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In the National League, the first half of this decade has unfolded in a pattern a preschooler could understand: Giants, Cardinals, Giants, Cardinals, Giants. It should follow, then, that the St. Louis Cardinals will represent the National League in the World Series this fall. The Cardinals are strong again, and they very well could wrest the N.L. pennant back from the San Francisco Giants, who last October rode Madison Bumgarner’s left arm to their third World Series title in five seasons. But one of these years, the pattern will break. The postseason dominance of the Giants and the Cardinals has...

As the 2015 Major League Baseball season dawns, the lords of baseball are asking for our forgiveness. They want a second chance, and to get it they are making changes that could shake the game to its foundations. This isn’t about tinkering with the playoffs to make a few extra dollars from the television networks. The 30 team owners have ordered the new commissioner to modernize baseball and make it appeal to an audience that is increasingly weary of the game’s slow pace. There will of course be cries of sacrilege from traditionalists about putting the national pastime on a...

My homeschooled 14 year old loves baseball, batting and pitching. After his last Jr league season, a coach asked us to let him play for the high school. He tried out for pitching today. His first pitch was 87 mph, and his third was 89. It was starting to rain, and they stopped clocking them. He threw some curves, sliders and splitters. Since his first game pitched in little league, he has had phenomenal control, and everything was right on the money today. I had to tell someone. Yeah, I'm bragging.

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred says he has received a formal request from Pete Rose asking that his lifetime ban be lifted and that he will consider the all-time hits leader's request "on its merits." "I want to make sure I understand all of the details of the Dowd Report and Commissioner [Bart] Giamatti's decision and the agreement that was ultimately reached," Manfred said after a meeting with Los Angeles Dodgers players in Arizona on Monday morning. "I want to hear what Pete has to say, and I'll make a decision once I've done that." Rose's...

The baseball world lost one of its greatest talents and brightest minds on Friday when former Cleveland Indians infielder and longtime MLB executive Al Rosen died at age 91. Known as the "Hebrew Hammer," Rosen spent the entirety of his 10-year playing career with the Indians, hitting .285/.384/.495 with 192 home runs and 717 RBIs over 4,374 plate appearances. Rosen was a four-time All-Star, earning selections from 1952-1955, and was voted American League MVP in 1953, beating out the likes of Yogi Berra, Minnie Minoso and Mickey Vernon.

We have a keeper fantasy baseball league that's about 5 years old in search of a new manager. The six keepers would probably be Arenado, Ellsbury, Felix, Cluber, Richards and Molina. If Richards comes back soon, the pitching is lock down, obviously the hitting needs some help. Let me know if you're interested. The draft is next weekend.

San Francisco Giants CEO Larry Baer, right, said in a statement, “San Francisco is the epicenter of the marriage equality movement, and it is only fitting that its professional sports team would join in this effort.” The San Francisco Giants are going to bat for gay marriage.

New York Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy will no longer address his religious beliefs and will stick to baseball, a team spokesman said Wednesday. On Tuesday, MLB ambassador for inclusion Billy Bean addressed Mets players after general manager Sandy Alderson invited him. Murphy subsequently told media that day that while he would embrace Bean as a teammate, he does not approve of his homosexuality. Bean concealed his sexual orientation during his playing career and later said that he was gay.

The baseball world lost another legend on Sunday with the death of former Chicago White Sox outfielder Minnie Minoso. Minoso was a seven-time All-Star while playing with the White Sox in the 1950s and 1960s, but much more than that he was a pioneer. When he was traded by the Cleveland Indians to the White Sox in 1951, he became the city of Chicago’s first black player. There is some dispute over when Minoso was born, but the team website said he was 92. The Chicago Tribune reported that Minoso was found dead in his car at a Chicago gas...

Minnie Minoso, the hugely popular All-Star outfielder from Cuba who became the major league’s first black player out of Latin America and a treasured figure in the history of the Chicago White Sox, died on Sunday in Chicago. His true age was never entirely clear, but by an account in his autobiography, he would have been 89 when he died.

There has been a recent move in the MLB to introduce an "Illegal Defense" rule because of "new" shifts ... that actually date back to 1877.....

