11:55 AM ET The Show is going Sho Time. Los Angeles Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani will grace the cover of Sony’s MLB the Show 22 video game following his historic 2021 season. Ohtani made history in the process, becoming the first Asian athlete to be featured on the cover of a video game in the

7:00 AM ET The MLB lockout is about to enter its third month. When it began back on Dec. 2, MLB and the MLBPA had 119 days before the start of a new season to figure things out. As the clock ticks down to Opening Day — now just 59 days away — without a

9:30 AM ET ESPN staff In November 2020, Peter Davis, proud proprietor of the Missoula PaddleHeads, was two years into life as a minor league baseball owner when disaster struck. The PaddleHeads, who had been a farm team for the Arizona Diamondbacks, were now “de-affiliated,” one of 43 teams jettisoned into life as an independent

7:00 AM ET The latest edition of the Caribbean Series begins Friday with established big league stars such as Marcell Ozuna, Robinson Cano and Pablo Sandoval traveling to Santo Domingo to compete for the title. It’s the first time since 2016 the tournament will be played in the Dominican Republic. Dominican entries have won 21

Jan 27, 2022 Jeff PassanESPN Close ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” Major League Baseball will not require minor league players to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to play in 2022 but will mandate on-field staff working with players be “up-to-date” on vaccinations, according to

8:00 AM ET Teammates and rival players have always sought out David Ortiz, because beyond his big-swing, big-moment stardom, he exudes a warmth and geniality that soften his sometimes blunt messages. The F-bomb that Ortiz dropped into the middle of a speech at Fenway Park in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings inspired a

4:15 PM ET Associated Press CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Guardians have reached an agreement to extend their lease at their downtown ballpark through at least 2036 while making improvements to the facility, team owner and CEO Paul Dolan announced Thursday. Team officials said they’ve obtained financing to renovate Progressive Field, a ballpark that opened for

2:42 PM ET Associated Press PITTSBURGH — Gene Clines, part of the first all-minority lineup in Major League Baseball history and a line-drive-hitting outfielder for the 1971 World Series champion Pirates, died Thursday. He was 75. Clines’ wife, Joanne, told the Pirates that Clines died at his home in Bradenton, Florida, the team’s longtime spring

11:39 AM ET Major League Baseball implemented a new housing policy for minor leaguers for the 2022 season without input from players. After months to gauge opinion, minor leaguers are identifying red flags in how the plan could be implemented. In a statement from the Advocates for Minor Leaguers player steering committee, the group identified

7:00 AM ET As the Baseball Hall of Fame prepares to enshrine David Ortiz, plus the six former players elected last month, let’s look ahead to see what might happen over the next three Baseball Writers’ Association of America elections. Oh, don’t worry — we haven’t heard the last of the Hall of Fame debates