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The New Jersey prep star waited for what must have felt like forever to hear his name called. Finally, with the 25th pick of the draft, commissioner Bud Selig stood at the dais and announced the Angels had selected Trout. MLB DRAFT 2015: Mock | TV coverage | Five things to know You know what’s happened from there; he’s the best player in baseball. For the first round of Monday’s draft, a video featuring Trout (and his lookalike nephew) will kick off the network’s draft coverage....

Commissioner Rob Manfred touched on possible expansion and relocation as part of a wide-ranging Q&A with Yahoo Sports and sounded as if he’s keeping an open mind on both fronts. MLB hasn’t had a franchise relocate since the Expos moved from Montreal to Washington in 2005 and became the Nationals, but the stadium situations in Oakland and the Tampa Bay area are becoming more unpalatable by the year. Asked how close the A’s or Rays might be to the point of no return with their current markets, Manfred offered up no specifics but also didn’t dismiss the notion of relocation....

It’s not by accident. Teams are seemingly trying to force a freeze-out of free agents until their asking prices drop, allowing teams to spend less on players and pocket more money, and it may not be a coincidence that so many of them adopted the strategy at the same time. MORE: Ranking the top 101 MLB free agents for 2018 Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (perhaps inadvertently) hinted toward it in the opening of a recent article about the number of Scott Boras clients still on the market when he said that teams have adopted a “newfound strategy of slow-playing the market to force players into accepting lesser deals....

Check The Linemakers on Sporting News’ odds page for current baseball lines from Las Vegas. Milwaukee Brewers -110 (vs Chicago White Sox)Jimmy Nelson vs Jose Quintana We have said it before and will say it again – the Brewers are not as bad as they’re rated by oddsmakers. And vice versa, the White Sox might actually be worse than graded, especially playing on the road. Milwaukee has the upper hand in AccuScore predictions, at a 60....

Check The Linemakers on Sporting News’ odds page for current baseball lines from Las Vegas. Kansas City Royals -116 (@ Texas Rangers), 2:05 p.m. ETRoss Detwiler vs Jeremy Guthrie The Royals and Rangers have exchanged victories, with Texas taking the first and third games of this series. The pitching department provides a big edge for the Royals today, with Guthrie starting and Detwiler struggling all season long. The Rangers are 1-5 when Detwiler starts, and we don’t see that trend changing here....

Your browser does not support iframes. Roberto Perez led off the inning with a game-tying home run. He had just three homers in the regular season. Jason Kipnis gave the Indians the lead two batters later with a monster shot to right-center field. The next batter, Francisco Lindor, followed with a shot that cleared a leaping Mookie Betts in right field. MORE: Top 50 players in MLB playoffs All three homers came off Boston starter Rick Porcello, who allowed 23 in the regular season....

It wasn’t long ago when there were serious doubts that a 2020 MLB season was actually going to happen. Public bitterness and infighting between MLB and the MLBPA took the forefront, leaving public bitterness and infighting among its fan base. Not to mention the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. While the issues between both sides weren’t exactly solved, and while COVID is still very much an issue, we will have MLB in 2020....

THE RUMOR: The Red Sox and Dodgers have been “aggressive” on free agent right-hander Alexi Ogando. REPORTED BY: Peter Gammons, MLB Network THE DETAILS: Ogando worked out in Tampa on Friday with two dozen teams on hand to watch the 31-year-old free agent showcase his talent. A number of scouts told Gammons that Ogando “looked good” and they hope to sign the 6-4 Dominican. Ogando is expected to make a decision next week....

Baseball is on the verge of some pretty significant history just 2 1/2 months into the 2021 season. With six no-hitters already thrown, a seventh no-hitter will tie a MLB record, and at the rate that teams have been blanked this year, we can almost certainly expect that to happen. While pitchers are largely nastier than they’ve ever been, the cast of hurlers who have tossed no-nos this year aren’t exactly a who’s who of “stuff” guys in baseball this year....

However, as long as it’s 2019, teams will be able to benefit from the more crowded dugouts and cluttered bullpens. Many of the game’s top prospects will have a chance to debut in the majors and some other minor league journeymen with breakout seasons could have a chance to prove their minor league numbers are for real. There have been plenty of impactful September call-ups in the past who have made a big difference on a team’s postseason run....

MLB announced on Tuesday it will open its 2019 regular season with two games between the Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners at the Tokyo Dome, in addition to a postseason tour of the country by MLB stars set for this November. The American League (AL) West rivals will meet on March 20-21 in Tokyo with the A’s serving as the home team, and each major league club will face Japanese professional teams in exhibition games March 17-18....

The Mets aren’t “soliciting offers” for the 26-year-old starter but “multiple teams have contacted them to express interest,” according to report from MLB.com, which cites unidentified league sources. Syndergaard will not be a free agent until after 2021 and New York would likely “need to acquire at least one Major League-ready” player in return for him, the report says. The Brewers are “monitoring” Syndergaard’s availability while “some within the Astros organization are intrigued” by him, according to the report....

THE RUMOR: The White Sox are in the driver’s seat to land right-hander Jeff Samardzija. MORE: White Sox sign David Robertson | Lester down to Cubs, Giants? | Cubs pursuing D-backs’ Montero? REPORTED BY: Bob Nightengale of USA Today. THE DETAILS: The A’s and White Sox are in serious discussions to send the righty to the Windy City, reportedly in exchange for Marcus Semien and other prospects. The A’s would make Semien their shortstop....

What makes this one extra special, however, is the hurdles he had to overcome en route. Verlander had Tommy John surgery and missed the entire 2021 season. At the ripe age of 39, no one expected him to pitch one of the most prolific seasons of his career in 2022. Justin Verlander led all MLB pitchers in ERA with 1.75 and WHIP with 0.83 and also led the American League in wins with 18....

The 27-year-old Reds pitcher threw two innings while recording the win over the Phillies at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, but that wasn’t nearly what was so rare. Lorenzen entered the game in the seventh inning as a pitcher and was left in to hit in the bottom of the eighth. Manager David Bell’s instincts were right, though, as the righty hit a home run to break the tie....

Incredible fan based environment especially in the cities such as Seattle and Portland, beautiful grounds, talented players (both imports and domestic) and even acting as a platform for an exodus of players to top leagues around the world. What’s even more intriguing is the level of game play in almost every game and watching something like the following is like when you unexpectedly get a change of heads for free while enjoying a pipe of grape mint....

Atlanta United has announced Barco will miss 4-6 weeks with a right quad strain suffered in training Tuesday, pushing back the highly anticipated MLS bow of the 18-year-old midfielder. Barco was signed in the offseason from Independiente in a $15 million deal that made him the most expensive player in MLS history. The Argentina U-20 international rose to prominence with Independiente, helping the Argentine side to a Copa Sudamericana title in December....

Goals from Daniel Salloi and Diego Rubio helped Sporting KC to a 2-1 home victory against the LA Galaxy on Sunday. Salloi poked in the opener in the 18th minute before Rubio tapped in a Seth Sinovic pass in the first half for Peter Vermes’ men. Romain Alessandrini pulled a goal back for Galaxy but they were unable to find another at Children’s Mercy Park. Sporting KC is third in the Western Conference, a point adrift of the first-place Vancouver Whitecaps....

Voting concluded Friday afternoon on the finalists at each position in the league. Several players were running away with the voting — like Alejandro Kirk and Paul Goldschmidt — while others were in for a tight battle to the finish — like Manny Machado and Nolan Arenado. Heading into Friday night, there are four players that have been announced. As the top vote-getters in their respective leagues, Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge and Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr....