Baseball

Baseball is back in Japan. NPB teams have been playing practice games against each other since June 2 and the June 19 start of the regular season is approaching fast. With that in mind, here are six players to keep an eye out for in the Central League. Kazuma Okamoto, […]

New York – Major League Baseball appears headed to its shortest season since the 1870s. Continuing a contentious back-and-forth in a bitter dispute over pay, baseball players told the commissioner’s office on Saturday night that additional talks to start the season during the coronavirus pandemic are pointless and said owners […]

New York – Major League Baseball and its players are moving closer — to a deal or to Commissioner Rob Manfred ordering a shortened season without an agreement. MLB offered players 80 percent of their prorated salaries and a 72-game schedule beginning July 14 in an effort to start the […]

When 21-year-old Cuban outfielder Oscar Colas turned up in the Dominican Republic in January, he hoped to leave both his homeland and Japan’s Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks behind him as a new baseball future in America beckoned. Instead, he has become caught in the wheels of a system that does not […]

Toronto – The Toronto Blue Jays still don’t know where they’ll play home games when baseball resumes. Speaking on a conference call Thursday, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said he hopes the team will be able to play north of the border this season, but acknowledged “hurdles” that could […]

New York – Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred says there is a « 100 percent” chance of big league ball this year. Major League Baseball will make another proposal to start the pandemic-delayed season in empty ballparks, but Manfred vowed Wednesday to unilaterally order opening day if an agreement is not reached. […]

The Japan High School Baseball Federation said Wednesday it will hold a series of games at Koshien Stadium in August between teams that had been selected for the canceled Japanese High School Baseball Invitational Tournament, which had been scheduled to take place in the spring. The federation said the 32 […]

Cuban two-way player Oscar Colas, who is seeking a path to the major leagues, has rejected the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks’ claims to his services, citing an invalid contract, his agents said Wednesday. Colas, a 21-year-old who burned up Japan’s Western League for the Hawks’ farm team last summer and homered […]

Taiwan, New Taipei City – Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League is continuing to serve as a trailblazer for sports emerging from coronavirus-induced lockdowns. An easing of restrictions last weekend allows for more fans at Taiwanese ballparks, allows them to sit closer together and also consume food and drinks while they’re […]

NEW YORK – Baseball players moved toward MLB on one front but remained far apart economically in their latest proposal for starting the pandemic-delayed season, adamant they receive full prorated salaries while offering to cut the regular season to 89 games. The proposal by the players’ association, given to MLB […]