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Mets' Francisco Lindor expected to be ready for start of season after right elbow surgery

Sports / Baseball /

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

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Giants to hire Tennessee's Tony Vitello as manager in unprecedented move

Sports / Baseball /

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

Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Bill Shaikin: Most MLB owners want to curb big spenders like the Dodgers. What does the union say?

Sports / Baseball /

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

Dean Rutz/The Seattle Times/TNS

Mike Vorel: Mariners' most magical season in recent memory was not enough. Will it ever be?

Sports / Baseball /

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

Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Paul Sullivan: Will Pope Leo XIV rewatch Game 1 on the 20th anniversary of White Sox World Series?

Sports / Baseball /

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

Dean Rutz/The Seattle Times/TNS

Will pain of Game 7 loss fuel Mariners to push further next season?

Sports / Baseball /

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

Jennifer Buchanan/The Seattle Times/TNS

Nine concerns the Dodgers should have about facing the Blue Jays in the World Series

Sports / Baseball /

LOS ANGELES — The last time the Dodgers visited Toronto, the Blue Jays organization was at rock bottom.

The club was barreling toward a last-place finish in the American League East in 2024. Its fan base was disgruntled with a sorely disappointing offseason. And the Rogers Centre crowd was booing Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, who spurned the ...Read more

Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Angels star Mike Trout: Eric Kay had a drug problem and Tyler Skaggs was a valued friend

Sports / Baseball /

Angels superstar Mike Trout testified Tuesday morning that he knew team employee Eric Kay had a drug problem but that pitcher Tyler Skaggs showed no signs of drug use.

Trout, a three-time American League Most Valuable Player, has played with the Angels his entire 15-year career and is under contract through the 2030 season. He was a teammate of...Read more

Jeff Gritchen/Orange County Register/TNS

Angels to hire Kurt Suzuki as manager

Sports / Baseball /

The Angels have selected former big-league catcher Kurt Suzuki as their next manager, a source said Tuesday.

Suzuki, 42, was working as a special assistant to general manager Perry Minasian. This will be his first job as a manager.

The Angels have not made an official announcement about Suzuki’s hiring yet.

Suzuki, a product of Cal State ...Read more

Dean Rutz/The Seattle Times/TNS

Matt Calkins: Why Mariners' Game 7 loss will sting Seattle fans for a long, long time

Sports / Baseball /

SEATTLE — The record says George Springer hit the ball with an exit velocity of 99.1 mph into the left-field bleachers at Rogers Centre in Toronto.

Seattleites will tell you it went 300 mph into their hearts.

Viewers from the rest of the world saw Springer use a bat to hit one of the most dramatic home runs in MLB history.

Seattleites will ...Read more

Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Why the Dodgers' return to the World Series was only a matter of time

Sports / Baseball /

LOS ANGELES — From the outside, the Dodgers know the easy narrative to their season.

About how, after beginning the campaign with the highest expectations imaginable, they spent much of the year failing to live up to the hype.

How, during what was already a dismal second-half slump, they seemed to reach rock bottom when they squandered a no-...Read more

Jennifer Buchanan/The Seattle Times/TNS

Mariners' season ends in heartbreaking Game 7 loss to Blue Jays

Sports / Baseball /

TORONTO — For a franchise steeped in pain and misery, this was an entirely new sensation for both.

Heartbreak isn’t a strong enough word to describe what happened to the Seattle Mariners on Monday night.

Just eight outs away from the first World Series appearance in Seattle history — closer than they’ve ever been — the Mariners ...Read more

Padres plan to interview Albert Pujols for manager position

Sports / Baseball /

SAN DIEGO — One of the game’s biggest names is among the candidates the Padres will interview for their vacant manager position.

The team will meet with future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols, sources said, as they seek to replace Mike Shildt, who announced his retirement last week. It is not known when the interview of Pujols will take place. ...Read more

Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Paul Sullivan: Trolling the Cubs with an 'L' flag backfires on Brewers with NLCS flop

Sports / Baseball /

CHICAGO — The Milwaukee Brewers learned a valuable lesson last week.

Don’t mess with the “L” flag.

It might have been a coincidence that the Brewers were swept in four games by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series after taking a team photo with the “L” flag following their division series-clinching win...Read more

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Matt Breen: Shohei Ohtani's performance was epic. But let's not forget what Rick Wise did.

Sports / Baseball /

PHILADELPHIA — The decision was looming in June 2021 for the National League to adopt the designated hitter when Rick Wise thought that meant his night — pairing a no-hitter in 1971 with the Phillies with two homers — would never be matched.

“If they do the DH, no one is ever going to break the record,” Wise said. “Maybe it might ...Read more

K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS

Tom Krasovic: Padres' most compelling managerial candidate is already on staff

Sports / Baseball /

SAN DIEGO — The most interesting candidate to succeed Mike Shildt as Padres manager, at this seemingly early stage?

It’s Ruben Niebla, the team’s pitching coach of the past four years.

I’m surprised to have reached that opinion. Niebla has never managed, nor did he play in the big leagues, and now wouldn’t be the time for a Padres ...Read more

Jennifer Buchanan/The Seattle Times/TNS

The Mariners are a win from the World Series. But really, so much more.

Sports / Baseball /

TORONTO — In a game defined by numbers, what they mean, how they’re analyzed, dissected down into percentages and decimal points that help tell the story, these are now the two sitting directly in front of the Seattle Mariners.

48 and 27.

Forty-eight seasons to date of going without, while every other franchise currently in Major League ...Read more

Robin Buckson, The Detroit News/The Detroit News/TNS

Bill Madden: Making sense of the noise surrounding Tigers ace Tarik Skubal

Sports / Baseball /

They are still recovering in Detroit after the Tigers’ crushing Division Series loss to the Seattle Mariners when it was reported the other day they will very likely be losing their best player, Tarik Skubal.

The disheartening news, which came via a report from Skubal’s agent Scott Boras’ principal media operative, was that there is a gap...Read more

Peter Aiken/Getty Images North America/TNS

Giants reportedly closing in on Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello as new manager

Sports / Baseball /

A new frontrunner appears to have emerged for the Giants’ managerial vacancy — one that comes from a very unlikely source.

According to a report from The Athletic, the Giants are “closing in” on hiring 47-year-old University of Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello, who has transformed the Vols into one of the nation’s best collegiate ...Read more