The Braves are two wins away from their first National League pennant since 1999, and have gotten here without one of their star outfielders. Ronald Acuña Jr., the NL Rookie of the Year in 2018, hasn’t played for the Braves since July 10 because of a torn right ACL that sidelined him for the remainder of the season. He played in […]

Covers MLB for ESPN.com Former deputy editor of Page 2 Been with ESPN.com since 1995 Kyle Schwarber stepped out of the batter’s box and stretched his arms and his bat above his head, loosening up his limbs and the long-sleeved shirt underneath his Red Sox jersey. He wasn’t going to swing anyway. Right? Three balls, no strikes, bases juiced, see […]

Joined ESPN in 2016 to cover the Los Angeles Rams Previously covered the Angels for MLB.com ATLANTA — Max Scherzer isn’t usually agreeable to being removed in the middle of a baseball game. It’s the type of situation that visibly enrages him and often sends his manager back into the dugout. But when Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts emerged […]

BOSTON — Red Sox left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez will start Game 3 of the AL Championship Series against the Houston Astros, Boston manager Alex Cora said, leaving righty Nick Pivetta available for Game 4 — or the bullpen, if necessary. Cora revealed his decision Sunday after a bit of intrigue: When the team’s availability was announced at around 2:30 p.m., the […]

ESPN MLB insider Author of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” HOUSTON — When he was 13 years old, little Enrique Hernandez, always undersized and underappreciated, found himself glued to the television every night in October. “I never missed a playoff game,” he said, and that year in particular, 2004, had him rapt. […]

Previously a Staff Writer at Bleacher Report Cornell University graduate It didn’t take long for the Boston Red Sox to bounce back from their loss in the American League Championship Series opener, hitting two grand slams in the first two innings of Saturday’s Game 2 against the Houston Astros. In doing so, they became the first team in MLB history […]

Three ruminations on what’s already been a crazy postseason: Sportsmanship? White Sox manager Tony La Russa’s lasting imprint on the 2021 postseason will be his ridiculous and childish rant after his team got its butt whipped by the Astros on Tuesday in Game 4 of the American League Division Series. La Russa was ticked off over José Abreu being hit […]

Yep, we have a rematch in the NLCS. This time, Atlanta will try to finish off the upset, something it couldn’t quite do after taking a 3-1 series lead last October. They’re different teams, of course. The Dodgers have added Max Scherzer and Trea Turner, and Max Muncy is on the shelf with an elbow injury. Ronald Acuna Jr. has been injured […]

The Astros won the World Series in 2017 and the Red Sox followed suit in 2018. Then, of course, both the Astros and Red Sox were caught and punished (to certain extents) for sign-stealing scandals.  And here they are in 2021, fighting for a spot in the World Series again.  That’ll be a topic of conversation during the first few […]

They’re the two second-most magical words in sports: Game 5. The Dodgers and the Giants took 162 games to decide who would come who with the NL West, and on Thursday night, the Los Angeles-San Francisco feud comes to a definitive end in 2021 as the teams meet in San Fran for a winner-take-all Game 5. Los Angeles turns to […]