MLB

2:55 PM ET Associated Press BOSTON — Steven Matz was placed on the COVID-related injured list by the Toronto Blue Jays before Sunday’s game against Boston, one day after the left-hander beat the Red Sox. Matz (7-3) allowed one run and four hits in 5 2/3 innings Saturday. Right-hander Jeremy Beasley was recalled from Triple-A

7:00 AM ET CHICAGO — He’s the backup to the backup, but Chicago Cubs third baseman Patrick Wisdom sure isn’t playing like it. As the 29-year-old rookie preps for Sunday Night Baseball — against the team that drafted him — Wisdom has already accomplished more than most. In his first 10 starts as a Cub,

10:09 PM ET Associated Press LOS ANGELES — First baseman Max Muncy is going on the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ injured list with a right oblique muscle strain. The Dodgers recalled outfielder Luke Raley on Saturday night to take the roster spot of Muncy, who left Friday’s game in the second inning with the defending World

2:54 PM ET Major League Baseball is putting the final touches on a memo that will detail the sport’s rule against foreign substances, with the expectation among some sources that the document will be forwarded to teams sometime in the next few days and presented to coaching staffs and players. The actual order to umpires

7:54 PM ET CHICAGO — Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo said he understands the controversy surrounding his decision not to get the COVID-19 vaccine, but explained that he is “taking some more time to see the data in all of it.” The Cubs are one of eight teams in baseball who haven’t reached the

10:07 PM ET New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom was pulled after six scoreless innings Friday night with right flexor tendinitis, but the two-time NL Cy Young Award winner said he isn’t concerned by the diagnosis in continuation of his dominant start to the 2021 season. DeGrom faced the minimum against the San Diego Padres

While Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker might be college baseball’s odd couple, the star pitchers have been winners at Vanderbilt from the get-go. In Leiter’s SEC debut earlier this year, he threw a no-hitter. During Rocker’s freshman season in 2019, he earned College World Series Most Outstanding Player honors while leading the Commodores to the

8:00 AM ET KEVIN GAUSMAN saw his own reflection in the numbers; their stark, unsentimental truth contained a judgment, and a promise. Everything he knew about himself as a pitcher could be found inside them: strengths, flaws, anxieties. It was liberating, and maybe a little unsettling, for Gausman to realize the San Francisco Giants, making

5:20 PM ET The Chicago White Sox have placed second baseman Nick Madrigal on the 60-day injured list with what the team said is a proximal tear of his right hamstring. Madrigal was hurt trying to beat out a grounder to end the seventh inning in Wednesday night’s loss to the Blue Jays. Additional tests

7:00 AM ET Ten weeks into the MLB season, we have the fourth No. 1 team of the 2021 campaign atop our MLB Power Rankings. Which American League team is playing well enough to bump the San Diego Padres from the top spot? Which National League club managed to pass the Padres in the Senior

10:01 PM ET Josh Donaldson spoke with reporters for about 30 minutes on the field before Wednesday’s game between the Twins and Yankees at Target Field, and the Minnesota third baseman said he wasn’t calling out New York ace Gerrit Cole last week when he referenced Cole’s diminished spin rate in his previous start. “When

6:45 PM ET NEW YORK — Mets first baseman Pete Alonso said Wednesday that he disagrees with MLB’s crackdown on pitcher-friendly foreign substances, and that the larger issue facing the sport is the league’s manipulation of baseballs depending on free-agent class — a theory he presented as “fact.” “The biggest concern is MLB manipulates the

4:45 PM ET Former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz underwent surgery Wednesday for two stomach hernias, which were the product of his injuries from the attack he suffered exactly two years ago in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The procedure, which was performed at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, had been scheduled since February and

7:16 AM ET Editor’s note: From rising strikeout totals and unwritten rules debates to connecting with a new generation of fans and a looming labor battle, baseball is at a crossroads. As MLB faces these challenges, we are embarking on a season-long look at The State of Baseball, examining the storylines that will determine how

7:58 PM ET ESPN News Services Amid a Major League Baseball crackdown on pitcher-friendly foreign substances, New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole struggled to give an answer when asked Tuesday whether he’s ever used a particular sticky paste called Spider Tack while on the mound. “I don’t (long pause) … I don’t know … I

4:45 PM ET The Texas Rangers designated outfielder/designated hitter Khris Davis for assignment on Tuesday after he was hitting .157 in his first season with the club. Davis, who was acquired in the trade that sent longtime Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus to the Oakland Athletics, has two home runs and five RBIs in 22 games

11:30 AM ET Associated Press The Toronto Blue Jays will be extending their stay at their adopted home in Buffalo, New York, through July 21. The team previously was committed to playing in Buffalo through July 4. The extension comes as the Blue Jays on Monday announced the release of their next batch of tickets

9:19 PM ET Associated Press ANAHEIM, Calif. — Mike Trout says his right calf is starting to feel better, but the Los Angeles Angels superstar still doesn’t know when he will be able to return. The time-time AL MVP went on the injured list on May 18 after straining his calf the night before against