Baseball

BALTIMORE — For the primary time this postseason, the maligned Texas bullpen needed to defend a slim lead within the late innings. Josh Sborz, Arold...

ATLANTA -- Kyle Wright entered this week bidding for a postseason roster spot. He exited it realizing he'll doubtless bear proper shoulder surgical procedure and miss all the 2024 season. “You could tell he wasn't right in the last three or four outings in the regular season, and it just wasn't going to be,” Braves supervisor Brian Snitker stated. Quite truthfully, Wright hasn’t been proper since January, when shoulder discomfort led to a cortisone shot and the necessity to halt preseason preparations for 3 weeks. He was restricted throughout most of Spring Training and commenced a four-month injured record stint after his May 3 begin. He returned in September and spent the previous few weeks making an attempt to show he may help the Braves in the course of the playoffs. But Wright by no m...

Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports The wild card spherical is already brief sufficient, and this 12 months, all 4 matchups led to sweeps. That’s not a lot postseason baseball for the Rays, Blue Jays, Brewers, and Marlins. Suffice it to say, none of these groups took October, regardless of what the t-shirts promised. While I really feel a twinge of heartache for the shedding facet in any postseason matchup, I really feel particularly unhealthy for the first-round exits. After a 162-game slog with the playoffs as the one objective, their season is over within the blink of a watch. With time, some might be forgotten as contenders solely. That appears a disgrace, contemplating how properly every of those groups carried out within the common season. With that in thoughts, I needed to take o...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays seemed just like the workforce to beat after they began the season 13-0 whereas outscoring opponents 101-30. ...

MILWAUKEE -- The script has flipped within the National League Wild Card Series. The Brewers started the week with their “Big Three” starters all lined up, whereas the D-backs needed to wait to deploy their co-aces. A day later, Arizona had a Game 1 win within the financial institution and Zac Gallen prepared to begin Game 2 with Merrill Kelly in reserve. “They’re going to come with everything they have,” D-backs supervisor Torey Lovullo stated of the Brewers. “That’s for sure. We beat their ace. They’re going to try and beat ours. So we’ll be ready to go.” From the Brewers’ viewpoint, take it from veteran Josh Donaldson, who will likely be taking part in in his fiftieth profession postseason recreation on Wednesday. Milwaukee shouldn’t faux that Wednesday is simply one other recreation. “...

Amber Searls-USA TODAY Sports After an exciting remaining week of the season that noticed the AL West selected the final day and the race for a Wild Card spot come all the way down to the wire in each leagues, the postseason is right here. The discipline options returning powerhouses, upstart challengers, and a wholesome dose of “Dancing On My Own.” And although the playoff bracket boasts three 100-plus-win golf equipment that could possibly be poised for deep runs, loads can occur in a brief sequence. That makes it tough to foretell how October will unfold, however 27 of our writers from FanGraphs and RotoGraphs did their greatest. Below are our predictions by league and spherical, in addition to every author’s full forecast (these tables are sortable). You can discover our playoff o...

PHOENIX — The Houston Astros celebrated clinching a playoff spot with T-shirts and a subdued toast. A day later, after rallying to say a much bigger...

BALTIMORE -- Tim Wakefield, who used his darting knuckleball to change into the third winningest pitcher in Red Sox historical past, died from mind most cancers on the age of 57 on Sunday, the Red Sox introduced. “We are deeply saddened by the lack of Tim Wakefield, one of the distinctive pitchers of his technology and a key a part of probably the most profitable period within the historical past of the Boston Red Sox," MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. "Tim’s knuckleball allowed him to excel as a rookie with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1992. In 1995, he started a 17-year tenure in Boston, the place he made a mark that might be remembered perpetually. Tim was greater than only a versatile and dependable All-Star pitcher, a extremely revered teammate, and a two-time World Seri...

Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports Variously generally known as the “The Human Vacuum Cleaner,” “Mr. Hoover,” or “Mr. Impossible,” Brooks Robinson set the usual for defensive wizardry at third base, successful a file 16 consecutive Gold Gloves due to his mixture of ambidexterity, supernaturally fast reflexes, and acrobatic talent. He was an 18-time All-Star, an everyday season, All-Star Game, and World Series MVP, and a first-ballot Hall of Famer. More than that, he was “Mr. Oriole” for his 23 seasons spent with Baltimore, a foundational piece for 4 pennant winners and two champions, and a beloved icon inside the neighborhood and all through the sport. In 1966, Sports Illustrated’s William Leggett wrote that Robinson “ranked second only to crab cakes in Baltimore.” He could have surpass...

PHILADELPHIA — Kyle Schwarber went deep, Bryce Harper went off on an umpire and was ejected and Trea Turner went from second to house on a stolen base within the Philadelphia Phillies’ 3-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday night time. ...