SEATTLE — Cal Raleigh — villain.

You buying it? Because I'm not.

The American catcher has probably been the most-mentioned name in baseball over the past few days, and not for reasons he wants. It's because he refused to shake the hand of Seattle Mariners teammate Randy Arozarena when Randy offered said hand to Raleigh at the plate in a ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — It started with a Shohei shot.

Ohtani began the World Baseball Classic in Tokyo for Team Japan with a double on the first pitch he saw and then, one inning later, a grand slam … of course he did.

It continued with an espresso shot ...

The hitters of lovable Team Italy celebrated home runs with shots of Italian espresso in a ...Read more

LAKELAND, Fla. — Following his dominant four-inning effort in the World Baseball Classic on Monday evening against Mexico, Paul Skenes fielded questions from the media alongside his USA teammate Roman Anthony and manager Mark DeRosa.

The reigning National League Cy Young winner discussed the “electric” atmosphere at Houston’s Daikin ...Read more

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — Numbers were crunched. Video was studied. Players, managers and coaches were interrogated.

And once all the data was collected, parsed and analyzed for baseball’s new video system for reviewing balls and strikes, we came up with this rather technical description:

Um, kinda funky?

In an absolutely charming way, of ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — It remains to be seen if Ryan Weathers, the hard-throwing lefty the New York Yankees acquired over the winter, is going to be the rotation “find” they envisioned after surrendering four prospects to the Miami Marlins for him. Another rough outing against the Atlanta Braves Friday ballooned Weathers’ spring ERA to 8.68 for ...Read more

MIAMI — Omar Lopez didn’t have to give a pregame speech Saturday. The Venezuelan manager and his team already knew the challenge ahead of it in its World Baseball Classic quarterfinal. It knew it would have to take out defending tournament champion Japan and one of the sport’s best players in Shohei Ohtani if it wanted a chance to win the ...Read more

Italy’s magical World Baseball Classic run continues, and so does Greg Weissert’s impressive performance on the global stage.

The Red Sox reliever recorded a five-out save on Saturday evening to send Puerto Rico home and advance the still undefeated Italy to the penultimate round of the triennial tournament. He allowed two hits, struck out ...Read more

PEORIA, Ariz. — Randy Arozarena arrived to the Mariners' spring training complex early Saturday morning, ready to return to work.

With the Mariners having a later “show and go” start to their morning following a night game, the clubhouse was largely empty as he unpacked his gear. As teammates rolled in, he offered hugs and fist bumps and,...Read more

FORT MYERS, Fla. — It’s not the speed. That’s a given.

It’s not the pitcher glancing over his shoulder, or the catcher sitting a little higher in his crouch or the middle infielders cheating toward second base. It’s not the first baseman trying to keep him close to the bag, or the possibility that he’s about to move into scoring ...Read more

MESA, Ariz. — Justin Steele stepped off the back of the mound at Sloan Park, gathered himself with a deep breath and exhaled.

The sequence provided Steele a moment to reset amid the adrenaline of facing hitters again.

Teammates Matthew Boyd, Cade Horton, Gavin Hollowell and Jordan Wicks, along with front-office personnel, sat in the stands ...Read more

In his now-famous interview on his own TV show, MLB Network’s “Hot Stove,” Team USA manager Mark DeRosa told his partners he was trying to stay off social media.

For his sanity, we can only hope DeRosa stuck to his plan.

With one loss to Team Italy in a World Baseball Classic game, DeRosa became the most maligned manager in WBC history, ...Read more

SARASOTA, Fla. — It seems like everyone wants a minute of Konnor Griffin’s time these days. Currently rated the consensus top prospect in baseball, the 19-year-old shortstop is one of the most discussed names in MLB.

As the entire baseball world follows Griffin’s battle to crack the Pirates’ opening day roster, the Post-Gazette decided ...Read more

MIAMI — The 2026 World Baseball Classic started with 20 teams.

Now, the field is down to eight.

The top two teams from each of the tournament’s four pools have advanced to the quarterfinals, where the tournament shifts to single elimination knockouts on the way to the championship game on Tuesday at loanDepot park.

Those eight teams that ...Read more

GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Dodgers will likely make the traditional post-championship visit to the White House again this year, but it won’t happen during their only scheduled visit to Washington D.C.

The Dodgers’ first road trip of the regular season will start in Washington with three games against the Nationals on April 3-5. But sources ...Read more

CHICAGO — It took longer than he anticipated, but Andre Dawson finally came to an agreement with the Baseball Hall of Fame regarding his plaque in Cooperstown.

Back in 2023, Dawson informed me he was asking the Hall to change his plaque, removing the Montreal Expos cap he wore and replacing it with a Chicago Cubs cap.

Simply put, he wanted ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — No doubt about it, the Tampa Bay Rays’ April 6 game at Tropicana Field is a premier date on the team’s schedule.

Not only is it the 2026 home opener, but it’s the start of a rare series against the Chicago Cubs, and it’s the first game at the Trop since the 2024 hurricanes threatened to destroy the stadium.

You would ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — A transaction to consider with regard to Jesús Luzardo …

Three years ago, a 30-year-old free agent lefty named Carlos Rodón signed a six-year, $162 million contract with the Yankees. Two years before that, Rodón wasn’t all that different from Luzardo.

At 28, he entered his walk year with all the stuff in the world but ...Read more

PEORIA, Ariz. — When Cal Raleigh said he planned to FaceTime with people at the Mariners complex while being away with Team USA at the World Baseball Classic, this isn’t what he had in mind.

On Tuesday afternoon, Raleigh reached out over FaceTime to address the controversy after he refused to shake hands with Randy Arozarena during Team USA...Read more