MLB cancels All-Star Game for 1st time since 1945
LOS ANGELES — Dodger Stadium’s 40-year wait to host the All-Star Game is going to last even longer. The game scheduled for July 14 was canceled Friday because of the coronavirus pandemic, and Dodger Stadium was awarded the 2022 Midsummer Classic. The 2021 game is set for Atlanta’s Truist Park,...
Zooming in to start unprecedented MLB summer camp amid virusVideo
Texas Rangers manager Chris Woodward was going to address his entire team before the start of MLB’s unprecedented summer training camp, just like he did when spring training opened about 4 1/2 months ago. It was on a Zoom call instead of in person this time. When the New York...
Teams not able to disclose who goes on IL due to coronavirusVideo
Trying to find out the status of a baseball player coming back from an ankle injury definitely will be easier than learning whether someone tested positive for the coronavirus. Major League Baseball said Tuesday a team will not specifically announce a covid-19 injured list placement for a player who is...
Former MLB MVPs believe time has come to remove Landis’ name from awardVideo
NEW YORK — Something still bothers Barry Larkin about his MVP award. The other name engraved on the trophy: Kenesaw Mountain Landis. “Why is it on there?” said Larkin, the Black shortstop voted National League MVP in 1995 with the Cincinnati Reds. “I was always aware of his name and...
Organizational depth, creativity will be important for MLB teamsVideo
PHOENIX — The Minnesota Twins shuffled their on-field staff to protect the health of some of their older coaches. A trio of players, including Diamondbacks pitcher Mike Leake and Nationals slugger Ryan Zimmerman, announced they won’t be playing in the upcoming 60-game season. As MLB lurches toward a late-July start...
Nationals’ Ryan Zimmerman and Joe Ross opting out of MLB seasonVideo
The Washington Nationals will try to defend their World Series title without at least two holdovers from last year’s team, including one of the faces of the franchise. Longtime infielder Ryan Zimmerman and pitcher Joe Ross elected not to play this season, the team announced Monday. Amid the covid-19 pandemic,...
Diamondbacks right-hander Mike Leake opts out of seasonVideo
PHOENIX — Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander Mike Leake opted out of the 2020 season because of concerns about the coronavirus. Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen did not elaborate on Leake’s decision during a Zoom call Monday, but the pitcher’s agent issued a statement saying he made a personal decision not to...
A long-overdue ‘Tip of the Cap’ to baseball’s Black pioneersVideo
Barack Obama tipped his cap. So did three other former U.S. presidents and a host of prominent civil rights leaders, entertainers and sports greats in a virtual salute to the 100-year anniversary of the founding of baseball’s Negro Leagues. The campaign launched Monday with photos and videos from, among others,...
Norwin’s Max McDowell inks deal with YankeesVideo
Catcher Max McDowell made headlines last summer when he helped turn a rare triple play while playing in the minor leagues. On Sunday, he pulled off another game-changing highlight for his career, and with it, two words: “Play ball.” McDowell, a former Norwin standout, signed a free agent deal with...
Yankees, Gerrit Cole to face defending champs in DC on MLB’s opening day
NEW YORK — Gerrit Cole could make his New York Yankees debut in a tasty opening-day treat for fans, facing Juan Soto and World Series champion Washington Nationals at Nationals Park. The Yankees and Nationals are set to meet when the virus-delayed season begins next month, a person familiar with...
Dodgers’ Andrew Toles jailed in Florida on trespass chargeVideo
KEY WEST, Fla. — Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Andrew Toles was in jail Saturday and charged with trespassing property. The 28-year-old player was detained this week at the airport in Key West, Fla., by a Monroe County sheriff deputy. The Miami Herald reported he was found sleeping behind a Federal...
Major League Baseball confronting short time period before Opening DayVideo
CHICAGO — Forget about those halcyon first few days of spring training, when arranging for the right tee time on the right golf course is often more challenging than the work on the field. When major leaguers report next week for spring training 2.0 — or perhaps more accurately, baseball’s...
