs (three earned) over five innings in Game 1 of that series against the Kansas City...Read more

NEW YORK — Aaron Judge is on the board.

The slugger smashed his first home run of the postseason in the Yankees’ 6-3 win over the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday night in the Bronx, delivering a two-run dagger in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series.

Judge flashed a smile as he rounded the bases after his 414-foot blast off of ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — It's a cyclical thing, and the cycle has come back around to the tired lazy narrative. The teams with the three largest payrolls are three of baseball's final four. Those three teams play in New York or Los Angeles. Baseball is doomed.

But think back to this time last year. There was a narrative last October too.

Tony Clark, ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — There’s a saying in the construction business. The first 90% of a job takes 90% of the effort, and the last 10% of a job takes 90% of the effort.

That feels like where the Phillies are at right now. It took them 10 years to build a roster capable of winning a World Series. Yet they are no closer to winning the darn thing than...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers did not take their best shot at winning. The baseball gods hate that.

If neither the Dodgers nor the New York Mets sweep the next three games, the National League Championship Series will return to Dodger Stadium, and the Dodgers might just run another bullpen game. Their season could be on the line that day, and ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani was staring at his phone when I approached him in front of his locker in the wake of the Dodgers' 7-3 defeat to the New York Mets on Monday in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.

He glanced up.

We were alone, as the other reporters were in other parts of the clubhouse interviewing other players.

I ...Read more

DETROIT — When you change perceptions, you also change expectations.

That’s the challenge the Tigers are facing now, as the euphoria surrounding their late-season playoff charge fades away and the reality of what comes next starts to set in.

But that’s hardly an unsettling thought for manager AJ Hinch, who has been through these stages ...Read more

NEW YORK — Juan Soto is still a few weeks away from free agency, but he’s already received a significant offer from someone with the Yankees’ best interests in mind.

Jon Mudry, a Yankees fan from Connecticut, made waves in the Bronx on Monday when he brought a large check to Game 1 of the ALCS. The check, written by Mudry’s wife, Ashley...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Baseball players are notorious for playing practical jokes on one another. Several undoubtedly have involved snakes of the rubber, plastic or even robotic variety.

But a snake slithering across the top step of the dugout when your team is trailing by six runs in the fifth inning of a National League Championship Series game? ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The quality of pitches and the results this season have not been vintage Walker Bueher, not after a second Tommy John surgery sapped him of some velocity and a pesky right-hip injury hindered the return of the erstwhile ace after a 23-month absence.

Yet the Dodgers have seen glimpses of the old Buehler in both performance and ...Read more

NEW YORK — Before his ALCS Game 1 start, Carlos Rodón said he wanted to channel his emotions as well as Gerrit Cole, whom he compared to a poker player.

On Monday night in the Bronx, Rodón came up aces.

Rodón dominated the Cleveland Guardians over six stellar innings, leading the Yankees to a 5-2 victory and a 1-0 lead in the best-of-...Read more

LOS ANGELES — In theory, the Dodgers’ decision to go with a bullpen game in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series on Monday made sense.

The club’s lockdown relief corps had just gotten a rare night off, thanks to Jack Flaherty’s seven-inning gem in Game 1. Walker Buehler was an option to make a more traditional start, but ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Former Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer is suing the San Diego woman who accused him of sexual assault for allegedly breaching the terms of an agreement they reached last year to settle their civil lawsuits against each other.

In a lawsuit filed last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Bauer alleges that Lindsey Hill violated...Read more

LOS ANGELES — It wasn't a baseball game, it was a sucker punch.

The New York Mets sneaked up on the Dodgers in broad daylight Monday and knocked them flat, swiping the assuredness off their face and sending them tumbling into Queens.

Two games in, the National League Championship Series has now been transformed into something few thought it ...Read more

NEW YORK — When it comes to playoff baseball in the Bronx, Taylor Swift was ready for it.

The pop superstar and her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, attended ALCS Game 1 between the Yankees and Cleveland Guardians on Monday night.

The star-powered pair sat in a suite along the third-base line at Yankee Stadium.

“...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Clayton Kershaw is out for the rest of this postseason because of a toe injury. But he appears to have no plans this offseason to call it a career.

Before Game 2 of the National League Championship Series, Kershaw told the Fox Sports pregame show that he is planning to play in 2025, when he can exercise a player option to stay ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Just a week earlier, he looked as if he was a reason, if not the reason, the Dodgers couldn't win the World Series.

Sunday night, he became a reason they could.

In a 9-0 victory over the New York Mets in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series, Jack Flaherty delivered the kind of performance that will immortalize him ...Read more