Baseball

Free agent right-hander Manabu Mima, who led the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in innings pitched this year, is poised to join the Chiba Lotte Marines, a source said on Friday. Mima went 8-5 this season for the Eagles. He threw 143⅔ innings with an 8-5 record and a 4.01 ERA. […]

Playing in Japan is probably a unique experience for many of the players on the U.S. team at the Premier12. The same can’t be said for American reliever Brandon Dickson. The 35-year-old Montgomery, Alabama, native might be wearing the red, white, and blue, like the rest of his teammates, but […]

YOKOHAMA – The Yokohama BayStars have posted Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, Japan’s 2017 World Baseball Classic cleanup hitter, to the majors, the team announced on Friday. After all 30 major league teams have been notified of the posting, Tsutsugo will have 30 days to negotiate a contract with any club willing to […]

All Brent Rooker knew was that it wasn’t going to be another slider. He’d already been beaten with that pitch during two at-bats and his mind was made up. If Wu Sheng-feng, who had already struck out Rooker twice, was going to beat him again, the Taiwanese hurler was going […]

NEW YORK – Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout has overcome injury and tragedy to win his third AL MVP award. Trout got 17 of 30 first-place votes in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America revealed Thursday night. Alex Bregman of the Houston Astros was second with the […]

There are no players as motivated as Yasuaki Yamasaki who are competing for Japan in the ongoing Premier12. The Yokohama BayStars star closer was part of Samurai Japan in the tournament’s inaugural edition in 2015, when the team reluctantly settled for a bronze medal in his first year in pro. […]

SAN FRANCISCO – Gabe Kapler might need years to match the popularity of his predecessors with the San Francisco Giants. Farhan Zaidi believes he will get there eventually. Kapler has been hired as San Francisco’s manager a month after being fired from the same job by the Philadelphia Phillies. Kapler […]

NEW YORK – Justin Verlander has a second AL Cy Young Award — and a clear path paved toward Cooperstown. Verlander beat out Houston Astros teammate Gerrit Cole in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America revealed Wednesday night. Verlander got 17 first-place votes to 13 for Cole, who […]

NEW YORK – Hall of Fame catcher Mike Piazza said he has agreed to become manager of Italy’s national baseball team. The 51-year-old Piazza, who was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, is of Italian ancestry. He tweeted Wednesday he will manage Italy at a European tournament in 2020 and at the […]

Japan manager Atsunori Inaba professed his belief in shortstop Hayato Sakamoto, even as the star infielder struggled at the plate during the Premier12. With Japan looking to bounce back from its first loss of the tournament and facing undefeated Mexico, Sakamoto was back in a familiar spot in the lineup […]