LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani briefly came into the Dodgers clubhouse on Sunday and declared he would make himself available to reporters, and address the illegal gambling and theft allegations levied against his former interpreter, the following afternoon. The interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday in the wake of media inquiries […]
Continue readingBaseball is such a different game today than it was when rotisserie was first invented. Back in 1980, most anyone interested in baseball was lured in by such “bubblegum card” numbers as batting average, home runs, wins and ERA. Over the years, the brightest minds in the game brought to light the fact that there […]
Continue readingNow that the Fall Classic is over, it’s time to turn our attention to 2024 — and we’re kicking that off with some way-WAY-too-early power rankings. Where do Texas and Arizona rank after their exhilarating World Series runs? Were the Braves and Dodgers hurt by their division-round knockouts? And where did the Orioles and Astros […]
Continue readingMore Teams. More Games. Mookie Betts and Clayton Kershaw try to make sense of the Dodgers NLDS sweep at the hands of the Diamondbacks. (1:07) In the aftermath of another early-round disappointment, this time at the hands of the young, scrappy Arizona Diamondbacks, Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy delivered a harsh but accurate […]
Continue readingMore Teams. More Games. Mookie Betts and Clayton Kershaw try to make sense of the Dodgers NLDS sweep at the hands of the Diamondbacks. (1:07) LOS ANGELES — The 100-win Los Angeles Dodgers were left wondering why they can’t win in October after they were swept out of the NL Division Series. They’ll spend all […]
Continue readingWhen things were at their best, Jansen rode the highs of success, letting external validation define his self-worth. But as he struggled on the biggest stage of his career, he said, the places where he built his self-esteem now fed his deepest insecurities. Critics were calling for his job, saying he couldn’t get the Dodgers […]
Continue readingWe asked ESPN MLB experts Bradford Doolittle, Alden Gonzalez and David Schoenfield to weigh in with what has defined the 2023 season — so far — for each team, plus update their preseason predictions. Doolittle: 125. This is the AXE rating for James Outman. (Which means, roughly, that he has been 2.5 standard deviations better […]
Continue readingLOS ANGELES — The circumstances yearned for reassessment, but Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts didn’t entertain it. Clayton Kershaw had put together the worst start of his illustrious career, on the heels of a two-month stretch in which he was clearly limited by a balky left shoulder, but Roberts didn’t deviate from his plan. […]
Continue readingMore Teams. More Games. Alden Gonzalez and Bradford Doolittle break down the top of the AL standings and share which teams they expect to make the playoffs. (2:36) The Braves are in. The Dodgers are in. The Rays and Orioles are in — and the Brewers and Twins aren’t far behind. Welcome to the stretch […]
Continue readingThe Los Angeles Dodgers have called up right-hander Kyle Hurt, the minor league leader in strikeout rate, to bolster their bullpen as the postseason nears, it was announced Tuesday. Hurt, 25, has 145 strikeouts in 88 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A this season and mixes a high-90s fastball with three other swing-and-miss pitches. He […]
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