MLB

5:11 PM ET Jeff PassanESPN Close ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” Top prospect Anthony Volpe will start at shortstop for the New York Yankees after an undeniable spring training performance vaulted him to the coveted job, the team announced Sunday. Volpe, 21, will

8:00 AM ET The Philadelphia Phillies and ace pitcher Aaron Nola have broken off talks on a contract extension, tabling the negotiations until after the season. Nola, who is entering the final year of his existing deal with the Phillies, told reporters Saturday that he wants to focus on the upcoming season. “Sometimes it comes

9:52 PM ET Associated Press Jordan Walker has made enough of an impression this spring to earn the 20-year-old outfielder a spot on the St. Louis Cardinals‘ season-opening roster. The Cardinals announced that Walker and infielder Taylor Motter had made the 26-man roster to start the season. The Cardinals optioned left-handed pitchers Génesis Cabrera and

11:52 AM ET ESPN News Services Philadelphia Phillies president Dave Dombrowski on Friday said “it’s clear” that first baseman Rhys Hoskins has a torn left ACL and is expected to be out for the season, but that the slugger will seek a second opinion. “He will need to have surgery,” Dombrowski told reporters. “I would

11:09 AM ET ESPN News Services New York Yankees right-hander Luis Severino again is dealing with what is being described as a low-grade right lat strain and will likely start the season on the injured list, manager Aaron Boone told reporters Saturday. Severino was scratched from his final spring training start and will miss at

7:41 PM ET Associated Press TEMPE, Ariz. — It was back to business as usual for Shohei Ohtani on Friday. The two-way star returned to Los Angeles Angels camp after his MVP performance in the World Baseball Classic. Three days after striking out Mike Trout to clinch the WBC title for Japan against the United

7:00 AM ET Can a change of scenery fix new Chicago Cubs center fielder Cody Bellinger? Winner of the National League MVP Award in 2019, Bellinger has been on a downward spiral at the plate ever since. It led to him being released by the Los Angeles Dodgers in December and eventually signed by the

7:45 PM ET Associated Press CLEARWATER, Fla. — Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins needs surgery for a torn ACL after injuring his left knee Thursday fielding a grounder in a spring training game and is expected to miss a significant amount of time. The Phillies did not say when Hoskins would have the surgery

12:56 AM ET Associated Press YOKOHAMA, Japan — Trevor Bauer apparently was shunned by every major league team, so he’s signed a one-year deal with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars. Before about 75 reporters in a Yokohama hotel, he slipped on the BayStars uniform — No. 96 — on Friday and said all the right things.

2:36 PM ET Major League Baseball franchise values are on the rise, according to Forbes, despite turmoil caused by the recent bankruptcy filing of Diamond Sports and the continued disintegration of the regional sports network model that could shake up baseball broadcasting for this season and beyond. The New York Yankees topped the list published

7:00 AM ET Who will be the best player of the 2023 MLB season? Opening Day is almost here, which means it’s time to break down how baseball’s elite stack up to each other. To create our annual MLB Rank list of the top 100 players in the sport, we presented a panel of ESPN

12:52 PM ET MIAMI — In 2021, Randy Arozarena put on a green Mexico jersey, logged into his Instagram account and delivered a video message he hoped would be heard by the country’s president. He wanted to be made a citizen and expedite the process as quickly as possible so he could represent Mexico in

3:52 PM ET ESPN News Services Houston Astros star second baseman Jose Altuve had surgery to repair a fractured right thumb and will not resume baseball activities for at least two months, general manager Dana Brown said Wednesday. Altuve, playing for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic, suffered the injury Saturday when he was drilled

10:58 PM ET Jeff PassanESPN Close ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” MIAMI — The dream matchup happened. Ninth inning. Two outs. One-run game. The best player on the planet, Shohei Ohtani, on the mound for Japan. His teammate and good friend, Mike Trout,

5:00 PM ET Weeks of exciting international baseball has all come down to this: USA vs. Japan. Shohei Ohtani vs. Mike Trout. The final game of the 2023 World Baseball Classic is here, and the tournament’s two most dominant teams will be squaring off tonight in what should be an electrifying showdown. While the United

12:20 PM ET Jeff PassanESPN Close ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” MIAMI — Truly understanding what the World Baseball Classic means took a little while for Team USA, which at its first workout March 7 realized it was far less a team than

7:08 AM ET Diamond Sports Group, which owns 19 regional sports networks (RSNs), has ventured into bankruptcy, a predictable development that will nonetheless have a major impact on the way fans watch games and the way teams profit off them. Diamond, a Sinclair subsidiary that is known to viewers as Bally Sports, stands as the

12:00 AM ET What’s at stake Tuesday night in the World Baseball Classic final between the United States and Japan at Miami’s LoanDepot Park? Oh, just global baseball bragging rights for at least the next three years. It’s the matchup that most baseball fans have been not-so-secretly hoping for throughout the tournament — and it’s