MLB

11:54 PM ET Benches cleared on Tuesday at Minute Maid Park in Houston after the sixth inning of a highly anticipated matchup between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Houston Astros. The tension was rooted in Joe Kelly‘s erratic bottom of the sixth, in which he threw a 3-0 fastball behind Alex Bregman and nearly

12:53 AM ET ESPN News Services WASHINGTON — The World Series champion Washington Nationals are 1-4 after losing three games in a row. Normally? Not a big deal. Matters more in a 60-game, pandemic-shortened season. Missing slugger Juan Soto, they’ve scored a grand total of four runs during the skid, including a 5-1 loss to

3:17 PM ET Major League Baseball has postponed all of the Miami Marlins‘ games through Sunday after the team’s recent coronavirus outbreak. MLB announced that Miami’s next six games, starting with Tuesday night’s home game against the Baltimore Orioles, have been postponed, citing the belief that “it is most prudent to allow the Marlins time

8:43 AM ET Associated Press MIAMI — The Marlins‘ coronavirus outbreak could endanger the Major League Baseball season, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday, although he doesn’t believe games need to stop now. More than a dozen Marlins players and staff members tested positive for COVID-19, stranding the team in Philadelphia and raising anew questions about

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

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

9:18 AM ET The Miami Marlins‘ home opener against the Baltimore Orioles Monday night has been canceled, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan, as coronavirus cases continue to pop up among the team. The Marlins remain in Philadelphia and continue to undergo testing after their weekend series there. Eight more players and two coaches with the

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

12:21 PM ET ESPN News Services The displaced Toronto Blue Jays will play the majority of their home games in Buffalo, New York, this year amid the coronavirus pandemic, the team announced Friday. The Blue Jays will play at Sahlen Field, home of the team’s Triple-A affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons. “We are extremely grateful to

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