RHP R.A. Dickey had his contract option for 2018 declined by the Atlanta Braves, the team announced Monday. Dickey, 42, just completed his 15th major league season, going 10-10 with a 4.26 ERA in 31 starts in his lone year with the Braves. He made his 300th career start and 400th career appearance in his final turn of the season on Sept. 26.

C Tyler Flowers had his contract option picked up for the 2018 season, the team announced Monday. The 2018 campaign will mark Flowers' third with the Braves and his 10th in the majors. He batted a career-best .281 with 12 home runs and 49 RBIs in 99 games this season. In his two seasons since joining Atlanta as a free agent, the 31-year-old Flowers is hitting .276 with 20 homers and 90 RBIs over 182 games. Flowers, 31, underwent arthroscopic debridement surgery on his left wrist on Oct. 9. He is expected to be fully ready for the start of spring training.

HOUSTON -- Beyond the obvious impact of adding an accomplished pitcher with the credentials of Justin Verlander to their rotation, part of the Astros' thinking following his waiver trade deadline acquisition was that Verlander would deepen an already effective rotation, one featuring a pair of All-Stars in ace left-hander Dallas Keuchel and right-hander Lance McCullers.It took seven weeks but the Astros finally caught a glimpse of what they have when Verlander, Keuchel and McCullers are all healthy and available. McCullers, hamstrung by an injury-marred second half of the regular season, joined the fray during the American League Championship Series, first producing six strong innings in Game 4 before emerging out of the bullpen in Game 7 with four shutout frames to help lift the Astros to their first AL pennant.Now, with the Los Angeles Dodgers on tap for the World Series, the Astros can present the rotation they envisioned when Verlander came aboard on Aug. 31. If he is so inclined, Astros... [More]

RF Aaron Judge finished 0-for-4 and struck out in his final plate appearance of the postseason, running his total to 27 to set a franchise record. Judge surpassed the mark previously held by Yankees 2B Alfonso Soriano, who recorded 26 strikeouts over 75 plate appearances in 2003. Judge finished his first postseason with 57 plate appearances.

RHP Tommy Kahnle had retired 28 of 32 batters faced over six appearances and 10 scoreless innings this postseason before surrendering three runs in the fifth inning. Astros 2B Jose Altuve broke the scoreless string with a solo home run before Astros C Brian McCann added a two-run double. Kahnle had allowed only two hits this postseason before surrendering four in Game 7.

LHP CC Sabathia had been 10-0 with a 1.69 ERA over 13 starts following a Yankees loss this season, but was saddled with the decision after allowing one run on five hits and three walks over 3 1/3 innings. Sabathia produced his shortest outing in a postseason start since working only two innings in Game 1 of the 2011 American League Division Series against Detroit.

RHP Lance McCullers earned his first career save by working four scoreless innings in his second career relief appearance, both coming this postseason. McCullers recorded the seventh save of at least four scoreless innings in postseason history, the last by Giants LHP Madison Bumgarner in Game 7 of the 2014 World Series. McCullers finished with six strikeouts against one walk.

RHP Charlie Morton allowed two hits and one walk over five scoreless innings to become the third pitcher in postseason history to allow no more than two hits over at least five scoreless innings in a Game 7 start (LHP Madison Bumgarner in the 2014 World Series and LHP Joe Page in the 1947 World Series). The last pitcher to be scoreless over at least five innings while recording at least five strikeouts in a Game 7 was RHP Jack Morris in the 1991 World Series.

2B Jose Altuve finished 1-for-3 with a walk and a home run and has hit safely in all six home games this postseason. Altuve is batting .591 in 22 at-bats with five home runs and eight RBIs at Minute Maid Park this postseason and is the fourth player in major league history with at least five home runs at home in a postseason.

C Brian McCann blasted a two-run double off Yankees RHP Tommy Kahnle in the fifth inning to reach base for the fifth time in seven plate appearances (two doubles, a single and two walks). McCann was 0-for-20 over six hitless games before his torrid stretch, one that had him joining Craig Biggio (2004) and Lance Berkman (2005) as the only Astros to double and plate a run in consecutive postseason games.

