MLB

But there’s no need to be all doom and gloom. After all, there were actual Major League Baseball games! And with games come updated Power Rankings. We surveyed our group of reporters, analysts and editors after the first week and a half of the 60-game (we hope) season, with the results below. The biggest gainers

1:43 PM ET ESPN News Services The New York Mets‘ Yoenis Cespedes has opted out of the 2020 season after he did not report to Truist Park in Atlanta for Sunday’s game against the Braves, according to general manager Brodie Van Wagenen. Van Wagenen addressed Cespedes’ decision with reporters after the Mets’ 4-0 loss. The

11:18 AM ET The Cincinnati Reds placed veteran first baseman Joey Votto on the injured list Sunday before the opener of their doubleheader with the Detroit Tigers. The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that Votto self-reported coronavirus symptoms Sunday morning but has not tested positive for the virus. The Reds did not disclose a reason for the

8:00 AM ET Nobody expected the job to be easy, but new Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom certainly didn’t expect this. As the Red Sox close out their first series of the season against the rival New York Yankees on Sunday night (7 p.m. ET, ESPN), Bloom has just closed out his

8:56 PM ET The St. Louis Cardinals have had one player and three staff members test positive for the coronavirus, while four more members of the organization have gotten inconclusive results, team president John Mozeliak said Saturday evening during a video conference call with reporters. “We’re confident, by the time we get to Detroit on

2:49 PM ET Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred remains confident the 2020 season can continue, telling ESPN’s Karl Ravech on Saturday that “there is no reason to quit now” despite positive coronavirus tests that have led to the postponement of 17 games in 10 days. “We are playing,” Manfred told Ravech. “The players need

10:14 AM ET Saturday’s game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers has been postponed following additional positive tests among the Cardinals, according to ESPN and multiple reports. At least four more members of the Cardinals have tested positive for COVID-19, according to ESPN and multiple reports. It is not known whether the new

11:32 AM ET ESPN News Services The Miami Marlins, after an 18th player tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, are getting multiple sleeper buses to take infected players and coaches from Philadelphia to Miami, sources told ESPN’s Jesse Rogers on Friday. In all, the Marlins have had 21 members of the organization test positive over

4:55 PM ET Jeff PassanESPN Close ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred told MLB Players Association executive director Tony Clark on Friday that if the sport doesn’t do a better job of managing the coronavirus, it could shut

10:10 AM ET The St. Louis Cardinals have had multiple members test positive for the coronavirus, resulting in Major League Baseball postponing Friday afternoon’s game at the Milwaukee Brewers, a source told ESPN’s Jeff Passan. MLB’s quick decision to postpone Friday’s game, which was scheduled for 2:10 p.m. ET, comes after the outbreak within the

8:35 PM ET Mike Trout, whose wife is scheduled to give birth to the couple’s first child this summer, was placed on the paternity leave list by the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday. Trout’s wife, Jessica, was originally scheduled to deliver sometime in August. The limit for a stint on the paternity leave list is

12:43 PM ET The Philadelphia Phillies have canceled all activities at Citizens Bank Park, including a weekend series against the Blue Jays, after a member of the coaching staff and a member of the home clubhouse staff tested positive for the coronavirus, the team announced Thursday. The Phillies said no players have tested positive. As

8:00 AM ET Sam MillerESPN.com Close ESPN baseball columnist/feature writerFormer editor-in-chief of Baseball ProspectusCo-author of “The Only Rule Is It Has To Work” It became clear a couple of years ago that Major League Baseball and its commissioner, Rob Manfred, were working toward an inevitable introduction of weird extra-innings rules, and in this space we

1:00 AM ET Back in spring training, when the sign-stealing revelations were new and the wounds were fresh, Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Alex Wood made a prophetic point when considering the possibility of retaliating against Houston Astros hitters this season. “Somebody will take it into their own hands,” Wood said, “and they’ll get suspended

5:10 PM ET Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly has been handed an eight-game suspension by Major League Baseball for his role in the benches-clearing situation that occurred at Minute Maid Park in Houston on Tuesday night. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was issued a one-game suspension and Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker was fined, MLB

11:54 PM ET Benches cleared on Tuesday at Minute Maid Park in Houston after the sixth inning of a highly anticipated matchup between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Houston Astros. The tension was rooted in Joe Kelly‘s erratic bottom of the sixth, in which he threw a 3-0 fastball behind Alex Bregman and nearly

12:53 AM ET ESPN News Services WASHINGTON — The World Series champion Washington Nationals are 1-4 after losing three games in a row. Normally? Not a big deal. Matters more in a 60-game, pandemic-shortened season. Missing slugger Juan Soto, they’ve scored a grand total of four runs during the skid, including a 5-1 loss to

3:17 PM ET Major League Baseball has postponed all of the Miami Marlins‘ games through Sunday after the team’s recent coronavirus outbreak. MLB announced that Miami’s next six games, starting with Tuesday night’s home game against the Baltimore Orioles, have been postponed, citing the belief that “it is most prudent to allow the Marlins time