A look at what's happening around the majors today: ___ WELL RESTED Jacob deGrom and the Mets hope to finally play some baseball. New York has had four games in six days either postponed or suspended due to weather, including a snow out Friday night for the opener of their series at Colorado. The club has had seven postponements this season, including all three games of its opening series against Washington, which was called off due to the Nationals’ COVID-19 outbreak. Saturday’s forecast in Denver looks chilly but clear, making it likely deGrom (0-1, 0.64) will finally get back on the mound two days after he was initially supposed to take his turn. New York’s ace will start the opener of a doubleheader against Chi Chi Gonzalez (1-0, 3.60), and Mets lefty Joe Lucchesi (0-0, 0.00) will face Germán Márquez (0-1, 4.02) in the late game. BEAT-UP BEARS Willson Contreras and the Cubs are feeling understandably unsettled in the box. Chicago batters were plunked four times by Braves starter Kyle... [More]

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Corey Seager hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer on Tim Hill’s first pitch of the 12th inning and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres 11-6 Friday night in a tense, entertaining first matchup this season between NL West rivals who have visions of deep playoff runs. It took 4 hours, 57 minutes to decide this one, which ended early Saturday morning. The benches emptied after Dodgers reliever Dennis Santana hit Jorge Mateo with a pitch to put runners on the corners with one out in the 10th. Trent Grisham walked to load the bases, but Santana struck out Fernando Tatis Jr. to escape. The teams met for the first time since the Dodgers swept San Diego in their Division Series last year en route to winning the World Series. The Padres responded by beefing up their rotation, trading for Yu Darvish, Blake Snell and Joe Musgrove. Darvish and Snell are scheduled to pitch in the final two games of the three-game series. Seager homered with Mookie Betts on second base after... [More]

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Rafael Devers homered for the fourth straight game and the streaking Boston Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins 4-2 on a snowy Tuesday in a series opener moved back following the fatal police shooting of a Black man in a nearby suburb. Hunter Renfroe hit a solo homer and Bobby Dalbec added a pair of RBI doubles as Boston won its seventh in a row after losing its first three games of the season. Monday’s game was postponed due to safety and sensitivity concerns in the Twin Cities after the police shooting a day earlier of Daunte Wright during a traffic stop. The Twins held a moment of silence for Wright prior to Tuesday’s game. Snow flurries fell for most of the game and it was 33 degrees for the first pitch. That made for the third-coldest start at Target Field, the record being 27 degrees on April 7, 2018. Adam Ottavino (1-0) earned the win with a scoreless inning of relief. Matt Barnes pitched a perfect ninth for his first save of the season. Randy Dobnak (0-2) took the... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Giancarlo Stanton hit a grand slam over the visitors’ bullpen that landed in the left-bleachers 471 feet from home plate, helping New York hand Baltimore its first loss this season. New York was ahead 1-0 on Aaron Judge’s fourth-inning homer when starter Jorge López (0-1) walked the bases loaded in the fifth, and Shawn Armstrong forced in a run with a walk to slumping Aaron Hicks. Stanton sent a 92 mph fastball soaring for the longest home run of the young major league season and his eighth career slam. New York improved to 8-0 when Judge and Stanton homer in the same game, including three postseason wins. Left-hander Jordan Montgomery (1-0) allowed four hits in six innings with seven strikeouts and no walks. DODGERS 10, ATHLETICS 3 OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Will Smith homered off the left-field foul pole, Corey Seager and Zach McKinstry each drove in three runs, and Los Angeles pounded winless Oakland. Justin Turner also went deep as the defending World Series champions provided... [More]

CINCINNATI (AP) — Nick Castellanos stood over, flexed and jawed at St. Louis pitcher Jake Woodford after scoring, setting off a series of scuffles that included relievers shoving in the outfield as the Cincinnati Reds beat the Cardinals 9-6 Saturday. St. Louis starter Adam Wainwright was knocked around for six runs and chased in the third. The next inning, the teams started tagging each other. Castellanos, who homered on opening day and hopped out of the box before tossing his bat, was plunked by Woodford with two outs and none on in the fourth. Castellanos retrieved the ball and offered to toss it back to Woodford before flipping it out of play. A wild pitch soon sent Castellanos scampering home from third and he scored with a headfirst slide for a 7-2 lead as he bumped into Woodford, who took the throw from catcher Yadier Molina at the plate. As Castellanos began walking away, Molina rushed up and tapped him from behind, and the benches and bullpens emptied in a wild scene. There was... [More]

