PITTSBURGH — The Pirates’ win on Friday night kept them mathematically alive for the postseason, even if those chances are no longer realistic.

Their ace’s struggles offered a reminder of one reason why a ticket won’t be punched.

The Pirates beat the Kansas City Royals, 8-5, on Friday at PNC Park. Spencer Horwitz went 2 for 3 with a ...Read more

Back in late June when the Red Sox sunk to their lowest depths, the idea that the club might still have a shot at reaching the postseason would have seemed hopelessly optimistic.

Yet here they are with a little over a week left to play, and the Red Sox have all but punched their ticket to the playoffs.

With their 4-2 win over the Tampa Bay ...Read more

NEW YORK — Andy Green spent all of Thursday night thinking about the time Jared Young was demoted from the Chicago Cubs to Triple-A on the final day of the minor league season.

Luckily, the current Mets first baseman/left fielder was discharged from the hospital overnight, is able to walk and has full feeling in all of his extremities.

It’...Read more

SEATTLE — In “The Shawshank Redemption,” Andy Dufresne escaped from Shawshank State Prison through the incomprehensible stink of a prehistoric sewer pipe. As Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding — played by Morgan Freeman — famously narrated in the 1994 film: “Andy crawled to freedom through 500 yards of [expletive] smelling foulness I can�...Read more

PHOENIX — Aaron Judge is going back on the shelf.

The Yankees’ captain was placed on the 10-day injured list with a right calf strain on Friday. Utilityman Max Schuemann will be recalled from Triple-A to take Judge’s place, sources tell the New York Daily News.

Judge suffered what the Yankees initially called a right lower leg injury ...Read more

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Angels bailed out their bullpen, for once.

The Angels scored two runs in the 10th inning of a 5-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Thursday night, salvaging a game in which they had blown a three-run lead in the eighth.

Ben Joyce gave up a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth, tying the score. It was his third ...Read more

This has been a rough stretch for the Red Sox offense, which has effectively turned into a pumpkin after a torrid two months. This week in particular the bats have fallen silent, and for much of Thursday night the Red Sox looked like they were headed towards a discouraging series sweep at the worst possible time.

Things took an especially dark ...Read more

HOUSTON — The Kansas City Royals entered Thursday’s action with nothing to lose. Despite Wednesday’s 5-2 victory over the Houston Astros, the Royals were officially eliminated from postseason contention.

And with 10 games remaining, the Royals had a chance to spoil the playoff hopes of a few teams on their schedule.

The Astros are in a ...Read more

CHICAGO — The big-picture point to these last few series for this young group of Tigers is they’re still playing games that matter. They aren’t just playing out the string. As learning tools go, playing high-stakes games late in September is about as good as it gets.

“It adds a little spice to the series,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said...Read more

CINCINNATI — Longtime Dodger Max Muncy blinked away beer and champagne as he stepped away from his alcohol-doused SportsNet LA interview in the visiting locker room at Great American Ball Park. But he was a veteran of these celebrations, too.

He stepped right into the next interview without missing a beat.

"It's not something that I ever ...Read more

SEATTLE — Age truly seems to be just a number to Ichiro.

Since turning 50, the Mariners legend has been inducted into the Hall of Fame, launched eight homers at the Mariners Alumni Home Run Derby this summer and, most recently, tossed a 127-pitch shutout with 17 strikeouts during an annual All-Star Game against the best high school girls in ...Read more

DENVER — The Padres came down from the mountains with the margin they need after winning on Thursday by a large margin.

With a 9-2 victory over the Rockies, the Padres increased their lead in the race for the final National League playoff spot to four games with nine games remaining in the regular season.

That dropped the Padres’ “magic ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — After clinching the National League Central, Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy announced a change to his rotation. Instead of starting right-hander Dustin May on Thursday, he’d go with lefty Kyle Harrison.

The question was which lefty the Pirates would face. Would it be the Harrison who struck out 22 Pirates over two starts ...Read more

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Let’s go back in time. Not too far. You don’t even need to turn a calendar page.

Back on Sept. 7, Shane McClanahan had just gone back on the injured list with forearm tightness. Griffin Jax had recently been hammered in his first start coming off the injured list. And Freddy Peralta was barely a month removed from ...Read more

ANAHEIM, Calif. — If a random baseball fan happened upon Angel Stadium on Wednesday night, looking to watch a Major League Baseball game, the Mariners and Angels would have offered a pretty solid encapsulation of how and why both teams will finish the 2026 season with losing records.

In terms of execution or precision, it was lacking in ...Read more

The limp to October goes on for the Boston Red Sox, who blew an early 2-0 lead over the Rangers and dropped their series in Texas with a 7-3 loss Wednesday night.

Boston batters managed just three hits in the contest, their runs coming via Willson Contreras’ first-inning two-run homer and Caleb Durbin scoring on a balk in the fifth.

Early on...Read more