Baseball news

• Chicago Cubs crush Cleveland Indians to set up historic World Series game 7

  02-11-2016 08:10 via theguardian.com
  
  Addison Russell grand slam helps Chicago beat Cleveland 9-3Game 7 win would see first Cubs title since 1908, Indians’ first since 1948As it happened: Hunter Felt’s inning-by-inning reportAnd so, on Tuesday night, the Chicago Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians again to come within a win of the world championship.Few sentences sounds as strange as that, given the last 100-plus years of title-less baseball played by Chicago’s National League franchise. Given, too, the 68 seasons sinc
  
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• Atlanta Braves ace Spencer Strider out for 2024 season after elbow surgery

  13-04-2024 19:08 via theguardian.com
  
  Braves star pitcher has UCL repaired and will miss seasonStrider was 20-5 in 2023, leading MLB in wins and strikeoutsAtlanta Braves ace Spencer Strider will miss the rest of the season after having surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, the team said Saturday.Dr Keith Meister in Arlington, Texas, performed the procedure on Friday, using an internal brace to repair the UCL. Continue reading...
  
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• Agent at Bad Bunny-led firm has certification revoked by MLB players’ union

  13-04-2024 01:16 via theguardian.com
  
  Bad Bunny’s Rimas Sports agent loses MLBPA certificationPlayers’ union declines comment on decision to strip agentA baseball agent at Bad Bunny’s Rimas Sports firm has lost his certification with the Major League Baseball Players Association.The union declined to comment Friday on the reason for its decision to strip William Arroyo of his right to represent MLB players. Continue reading...
  
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• Baseball has an overengineering problem and pitchers are dropping like flies

  12-04-2024 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Many of MLB’s most talented stars are falling to injury as their elbows buckle under the stress of throwing max-effort on nearly every pitchBe warned: by the time you finish reading this piece, yet another Major League Baseball pitcher may have gone down with a significant arm injury. Unlikely? Well, consider this: just as I began jotting down this piece, news came in that 26-year-old Nationals hurler Josiah Gray is out for who knows how long with a right forearm/flexor strain. A little la
  
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• Federal charges allege former interpreter stole $16m from Shohei Ohtani

  11-04-2024 20:20 via theguardian.com
  
  Ippei Mizuhara faces 30 years in jail if found guiltyInterpreter allegedly stole money to pay gambling debtsThe former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani is being charged with federal bank fraud for crimes involving gambling debts and theft of millions of dollars from the Japanese slugger, federal authorities said on Thursday.Ippei Mizuhara served as Ohtani’s interpreter after Ohtani came to the US to play for the Los Angeles Angels in 2018. The two were close friends b
  
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• Shohei Ohtani’s translator reportedly discussing plea deal around alleged $4.5m theft

  11-04-2024 13:37 via theguardian.com
  
  Ippei Mizuhara allegedly took millions from star’s accountPlea deal will absolve Ohtani of any wrongdoingShohei Ohtani’s former translator plans to plead guilty to federal crimes related to the alleged theft of money from the Los Angeles Dodgers star, the New York Times and ESPN reported on Wednesday.Ippei Mizuhara was fired by the Dodgers last month after admitting that he stole at least $4.5m from Ohtani, the biggest star in baseball, to pay off gambling debts. Continue reading...
  
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• MLB’s Athletics to play 2025-27 seasons in Sacramento ahead of Vegas move

  04-04-2024 18:23 via theguardian.com
  
  A’s to officially leave Oakland after 2024 seasonTeam announced intent to move to Vegas last yearThe Athletics will leave Oakland after this season and play temporarily at a minor league park near Sacramento until their planned new stadium in Las Vegas is built.The A’s announced the decision to play at the home of the Sacramento River Cats from 2025-27 with an option for 2028 on Thursday after being unable to reach an agreement to extend their lease in Oakland during that time. Conti
  
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• Future of Chiefs and Royals in Kansas City under question as voters reject tax bill

  03-04-2024 14:19 via theguardian.com
  
  Teams seeking $2bn of public money to fund stadium projects58% of voters in Jackson County, Missouri rebuff tax planThe future of the Royals and Chiefs in Kansas City was thrown into question on Tuesday night when residents of Jackson county, Missouri, resoundingly voted down a sales tax measure that would have helped to fund a new downtown ballpark along with significant renovations to Arrowhead Stadium.Royals owner John Sherman and Chiefs president Mark Donovan acknowledged long before the fin
  
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• MLB 2024 predictions: will the Braves machine outdo the Dodgers’ stars?