CINCINNATI (AP) — Nick Castellanos stood over, flexed and jawed at St. Louis pitcher Jake Woodford after scoring, setting off a series of scuffles that included relievers shoving in the outfield as the Cincinnati Reds beat the Cardinals 9-6 Saturday. St. Louis starter Adam Wainwright was knocked around for six runs and chased in the third. The next inning, the teams started tagging each other. Castellanos, who homered on opening day and hopped out of the box before tossing his bat, was plunked by Woodford with two outs and none on in the fourth. Castellanos retrieved the ball and offered to toss it back to Woodford before flipping it out of play. A wild pitch soon sent Castellanos scampering home from third and he scored with a headfirst slide for a 7-2 lead as he bumped into Woodford, who took the throw from catcher Yadier Molina at the plate. As Castellanos began walking away, Molina rushed up and tapped him from behind, and the benches and bullpens emptied in a wild scene. There was... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Mike Trout, the consensus best player in baseball, ranked just 10th on the list of top-selling jerseys released Wednesday by Major League Baseball, behind even Boston Red Sox utility player Kiké Hernández. Trout had the league's fourth best-selling uniform two years ago, but the three-time MVP has slipped behind players that recently have starred in the postseason or changed teams. Trout's Los Angeles Angels haven't made the playoffs since 2014, and the 29-year-old signed a $426.5 million, 12-year deal to remain with them before the 2019 season. Hernández is no slouch as a player, but his stat line hardly suggests he'd have baseball's ninth most popular jersey. He batted .240 with 68 homers and had valuable defensive versatility over six seasons with the reigning World Series champion Dodgers, but his placement more likely reflects the charisma and colorful antics that made him a fan favorite in Los Angeles. The 29-year-old apparently has generated buzz in Boston since signing... [More]

The Arizona Diamondbacks are ready to open the season in familiar fashion: with Mad Bum on the mound. Madison Bumgarner was tabbed by manager Torey Lovullo to make his second straight opening day start for the Diamondbacks on Thursday at San Diego. The 31-year-old four-time All-Star struggled last season — his first in Arizona — going 1-4 with a 6.48 ERA. He was 2-1 with a 6.35 ERA in three spring starts, including allowing six earned runs against Cincinnati on Friday. But Bumgarner, who signed a five-year, $85 million contract before last season, will still lead off a Diamondbacks rotation that includes Merrill Kelly, Caleb Smith, Taylor Widener and Luke Weaver. This will be the seventh opening day start in Bumgarner's career after doing so five times with San Francisco. The Yankees also are setting their rotation, announcing Sunday that Corey Kluber will follow ace Gerrit Cole against Toronto. Kluber, who signed a one-year, $11 million contract with New York, has thrown one inning in... [More]

Bobby Dalbec knows not to put too much value in spring training statistics, and yet the Boston Red Sox rookie is putting up numbers that can't be ignored. “Hitting a home run never feels bad,” he said Wednesday in a teleconference from the team’s complex in Fort Myers, Florida. Dalbec has six homers so far this spring, tying him for the most in baseball with teammate Michael Chavis and Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager. Dalbec, who according to Baseball America is the No. 3 prospect in the organization, is batting .308 and also leads the majors with 14 runs and leads the Florida teams with 13 RBIs this spring. That's more than enough to make manager Alex Cora overlook the 16 strikeouts in 39 at-bats. But not enough to get him out of the No. 9 spot in the batting order. “Somebody has to hit eighth; somebody has to hit ninth. If you look up and down our lineup, it just fits,” Cora said. "I do believe this is a great way to maximize your lineup. If you are the opposition, there’s no breathing... [More]

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — It remains to be seen whether Shohei Ohtani can recover his form on the mound and regain his reputation as a two-way star. But one thing seems clear: The man appears to remember how to hit. The 26-year-old Japanese star is off to a terrific start at the plate in Cactus League action, batting .600 (12-for-20) with four homers through eight spring games for the Los Angeles Angels. Ohtani barely pitched in 2020 because of discomfort in his throwing arm and also had a rough season at the plate, batting just .190 with seven homers and 24 RBIs. But he's looked much better so far this spring, flashing the batting skill that helped earn him 2018 Rookie of the Year honors. A healthy and productive Ohtani would be a big boost for an Angels team trying to bounce back from a disappointing 26-34 finish last season. “I’ve been swinging, hitting all offseason, and I think my swing is feeling really good right now,” Ohtani said when spring training started in February. “My body... [More]