Baseball, being the noblest sport, has many lessons to teach: the value of daily persistence, the inevitability of failure and the likelihood that luck will not override ineptitude (Looking at you, Cubs.). But, as a creation of humans, it is also prey to human imperfections, like the urge to suppress useful changes to spare those who resist adaptation. Part of the game's appeal lies in what George Will calls its "soothing continuities." Discontinuity can be jarring. It wasn't long ago that the Cubs had to fight to install lights in an ancient stadium that had hosted only day games. But...

Meet Angels pitcher and former Putnam City star Andrew Heaney's biggest fan by Jenni Carlson Published: February 14, 2015 EDMOND — Andrew Heaney won over lots of baseball types during the past couple years. That happens when you’re a talented young lefty with pop and promise in your arm. But the Oklahoma native’s biggest fan doesn’t care if he earns a spot with the Angels this season or becomes a top-of-the-rotation pitcher as many predict or ever makes another pitch in the majors. Kelly Ore doesn’t care about any of that. “He’s my brother and my best friend forever,” he...

Little League Baseball vacated all of Chicago-area Jackie Robinson West’s wins from the 2014 Little League World Series tournament on Wednesday. After investigating allegations that several players on JRW do not reside within the team’s district borders, LLB stripped the team of both it’s Great Lakes Regional and U.S. national titles. Despite the open and shut nature of the case, several of the team’s supporters — including Jesse Jackson and Michael Pfleger — stated at a Wednesday press conference that JRW’s punishment had nothing to do with any possible recruiting infractions and was born purely through…

Rev. Jesse Jackson, the polarizing civil rights activist, is calling for Little League International to return the U.S. championship to the 12-year-olds from Jackie Robinson West, mere hours after Little League stripped the team of its title. And if that doesn't happen, Jackson said Wednesday afternoon, he may take legal action. Jackie Robinson West — consumed in a vortex of allegations involving ineligible players and illegally redrawing its league boundaries — became a feel-good story in Chicago and across the country on its run to the Little League World Series. An all-black team that was supported by MLB players, Jackie...

JRW Supporters Suggest Decision To Take Title Racially Motivated February 11, 2015 2:58 PM (CBS) – There are accusations that racism was behind the decision by Little League International to strip the Jackie Robinson West team of the national title over cheating by the adults who run the team. “We know that we’re champions, our parents know that we’re champions and the team’s parents know we’re champions and Chicago knows we’re champions,” said JRW catcher Brandon Green. Green said the players did nothing wrong as he stood with his mother, Rev. Jesse Jackson and Fr. Michael Pfleger at the headquarters...

There is no joy in Wrigleyville. Mighty Ernie has checked out. At 83. Cub fans aren't the only ones in baseball's world who think that, for Ernie Banks, it's still too young to go. Winning with class is easy compared to losing with grace, good humor, and the inner peace of knowing you did the best you could with what you had. But then there was Banks. The prototype of the power-hitting shortstop whose knees turned him into a first baseman who could still hit but had to prove himself every spring, anyway, his sunny nature couldn't be killed by...

News broke Friday evening that one of the greatest baseball players to ever play the game, Ernie Banks, had passed away at the age of 83. The man lovingly known as “Mr. Cub” spent his enter major league career with the North Side franchise, slugging 512 home runs and winning two NL MVP awards. The 14-time All-Star started his playing career in the Negro Leagues and was the first black player to put on a Chicago Cubs uniform. Despite playing for the perennially bottom-dwelling Cubbies, his optimism and love of the game never wavered, as evidenced by his famous quote,...

Cubs legend Ernie Banks has died, according to a Cubs source. This is a developing news story, check back for details.

How Baseball Hall of Famer Warren Spahn came to make his home in Oklahoma By Jenni Carlson.... 1-13-15 Warren Spahn was born and bred in Buffalo, N.Y., then played baseball in Boston, Milwaukee, New York and San Francisco. But he made his home in Oklahoma. The story goes that the lanky leftie settled near Hartshorne because his wife was from Oklahoma — and that’s true. But that’s not the whole story. The rest of the tale includes a random reunion with a childhood chum, a couple of gal pals from Tulsa and a bit of sage advice from one of...