  28-03-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The Dodgers have committed more than $1bn to just two players but Atlanta are a brilliant all-round team while the young Orioles are posed to shineBaseball has always been unfair. It wasn’t “fair” when players were bound to the same teams for their whole careers, and it isn’t “fair” that the Dodgers spend so much more than the Athletics. But I’m more concerned about the many teams that could be spending more but abstain. AK Continue reading...
  
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• Ohtani representatives refuse to give evidence they reported alleged theft

  27-03-2024 13:15 via theguardian.com
  
  Interpreter accused of stealing millions from MLB starPlayer’s camp have not provided evidence of criminal reportUnanswered questions remain over allegations Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter stole millions from the baseball star after his representatives declined to give further details to ESPN.Ippei Mizuhara is accused of wiring huge sums from Ohtani’s accounts to cover his debts with an illegal California bookmaker, a claim the player repeated in a press conference on Monda
  
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• Steve Garvey is part of a never-ending flow of baseball players turned politicians

  27-03-2024 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  From minor leaguers to Hall of Famers, dozens of former players have sought public office after the end of their sports careerOn 5 March, former baseball star Steve Garvey made it into the runoff for the US Senate seat from California vacated by the late Dianne Feinstein. Garvey, a conservative Republican, will face Democrat congressman Adam Schiff in the November general election.Garvey faces an uphill battle in deep-blue California. During debates and public appearances, he’s revealed li
  
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• ‘Beyond shocked’: Shohei Ohtani says interpreter stole from him and told lies

  25-03-2024 23:20 via theguardian.com
  
  Ippei Mizuhara allegedly took money from star’s accountDodgers star says he has never bet on baseballShohei Ohtani addressed the media on Monday after allegations emerged that his former interpreter stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from his bank account to pay an illegal bookmaker.The Los Angeles Dodgers star, the most famous active baseball player in the world and a huge celebrity in his native Japan, addressed journalists in a press conference but did not take any questions from th
  
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• Mets sign slugger JD Martinez with deferred payments through 2038

  22-03-2024 18:18 via theguardian.com
  
  Veteran DH signed one-year, $12m contractMets projected to have second-biggest payroll in MLBJD Martinez has a new home, agreeing to a $12m, one-year contract with the New York Mets on Thursday.Martinez will receive a $2.5m signing bonus, $2m this year and $7.5m in deferred money, payable in $1.5m installments each 15 January beginning in 2023 and ending in 2038, sources told the Associated Press. The deferred payments will allow the Mets to reduce their luxury-tax hit from the signing. The Mets
  
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• Sports quiz of the week: Kobbie Mainoo, Laura Kenny and Andy Murray

  22-03-2024 12:48 via theguardian.com
  
  Have you been paying attention to the big stories in football, rugby, snooker, tennis, cycling and baseball? Continue reading...
  
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• The Ohtani interpreter scandal reveals the grubby underbelly of sports betting

  22-03-2024 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Like every other US sports league, baseball pushes betting on its fans at every turn. Now its biggest star is associated with a gambling fiascoThis is Major League Baseball’s worst nightmare. The face of the league, its one, true international star, who this past offseason joined one of its biggest teams on a $700m contract, is associated with allegations around an illegal sports betting operation.The story so far: the Los Angeles Dodgers fired Ippei Mizuhara, the interpreter for Shohei Oh
  
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• MLB embraced betting. Now it’s smeared with gambling’s grubby underbelly

  22-03-2024 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Like every other US sports league, baseball pushes betting on its fans at every turn. Now its biggest star is associated with a gambling fiascoThis is Major League Baseball’s worst nightmare. The face of the league, its one, true international star, who this past offseason joined one of its biggest teams on a $700m contract, is associated with allegations around an illegal sports betting operation.The story so far: the Los Angeles Dodgers fired Ippei Mizuhara, the interpreter for Shohei Oh
  
