Ouch, Canada.

The World Series wasn’t supposed to start like this. The Dodgers weren’t supposed to begin their inevitable championship march like this.

Even playing in their raucous Rogers Centre north of the border in the opener Friday, the cute little Toronto Blue Jays were supposed to be a far inferior team, eh?

Uhhhh …

For baseball...Read more

TORONTO — The Dodgers might be baseball’s version of the Death Star.

But in a raucous World Series opener on Friday night in Toronto, the Blue Jays found their exhaust vent, and triggered an implosion of galactic proportions.

In a nine-run sixth inning that had Rogers Centre rocking and the previously invincible Dodgers reeling, the Blue ...Read more

CHICAGO — Michael Jordan versus LeBron James is a debate so old school, you almost need to be in a barbershop chair to fully engage.

But anyone can be an instant expert on the latest great debate: Jordan versus Shohei Ohtani. Who had the greatest individual postseason performance in North American sports history?

Or is it Ohtani versus ...Read more

TORONTO — The Dodgers released their roster for the World Series on Friday, and a key piece in the bullpen was missing as expected.

Left-handed reliever Alex Vesia was not on the roster, as he and his wife handle what the club said on Thursday was “a deeply personal family matter.”

Vesia was also not placed on the Family Medical ...Read more

Tony Vitello will arrive in the Bay Area next week with a clear conscience. That doesn’t mean the Giants’ new manager didn’t agonize over his decision to leave the University of Tennessee.

“It was selfish,” Vitello told a handful of reporters, including from the Knoxville News Sentinel, this week in Knoxville. “It was personal ...Read more

TORONTO — The Dodgers released their roster for the World Series on Friday, and a key piece in the bullpen was missing as expected.

Left-handed reliever Alex Vesia was not on the roster, as he and his wife handle what the club said on Thursday was "a deeply personal family matter."

He is not expected to be placed on the Family Medical ...Read more

TORONTO — Trey Yesavage took a deep breath.

The noise around him was deafening. But he looked up at the top of the dugout and focused there for a beat. Then he put his hat on and he walked out to the mound to do his job.

“It was funny,” said Boyertown (Pa.) Area head baseball coach Todd Moyer, “because I’ve seen him do that lots of ...Read more

TORONTO — They did not come charging out of the dugout. They did not mob one another with a dog pile by the mound.

When the Dodgers won the National League pennant last week, their on-field celebration hardly looked any different than normal. What would be a frenzied moment of accomplishment for others, they seemed to treat as almost routine....Read more

TORONTO — The Dodgers announced Thursday that reliever Alex Vesia is away from the team as he and his wife “navigate a deeply personal family matter,” and manager Dave Roberts said his availability for the World Series is uncertain.

Vesia, who has been the Dodgers’ top left-handed pitcher in the bullpen this season, was not present at ...Read more

Buster Posey is the walking embodiment of quiet professionalism. Cool. Calm. Contemplative. Collected.

I doubt his pulse has ever gone over 80 beats per minute.

And he just hired a manager who carries himself as if life is a giant knife fight.

Hiring Tony Vitello to manage the Giants is bold. It’s brash. I have no idea if it will work, but ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — If Albert Pujols becomes manager of the Padres, Manny Machado might feel like he’s gone to baseball heaven.

Manny being Manny would become easier, what with Pujols, 45, serving as a big brother across an annual journey that spans up to nine full months.

Game recognizes game, and Machado, 33, knows Pujols was a baseball god.

...Read more

LOS ANGELES — No sooner had the Toronto Blue Jays clinched a World Series spot against the Dodgers than the torrent of memes, posts and tweets flowed, all with some version of this one-liner: Finally, Shohei Ohtani is on the plane to Toronto.

On a December day two years ago, as Ohtani navigated free agency: three reports surfaced: there was a...Read more

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Kurt Suzuki is starting his managerial career on the hot seat.

When the Angels introduced Suzuki as their new manager on Wednesday, General Manager Perry Minasian said they signed the 42-year-old first-time manager to a one-year deal.

“I’ve been playing on one-year deals my whole career,” Suzuki joked.

It’s unusual...Read more

NEW YORK — The Mets announced a minor procedure for Francisco Lindor on Wednesday afternoon, with the star shortstop having undergone a debridement in his right elbow. It’s not clear when Lindor had the procedure performed, with the team only saying it happened “recently.”

The surgery is not expected to delay the start to his 2026 ...Read more

Buster Posey was not a conventional hire when he assumed the role of the Giants’ president of baseball operations last year. It should come as no surprise, then, that Posey was equally bold and daring in his first managerial search.

The Giants have finalized a deal with Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello, who will make an unprecedented leap ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — If this World Series is going to turn into a food fight about the economics of baseball, Dave Roberts tossed the first meatball.

The Dodgers had just been presented with the National League Championship trophy. Roberts, the Dodgers' manager, had something to say to a sellout crowd at Dodger Stadium, and to an audience watching ...Read more

TORONTO — It came to this.

Finally, fatefully, after 49 years. After a nationally dismissed upstart in the Pacific Northwest went its first 14 seasons without a winning team. After Ken Griffey Jr. became iconic with a backwards cap and baseball’s sweetest swing. After Edgar Martinez drilled a double down the left field line, and Dave ...Read more

CHICAGO — Pope Leo XIV isn’t paid to be a spokesman for the Chicago White Sox, but he sent a message from the Vatican last week that warmed the hearts of many Sox fans.

“Han perdido! They lost!” Leo said as he waved to the masses in his popemobile.

The brief message was in response to someone yelling “Go Cubs,” an apparent appeal ...Read more

TORONTO — Eyes were red and swollen. Tears were shielded from cameras. Conversations were few, hugs were plentiful and there was at least one audible scream of anger, frustration, sadness — all of it — in a single outburst from a restricted area just for the players.

It was how a clubhouse should feel and sound after a loss of such ...Read more