MLB

2:31 AM ET PHILADELPHIA — Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander knew the stakes. He had stepped up to the mound on Thursday for Game 5 of the World Series with plenty to prove. Winless in seven career games in the Fall Classic, he had just blown a 5-0 lead in Game 1 of this series,

8:07 PM ET ESPN staff Game 5 of the 2022 World Series goes down Thursday night with the Philadelphia Phillies and Houston Astros battling for a 3-2 series lead. 1 Related Houston’s bullpen made history in Game 4, throwing the first combined no-hitter in MLB postseason history, according to ESPN Stats and Information. Astros pitcher

6:46 PM ET Associated Press PHILADELPHIA — The Houston Astros‘ World Series no-hitter was the most-watched Game 4 in three years. Houston’s 5-0 win over Philadelphia on Wednesday night, a victory that tied the Series at two games apiece, was seen by 11,809,000 viewers on Fox. That was up 9% from the 10,789,000 viewers for

4:21 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — New York Mets outfielder Starling Marte had surgery to repair a core muscle injury that hampered him during the season’s second half. The Mets said Thursday that the operation took place Tuesday and the typical recovery time is eight weeks. That timetable would allow the 34-year-old to

3:44 PM ET Associated Press KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Royals had qualified candidates to become their next manager already in the organization, including one hired by the Chicago White Sox just this week. Yet their six-person committee that waded through the options came to the conclusion that an outside voice was necessary.

2:53 PM ET Associated Press MIAMI — Skip Schumaker thought his meeting with the Miami Marlins might last an hour. Turns out, he’ll be around them for quite a bit longer. Schumaker was introduced as the Marlins’ manager on Thursday, a little over a week after accepting the job and replacing Don Mattingly at the

10:17 AM ET ESPN News Services The Chicago White Sox have hired Kansas City Royals bench coach Pedro Grifol to replace Hall of Famer Tony La Russa as their manager, it was made official Thursday. The 52-year-old Grifol will try to lift a team coming off a disappointing season. The White Sox finished second in

2:21 AM ET Jeff PassanESPN Close ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” PHILADELPHIA — Late last week, before Cristian Javier etched his name into baseball history, his Houston Astros teammates attempted to describe his fastball. By velocity alone, it is a milquetoast effort, flung

10:59 PM ET Associated Press PHILADELPHIA — First lady Jill Biden joined the Stand Up to Cancer tribute in the middle of the fifth inning of Game 4 of the World Series on Wednesday night. Biden arrived at Citizens Bank Park shortly before the tribute, which occurred just after the Astros scored five runs in

11:25 PM ET PHILADELPHIA — The Houston Astros completed the first combined no-hitter in postseason history on Wednesday night, riding six scoreless innings from Cristian Javier and another three from a trio of relievers in an emphatic 5-0 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 4 of the World Series. The win tied the Series

5:50 PM ET ESPN staff The Philadelphia Phillies are coming off a game in which they absolutely hammered the Houston Astros to take a 2-1 lead in the World Series. 2 Related Philadelphia jumped on Lance McCullers Jr. and never let up in the 7-0 victory Tuesday night, mashing five home runs off him to

8:04 PM ET PHILADELPHIA — The season will come full circle for Philadelphia Phillies starter Noah Syndergaard and Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander when they face off in Game 5 of the World Series on Thursday just as they did in their first starts of the regular season back in April. Both were coming off

2:03 AM ET PHILADELPHIA — There was talk, mostly rooted in Bryce Harper‘s pre-at-bat conversation with Alec Bohm, that Lance McCullers Jr. might have been tipping his pitches on Tuesday night. There was talk that the nine-day layoff, further prolonged by Monday’s postponement, might have played a part in the starter looking uncharacteristically rusty. McCullers

1:17 AM ET Pedro Gomez, the late ESPN baseball reporter whose award-winning career spanned 35 years and included coverage of more than 25 World Series, was posthumously inducted into the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame on Tuesday night. Prior to joining ESPN, Gomez, who was based in Phoenix, was a columnist and national baseball writer

11:15 PM ET PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Phillies tied the record for most home runs hit in a World Series game, belting five in a 7-0 win over the Houston Astros in Game 3 on Tuesday night. Philadelphia leads the series 2-1, with Game 4 on Wednesday. All five homers came off starter Lance McCullers

6:54 PM ET Associated Press PHILADELPHIA — President Joe Biden took his own playful swing at Philly’s infamously ornery sports fans — including one real close to home. “Phillies fans are the most virulent, obnoxious fans in the world,” he said Tuesday while campaigning in Florida. Biden, who grew up in Pennsylvania, made his remarks

9:05 PM ET Associated Press FULLERTON, Calif. — A California judge is allowing a lawsuit to proceed against the Los Angeles Angels over the drug-related death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs. Orange County Superior Court Judge Glenn Salter on Monday rejected the team’s motion to dismiss and set the start of a 20-day jury trial for

7:08 PM ET ESPN staff After a slight weather delay, Game 3 of the World Series is here. 1 Related The Philadelphia Phillies took Game 1 in exciting fashion, engineering a comeback from being down 5-0 to the Houston Astros. The Astros, however, jumped out to another 5-0 lead in Game 2, and that time