MLB will have minor league experiment with moving back mound
NEW YORK — Major League Baseball wants to see if moving back the pitcher’s mound will increase offense. MLB will experiment with a 12-inch greater distance between the mound and home plate during a portion of the Atlantic League season in an effort to decrease strikeouts and increase offense. The...
Cubs’ Hendricks feeling ill, scratched amid team covid scareVideo
MILWAUKEE — With the team facing a covid-19 scare, Chicago Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks was scratched from his scheduled start Tuesday night after the right-hander indicated he wasn’t feeling well. The Cubs didn’t provide specifics about Hendricks’ health, saying only the move was made from “an abundance of caution.” Four...
Indians 1B Chang receives racist tweets after making error
CLEVELAND — Indians first baseman Yu Chang shared some racist tweets he received after making a costly error in Monday night’s game in Chicago. Chang, who is Taiwanese, posted some of the anti-Asian tweets on his Twitter account Tuesday while asking for tolerance. One of the messages referred to the...
Red Sox-Twins game postponed following fatal police shooting
MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Twins postponed their game against the Boston Red Sox on Monday because of safety concerns following the fatal police shooting of a Black man and the potential for unrest in the area. The Red Sox and Twins were scheduled to begin a four-game series Monday afternoon...
Former Pirates pitcher Joe Musgrove throws 1st no-hitter in Padres historyVideo
ARLINGTON, Texas — San Diego Padres right-hander Joe Musgrove pitched the first no-hitter in the history of his hometown team, allowing only one baserunner in a 3-0 victory over the Texas Rangers on Friday night. The Padres were the only active MLB franchise without a no-hitter, and it came in...
Stats pioneer Bill James: Don’t blame us for boring baseballVideo
BOSTON — The analytics crowd isn’t accepting blame for baseball’s big slowdown. “I plead not guilty,” statistics pioneer Bill James said Friday. “I don’t have nothin’ to do with this.” As baseball games get longer and less action-packed, the sport has been looking for ways to reverse the fan-unfriendly trend....
Dodgers manager believes pitcher Trevor Bauer being singled out by umpsVideo
LOS ANGELES — Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he believes right-hander Trevor Bauer is being “singled out” by Major League Baseball after umpires in Oakland collected several baseballs he threw in his last start, apparently to examine for foreign substances. Roberts also acknowledged Friday he has noticed umpires collecting sample...
Pirates fans return to PNC Park for home openerVideo
There are plenty of indications that spring has arrived in Pittsburgh, including the recent warm temperatures. But let’s face it, spring is really just a rumor until the Pirates return to PNC Park and the fans with them. It’s bad enough having to wait through one winter to get back...
North Shore businesses thrilled to welcome fans back for Pirates home opener
The first Pirates home game usually brings a sense of excitement and renewal for players and fans. But not many are more excited about fans being allowed back into PNC Park than Kyle Martin, a server at the North Shore Tavern on Federal Street across from the ballpark. Restaurants and...
‘Your 2021 Washington Nationals!’ finally playing, sort ofVideo
WASHINGTON — As the Washington Nationals and their opponents, the Atlanta Braves, lined up for pregame introductions Tuesday, they stood near “OPENING WEEK” stencils in white paint beside the green-as-can-be grass along the baselines. Who could have known it would take nearly a full week into the 2021 regular season...
Doctor: Padres’ Fernando Tatis Jr. likely to weigh surgery vs. potential long-term damage
SAN DIEGO — Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. is likely looking at a long season of instability in his left shoulder and increasing concern about long-term damage if he puts off surgery, a doctor said Tuesday. An MRI scheduled Tuesday will likely determine the severity of a possible labral tear...
MLB officially moves All-Star Game to Denver’s Coors Field
DENVER — The All-Star Game will be played at hitter-friendly Coors Field. Major League Baseball officially announced the new venue Tuesday after pulling the Midsummer Classic from Atlanta over objections to extensive changes to Georgia’s voting laws. Coors Field last hosted the All-Star Game in 1998. The game will be...
AP source: MLB moving All-Star Game to Denver’s Coors Field
DENVER — Major League Baseball plans to relocate the All-Star Game to Coors Field in Denver after pulling this year’s Midsummer Classic from Atlanta over objections to sweeping changes to Georgia’s voting laws, according to a person familiar with the decision. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition...