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• Yamamoto rocked and Dodgers lose as gambling cloud gathers over LA

  21-03-2024 15:24 via theguardian.com
  
  Yamamoto signed record deal for a pitcher in offseasonShohei Ohtani interpreter caught up in gambling claimsYoshinobu Yamamoto was chased after one inning of a nightmarish major league debut and the San Diego Padres outlasted the Dodgers 15-11 on Thursday night after Los Angeles fired Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter following allegations of illegal gambling.Mookie Betts had four hits and six RBIs for the Dodgers, including the first home run of the major league season.Jake Cronenworth tied a c
  
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• Translator for Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani’s fired after allegations of ‘massive theft’

  20-03-2024 23:55 via theguardian.com
  
  Ippei Mizuhara admits to have run up gambling debtsOhtani is world’s most famous baseball playerThe interpreter for Shohei Ohtani, the biggest star in baseball and one of the most famous people in Japan, has been fired after lawyers for the player said there had been a “massive theft” from the slugger’s account.ESPN reported that several sources said Ippei Mizuhara had run up large debts to a Californian bookmaker. Initially a spokesperson for the player said Ohtani had t
  
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• MLB star Shohei Ohtani’s translator fired after allegations of ‘massive theft’

  20-03-2024 23:55 via theguardian.com
  
  Ippei Mizuhara admits to have run up gambling debtsOhtani is world’s most famous baseball playerThe interpreter for Shohei Ohtani, the biggest star in baseball and one of the most famous people in Japan, has been fired after lawyers for the player said there had been a “massive theft” from the slugger’s account.ESPN reported that several sources said Ippei Mizuhara had run up large debts to a Californian bookmaker. Initially a spokesperson for the player said Ohtani had t
  
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• Japanese baseball fans bid farewell to ‘lucky charm’ Colonel Sanders statue

  20-03-2024 15:10 via theguardian.com
  
  Effigy recovered in 2009 after being thrown into Osaka river by jubilant fans but is in poor state and will be disposed ofA plastic statue of Kentucky Fried Chicken’s founder, Colonel Sanders, that was a lucky charm for superstitious Japanese baseball fans has been “disposed of” 15 years after being dredged out of an Osaka river.Jubilant supporters of Osaka’s Hanshin Tigers, known for being Japan’s most passionate baseball fans, flung the effigy – and themselv
  
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• $700m Ohtani drives in run on Dodgers debut as MLB season starts in Korea

  20-03-2024 14:53 via theguardian.com
  
  Japanese star joined Dodgers from Angels in huge dealLos Angeles take first game of season 5-2 over San DiegoShohei Ohtani’s RBI single capped a four-run eighth-inning rally in his Dodgers debut, and Los Angeles beat the San Diego Padres 5-2 in Wednesday’s MLB season opener.The game turned when a routine grounder went through the webbing of the glove of first baseman Jake Cronenworth as the tying run scored.Ohtani went 2 for 5 in his first game since leaving the Los Angeles Angels fo
  
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• Colonel Sanders statue in Japan disposed of ‘to break baseball curse’

  20-03-2024 14:47 via theguardian.com
  
  Baseball fans believed success would return to Hanshin Tigers if effigy was thrown awayA plastic statue of Kentucky Fried Chicken’s founder Colonel Sanders that was a lucky charm for superstitious Japanese baseball fans has been “disposed of” 15 years after being dredged out of an Osaka river.Jubilant supporters of Osaka’s Hanshin Tigers, known for being Japan’s most passionate baseball fans, flung the effigy – and themselves – into the dirty Dotonbori r
  
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• Shohei Ohtani: a Japanese baseball star so loved even Koreans flock to him

