LOS ANGELES — On the darkest night of their season last week, the Dodgers didn’t linger in their hushed home clubhouse.

The team had just been blown out in Game 2 of the National League Division Series. They’d lost their cool (and watched their home crowd do the same) in a 10-2 rout to the San Diego Padres. But rather than dwell on the ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Regular readers of this space know that one of my guiding truths in life is that multiple things can be true at the same time. It is applicable to most things in life, a subset that counts among it is the Great Phillies Meltdown of 2024.

True: The feast-or-famine nature of the Phillies lineup is one of the main reasons they ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — The past few weeks have been spent reviewing, debating and growing frustrated over what negatively affected the Pirates in 2024 — the late-season collapse, offensive struggles, developmental strides not taken and so much more.

For the most sadistic, perhaps you've shifted your attention west, to fellow Rust Belt cities like ...Read more

CLEVELAND — They emptied everything, from the bullpen to the bench, right down to the final arm and the final out. The Detroit Tigers rode chaos and chemistry as far as they could, then ran into a team similar in style, but just a bit better.

The Tigers’ 7-3 loss to the Guardians in Game 5 of the ALDS ended their season, but it didn’t ...Read more

CLEVELAND — Parker Meadows did it all this postseason.

He even made Tigers history.

Meadows, the second-year center fielder, laced a one-out double in the second inning of Game 5 of the American League Division Series on Saturday. That hit gave him a seven-game hitting streak to start his postseason career, which is tied for the longest such...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Dodgers shortstop Miguel Rojas said he will "be ready to go" for Game 1 of the National League Championship Series against the New York Mets on Sunday after missing the final two games of the division series against the San Diego Padres because of a left-thigh strain that he aggravated in Game 3.

"I didn't take another [...Read more

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