Baseball

MESA, ARIZONA – Chicago Cubs pitcher Yu Darvish missed his scheduled preseason start on Thursday and was hospitalized with flu-like symptoms. But the 33-year-old right-hander said he has no fever and no flu after being tested by doctors following worries that began when Darvish developed a cough on Wednesday. An […]

WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA – Stephen Strasburg chatted by his locker early in spring training with Wil Crowe — just a World Series MVP and a non-roster invitee for the Washington Nationals plopping themselves on a pair of folding chairs to talk shop during camp’s ample idle time. Strasburg discussed […]

TAMPA, FLORIDA – Major League Baseball has proposed banning player access to video during games, according to New York Yankees pitcher Zack Britton, but the union wants to allow it with protections that would prevent catchers’ signs from being visible. Players’ association head Tony Clark met with the Yankees for […]

New Philadelphia Phillies manager Joe Girardi was back on familiar grounds. Girardi managed at Steinbenner Field on Wednesday night for the first time since he was fired by the New York Yankees following the 2017 season. Girardi’s 10-year run as Yankees skipper included New York’s last World Series title in […]

OSAKA – The Japan High School Baseball Federation said Wednesday it is preparing to hold the National High School Baseball Invitational tournament behind closed doors due to the spread of the new coronavirus, while also mulling possible cancellation of the tournament. The federation said it will decide next Wednesday whether […]

MESA, ARIZONA – Joe Maddon hugged Anthony Rizzo, shared an in-game microphone with Kris Bryant, slapped hands with the Cubs’ mascot and drew a warm reception from the Chicago fans at Sloan Park. As if he’d never been away at all. The manager who guided the Cubs to an elusive […]

TAIPEI – Baseball’s final qualifying event for the Tokyo Olympics has been postponed from April to June because of concerns over the virus outbreak that has infected nearly 89,000 people and caused more than 3,000 deaths, mostly in China. The World Baseball Softball Conference announced Monday the qualification event scheduled […]

HIROSHIMA – The Hiroshima Carp said Monday they will terminate the contract of Xavier Batista, a Dominican player who is nearing the end of a six-month doping suspension. The 28-year-old slugger tested positive for a banned substance in June last year, and Nippon Professional Baseball announced the violation publicly on […]

The oddest thing about the preseason game the Yomiuri Giants and Tokyo Yakult Swallows played at Tokyo Dome on Saturday night — and really the same could be said about all the other games over the weekend too — was the lack of fans. The usual NPB atmosphere in the […]

PORT CHARLOTTE, FLORIDA – Minnesota pitcher Kenta Maeda silenced MLB rookie outfielder Yoshitomo Tsutsugo of Tampa Bay in a Sunday matchup of Japanese standouts but took the loss in their spring training game. Tsutsugo, pleased to see a familiar face as he learns new pitchers in his transition season from […]