2:27 AM ET Johnny Washington, the 35-year-old hitting coach for the San Diego Padres, is among the candidates for the Los Angeles Angels‘ managerial vacancy, a source confirmed to ESPN on Friday. Washington joins Buck Showalter, John Farrell and Joe Maddon, the presumed favorite, in the Angels’ pool. The Angels have yet to determine whether

10:10 PM ET ST. LOUIS — It was five years and 364 days ago that Anibal Sanchez sat in a dugout on a crisp October night, one day after dominating his opponent, and watched Max Scherzer do the very same thing. The two were teammates in a devastating Detroit Tigers starting rotation back in 2013,

2:37 PM ET ST. LOUIS — Are the baseballs traveling less distance in the postseason? Cardinals manager Mike Shildt says they are, at least according to data from the team’s analytics department. Before Saturday’s Game 2 of the NLCS, Shildt said the front office reported that balls are traveling 4.5 fewer feet on average than

2:29 AM ET ST. LOUIS — They traveled as slow as 66 mph and no faster than 93. Some cut, some ran, some fluttered, and somehow, hardly any of them came back with any authority. Anibal Sanchez — the forgotten member of a renowned rotation, a statistical marvel at this stage of his career —

7:43 PM ET HOUSTON — With plenty of rest before the onset of the American League Championship Series, New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone could have set up his starting rotation however he wanted to. His final decision: Righty Masahiro Tanaka will start Game 1 against the Houston Astros on Saturday at Minute Maid Park.

8:34 AM ET We’re down to the MLB playoffs‘ final four teams. Most of the national attention will focus on the colossal showdown in the American League between the 107-win Houston Astros and 103-win New York Yankees, a rematch of the 2017 American League Championship Series that went seven games, with the home team winning

12:36 AM ET HOUSTON — The Astros jumped on Tampa Bay starter Tyler Glasnow from the outset in their clinching Game 5 win Thursday. It was almost as if they knew what was coming. They might have; at the outset at least, Glasnow appeared to be tipping his pitches. “I went back and looked, and

6:39 PM ET Associated Press PHOENIX — Police arrested San Diego Padres minor league pitcher Jacob Nix after he was accused of breaking into a suburban Phoenix home through a doggie door and was shot with a Taser by the homeowner. Nix, who is facing two counts of criminal trespassing, was released this week from

1:43 PM ET The Washington Nationals overcame a slow start and long odds to reach the National League Championship Series and are now the favorites to reach the franchise’s first World Series. The Nationals stunned the Los Angeles Dodgers with a late-inning rally in Wednesday’s decisive Game 5 victory to advance to the NLCS against

4:49 AM ET Jeff PassanESPN Close ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” LOS ANGELES — The slow-moving disaster that ruined the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ season began at 8:31 p.m. local time Wednesday and concluded 52 minutes later. A future Hall of Fame pitcher whose