Reds’ Castellanos suspended 2 games in Hill’s 1st disciplineVideo
NEW YORK — Cincinnati Reds outfielder Nick Castellanos was suspended for two games and fined Monday for his role in an on-field brawl during the season’s opening weekend, the first discipline given by Michael Hill in his new role as Major League Baseball’s senior vice president for on-field operations. Castellanos...
Shohei Ohtani to bat No. 2, pitch in same historic game for Angels
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Shohei Ohtani is pitching and hitting for the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday night for the first time since the two-way star moved to the majors. Ohtani even took the No. 2 slot in the Angels’ lineup while he also made his first mound start of the...
Reds, Cardinals scrap at plate and outfield; Nick Castellanos tossed
CINCINNATI — Nick Castellanos stood over and jawed at St. Louis pitcher Jake Woodford after scoring Saturday, setting off a series of scuffles between the Cincinnati Reds and Cardinals that included relievers shoving in the outfield on their way back to the bullpen. Castellanos was the only player ejected in...
MLB moving All-Star Game from Atlanta in response to voting restrictions
NEW YORK — Atlanta lost Major League Baseball’s summer All-Star Game on Friday over the league’s objections to sweeping changes to Georgia voting laws that critics — including the CEOs of Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines and Coca-Cola — have condemned as being too restrictive. The decision to pull the July...
Covid outbreak hits Nationals; 3-game series vs. Mets off
WASHINGTON — The entire season-opening three-game series between the Washington Nationals and New York Mets was called off on Friday because of a covid-19 outbreak on the 2019 World Series champions, who had four players test positive for covid-19. The Nationals announced the postponement of games scheduled for Saturday and...
Amid glow of Opening Day, cloud looms over MLB All-Star Game
ATLANTA — Amid the glow of baseball’s opening day, there is a cloud looming over the All-Star Game still more than three months away. Georgia’s new voting law — which critics say unfairly limits access to the ballot box, especially for people of color — has prompted calls from as...
MLB foreign-born players drop slightly for 4th straight year
NEW YORK — More than 28% of Major League Baseball players were born outside the 50 states. That represents a drop for the fourth straight season, although this decrease was particularly small. MLB said Friday there were 256 such players of the 906 on opening day rosters, injured lists, the...
Stick man: Black Keys drummer to fill in for Indians regular
CLEVELAND — The Indians will use a pinch-drummer for their home opener. With long-time drummer and ballpark fixture John Adams recovering from heart surgery and unable to attend his first opener in Cleveland in 48 years, Black Keys drummer and life-long Indians fan Patrick Carney will fill in and pound...
First Call: Steelers interested in ‘brawler’ of a tackle; A.B. pricing himself out of Tampa? Ex-Pirates shine in Rays’ opener
The Pittsburgh Steelers have their eyes on an interesting tackle prospect. Antonio Brown may be bargaining himself out of Tampa. Money is starting to come in on the red-hot Penguins. Ex-Pirates shine in Tampa Bay’s season opener. Gerrit Cole has a choppy 2021 debut for the Yankees. And we share...
MLB Opening Day: Snow, stars, fans and a covid postponementVideo
Miguel Cabrera took a trot, eventually, in the snow at Comerica Park. Mookie Betts started the champion Los Angeles Dodgers with a hit at Coors Field. And the Bleacher Creatures did their thing at Yankee Stadium. All-Stars on the diamond for Opening Day, fans in the socially distanced stands eager...
MLB returns with real, live fans in ballparks across the countryVideo
CHICAGO — Wearing a Chicago Cubs jacket and hat, Marc Passoni took in the moment. His buddy, Greg Cooper, on his 59th birthday, stood nearby holding an orange sign that read “First Masked Game 4-1-21.” It was windy and cold at Wrigley Field, and neither of them cared all that...
Mets-Nats opener delayed after positive covid test, tracing
WASHINGTON — The opening day baseball game between the Nationals and Mets was postponed hours before it was scheduled to begin Thursday night because of coronavirus concerns after one of Washington’s players tested positive for covid-19. The Nationals issued a statement saying “ongoing contact tracing involving members of the Nationals...
