Baseball

The Los Angeles Dodgers took care of business last night against he Atlanta Braves to win their third pennant in the last four seasons. Corey Seager took home NLCS MVP honors, but it was Enrique Hernandez and Cody Bellinger coming up with big home runs in the sixth and seventh innings to seal the win.…

Checking in on the league’s front office landscape: Previous reports suggested the Phillies might not be in a hurry to replace former GM Matt Klentak, potentially relying on interim GM Ned Rice to run their day-to-day baseball operations until the end of 2021. That still might be the case, but Philadelphia’s at least doing their due…

The Phillies announced that pitching coach Bryan Price has elected to retire. It’s a surprising development, as the longtime big league coach just signed with Philadelphia one season ago. Price, 58, was in-demand at this time last year. He reportedly spurned pitching coach offers from the Diamondbacks and Padres to take the same position with…

The National League pennant will be decided tonight. The Braves and Dodgers will kick off NLCS Game 7 in a few hours. The winner will take on the Rays next week in the World Series. The Dodgers were the league’s most imposing offense in the regular season. Los Angeles has continued to mash in the…

The Dodgers are starting right-hander Dustin May against the Braves in tonight’s NLCS Game 7, per various reporters (including Ken Gurnick of MLB.com). The hard-throwing sinkerballer started Game 5 of the series on Friday and went two innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits with a pair of walks and three strikeouts. May threw…

The Tigers interviewed Royals bench coach Pedro Grifol for their managerial opening, reports Jon Morosi of MLB Network. The 50-year-old made a strong impression on Detroit higher-ups and has put himself in “the top tier of candidates,” Morosi adds. Grifol has come up as a possibility in various managerial searches in recent seasons, including last…

During a conference call with reporters (including Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald) to discuss the departure of president of baseball operations Michael Hill, Marlins CEO Derek Jeter noted that the club is planning to exercise its $12.5MM club option on outfielder Starling Marte for the 2021 season.  The option contained a $1MM buyout. Miami…

The Marlins have moved on from president of baseball operations Michael Hill, the Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports (Twitter link).  The news ends an 18-year run for Hill in Miami’s front office. The move isn’t a firing, as Hill’s contract with the club (an extension signed under previous owner Jeffrey Loria) was up at the end…

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts declined the opportunity to definitively name his game seven starter after tonight’s win, per J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group and others (via Twitter). Tony Gonsolin lines up for the job after stepping in to start game two for Clayton Kershaw. Gonsolin is not the guy the Dodgers would…

The Yankees 2020 season was a success by most measures – except for the 2nd-place finish behind Tampa Bay. The Rays took them out in the postseason as well, which was particularly galling with a payroll that (for a full season) floated around $265MM. The Rays, by contrast, fielded a payroll of around $73MM. As…