MLB

10:18 PM ET Associated Press JUPITER, Fla. — Reigning NL batting champion Juan Soto left Washington’s 7-3 exhibition loss against the Miami Marlins in the middle of the first inning Thursday with what manager Dave Martinez said was a cramp in his right calf. “I didn’t want to take any chances,” Martinez said. The Nationals

3:34 PM ET Associated Press ATLANTA — Max Fried will make his first Opening Day start for the Atlanta Braves, getting the nod in the wake of two stellar seasons. Manager Brian Snitker told Fried on Thursday that he would go in the opener at Philadelphia against the Phillies. Fried went 7-0 with a 2.25

7:00 AM ET What do you do with Jose Altuve when you are ranking the top 100 MLB players for 2021? MVP in 2017, All-Star in 2018, a career-high 31 home runs in 2019 … and then came the sign-stealing scandal, the pandemic and a terrible 2020 season in which he hit .219 (only to

7:00 AM ET Multiple Contributors Over the past three days, we have revealed our MLB Rank list of the top 100 players in baseball for the 2021 season. Now that the full ranking has been unveiled, it’s time for the real fun to begin — debating who is too high, too low and who should

7:00 AM ET Who will be the best player of the 2021 MLB season? With Opening Day nearly upon us, it’s time to break down how baseball’s elite stack up. To create our annual MLB Rank list of the top 100 players in the sport, we presented our panel of ESPN baseball experts with multiple

9:37 PM ET Associated Press SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Zac Gallen has a hairline fracture in his right forearm, casting more doubt on his ability to open the season on the active roster. The 25-year-old Gallen hurt his forearm after getting jammed while taking batting practice nearly two weeks ago. Gallen said

8:53 PM ET Associated Press SURPRISE, Ariz. — Texas Rangers designated hitter Khris Davis strained his left quadriceps running out a bunt single in a Cactus League game Tuesday and could start the season on the injured list. 2 Related Davis pulled up before reaching first base and left the game against the Los Angeles

7:00 AM ET With Opening Day right around the corner, we wanted to figure out who will be the best players of the 2021 MLB season. To create our annual MLB Rank list of the top 100 players in the sport, we presented a panel of ESPN baseball experts with multiple pairings of the biggest

11:01 PM ET Associated Press TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays say right-hander Kirby Yates will miss several weeks because of a strained muscle in his forearm. Yates was expected to be Toronto’s closer after signing a $5.5 million, one-year deal with the team in the offseason. Yates last pitched Saturday against Philadelphia, striking out

7:00 AM ET To coincide with ESPN’s ranking of the top 100 players in baseball for 2021, the exercise here is to predict who will be the next to make our MLB Rank list from each of the 30 clubs among those who did not this year. For the most part, that means either they

7:00 AM ET Who will be the best players of the 2021 MLB season? As the countdown to Opening Day (Thursday, April 1) continues, we gathered ESPN’s baseball experts to determine our annual MLB Rank list of the top 100 players in the sport. To reach our final order, we presented our panel with pairings

3:11 PM ET ESPN News Services Salvador Pérez still remembers growing up in the coastal Venezuelan city of Valencia, where as a youngster he would take batting practice against his mother with a broomstick and later play organized ball with the likes of José Altuve. He never thought a day like Sunday could be possible.

5:30 PM ET Associated Press Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto returned to camp Sunday after sitting out with COVID-19, but when he might be able to play again is still uncertain. The 37-year-old Votto left camp after a positive test on March 10 and has been isolated since. After being cleared by Major League

7:28 AM ET Because Nolan Ryan pitched so well for so long, he was, for many years, a working model for what the ultimate pitcher’s body might look like. He had those powerful legs anchoring a compact, fluid delivery. He is thought to have touched 100 mph in an era when hard throwers were the

3:23 PM ET ESPN News Services VAIL, Colo. — A minor league baseball player is facing drug charges after police in Colorado found 21 pounds of methamphetamine and 1.2 pounds of oxycodone pills in his Chicago Cubs duffel bag. The Vail Daily reports Jesus Camargo-Corrales, 25, of Tempe, Arizona, appeared in Eagle County Court on

6:39 PM ET Associated Press SURPRISE, Ariz. — Top prospect Josh Jung of the Texas Rangers is set for surgery on a stress fracture in his left foot, and the third baseman is likely to miss about two months. Jung was the eighth overall pick in the 2019 draft out of Texas Tech and was

9:03 PM ET Associated Press GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Luis Castillo is set to start on opening day for the Cincinnati Reds, heading a rotation that lost NL Cy Young Award winner Trevor Bauer to free agency. “Luis is as ready as he’s ever been,” manager David Bell said Friday at the Reds’ spring training complex.

4:57 PM ET Associated Press WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Washington Nationals reliever Will Harris has a blood clot in his right arm and is leaving spring training camp to be examined by a specialist, manager Dave Martinez said Friday. “I don’t know much about what’s going to happen here. But for me, when somebody