MLB

1:40 AM ET CHICAGO — It’s easy to look at the stats and quickly tell why the Chicago Cubs are off to a fast start to this shortened Major League Baseball season. Their 9-2 record — after a nail-biting 5-4 win over the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday — can be chalked up to the

5:20 PM ET ESPN News Services The delay in the Miami Marlins‘ first game back after a COVID-19 outbreak on the team put their season on pause has been resolved, a source confirmed to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Major League Baseball released a statement around three hours before the scheduled 7:35 p.m. start saying the game

7:00 AM ET MLB InsidersESPN We will grant that a week or so into the baseball season is typically a bit early to make any proclamations about what we have seen. But as you might have heard, this is not a typical baseball season. In 2020, 10 games represents one sixth of the season, which

12:58 AM ET Nothing says watching Major League Baseball in 2020 quite like watching Monday’s New York Mets–Atlanta Braves game in Atlanta, hearing a loud clap of thunder and having Mets announcer Gary Cohen explain that the thunder was actually from Citi Field in Queens, where he, Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez were broadcasting the

4:04 PM ET The St. Louis Cardinals are the latest team to suffer a coronavirus outbreak, resulting in their four-game series in Detroit being postponed. “The Cardinals have had 13 members of the organization test positive for COVID-19 in the last week, including seven players and six staff members,” the league said in a statement.

But there’s no need to be all doom and gloom. After all, there were actual Major League Baseball games! And with games come updated Power Rankings. We surveyed our group of reporters, analysts and editors after the first week and a half of the 60-game (we hope) season, with the results below. The biggest gainers

1:43 PM ET ESPN News Services The New York Mets‘ Yoenis Cespedes has opted out of the 2020 season after he did not report to Truist Park in Atlanta for Sunday’s game against the Braves, according to general manager Brodie Van Wagenen. Van Wagenen addressed Cespedes’ decision with reporters after the Mets’ 4-0 loss. The

8:00 AM ET Nobody expected the job to be easy, but new Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom certainly didn’t expect this. As the Red Sox close out their first series of the season against the rival New York Yankees on Sunday night (7 p.m. ET, ESPN), Bloom has just closed out his

11:18 AM ET The Cincinnati Reds placed veteran first baseman Joey Votto on the injured list Sunday before the opener of their doubleheader with the Detroit Tigers. The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that Votto self-reported coronavirus symptoms Sunday morning but has not tested positive for the virus. The Reds did not disclose a reason for the

8:56 PM ET The St. Louis Cardinals have had one player and three staff members test positive for the coronavirus, while four more members of the organization have gotten inconclusive results, team president John Mozeliak said Saturday evening during a video conference call with reporters. “We’re confident, by the time we get to Detroit on

2:49 PM ET Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred remains confident the 2020 season can continue, telling ESPN’s Karl Ravech on Saturday that “there is no reason to quit now” despite positive coronavirus tests that have led to the postponement of 17 games in 10 days. “We are playing,” Manfred told Ravech. “The players need

10:14 AM ET Saturday’s game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers has been postponed following additional positive tests among the Cardinals, according to ESPN and multiple reports. At least four more members of the Cardinals have tested positive for COVID-19, according to ESPN and multiple reports. It is not known whether the new

11:32 AM ET ESPN News Services The Miami Marlins, after an 18th player tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, are getting multiple sleeper buses to take infected players and coaches from Philadelphia to Miami, sources told ESPN’s Jesse Rogers on Friday. In all, the Marlins have had 21 members of the organization test positive over

4:55 PM ET Jeff PassanESPN Close ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred told MLB Players Association executive director Tony Clark on Friday that if the sport doesn’t do a better job of managing the coronavirus, it could shut

10:10 AM ET The St. Louis Cardinals have had multiple members test positive for the coronavirus, resulting in Major League Baseball postponing Friday afternoon’s game at the Milwaukee Brewers, a source told ESPN’s Jeff Passan. MLB’s quick decision to postpone Friday’s game, which was scheduled for 2:10 p.m. ET, comes after the outbreak within the

8:35 PM ET Mike Trout, whose wife is scheduled to give birth to the couple’s first child this summer, was placed on the paternity leave list by the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday. Trout’s wife, Jessica, was originally scheduled to deliver sometime in August. The limit for a stint on the paternity leave list is

12:43 PM ET The Philadelphia Phillies have canceled all activities at Citizens Bank Park, including a weekend series against the Blue Jays, after a member of the coaching staff and a member of the home clubhouse staff tested positive for the coronavirus, the team announced Thursday. The Phillies said no players have tested positive. As

8:00 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” It became clear a couple of years ago that Major League Baseball and its commissioner, Rob Manfred, were working toward an inevitable introduction of weird extra-innings rules, and in this space we