GIANTS

The San Francisco Giants are counting on Bob Melvin turning them back into a contender, hiring the veteran manager away from the division rival San Diego Padres.

The NFL hadn’t experienced a week of inept offenses like it did this past weekend in nearly a decade.

Arizona, Miami and San Francisco are tied for the National League's last wild card at 70-67.

Several prospects from the NBA Academy in Africa are playing in the new season of the Basketball Africa League.

Taylor and Tyler Rogers are determined to help San Francisco's bullpen return to one of the best in baseball.

Agent Scott Boras says the San Francisco Giants asked for more time to investigate and discuss medical records of Carlos Correa and let a 1 p.m. PST deadline Tuesday pass to finalize that deal.

Atlanta finally passed the New York Mets this past week.

Marcus Mariota led Atlanta to scores on two of his three drives in the Falcons’ 24-16 loss against mostly New York Jets backups.

Los Angeles Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani has struck out at least 10 batters in five straight starts going into this outing at home against Texas.

Tampa Bay’s Kevin Cash has become the second skipper to win Manager of the Year honors in back-to-back seasons, taking this year's American League award.

Chris Taylor hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Los Angeles Dodgers over the St. Louis Cardinals 3-1 in a scintillating NL wild-card game.

Justin Turner and AJ Pollock singled home the tying and go-ahead runs through the same infield hole in the eighth inning, and the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied past the Atlanta Braves 4-3 to complete a three-game sweep.

Mets ace Jacob deGrom plans to return to the rubber after being scratched from his last scheduled start Tuesday with right lat inflammation.

New York Giants' Dante Pettis, left, makes a catch in front of Dallas Cowboys' Xavier Woods during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2021, in East Rutherford, N.J. Pettis ran the ball in for a touchdown. Dalton and the Dallas offense had just 34 total yards midway through the second quarter but began moving the ball just before halftime. Unforced errors stalled the Giants offense after halftime. The next possession, Shepard’s illegal crackback block cost New York 15 yards and killed a drive in Dallas territory. Dalton and the Dallas offense were a mess early but got in position for a pair of second-quarter field goals by Zuerlein, including a 57-yarder on the half’s final play.

The New York Jets and Giants are both 0-4 for the first time since 1976, and victories might be tough to come by this season. The Big Apple is pretty rotten when it comes to its professional football teams, and it's tough to imagine things getting better any time soon. Both the Jets and Giants are 0-4 for the first time since 1976 — the only other time they've gotten off to similar dismal starts. Just four games into the NFL season, the Jets and Giants have firmly established themselves as the league's worst teams. I could be a Jets fan,'" said Bob Gray, a 60-year-old resident of West Caldwell, New Jersey, and a longtime Giants fan.

A look at what's happening around the majors Friday:___ON THE ROAD AGAINThe Mariners open a three-game series as the home team in San Diego after the set was relocated due to air quality concerns in the Seattle area. The Mariners already had two games against the Giants moved from Seattle to San Francisco this week because of unhealthy air quality from numerous West Coast wildfires. The Padres could be in position to clinch their first playoff berth since 2006 while playing as visitors in their home ballpark. CY TRYBraves right-hander Max Fried is set to return from the injured list and resume his bid for an unlikely NL Cy Young Award. Fried has been out since Sept. 6 with a left-side muscle spasm in his lumbar spine.

Games set for Friday and Saturday night were called off to allow time for more testing and contact tracing. Major League Baseball has made no announcement about Sunday's game, although so far this season, no team has resumed its season so swiftly following a positive test. The two-time Gold Glover was hitting .232 with 10 home runs with 25 RBIs in 37 games this year. He batted only .120 (3 for 25) with 17 strikeouts and one walk his last eight games. The A’s could use a combination of recently acquired Tommy La Stella, rookie Vimael Machin and Chad Pinder at third base.

SAN DIEGO – The game between San Francisco and the San Diego Padres was postponed minutes before the scheduled first pitch Friday night after someone in the Giants organization tested positive for COVID-19. There have been 45 major league games postponed this season because of coronavirus concerns. But the Padres didn't take the field and the team announced the game had been postponed. About a half-hour after the game was to have started, the Padres announced the reason for the postponement. A few minutes after that, the Padres filed into the stands for a team meeting.

OAKLAND, Calif. Jake Diekman has serious questions about Major League Baseball's ability to pull off a season given the issues everywhere getting timely test results, forcing delays and cancellations of workouts. Once the regular season hits theres no way Im opting out, but if they dont get the testing figured out then this whole thing will get shut down, Diekman said Tuesday. During the season theres no way we can go 72 hours or longer without knowing our result, theres just no way. I don't want to get sick and represents others who must take added precautions because of an underlying condition. There's a little part in everyone's mind that thinks this whole thing's going to get shut down, Diekman said.