MLB

4:30 PM ET Major League Baseball is delaying the 2020 regular season by at least two weeks from the scheduled March 26 start in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the league announced Thursday. Here’s what we know about MLB’s announcement, what this means for baseball and where things could go from here. What is the

1:25 PM ET Major League Baseball is expected to suspend the remainder of spring training Thursday in response to the coronavirus pandemic, sources tell ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Sources tell Passan that they expect the league will likely delay the beginning of the regular season as well. The league’s owners will hold a conference call Thursday

2:10 AM ET Jeff PassanESPN Close ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” California on Wednesday recommended a statewide limit on large gatherings through at least the remainder of March, according to a memo from the state’s department of public health, bringing into question the

7:50 AM ET The new MLB Rank from ESPN of Major League Baseball’s top 100 players is out, and as usual, my compulsive need to project the future already has me thinking about the 2021 list. After all, who likes waiting? Since I’m curious about what next year’s top 20 could look like, rather than

7:00 AM ET Last week, I ranked the top 100 prospects in baseball heading into the 2020 season. Now it’s time to go deeper with my team-by-team rankings, starting with the American League. A quick refresher on a key term you’ll see throughout the team lists: I use something called Future Value, shortened to FV

7:00 AM ET MESA — Yu Darvish is the only human being on the planet who has the following two abilities: He can throw nine different pitches on the mound and then, while hanging out in the clubhouse after the game, the Chicago Cubs righty can guess your blood type. Wait. What? It might be

8:00 AM ET The results are in, and ESPN has determined Major League Baseball’s top 100 players for the 2020 season. But not everyone is going to agree with who wound up where. In the wake of the release of this year’s voting by 40 of ESPN’s baseball experts, we asked three of our voters

7:37 AM ET Who will be the best players in major league baseball for the 2020 season? To determine this, ESPN polled 40 MLB writers, analysts, contributors and insiders to determine the top 100 and rank them, voting on 200 players. For a basis of comparison, for each player, we’ve looked at where they ranked

1:00 PM ET WHEN I WAS traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in the winter of 1997, I was walking into a competition with Lenny Dykstra. He was at the end of his career, injuries were plaguing him and the cloud of performance-enhancing drugs swirled around him. So right out of the gate, I had to

7:00 AM ET The next few months without any baseball are going to be rough for MLB fans, so let’s spend a little time appreciating the game we do love as we await its return, starting with these players we don’t talk about enough. Some are simply underrated, some are unappreciated veterans we maybe take

12:00 AM ET Do Damage. That phrase emblazoned across sweatshirts during baseball’s postseason the past few seasons came across as a longing, desperate attempt by marketing sloganeers to find some way, any way, for baseball to return to the cool, Madison Avenue merchandising game now dominated by the NBA. After Reggie, Fernando and Junior, this

1:49 PM ET What happened in the exhibition game broadcasts last week on ESPN was the equivalent of dropping a shovel into the ground and touching off a fountain of oil. About a dozen players wore microphones for three dozen innings and generated viral moments that will last — and shape the game’s future. We

5:03 PM ET Associated Press PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — Baltimore outfielder/first baseman Trey Mancini has left the Orioles to undergo what the team is calling “a non-baseball-related medical procedure.” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde, who made the announcement after a game at Tampa Bay on Saturday, said Mancini “is going to miss some time” but didn’t

2:36 PM ET A stomach issue that prevented Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts from playing Friday is expected to keep him out of spring training games until at least Wednesday, manager Dave Roberts told reporters Saturday. The problem first popped up Friday night, when Betts was scratched from playing against the Seattle Mariners about

7:00 AM ET A team’s record in spring training doesn’t mean much, and that’s true for a player’s statistics as well. Factors such as small sample size, wildly varying talent levels of the opposition, and players working on specific aspects of their game muddy the picture in terms of spring stats. The same isn’t necessarily

Mar 6, 2020 Todd ZolaFantasy Close Writing on fantasy baseball game theory and player analysis since 1997 Winner of the 2013 Fantasy Sports Writer’s Association Best Baseball Article “Now you tell me.” — The proverbial famous last words said after finding out pertinent information when it’s too late to use it to your advantage. Unfortunately,

8:00 AM ET New rules. Robot umps. A reimagined postseason. As Major League Baseball attempts to tweak its formula for a new generation of fans, there have been some hits and some misses. We have an idea that could be a home run. While Players Weekend has been a big success for the league the

11:19 PM ET Additional tests on the ailing shoulder of prized young Athletics left-hander A.J. Puk revealed no structural damage, Oakland manager Bob Melvin told reporters Thursday. Puk, the sixth overall pick in the 2016 draft, had visited renowned orthopedist Dr. Neal ElAttrache this week after feeling some mild discomfort in the shoulder. He will