2B Jose Altuve produced his first RBIs of the series with a two-run single in the fifth inning of the American League Championship Series on Friday night before adding a leadoff homer in the eighth. It marked his sixth multi-hit game of this postseason, which ties him for the fourth most in franchise history. Altuve has hit four homers this postseason, second only to Carlos Beltran, who had postseason eight homers in 2004.

C Brian McCann snapped an 0-for-20 skid with his RBI double in the fifth inning on Friday night in Game 4 of the American League Championship against Houston, snapping the Astros' scoreless innings skid at 15 in the process. For McCann, it was his second career double in the postseason. He also had a double in Game 4 of the 2010 National League Division Series against the San Francisco Giants. McCann finished 2-for-4 with an RBI.

RF Josh Reddick extended his hitless streak to 21 at-bats in the American League Championship Series by finishing 0-for-4 on Friday night. That is the longest such streak in ALCS history. The longest hitless streak in one postseason series is held by Dal Maxvill of the St. Louis Cardinals, who was 0-for-22 in the 1968 World Series.

RHP Justin Verlander became the first pitcher in postseason history with three consecutive scoreless starts in potential elimination games on Friday night in the American League Championship Series. With eight strikeouts, Verlander bumped his total for the series to 21 and joined RHP Bob Gibson (31, 1964), RHP Curt Shilling (26, 2001), and RHP Sandy Koufax (23, 1963) as the only pitchers with 20-plus strikeouts against the Yankees in a postseason series.

RHP Dellin Betances made just his second scoreless appearance this postseason on Friday night in the American League Championship Series in which he had at least one out, allowing one hit in one inning while getting a strikeout. Betances had allowed one run in two of his three previous appearances and failed to get an out in the third, issuing two walks against the Indians in Game 4 of the ALDS. Betances allowed two walks and a run against the Astros in Game 3.

RHP David Robertson allowed four runs and four hits without getting an out in the eighth inning of Friday night's American League Championship Series game, a sharp reversal from his earlier success this postseason. Entering Game 6, Robertson had allowed two earned runs in 11 innings and six appearances this postseason, with one of those against the Astros in Game 4.

RF Aaron Judge ran his postseason total to 26 strikeouts with two against Astros RHP Justin Verlander on Friday night in Game 6 of the American Leaghe Championship Series. That moved Judge into a tie with Yankees 2B Alfonso Soriano for the most strikeouts in one postseason in franchise history. Soriano had his 26 strikeouts in 75 plate appearances; Judge reached that total in his 52nd. Judge later clubbed his third homer of the ALCS, tied with four others for the second most in an ALCS in franchise history.

2B Daniel Murphy underwent surgery to repair damage to the articular cartilage in his right knee, the team announced Friday. Murphy, 32, will begin the rehab process immediately and will progress throughout the offseason. He never revealed he was dealing with any injury.

RHP Anibal Sanchez will not have the $16 million club option picked up by the Tigers. Instead the Tigers will pay him a $5 million buyout. Sanchez, 34, had a difficult season. He was 3-7 with a 6.41 ERA in 28 appearances, including 17 starts. He allowed 26 home runs in 105 1/3 innings.

WASHINGTON --The Washington Nationals have won four National League East division titles since 2012 under three different managers.But the Nationals are still looking for a postseason series win and some stability in the dugout, as the club announced Friday that manager Dusty Baker will not return in 2018 after his two-year contract expired.Washington general manager Mike Rizzo said he called Baker on Friday morning and the former All-Star outfielder handled the news with professionalism. The previous manager, Matt Williams, also lasted just two seasons."It was one of the most difficult decisions the ownership group and I have had to make," Rizzo said on a conference call with reporters. "Dusty has been a great representative of the Washington Nationals for his tenure here -- a Hall of Fame-type manager."The Nationals won the National League East in both seasons under Baker in 2016 and 2017 and lost at home in Game 5 each year in the NLDS. Washington won 95 games in the first year under... [More]