  19-03-2024 17:19 via theguardian.com
  
  The Japanese star is considered one of the most talented players in history. Now he finds himself in an unfamiliar role as a cultural ambassadorThe sport is American, the venue South Korean. But when the LA Dodgers and San Diego Padres open the Major League Baseball season with two games in Seoul this week, all eyes will be on a Japanese superstar: Shohei Ohtani.It says much about Ohtani’s singular appeal that South Korean baseball fans are as excited about his imminent presence in the bat
  
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• Could you win a US senate primary without really trying? This aging LA Dodger did it

  07-03-2024 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  ‘Conservative moderate’ Steve Garvey has a Cameo profile, baseball metaphors, and a decades-old dream of a life in politicsSteve Garvey, the aging Republican Major League Baseball star, has talked about becoming a US senator for more than 40 years.That dream was derailed for decades by what Garvey called his “midlife disaster”. Now, at age 75, the former first baseman is finally in the running – headed for a November face-off with Democratic congressman Adam Schiff
  
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• Could you win a US Senate primary without really trying? This ageing LA Dodger did it

  07-03-2024 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  ‘Conservative moderate’ Steve Garvey has a Cameo profile, baseball metaphors, and a decades-old dream of a life in politicsSteve Garvey, the ageing Republican Major League Baseball star, has talked about becoming a US senator for more than 40 years.That dream was derailed for decades by what Garvey called his “midlife disaster”. Now, at age 75, the former first baseman is finally in the running – headed for a November face-off with the Democratic congressman Adam Sc
  
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• Shrinkflation and see-through pants: MLB’s uniform debacle is a sheer farce

  01-03-2024 09:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Baseball entrusted the manufacturing of their new uniforms with Fanatics, a company whose dismal reputation for quality embodies the less-for-more worst of late-stage capitalismBack in the ’90s there was this executive with the New York Yankees – the assistant to the traveling secretary, if memory serves – who was a big believer in the power of the breathable uniform. But it’s unlikely even George Costanza would have cottoned to baseball’s latest wardrobe change.Ahe
  
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• Cody Bellinger signs $80m contract extension with Chicago Cubs

  25-02-2024 17:12 via theguardian.com
  
  Deal includes opt-outs after each of the first two seasonsFirst of five Scott Boras free-agents to blink in negotiationsCody Bellinger is heading back to the Chicago Cubs, agreeing to a three-year, $80m contract, a person familiar with the deal told the Associated Press.The slugger can opt out of the deal after each of the first two seasons, according to sources. Bellinger is set to make $30m this year, and then $30m in 2025 if he stays with Chicago and $20m in 2026 if he doesn’t opt out o
  
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• Jen Pawol becomes first woman to umpire spring training game since 2007

  25-02-2024 15:31 via theguardian.com
  
  Former softball star umps Astros-Nationals spring contestNo woman has been assigned to umpire a regular season gameIt took eight years but Jen Pawol made the leap from the minors to a major league game spring training contest as umpire at the Grapefruit League opener between the Houston Astros and Washington Nationals at CACTI Park of The Palm Beaches on Saturday.Pawol’s spring training debut marked the first time since 2007 that a woman umpired a major league spring training game, last do
  
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• ‘Everyone hates them’: see-through pants add to MLB’s uniform controversy

  23-02-2024 06:40 via theguardian.com
  
  MLB players blast cheap-looking Fanatics-made uniformsPlayers’ union relaying concerns about see-through pantsMLB’s new uniform reveal hasn’t gone very well. Now some of the rampant criticism has moved below the belt.Major League Baseball Players Association deputy executive director Bruce Meyer confirmed on Thursday that the organization is relaying concerns from players to MLB about the new pants, which are somewhat see-through. The complaints – first reported by ESPN &
  
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• ‘It’s a job’: Angels’ $245m Rendon says baseball never his top priority

  19-02-2024 20:50 via theguardian.com
  
  Veteran says family and faith are the main things in lifeTeammate Mike Trout says he wants to stay with AngelsMike Trout discussed his future and Anthony Rendon talked about his priorities as the two Los Angeles Angels veterans made some interesting comments on Monday with hitters reporting to spring training camp before the season starts next month.The Angels signed Rendon to a seven-year, $245m deal in December 2019 as he was coming off a World Series title with the Washington Nationals. Rendo
  
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