MLB

1:20 AM ET Pedro GomezMLB Close ESPN’s Pedro Gomez covered the Oakland A’s home and away nearly every day from 1992-97 for the San Jose Mercury News and Sacramento Bee and then became the national baseball writer and later a general columnist at the Arizona Republic before becoming an ESPN bureau reporter in 2003. SAN

The Astros’ ALCS roster is out. Houston added reliever Chase De Jong for their matchup against Tampa Bay, giving them 14 pitchers and 14 position players. Dropped from the LDS round was outfielder Chas McCormick, who not only has not been used during the playoffs, but has yet to make his big-league debut. Bradford Doolittle,

8:00 AM ET ESPN.com staff Jae C. Hong/AP Photo Even though only one division series among the MLB quartet of matchups went the full five-game distance, we’re back in action after a one-day break with the American League Championship Series of the 2020 MLB playoffs getting into gear, pitting the defending AL champs from Houston

11:10 PM ET We’ve gotten used to seeing the Houston Astros in the American League Championship Series. The Tampa Bay Rays? Not so much. The Astros bashed their way into their fourth straight ALCS, the longest streak since the 1998-2001 Yankees. Houston scored 33 runs and hit 12 home runs in its four-game division series

1:50 PM ET When the No. 1 seed in a Major League Baseball postseason bracket wins its series to advance, it’s worth celebrating a bit, right? But when it’s the Tampa Bay Rays taking down their biggest rivals in the AL East division, the New York Yankees, it’s worth savoring every minute of the experience,

11:18 PM ET ESPN News Services With one swing of the bat, Mike Brosseau put the Tampa Bay Rays into the AL Championship Series on Friday night. But he insisted afterward that the home run off Aroldis Chapman was especially sweet because of where it put the Rays — and not what it did to

11:00 PM ET MLB InsidersESPN It came down to a winner-take-all between the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays to determine the last spot in the next round of the MLB playoffs, but the final four teams for the League Championship Series are officially set. Here are the stars, turning points and takeaways from

12:02 PM ET ESPN News Services Whitey Ford, a Hall of Fame pitcher who won more World Series games than any other pitcher, died at the age of 91, the New York Yankees announced Friday. A family member told The Associated Press on Friday that Ford died at his Long Island home Thursday night. The

7:00 AM ET In the 1970s, influential psychologist Paul Ekman identified six basic emotions experienced in all human cultures. I’m not sure if he studied sports fans, but I’m guessing you had one of the following six reactions to the Houston Astros beating the Oakland Athletics on Thursday and moving on to the American League

1:25 AM ET If you like offense, this is the series for you. The Los Angeles Dodgers boast a deep and powerful lineup that led baseball in runs scored, while the Atlanta Braves scored just one fewer time than L.A. this season. There are few teams in baseball that match the Dodgers group highlighted by

7:23 PM ET LOS ANGELES — Get used to them, America — the Houston Astros aren’t going anywhere just yet. Tainted by one of the biggest cheating scandals in baseball history, beset by injuries when the season restarted and burdened by their own underperformance throughout the summer, the Astros, at their best at the perfect

2:50 AM ET Jeff PassanESPN Close ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” ARLINGTON, Texas — They played this year, amid the fear and the death and the anguish and discomfort, so they could have a night like this. The baseball game staged here Wednesday

7:55 PM ET Padres ace Mike Clevinger is off the team’s NLDS roster because of an injury, a move that means he is ineligible to take part in the NLCS should San Diego advance. Major League Baseball approved the roster move Wednesday. According to its release, Dr. Gary Green, the league’s medical director, confirmed that

Braves rookie Ian Anderson departs after another sparking playoff outing. Anderson has struck out 17 batters over his first two career postseason appearances. That’s already tied for the 16th-highest total for a rookie during a single postseason. Other rookies with 17 whiffs in a playoff season were John Lackey (2002), Jose Contreras (2003) and Daisuke

11:02 PM ET Jeff PassanESPN Close ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” ARLINGTON, Texas — San Diego Padres right-hander Mike Clevinger was removed in the second inning of his National League Division Series Game 1 start against the Los Angeles Dodgers after a precipitous

The Padres have taken about the strangest route to a no-hit bid you will ever see in NLDS Gams 1, using six pitchers — including a 20-year-old rookie making his MLB debut in a postseason game in Ryan Weathers — in the first five innings and giving up a run on a throwing error. But

Rosters have not been announced for the NL side of the Division Series round, but Braves manager Brian Snitker says his club will carry 15 pitchers and 13 position players for Atlanta’s series against Miami. Snitker cited the possibility of five games in five days, combined with the youth of his starting pitchers, as the

7:00 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” The writer Kurt Vonnegut once took to a chalkboard to lecture on the simple shapes that most popular stories follow. In his first example — “Man in Hole” — a protagonist starts