MLB

1:00 AM ET I turn on the television at 3:40 ET Monday afternoon and see Chris Bassitt, in that resplendent kelly green A’s jersey, warming up to face the Los Angeles Angels in an afternoon game on a bright, sunny day in Oakland, California. Mike Trout will hit second for the Angels. Shohei Ohtani is

9:39 PM ET Commissioner Rob Manfred said he believes MLB’s health protocols are working despite an outbreak of COVID-19 among one of its teams, the Miami Marlins. “We built protocols anticipating that we would have positive tests at some point during the season,” Manfred said in an interview on MLB Network on Monday. “The protocols

1:15 PM ET MLB InsidersESPN Major League Baseball is seeing its first coronavirus cancellations since the restart of the 2020 season. An outbreak of COVID-19 spread throughout the Miami Marlins clubhouse, bringing the total cases in recent days to at least 13, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan and Jesse Rogers. As a result, the Marlins

8:00 AM ET Sam MillerESPN.com Close ESPN baseball columnist/feature writerFormer editor-in-chief of Baseball ProspectusCo-author of “The Only Rule Is It Has To Work” “Every character should want something,” Kurt Vonnegut advised in “Creative Writing 101,” “even if it is only a glass of water.” Major League Baseball, like all professional sports, like all high-level competition,

5:56 PM ET Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander is disputing a report that he’s done for the season with an elbow injury. “The report that I’m currently missing the rest of the season is not accurate,” he tweeted. “There is a forearm strain … I’m hopeful that with some rest it will heal, and I’ll

4:36 PM ET Associated Press CLEVELAND — Carlos Carrasco started again. His inspiring comeback from cancer is complete. More than a year since being stricken with leukemia, Carrasco struck out 10 in six-plus innings and Jose Ramirez homered twice as the Cleveland Indians clobbered the Kansas City Royals 9-2 on Sunday to win two of

7:30 AM ET Bradford Doolittle Close ESPN Staff Writer Sports reporter, Kansas City Star, 2002-09 Writer, Baseball, Baseball Prospectus Co-author, Pro Basketball Prospectus Member, Baseball Writers Association of America Member, Professional Basketball Writers Association David Schoenfield Close ESPN Senior Writer Senior writer of SweetSpot baseball blog Former deputy editor of Page 2 Been with ESPN.com

9:00 AM ET Jeff PassanESPN Close ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” WASHINGTON — THEY PLAYED BASEBALL here Thursday. The defending World Series champion Washington Nationals hosted the New York Yankees at Nationals Park. The attendance was 0. Max Scherzer, the Nationals’ ace, faced

8:00 AM ET The Cincinnati Reds hired Geoff Head last offseason to oversee their health-and-performance team, a group of roughly 50 men and women divided into seven departments. He got the job in December, two months later than normal for that type of role. Three months after that, the sport shut down because of the

2:45 AM ET MLB InsidersESPN We dipped our toes into the waters of the 2020 baseball season with two games on Thursday. On Friday, we dove in headfirst with 14 contests — the first time since the regular season ended on Sept. 29, 2019, that we had coast-to-coast baseball. That was 299 days ago, and

11:26 PM ET ESPN News Services CLEVELAND — From All-Star MVP to ace, and Shane Bieber‘s only getting better. Bieber struck out 14 over six scoreless innings in a historic outing as the Indians beat the Kansas City Royals 2-0 in their delayed home opener on Friday night. The 25-year-old passed Bob Gibson and Lon

7:00 AM ET Mike Trout is not the best player in baseball anymore. I know — that reads like blasphemous clickbait. After all, Trout already has produced more career WAR (72.8) than Larry Walker, Derek Jeter, Tony Gwynn and Ernie Banks. He already has collected more top-two MVP finishes (seven) than Hank Aaron, Pete Rose,

7:00 AM ET Baseball is back. The home runs are back. The blazing fastballs blurring across our TV screens are back. The bat flips, the doubles in the gap, the “how did he do that?” defensive plays, the box scores, the exit velocities, the hot takes, the debates, the hopeful late-game rallies, the walk-off hits,

6:19 PM ET ESPN News Services Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw was put on the 10-day injured list because of stiffness in his back and will not make his scheduled start in Thursday’s Opening Day game against the San Francisco Giants, the team announced. The Dodgers recalled right-hander Dustin May, who will make the

7:00 AM ET Marly RiveraESPN Writer Close Marly Rivera is a writer for ESPNdeportes.com and ESPN.com. NEW YORK — A week before Christmas last year, the New York Yankees held a news conference in the posh Legends Club at Yankee Stadium to introduce Gerrit Cole after signing him to a $324 million deal, the richest

7:00 AM ET ESPN.com staff The 2020 major league baseball season will be like none that has ever come before it. MLB’s 30 teams will have just 60 games to try to streak into the postseason. Players and coaches will need to focus on the field while maintaining strict health and safety protocols off of

11:52 AM ET Jeff PassanESPN Close ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” Star outfielder Mookie Betts and the Los Angeles Dodgers are finalizing a massive 13-year deal worth more than $380 million that would keep the former American League MVP from reaching free agency

1:50 PM ET MLB InsidersESPN The day before the Los Angeles Dodgers open the 2020 season as heavy favorites to win the World Series, they appear to be deep in talks to lock up Mookie Betts for the next decade. Betts and the Dodgers are deep into negotiations on a long-term contract that is expected