MLB

2:50 AM ET Jeff PassanESPN Close ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” ARLINGTON, Texas — For a National League Championship Series that seems to relish bringing the improbable to life, even this was outlandish. It was the ninth inning of Game 2, and Atlanta

The Rays just keep following the same formula over and over. After beating the Astros 4-2 in Monday’s ALCS Game 2, that formula has the Rays half way to the second pennant in franchise history. All it took was two Houston mistakes: A Jose Altuve error that kept the Rays’ first-inning rally alive, and the

1:40 PM ET MLB InsidersESPN Just hours before Clayton Kershaw was scheduled to take the mound in Game 2 of the NLCS against the Atlanta Braves, the Los Angeles Dodgers announced the left-hander won’t make his start because of back spasms and rookie Tony Gonsolin will take his place. What does the injury mean for

1:56 AM ET ARLINGTON, Texas — A week ago, when a similar scenario presented itself in the opener of a shorter series, Dustin May approached his pitching coach, Mark Prior, immediately after completing two innings out of the bullpen and declared he would be ready to go the following day. The Los Angeles Dodgers, who

7:51 PM ET Padres outfielder Tommy Pham was recovering and in “good condition” after being stabbed during an altercation Sunday night in San Diego. Both Pham and the Padres confirmed the news to the San Diego Union-Tribune. Citing two people who talked to the veteran big leaguer, the newspaper reported Monday that Pham left an

7:00 AM ET It began with Freddie Freeman. Literally. Spin the clock back to 2013. Freeman had completed his third season as the Atlanta Braves‘ everyday first baseman, taking over at age 21 after a cup of coffee in the majors near the end of 2010. During those first three years, the Braves won 89,

1:20 AM ET Pedro GomezMLB Close ESPN’s Pedro Gomez covered the Oakland A’s home and away nearly every day from 1992-97 for the San Jose Mercury News and Sacramento Bee and then became the national baseball writer and later a general columnist at the Arizona Republic before becoming an ESPN bureau reporter in 2003. SAN

The Astros’ ALCS roster is out. Houston added reliever Chase De Jong for their matchup against Tampa Bay, giving them 14 pitchers and 14 position players. Dropped from the LDS round was outfielder Chas McCormick, who not only has not been used during the playoffs, but has yet to make his big-league debut. Bradford Doolittle,

8:00 AM ET ESPN.com staff Jae C. Hong/AP Photo Even though only one division series among the MLB quartet of matchups went the full five-game distance, we’re back in action after a one-day break with the American League Championship Series of the 2020 MLB playoffs getting into gear, pitting the defending AL champs from Houston

11:10 PM ET We’ve gotten used to seeing the Houston Astros in the American League Championship Series. The Tampa Bay Rays? Not so much. The Astros bashed their way into their fourth straight ALCS, the longest streak since the 1998-2001 Yankees. Houston scored 33 runs and hit 12 home runs in its four-game division series

1:50 PM ET When the No. 1 seed in a Major League Baseball postseason bracket wins its series to advance, it’s worth celebrating a bit, right? But when it’s the Tampa Bay Rays taking down their biggest rivals in the AL East division, the New York Yankees, it’s worth savoring every minute of the experience,

11:18 PM ET ESPN News Services With one swing of the bat, Mike Brosseau put the Tampa Bay Rays into the AL Championship Series on Friday night. But he insisted afterward that the home run off Aroldis Chapman was especially sweet because of where it put the Rays — and not what it did to

11:00 PM ET MLB InsidersESPN It came down to a winner-take-all between the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays to determine the last spot in the next round of the MLB playoffs, but the final four teams for the League Championship Series are officially set. Here are the stars, turning points and takeaways from

9:40 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — Major League Baseball players extended their streak of consecutive days with no new COVID-19 tests to 33 through Thursday. Players did not have positive tests in 41 of the previous 42 days, the commissioner’s office said Friday. There were two positive tests among 15,024 samples collected in

12:02 PM ET ESPN News Services Whitey Ford, a Hall of Fame pitcher who won more World Series games than any other pitcher, died at the age of 91, the New York Yankees announced Friday. A family member told The Associated Press on Friday that Ford died at his Long Island home Thursday night. The

1:25 AM ET If you like offense, this is the series for you. The Los Angeles Dodgers boast a deep and powerful lineup that led baseball in runs scored, while the Atlanta Braves scored just one fewer time than L.A. this season. There are few teams in baseball that match the Dodgers group highlighted by

8:24 PM ET There was a point in September when the Atlanta Braves barely had a starting rotation. They certainly have one now, and by channeling the performance of great Braves staffs from the past, those pitchers have propelled Atlanta back to the National League Championship Series for the first time in 19 years. The

7:00 AM ET MLB InsidersESPN The Oakland Athletics were able to fend off elimination Wednesday — and they’ll have company on the postseason tightrope Thursday. The A’s, Miami Marlins, New York Yankees and San Diego Padres all will be playing for their playoff lives, meaning the division series round could be complete by early Friday