LOS ANGELES — Poring over fantasy baseball player rankings can be jarring for diehard fans of a specific team who don't pay much attention to the other 29 clubs.

That might be especially true for the legions of devoted, deliriously satiated Dodgers followers this year.

Isn't this the most talented roster in history? Don't the Dodgers have a ...Read more

BRADENTON, Fla. — Clint Hurdle hasn't exactly been sipping lemonade by the pool lately. But the former Pirates manager also hasn't exactly slowed down since putting his uniform in the closet for the final time.

Hurdle, 67, works as a special assistant to the general manager with the Colorado Rockies. He has actually become a fantastic follow ...Read more

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Once again, we are on the precipice. Inches from calamity and miles from comfort.

The decision by Rays owner Stuart Sternberg to pull out of a once-rejoiced plan to build a new baseball stadium in St. Petersburg has upended a major redevelopment project for the city and left the team’s future in Tampa Bay in doubt.

...Read more

SAN DIEGO — Wait. The Padres and Mariners are making the “Vedder Cup” official?

Talk about a grass-roots “campaign” sprouting out of press box shenanigans in Peoria, Ariz., and climbing all the way up the corporate ladder.

The Dodgers and Angels made sense in the “Freeway Series.” So did the A’s and Giants in the “Bay Bridge ...Read more

TOKYO — For much of the last two years, the Dodgers have felt like Major League Baseball's Team of Japan.

They signed Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki. They struck advertising deal after advertising deal with some of the country's biggest companies. All of their games are now shown on Japanese television. Team officials have ...Read more

NEW YORK — With Gerrit Cole lost to Tommy John surgery, the Yankees have settled on a new opening day starter.

Carlos Rodón will take the ball when the Bombers host the Brewers on March 27. Aaron Boone made the announcement on Friday, per MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch, though pitchers’ schedules were already trending that way following Cole’s ...Read more

TOKYO — Seiya Suzuki was too young and not yet into baseball when the Chicago Cubs last played at the Tokyo Dome 25 years ago.

But the memory of being in the ballpark in 2004 and watching Japanese great Hideki Matsui slug a home run for the New York Yankees still resonates with the 30-year-old Suzuki. He understands the impact the Cubs’ two...Read more

TOKYO — They screamed.

They screamed and made that noise that crowds make when thousands of people scream at the same time, that sound that is heard when the home team takes a lead late in a playoff game.

Shohei Ohtani had taken the field — for a workout.

"That," Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said, "was a pretty cool moment for all of ...Read more

The smile got a little bigger, the emotions a little deeper, the meaning a little greater the more Dave Roberts looked around the room.

In the wake of last year’s World Series title, in which Roberts led the Dodgers to the second championship of his decorated tenure, the veteran manager spent weeks basking in the triumph. He sprayed champagne...Read more

OAKLAND, Calif. — Gather ‘round!

Skip had a message he wanted to relay to us, his ragtag bunch of wannabe ballplayers. We hustled in front of the third-base dugout and listened up.

“Five words,” Aaron Miles, second-year manager of the Pioneer League Oakland Ballers, told us. “Don’t quit your day jobs.”

It stood in contrast to ...Read more

At their first Cubs Convention as owners in 2010, Tom, Laura, Pete and Todd Ricketts answered fans’ questions at a seminar and received a nice round of applause.

Todd Ricketts that day said the four siblings would stay out of the spotlight, much like previous Cubs bosses from Tribune Co.

“After today, I don’t think you’ll see a lot of ...Read more

Shohei Ohtani is coming home as a World Series champion, and demand for tickets to the Dodgers' season-opening series in Tokyo is fierce.

Want one? The lowest-priced ticket available on StubHub as of Wednesday afternoon: $1,855 for the series opener next week; $1,352 for the second and final game, in both cases including fees. By the time you ...Read more

NORTH PORT, Fla. — Before Ronald Acuña Jr. gave baseball a season unlike anything it had ever witnessed, Braves assistant coach Eddie Pérez had a prophecy.

It was before the 2023 season, in which Acuña earned his first National League MVP award by becoming the first player in baseball history to hit 40 home runs and steal 70 bases in a ...Read more

BRADENTON, Fla. — With the first true off day of spring training arriving on Wednesday, Paul Skenes was preparing for a welcomed deviation from his daily routine.

Skenes, who has taken up golf as a hobby, was going to hit some balls at a nearby range.

"I'm working on it," Skenes said, talking about his nascent golf game. "I'm not thinking ...Read more

PEORIA, Ariz. — John Seidler leaned back and shifted his glance upward while appearing to not be looking at anything.

He sighed.

It had just been pointed out to him that it seemed the situation was clear — that the beloved Padres chairman was being replaced by a man who did not ever want to run a baseball team and under normal ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Twenty-eight days later, the Dodgers have already packed up from Camelback Ranch and embarked on their defense of last year's World Series championship.

Their first stop: Japan, with the team flying out on Wednesday ahead of its season-opening two-game series against the Chicago Cubs next week at the Tokyo Dome.

Because of that...Read more

In the week separating his final spring training start and taking the mound at the Tokyo Dome, Chicago Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga has plenty of time to envision how he might attack the first hitter to open the regular season in his home country.

The anticipated matchup between the Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers will feature plenty of fanfare ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — In the days leading up to last month's Super Bowl, something curious happened in Las Vegas: The price of a hotel room crashed. In some of the fancier hotels, you could get a room for under $100. In some of the older hotels, you could get a room for under $50.

It was almost as if the Las Vegas of old had returned, the one where you...Read more

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — We never wanted any of them to leave.

Not Longo and not CC. Not Price, not Snell, not Kiermaier, not Zobrist.

All of the greatest players in Rays history have eventually been traded or walked away because of money issues. It’s the reality of the game, and the ramifications of a market that has always been near the ...Read more