In four games since their forced exile from the Roman (Anthony) Empire, the Boston Red Sox haven’t been the same.

They flew to Arizona to face a sub-.500 Diamondbacks team, but spent nearly the entire weekend struggling and lost the first two games.

Sunday looked lost, too, until the offense finally found its spark in pinch-hit fashion late ...Read more

DETROIT — Will Robertson saw the ball in the air and thought, “just make a play.”

The Chicago White Sox left fielder sprinted near the corner, tracking Spencer Torkelson’s long fly-ball.

“Off the bat, I honestly thought it was foul,” Robertson said. “But with the wind, you have to go for it. As I was running, I was like, ‘Oh, ...Read more

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Angels were beaten up, but not beaten on Sunday.

The Angels were hit by pitches a franchise record five times and catcher Logan O’Hoppe came out of the game after being hit under his mask by a careless practice swing in their 4-3 victory over the Athletics.

Travis d’Arnaud, who entered the game at catcher after O’...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Imagine how annoyed Byron Buxton must have been when the baseball he crushed in the first inning Sunday sailed into the left-field seats. Just hours earlier, he had complained about how his last eight hits — now nine — had been for extra bases.

“I actually would like to steal a damn bag once in awhile,” Buxton said....Read more

PITTSBURGH — Bubba Chandler should be thankful his first big-league start coincided with the first Sunday of the 2025 NFL schedule. Because of the Steelers’ season opener, fewer people likely witnessed his afternoon to forget.

The game’s top pitching prospect struggled mightily, surrendering nine runs in less than three innings of work, ...Read more

CINCINNATI — Brandon Sproat‘s Sunday outing in Cincinnati was anything but typical.

Of course, this outing was never going to be typical. The ballpark was different, the uniform was different and while his catcher, Francisco Alvarez, was familiar, even he too was different than the one who has been behind the plate for most of his starts ...Read more

NEW YORK — As Ben Rice battled future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer in the first inning of Sunday’s rubber match between the Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays, Aaron Judge extended his arms twice while leading off of second base.

The gesture told Rice to prepare for Scherzer’s changeup. He laid off of one before hammering another deep to right, ...Read more

BALTIMORE — The day started with a couple of Shohei Ohtani home runs. It continued with a strong 5 2/3 inning start from Clayton Kershaw. And it ended with the Dodgers in a celebratory postgame line, trading victorious high-fives near the mound.

After five straight losses, several weeks of mounting frustration, and the most painful collapse ...Read more

MIAMI — Trea Turner didn’t reach for the back of his right leg or come up limping at first base.

But he knew something was wrong.

“It was just kind of grabbing on me,” he said later. “Didn’t feel good.”

So, Turner made a swift right turn and headed into the dugout. The diagnosis: a strained right hamstring, and suddenly, a 5-4 ...Read more

ST. LOUIS — In a vacuum, the San Francisco Giants had an acceptable road trip. They dropped the rubber match to the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday at Busch Stadium, but with a sweep of the Colorado Rockies, they’ll fly home with four wins to two losses.

The Giants do not exist in a vacuum. With 19 games remaining and a record of 72-71, ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — The Rays dropped a third straight game to the Cleveland Guardians, and dropped back to the brink of the American League playoff race.

Sunday’s 2-1 defeat pushed the Rays back under .500 at 71-72, and with Seattle’s win at Atlanta, left them four games and four teams from the last wild-card spot with 19 games to play.

There ...Read more

Without Roman Anthony and Wilyer Abreu, the Boston Red Sox offense has spent the past few days desperately searching for answers.

So far nothing has worked.

The Red Sox bats fell quiet once again in Saturday’s 5-1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, marking the club’s third straight loss at a time in the season where the club can’t afford ...Read more

DENVER — The step back as Fernando Tatis Jr. approached third base was again easy to miss. The Padres’ superstar admitted he “probably forgot how to do it” after ending the worst homer drought of his career last month in Seattle. Perhaps he’s about to get the hang of it again.

Tatis’ third homer in his last 10 games got the offense ...Read more

ST. LOUIS — The San Francisco Giants lost to the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 on Saturday night at Busch Stadium as closer Ryan Walker allowed three runs in the bottom of the ninth without recording a single out, ending San Francisco’s winning streak at five games.

Nolan Gorman and Mason Wynn led off the bottom of the ninth with back-to-back ...Read more

BALTIMORE — From the verge of history, to the depths of horror.

The kind of unimaginable nightmare even these slumping Dodgers didn’t seem capable of.

One minute, Yoshinobu Yamamoto was on the precipice of a no-hitter, needing just one out to put his name in the record books. The next, orange Baltimore Orioles jerseys were sprinting ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Minnesota Twins have wandered into a playoff race this weekend at Kauffman Stadium. The effect is not much different than had they wandered onto the interstate highway just beyond center field.

Joe Ryan lasted only two innings Saturday night, tying the shortest start of his major league career, and the Royals pounded ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — Talking before Saturday’s game, Drew Rasmussen revealed the secret to the Rays’ recent run of success, winning seven of their previous eight games and 10 of 13 to get back into the American League playoff chase:

Desperation.

“We kind of put (ourselves) in the position where our backs were against the wall,” Rasmussen ...Read more