Kohei Arihara finished what he started this time. The Texas Rangers newcomer bounced back from a shaky spring training debut, pitching three solid innings Monday in a 9-0, seven-inning loss to the Chicago Cubs. Arihara retired his final seven batters, setting down Ian Happ, Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant to end his outing. Overall, he allowed a run on two singles without a strikeout or walk. Signed to a $6.2 million, two-year contract after six seasons in Japan, the 28-year-old right-hander allowed a three-run homer in the first inning of his initial spring start against the Chicago White Sox last week. He worked two innings, both of them cut short before the third out because of high pitch counts. After his three innings against the Cubs, Arihara went to the bullpen to throw additional pitches to get him up to 50 for the day. All in all, a bit different than the adrenaline and excitement of his first game against big league hitters last week. Arihara said he was just thinking about doing... [More]

CHICAGO (AP) — After one of its strangest seasons ever, baseball returns to a full schedule this year. The All-Star Game is back. Fans are back, too, at least small crowds in some places. And an Iowa cornfield is about to welcome a bunch of special visitors. Here are a handful of dates to mark on the calendar: THURSDAY, APRIL 1 Toronto Blue Jays at New York Yankees: Opening day begins in the Bronx, with George Springer and the Blue Jays taking on DJ LeMahieu and the Yankees. Springer finalized a $150 million, six-year deal with Toronto in January, part of an active offseason for the Blue Jays. He batted .265 with 14 homers and 32 RBIs during his final year in Houston. While Springer found a new home in free agency, LeMahieu stayed in New York for a $90 million, six-year contract after he led the majors with a .364 batting average last season. FRIDAY, APRIL 9 Washington Nationals at Los Angeles Dodgers: The last two World Series champions meet in the home opener at Dodger Stadium. The Nationals... [More]

Oneil Cruz insists he's a shortstop. One problem: genetics. The Dominican Republic native was 6-foot-1 or so 16-year-old when the Los Angeles Dodgers signed him. The tools — particularly the power and arm strength — were evident. So was the potential. That potential has only grown over the last half-decade plus. So too, however, has Cruz's frame. The 22-year-old has stretched out to 6 feet, 7 inches during his slow steady rise through Pittsburgh's system after being acquired as part of a trade that sent reliever Tony Watson to Los Angeles. And as much as he'd love to follow in the footsteps of the late Tony Fernandez and play shortstop in the big leagues, his body might not give him the chance. Fernandez, a five-time All-Star and a four-time Gold Glover winner during his 17 seasons, dazzled at the position at 6 feet, 2 inches. Cruz blew past that number long ago. “To this day I’m still praying that I stop growing,” Cruz said with a smile on Thursday. It might already be too late. While... [More]

In less than a decade, Xander Bogaerts has gone from up-and-coming prospect to elder statesman in the Boston Red Sox clubhouse. “It’s kind of crazy to think how time flies that quickly,” Bogaerts told reporters in a Zoom call from spring training on Monday. “I was young, man. I just wanted to get to the big leagues, and make it from my little tiny Aruba. “Now I’m eight years in the big leagues and I’ve accomplished some stuff so far at a young age,” he said. “That fuels me to to continue to do it, to continue to be better and set an example." Sill just 28, Bogaerts is already the longest-tenured member of the Red Sox, who signed him as an amateur free agent in 2009. He broke in to the majors late in the 2013 season and the time the team reached the World Series, he had played his way into the starting lineup. “Now he’s the older one,” manager Alex Cora said on the first full day of team workouts. “I saw him today, walking around talking to players, growing into the leader that in envisioned... [More]

