Baseball

ISHIGAKI, OKINAWA PREF. – Thirteen days into spring training, 18-year-old Roki Sasaki threw 25 pitches on Thursday in his first bullpen session since turning pro this year with the Chiba Lotte Marines. Although the pitcher himself was less than impressed, he drew rave reviews from the former big leaguers on […]

When Carter Stewart and the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks agreed to a six-year, $6 million contract in 2019, it made news as the historic first such deal between an elite American amateur and an NPB team. Their deal began an experiment, which, if successful, could spark imitation, lure other amateurs here […]

TEMPE, ARIZONA – Shohei Ohtani has no problem with the Los Angeles Angels’ plan to delay his return to the mound so they can preserve his pitching arm for later in the season. The two-way star also wouldn’t have minded if the Angels wanted him to start on opening day, […]

NEW YORK – Major League Baseball went ahead with its planned rules changes for this season, including the requirement a pitcher must face at least three batters or end the half-inning, unless he is hurt. The changes were agreed to by MLB and the players’ association last March 8, subject […]

FORT MYERS, FLORIDA – It took Ron Roenicke almost five years to get another chance as a major league manager. He’ll need to wait at least until next week for “permanency.” The Red Sox made Roenicke their interim manager Tuesday, promoting the former Brewers skipper to replace Alex Cora on […]

MESA, ARIZONA – Theo Epstein claims there are “no hard feelings on either side” in the relationship between the Chicago Cubs and Kris Bryant. Bryant’s grievance against the team was denied by arbitrator Mark Irvings, who ruled the players’ association did not prove Chicago’s reasons for holding the third baseman […]

TEMPE, Arizona – Three days after Joe Maddon’s 66th birthday, the Los Angeles Angels’ new manager sat down in a familiar spring training complex and reminded everybody he was into two-way players before they were cool. Left-hander Deshawn Warren was the Angels’ second-round pick in 1992, when Maddon was a […]

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI – Nearly three decades ago, Kansas City Royals star George Brett raced out of the visiting dugout at Yankee Stadium and got in the face of rookie umpire Tim McClelland, instantly transforming what had been a run-of-the-mill regular-season game in mid-July into an iconic moment in baseball […]

The ball that brought an end to the 1964 Japan Series between the Nankai Hawks and Hanshin Tigers landed, as so many others had over those seven games, in Hawks catcher Katsuya Nomura’s mitt. That final pitch (a swinging strike) was thrown by Nankai star Joe Stanka, a tall, imposing […]

LOS ANGELES – The Minnesota Twins said Monday they have officially acquired Kenta Maeda from the Los Angeles Dodgers after a reported three-team trade involving the Boston Red Sox was reconfigured into two separate deals. The Dodgers are sending the veteran right-hander, catching prospect Jair Camargo and cash considerations to […]