MLB

4:48 PM ET Star closer Edwin Diaz and the New York Mets are in agreement on a five-year, $102 million contract, pending a physical, sources familiar with the deal told ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Sunday. There’s an opt-out and a full no-trade clause plus a sixth-year option in the contract, sources said. The Diaz deal

6:30 AM ET It’s time for the offseason! Which means it’s time for our annual way-too-early 2023 power rankings. The 2022 season came to an end on Saturday night in Houston, as the Astros won their second World Series title since 2017 after defeating the Phillies in Game 6. What do the next few months

11:19 PM ET HOUSTON — What will they say now? If there was a theme — a predominant question — in the wake of the Houston Astros‘ title-clinching victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, that was it. The Astros had secured their first World Series championship since the tainted one from 2017, punctuating a dominant six-year

10:18 PM ET ESPN staff A series that’s featured huge home runs, incredible defense and one combined no-hitter could all come to an end Saturday night. 2 Related The Philadelphia Phillies travel to Texas to take on the Houston Astros in Game 6 of the 2022 World Series, on the heels of a Game 5

7:15 AM ET PHILADELPHIA — The baseball gods wasted no time in giving Philadelphia Phillies boss Rob Thomson his first big managerial moment in the Fall Classic. Five months after taking over from the fired Joe Girardi, Thomson had already navigated the Phillies’ underwhelming end to the regular season and three challenging rounds of the

9:18 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge was voted player of the year and the American League outstanding player by fellow major leaguers in the annual Players Choice Awards from the Major League Baseball Players Association. Judge set an AL record with 62 homers, breaking the previous mark of 61

8:53 PM ET HOUSTON — Philadelphia Phillies manager Rob Thomson said he plans to have Ranger Suarez available out of the bullpen in relief of Zack Wheeler in Saturday’s Game 6, a must-win game given the Houston Astros‘ 3-2 advantage in this World Series. Wheeler experienced a slight dip in fastball velocity during his Game

7:00 AM ET THIS WINTER, THE Houston Astros were at a fork in the road. Their longtime shortstop, Carlos Correa, was one of the faces of the franchise, a player who stood up for the clubhouse amid the criticism the team faced from its trash-can-banging, sign-stealing scandal. He was one of the first players the

2:31 AM ET PHILADELPHIA — Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander knew the stakes. He had stepped up to the mound on Thursday for Game 5 of the World Series with plenty to prove. Winless in seven career games in the Fall Classic, he had just blown a 5-0 lead in Game 1 of this series,

9:19 PM ET ESPN staff Game 5 of the 2022 World Series goes down Thursday night with the Philadelphia Phillies and Houston Astros battling for a 3-2 series lead. 1 Related Houston’s bullpen made history in Game 4, throwing the first combined no-hitter in MLB postseason history, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. Astros

11:25 PM ET PHILADELPHIA — Cristian Javier‘s parents, Trinidad Mieses and Cecilio Javier, flew from the Dominican Republic to Philadelphia and sat in his hotel room late Tuesday night, in the buildup to the biggest outing of his life. The Houston Astros were coming off a difficult loss and needed Javier to rescue them from

2:21 AM ET Jeff PassanESPN Close ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” PHILADELPHIA — Late last week, before Cristian Javier etched his name into baseball history, his Houston Astros teammates attempted to describe his fastball. By velocity alone, it is a milquetoast effort, flung

5:50 PM ET ESPN staff The Philadelphia Phillies are coming off a game in which they absolutely hammered the Houston Astros to take a 2-1 lead in the World Series. 2 Related Philadelphia jumped on Lance McCullers Jr. and never let up in the 7-0 victory Tuesday night, mashing five home runs off him to

2:03 AM ET PHILADELPHIA — There was talk, mostly rooted in Bryce Harper‘s pre-at-bat conversation with Alec Bohm, that Lance McCullers Jr. might have been tipping his pitches on Tuesday night. There was talk that the nine-day layoff, further prolonged by Monday’s postponement, might have played a part in the starter looking uncharacteristically rusty. McCullers

11:15 PM ET PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Phillies tied the record for most home runs hit in a World Series game, belting five in a 7-0 win over the Houston Astros in Game 3 on Tuesday night. All five home runs came off starter Lance McCullers Jr., a record for most homers surrendered by a

8:45 PM ET ESPN staff After a slight weather delay, Game 3 of the World Series is here. 1 Related The Philadelphia Phillies took Game 1 in exciting fashion, engineering a comeback from being down 5-0 to the Houston Astros. The Astros, however, jumped out to another 5-0 lead in Game 2, and that time

10:56 AM ET Pedro Grifol is expected to be the next manager of the Chicago White Sox, an announcement that could come later this week, according to multiple sources. Grifol, 52, has been on the staff of the Kansas City Royals since 2013, most recently as the bench coach. The Royals interviewed him recently for

4:09 PM ET Justin Turner, who has spent his entire stint with the Los Angeles Dodgers fervidly giving back to the community where he grew up, has been named recipient of the prestigious Roberto Clemente Award, which annually honors players for their philanthropic efforts. Turner, the Dodgers’ Clemente Award nominee in five of the past