7:27 AM ET Jeff PassanESPN Close ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” OAKLAND, California — In the middle of the visiting clubhouse at Oakland Coliseum grew the puddle of beer, a foot or so in diameter and a couple inches deep. The smoke had
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8:00 AM ET SIX GAMES? Shane Greene thinks for a moment before nodding. Yeah, that sounds about right: After six games in a Braves uniform, he’d seen all he needed to see. Over those six games, Greene watched in silent awe from a bullpen bench in Cincinnati and Minneapolis and Miami as 21-year-old Ronald Acuna
Sep 19, 2019 BOSTON — When Mookie Betts was growing up, his father, Willie, drilled a lesson into his head. “You ain’t gonna get nothing you don’t deserve,” he’d tell the young Betts. So far in his career, Betts has lived out his father’s words. That advice — to never sell yourself short — is
8:00 AM ET LOS ANGELES — Justin Turner‘s first baseball memory occurred 39 days before his fourth birthday, at his grandmother’s house in Lakewood, California, where he watched Kirk Gibson hit the legendary home run that propelled the Los Angeles Dodgers to a World Series title in 1988. His recollections of that moment are hazy,
7:00 AM ET The all-or-nothing wild-card round is behind us, and now it’s time for teams to take the field knowing they’re guaranteed to stick around for a little while as the National League Division Series start up Thursday. What’s on tap The most important thing of the day: We’ll certainly be eager to see
11:29 PM ET Jeff PassanESPN Close ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” OAKLAND, Calif. — Tampa Bay Rays first baseman Yandy Diaz is known for two things: his outsize muscles and exceptional ability to hit. His combination of both in the American League wild-card
1:48 AM ET OAKLAND — Pressure? You think a 92 mph fastball on the outside corner with a huge and vocal crowd bearing down on you in a playoff game is pressure? Try riding a raft to freedom from your native Cuba, after being caught once before, or playing winter league baseball in Venezuela, where
11:14 PM ET LOS ANGELES — The Washington Nationals are getting their money’s worth out of Stephen Strasburg this year. Manager Davey Martinez said Wednesday that Strasburg, who came out of the bullpen to toss three shutout innings and earn the win in Washington’s dramatic wild-card victory on Tuesday, is a possibility to start Game
10:06 PM ET With the bright lights of the playoffs come the attention and scrutiny of playing on sports’ biggest stages. And while rising to the occasion at the most intense moments can immortalize a player, failing to deliver when the pressure is on can dog someone for years to come. Fair or not, Brewers
6:11 PM ET LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers‘ rotation includes arguably the greatest pitcher of his generation in Clayton Kershaw and a potential Cy Young Award winner in Hyun-Jin Ryu. But it will be Walker Buehler, the precocious right-hander with an electric fastball, who will begin their march toward another World Series. Buehler