Dodgers, Twins report some positive tests for covid-19Video
LOS ANGELES — Some people in the Los Angeles Dodgers and Minnesota Twins organizations have tested positive for covid-19, officials with the teams said Thursday. Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said on a video conference call that it’s “a delicate subject,” and he declined to identify those with...
Antsy MLB players such as South Park’s Randy Dobnak embrace end of extra down timeVideo
South Park graduate Randy Dobnak had finished making his morning omelette one day last week when his wife, Aerial, asked the Minnesota Twins pitcher to keep the eggs out so she could make a sandwich. For the base, she used a hot dog bun, an ingredient so bewildering to her...
U mad, bro? Readers fed up with sports and politics, MLB finances, Antonio Brown
It’s a Killer B’s edition of “U mad, bro?” Who is on the dart board for our irate readers this week? Baseball, Benz, Baltimore and “Big Chest.” The #SticktoSports crowd is feeling particularly mouthy this week as well. John from New Cumberland LOVED my column about the second round of...
MLB’s Rob Manfred: ‘We owe it to our fans to be better’Video
NEW YORK — Rob Manfred knows many fans were angered by the financial fight between Major League Baseball and the players’ association during a pandemic. “We need to get back on the field, and we need to in a less-charged environment start to have conversations about how we — and...
Rockies’ Blackmon becomes 1st MLB player known to test positive for covid-19Video
All-Star outfielder Charlie Blackmon of the Colorado Rockies became the first MLB player known to have tested positive for the coronavirus. A person familiar with Blackmon’s situation confirmed the test result to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity Wednesday because there was no official announcement. The Denver Post first...
Madden Monday: ‘Steelers making the playoffs this year is far from a sure thing’
Well, we’ve made it to triple digits. We are now beyond 100 days since major American team sports shut down. We’re at 103 now. So if you think it’s easy to do this job without melding the coronavirus and its surrounding society-wide quagmire into the mix, you are insane. During...
Former All-Star shortstop Addison Russell joins KBOVideo
SEOUL, Sout Korea — Former Chicago Cubs All-Star shortstop Addison Russell will look to rebuild his career abroad after he signed a one-year, $530,000 contract with the Kiwoom Heroes of the Korean Baseball Organization. Russell, 26, was cut from the Cubs roster in December after the Major League club declined...
Column: Baseball fights to return, but why even try?Video
There’s a chance baseball will still be played this summer, though pettiness, intransigence and the sneakiness of the coronavirus may dictate otherwise. Just as well. Because it’s not baseball I want to see. A schedule with so few games that the regular season is meaningless. A postseason with so many...
All 30 MLB spring training sites shut down amid virus worry
Every team in Major League Baseball will shut its spring training camp over concerns about the coronavirus pandemic, a move that came in the wake of the Philadelphia Phillies announcing Friday five players had tested positive for covid-19. The closures come while MLB owners and players try to negotiate a...
If baseball talks produce agreement, extra innings could start with runners on secondVideo
NEW YORK — Extra innings that start with runners on second base, games ending in ties and re-entry are among the possibilities for a radically altered 2020 Major League Baseball season, one limited to a maximum 60 games by teams that claim they can’t afford more due to the coronavirus...
Phillies: 5 players test positive for virus at Florida camp
PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Phillies say five players have tested positive for COVID-19 this week at the team’s spring training complex in Clearwater, Florida. The team also said Friday that three staff members at the camp have tested positive. The club didn’t identify any of those affected. Philadelphia has indefinitely...
MLB players commit $1 million to support minor leaguersVideo
NEW YORK — Major leaguers committed $1 million to support minor leaguers whose leagues appear unlikely to start this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Major League Baseball Players Trust, a not-for-profit affiliate of the MLB Players Association, made the announcement. While MLB and the union are trying to...
AP source: MLB makes 4th proposal to players’ unionVideo
NEW YORK — MLB has made a fourth proposal to the players’ union aimed at starting the pandemic-delayed season, a person with knowledge of the proposal said Wednesday. The person spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because no announcement was made. Another person familiar with the session...
