CHICAGO — The 10-year reunion hangovers are the best kind of hangovers.

You’re young enough to still tie one on, but old enough to know when it’s time to crash. Still crazy enough to do something dumb, but mature enough to curb your impulses.

Reliving the past during a weekend celebration with old friends reminds you of where you’ve ...Read more

ANAHEIM, Calif. — A day after seeing their seven-run lead evaporate in a loss in Arizona, the one-run lead the Cardinals nursed for most of Monday night in Anaheim vanished in the ninth with their All-Star closer on the mound.

Pitching with a 2-1 lead, right-hander Riley O'Brien put two runners on base with one out in the ninth after giving ...Read more

For the first time in nearly seven weeks, Jameson Taillon took the mound feeling good about finally getting another opportunity to help the Chicago Cubs.

Taillon could only watch since going on the injured list June 8 because of his left hamstring strain and as the injuries to the rotation piled up. He wanted to use that recovery time to work ...Read more

Reds manager Terry Francona didn’t hesitate. Dom Canzone did.

From the top step of the visitors’ dugout, Francona got the attention of home-plate umpire Dillon Wilson and held up four fingers, an unambiguous signal for an intentional walk.

Canzone, the Mariners’ left-handed slugger, was about to enter the batter’s box to face Caleb ...Read more

MILWAUKEE — Freddy Peralta came off the field in the bottom of the sixth to an ovation from the fans who have watched him pitch since he was a teenager. This wasn’t the pitcher they once knew, and it was as if they knew he needed some encouragement after another tough outing in a season full of them.

The former Milwaukee Brewers ace gave up...Read more

The Minnesota Twins have played 10,398 games in team history, and Joe Ryan picked Monday to become the club’s first pitcher to give up six home runs in a game.

Talk about poor timing.

Beginning a four-game series against the Cleveland Guardians, one of the two teams the Twins are chasing in the American League Central standings with two ...Read more

TORONTO — For all the things the Tampa Bay Rays did poorly or didn’t do at all during their lost weekend at Fenway Park that resulted in a four-game sweep by the Red Sox — and there were plenty — manager Kevin Cash said Monday afternoon there actually was a simple solution.

Getting the heck out of Boston.

“Running into the wrong team...Read more

Willy Adames was the reason that the San Francisco Giants didn’t lose in the top of the ninth on Monday evening at Kauffman Stadium. He’s also one of the reasons that the Giants did lose to the AKnsas City Royals in the bottom of the ninth.

Talk about an absolute whirlwind of a sequence.

Adames hit a game-tying two-run home run in the top ...Read more

NEW YORK — Typically a man of many words, Jazz Chisholm Jr. offered a succinct summary of his season on Sunday night.

The second baseman had just played the part of hero, launching an eighth-inning solo shot that spared the New York Yankees from being swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers in a three-game series and a doubleheader. But when the ...Read more

ATLANTA — Some key players have been injured. Some key players have been inefficient.

But if there is one trait that defines the San Diego Padres and will likely doom the Padres, it is inconsistency.

A day after scoring 19 runs, they scored two.

In a 3-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves, it was entirely on-brand for the 2026 Padres too that they ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — There was talk last week about Wander Franco getting back on the field, as the Dominican baseball federation was seeking to add the TampaBay Rays shortstop to its roster for the upcoming Central American and Caribbean Games, though that seems unlikely due to eligibility issues.

Monday, there was news that Franco, 25, is headed ...Read more

NEW YORK — Eliezer Alfonzo jumped on a first-pitch cutter, keeping his hands inside to send it into shallow center field.

Two weeks after making his major league debut under tragic circumstances, Alfonzo recorded his first hit.

It was a heartwarming moment early in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 2-1 loss to the New York Yankees in the second ...Read more

PHOENIX — Not even a seven-run lead was enough for the St. Louis Cardinals to overcome a few charitable walks, Nolan Arenado and their own ragged play in the late innings.

The erosion of their lead and their play started slow, and then it was over quickly, suddenly and completely. The Arizona Diamondbacks scored eight unanswered runs to ...Read more

DENVER — Maybe Hunter Goodman wanted to show the rest of baseball that leaving him out of the Home Run Derby was a huge mistake. Or, maybe it was just a day off on Saturday that gave him some pop back in his bat.

Either way, he stands alone in Colorado Rockies franchise history after his heroics on Sunday in a 9-6 loss to the Cincinnati Reds,...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The San Diego Padres drove in runners. Lots of runners.

More than they had all season.

“It was needed,” Fernando Tatis Jr. said afterward. “It’s definitely great when it’s your team doing it.”

A day after squandering piles of opportunities and losing a second straight game, which was its own kind of grander ...Read more

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Ryan Johnson made the pitch that was the difference between a good outing and a bad one.

With the bases loaded and Detroit Tigers’ All-Star Dillon Dingler at the plate in the fifth inning, the Angels right-hander threw a sweeper to get the strikeout.

His 91st and final pitch of the game was the biggest one, and the Angels...Read more

SEATTLE — Luke Raley started so hot — relatively speaking — with his power production at the plate that there was bound to be a course correction.

But maybe not to the extreme of the past six weeks.

Between the beginning of June and when Raley arrived at T-Mobile Park on Sunday morning, the lefty had enjoyed the feeling of rounding the ...Read more

HOUSTON — The characteristic of the 2026 Baltimore Orioles that separates them from their competition is the catching position.

Baltimore has a powerful catching duo in Major League Baseball with three-time All-Star Adley Rutschman and budding star Samuel Basallo.

But Rutschman was seemingly unavailable Sunday with his health status in ...Read more