MLB

1:14 PM ET ESPN News Services MLB hitters hope that turning the calendar will also turn the page on an anemic April for offenses around the league. Major league batters are hitting just .232 overall through April, down from .252 two years ago and under the record low of .237 set over the infamous 1968

12:37 AM ET ESPN News Services The New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies turned the eighth inning of their game Friday night into a benches-emptying, trash-talking, finger-pointing commotion that spiced up a routine game — and could ignite more sparks this weekend. It started when Phillies reliever Jose Alvarado thumped his glove and gestured at

12:01 AM ET ESPN News Services Shane Bieber is focusing on the Ws, not the Ks. The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner struck out 11, setting two major league records in the process and pitching the Cleveland Indians past the Chicago White Sox 5-3 on Friday night. Bieber (3-2) fanned at least eight in

1:34 PM ET Roberto Alomar, a 12-time All-Star who had been serving as a consultant to Major League Baseball, has been placed on the league’s ineligible list following an investigation into a 2014 sexual misconduct allegation. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement Friday that an independent investigation was made into a baseball industry

6:48 AM ET The Quirkjians are of my own making, an obsession for nearly 60 years. I’ve always loved arcane stats, odd connections of arbitrary names and numbers, amazing coincidences that baseball, more than any other sport, always provides. Every night that you go to a major league game, or watch one on TV, you

7:16 PM ET ESPN News Services ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Oakland Athletics first baseman Matt Olson was a late scratch Thursday after getting hit near the eye by a ball that ricocheted off a screen during batting practice. Olson missed the A’s 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. Manager Bob Melvin said there were

5:26 PM ET One of the game’s hottest pitchers is going on the injured list as Milwaukee Brewers starter Corbin Burnes won’t make his next outing against the Los Angeles Dodgers this weekend. Manager Craig Counsell did not specify the reason for Burnes going on the IL and said he couldn’t comment on the situation

7:00 AM ET Believe it or not, we are already just about a month into the 2021 MLB season with the calendar set to flip to May this weekend. What does that mean for this week’s edition of our MLB Power Rankings? Well, yes, it is still early — but it also isn’t too early

12:10 AM ET Every Jacob deGrom start these days is a testament to pitching perfection, the most impressive combination of power and command since the peak of Pedro Martinez’s Hall of Fame career. Yet, once again, the New York Mets and their fans were left frustrated Wednesday, able to appreciate deGrom’s brilliance but staring at

6:25 PM ET Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell wasn’t pleased with a second-inning obstruction call on his pitcher, during the Brewers’ 6-2 loss to the Miami Marlins Wednesday. With one out and runners on first and third, Marlins second baseman Isan Diaz hit a soft ground ball between the pitcher’s mound and first base. Brewers starter

4:12 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — Major League Baseball would consider expansion fees in the range of $2.2 billion for new franchises, though there are no current plans to add teams. Commissioner Rob Manfred spoke Tuesday during SporticoLive’s online discussion of its estimates to baseball franchise valuations. The company estimated the average MLB

12:33 AM ET The biggest declaration of this young baseball season: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. now officially carries a very loud, very lethal and very powerful bat. Guerrero launched three home runs and drove in seven RBIs in the host Toronto Blue Jays‘ 9-5 victory over the Washington Nationals on Tuesday. Two were off Max Scherzer,

7:00 AM ET ON A 68-DEGREE Saturday in late October, Art Shamsky left his apartment to see a friend. He grabbed a baseball and an old glove, and took the subway to a deserted train car on the Long Island Rail Road. New York was still skittish, and Shamsky had been too. He’d never been

1:37 AM ET The last time somebody did what Shohei Ohtani just pulled off — being a game’s starting pitcher while leading the major leagues in home runs — was June 13, 1921. Babe Ruth had already accumulated 19 homers when he took the mound against the Detroit Tigers that day. Ruth batted third and

1:03 AM ET ESPN News Services ATLANTA — The Braves were eager to make up for their embarrassing performance the previous day, so they brought in a little extra help. Call it the Power of Sage. Atlanta scored four runs in the very first inning, Freddie Freeman added a three-run homer and Atlanta overcame a

3:06 PM ET The Colorado Rockies are in search of a new general manager after Jeff Bridich stepped down from the position on Monday, the club announced. The Rockies announced Monday that the decision was a mutual agreement with Bridich Bridich joined the Rockies in 2004, spending the last seven seasons overseeing their baseball operations.

2:05 AM ET LOS ANGELES — It seemed as if Sunday’s finale, the seventh game in 10 days between the San Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers, would finally produce the first dud of this exhilarating matchup. The Dodgers led by six runs, and the Padres were down to their last nine outs, entering

6:58 PM ET ESPN News Services ATLANTA — Madison Bumgarner threw a seven-inning no-hitter, an achievement that won’t count in the Major League Baseball record book but completed a dominant day of Arizona Diamondbacks pitching for a 7-0 win over the Atlanta Braves and a doubleheader sweep Sunday. After Zac Gallen threw a one-hitter to