A team-by-team look at the National League West entering spring training, including key players each club acquired and lost, and dates of the first workout for pitchers and catchers, and the full squad: ___ Los Angeles Dodgers Manager: Dave Roberts (sixth season). 2019: 43-17, first place, World Series champions. Training Town: Glendale, Arizona. Park: Camelback Ranch. First Workout: Feb. 18/23. He’s Here: RHP Trevor Bauer, RHP Tommy Kahnle, LHP Garrett Cleavinger. He’s Outta Here: 3B Justin Turner, RHP Pedro Báez, INF/OF Enrique Hernández, LF Joc Pederson, LHP Alex Wood, RHP Jimmy Nelson, OF Terrance Gore. Going campin’: After winning their first World Series title since 1988 during the pandemic-shortened season, the Dodgers are looking to repeat. They made a major splash just before spring training, signing Bauer a year after trading for Mookie Betts and David Price in February. The roster boasts an enviable three MVPs and three Cy Young Award winners, making the Dodgers the favorites... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Mets defeated third baseman and outfielder J.D. Davis, the Baltimore Orioles beat outfielder Anthony Santander and first baseman Ji-Man Choi defeated the Tampa Bay Rays in the first three of 13 scheduled salary arbitration cases this month. Davis receives a raise from $592,463 to $2.1 million rather than his $2,475,000 request. The decision by Gil Vernon, Mark Burstein and Jeanne Vonhof was announced Friday, three days after they heard the case. Because of the pandemic, hearings are being conducted by Zoom for the first time rather than in person. Davis, 27, hit .247 with six homers and 19 RBIs during the pandemic-shortened season. Santander gets a raise from $572,500 to $2.1 million rather than his $2,475,000 request, the same figures exchanged by Davis and the Mets. Santander’s case was heard Wednesday by arbitrators Melinda Gordon, Richard Bloch and Frederic Horowitz. Santander, 26, hit .261 with 11 homers and 32 RBIs in the pandemic-shortened season. He... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Mets defeated third baseman and outfielder J.D. Davis, the Baltimore Orioles beat outfielder Anthony Santander and first baseman Ji-Man Choi defeated the Tampa Bay Rays in the first three of 13 scheduled salary arbitration cases this month. Davis receives a raise from $592,463 to $2.1 million rather than his $2,475,000 request. The decision by Gil Vernon, Mark Burstein and Jeanne Vonhof was announced Friday, three days after they heard the case. Because of the pandemic, hearings are being conducted by Zoom for the first time rather than in person. Davis, 27, hit .247 with six homers and 19 RBIs during the pandemic-shortened season. Santander gets a raise from $572,500 to $2.1 million rather than his $2,475,000 request, the same figures exchanged by Davis and the Mets. Santander’s case was heard Wednesday by arbitrators Melinda Gordon, Richard Bloch and Frederic Horowitz. Santander, 26, hit .261 with 11 homers and 32 RBIs in the pandemic-shortened season. He... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Mets defeated third baseman and outfielder J.D. Davis, and the Baltimore Orioles beat outfielder Anthony Santander in the first two of 13 scheduled salary arbitration cases this month. Davis will receive a raise from $592,463 to $2.1 million rather than his $2,475,000 request. The decision by Gil Vernon, Mark Burstein and Jeanne Vonhof was announced Friday, three days after they heard the case. Because of the pandemic, hearings are being conducted by Zoom for the first time rather than in person. Davis, 27, hit .247 with six homers and 19 RBIs during the pandemic-shortened season. Santander gets a raise from $572,500 to $2.1 million rather than his $2,475,000 request, the same figures exchanged by Davis and the Mets. Santander’s case was heard Wednesday by arbitrators Melinda Gordon, Richard Bloch and Frederic Horowitz. Santander, 26, hit .261 with 11 homers and 32 RBIs in the pandemic-shortened season. He was eligible for arbitration for the first time. A decisions... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — The Mets defeated J.D. Davis in the first of 13 scheduled salary arbitration cases this month. The third baseman and outfielder will receive a raise from $592,463 to $2.1 million rather than his $2,475,000 request. The decision by Gil Vernon, Mark Burstein and Jeanne Vonhof was announced Friday, three days after they heard the case. Because of the pandemic, hearings are being conducted by Zoom for the first time rather than in person. Davis, 27, hit .247 with six homers and 19 RBIs during the pandemic-shortened season. Decisions also are pending for Baltimore outfielder Anthony Santander and Tampa Bay first baseman Ji-Man Choi. Santander asked for a raise from $572,500 to $2,475,000, and the Orioles argued for $2.1 million, the same figures that were exchanged by Davis and the Mets. Santander’s case was heard by arbitrators Melinda Gordon, Richard Bloch and Frederic Horowitz. Santander, 26, hit .261 with 11 homers and 32 RBIs in the pandemic-shortened season. He was eligible... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — J.D. Davis and the New York Mets argued the first of 13 scheduled salary arbitration cases this month. The third baseman and outfielder asked for a raise from $592,463 to $2,475,000 during Tuesday’s hearing before Gil Vernon, Mark Burstein and Jeanne Vonhof. The Mets argued for $2.1 million. Davis is eligible for arbitration for the first time. Because of the pandemic, hearings are being conducted by Zoom for the first time rather than in person. Still scheduled for hearings are Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes and pitcher Walker Buehler; Tampa Bay first baseman Ji-Man Choi and reliever Ryan Yarbrough; Houston shortstop Carlos Correa; St. Louis pitcher Jack Flaherty; Chicago Cubs outfielder Ian Happ; Los Angeles Angeles pitcher/outfielder Shohei Ohtani; Baltimore outfielder Anthony Santander; San Francisco second baseman Donovan Solano; and Atlanta pitcher Mike Sorotka and shortstop Dansby Swanson. Teams won seven of 12 hearings last year, including six of the first... [More]