MAX SCHERZER

Union head Tony Clark claims Major League Baseball’s rules changes would have gone more smoothly during spring training if player thoughts had been incorporated.

The new pitch clock gives Major League Baseball pitchers 15 seconds between pitches when the bases are empty and 20 seconds when there are runners on base.

New York Mets pitcher Max Scherzer was called for a balk on Friday after attempting to quick-pitch Washington Nationals center fielder Victor Robles.

Max Scherzer has theorized that baseball’s new pitch clock will allow pitchers to dictate the pace of games.

Max Scherzer has theorized that baseball's new pitch clock will allow pitchers to dictate the pace of games. Scherzer tested the boundaries of baseball's novel pace-of-play rules during his second spring training start, trying several unusual tactics to get Washington Nationals hitters off their game Friday. At one point, he started throwing a pitch to Victor Robles the moment plate umpire Jeremy Riggs reset the clock, and Riggs called him for a balk.

So far, baseball's new speed-up rules are working.

A pitch clock will give pitchers 20 seconds or less to throw the ball, and hitters have to be in the batter's box when the timer hits 8 seconds. It already cost one team a game in spring training.

New York Mets right-hander Max Scherzer described pitching under Major League Baseball’s new rules as a “cat-and-mouse” game.

There were some familiar faces in new places as teams picked up the pace on the second day of spring training.

Japanese pitcher Kodai Senga and the New York Mets have agreed to a $75 million, five-year contract, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.

A person familiar with the negotiations says Justin Verlander has agreed to an $86.7 million, two-year contract with the New York Mets.

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred confirmed Thursday that Major League Baseball is looking into potentially improper communication between the New York Mets and Yankees regarding star free agent Aaron Judge.

In the hallways and meeting rooms of Resorts World, baseball general managers are starting to weigh bigger bets than the wagers placed on tables and machines in the casino downstairs.

Aside from hoisting the Wanamaker Trophy at Southern Hills, perhaps the coolest memory of the year for PGA champion Justin Thomas can be described by the strictest standard as a failure. Two weeks before the Major League Baseball lockout ended, Thomas took batting practice at a Cressey Sports Performance facility in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. It lasted all of three pitches, and Thomas never came close to making contact.

Major League Baseball views expanded playoffs as the more the merrier.

New York Mets star Max Scherzer failed to pick up a win in Game 1 against the San Diego Padres on Friday night and expressed his disappointment after the team was eliminated.

Baseball’s biggest spenders looked spent.

Joe Musgrove brushed off chants of “Cheater!”.

Pete Alonso launched a tiebreaking homer and Jacob deGrom pitched well enough to help save the New York Mets’ season with a 7-3 victory over the San Diego Padres that evened their wild-card playoff series at one game apiece.

The New York Mets find themselves on the verge of getting aced out.

The Mets paid Max Scherzer $43 million this year for October - instead, he had the worst start of the season, giving up four homers in the loss.

Josh Bell and Manny Machado smashed two of San Diego’s four home runs off Max Scherzer, and the Padres romped past the New York Mets 7-1 in their playoff opener.

For two teams that finished second fiddle in their divisions, the Padres and Mets bring an awful lot of star power into the playoffs.

The entire Major League Baseball playoff picture is now set.

Jim Palmer pitched 25 complete games in 1975.

Dansby Swanson and Matt Olson homered for the third straight game, Travis d’Arnaud hit a go-ahead two-run single in the third inning, and Atlanta Braves beat the New York Mets 5-3, completing a three-game sweep of their NL East rival and taking a two-game lead in the division with three games to play.

On June 1, the New York Mets led the National League East by 1.5 games. After Saturday's loss to the Atlanta Braves, they trail them by a game.

Dansby Swanson and Matt Olson homered off Max Scherzer, lifting the Atlanta Braves to a crucial 4-2 victory over the New York Mets and a one-game lead in the NL East.

Austin Riley and Matt Olson hit back-to-back homers off Jacob deGrom in the second inning and Dansby Swanson later connected off the Mets ace as the Atlanta Braves beat New York 5-2 to move into a tie for the NL East lead.

Two months into the season, it looked like the New York Mets were headed for an NL East runaway.

Bryce Harper and the Philadelphia Phillies hoped to be in this position.

Pete Alonso homered, doubled and drove in five runs to set the team record for RBIs, Max Scherzer pitched six sharp innings and the New York Mets routed the Oakland Athletics 13-4 Sunday to hold their NL East lead. The Mets remained 1 1/2 games ahead of Atlanta. New York has won eight of 10, and plays the Braves on the road next weekend in a three-game series.

Max Scherzer was pulled from his 200th win with a perfect game intact, and the New York Mets clinched their first playoff berth in six years by beating the Milwaukee Brewers 7-2.

New York Mets ace Max Scherzer was perfect through six innings against the Milwaukee Brewers, but he was pulled from the game with this his first start since coming off the IL.

Max Scherzer pitched six perfect innings for the New York Mets in his return from the injured list before Milwaukee Brewers star Christian Yelich doubled in the seventh off reliever Tylor Megill.

The Mets are on track to have baseball’s highest payroll for the first time since 1989.

Jacob deGrom struck out 13 batters — the most ever for a Mets pitcher who threw five or fewer innings — but didn’t factor into the decision.

The New York Mets have placed pitcher Max Scherzer on the 15-day injured list with what the club described as “left oblique irritation.”.

New York Mets ace Max Scherzer said he was feeling fine Sunday, a day after he exited after a start after five innings because of fatigue on his left side.

Mets ace Max Scherzer exited with left side fatigue after five sharp innings and 67 pitches and NL East-leading New York lost to the Washington Nationals 7-1.

Aaron Judge connected off Max Scherzer for his major league-leading 47th home run, Andrew Benintendi drove in two runs and the New York Yankees withstood a botched popup by rookie Oswaldo Cabrera to beat the Mets 4-2 for their first Subway Series win this season.

New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman responded to his team's funk with some flowery language and belief in manager Aaron Boone, the coaches and players.

Nate Fisher pitched three scoreless innings of relief in his major league debut after working at a bank a year ago, Mark Canha hit two homers and drove in five runs and the New York Mets rallied past the Philadelphia Phillies 10-9.

Andrew Benintendi hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the seventh inning and the New York Yankees got a win they desperately needed, beating the Toronto Blue Jays 4-2 to avoid a four-game sweep.

The Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets mostly ceded the spotlight at the trade deadline.

Max Scherzer tied a season high with 11 strikeouts over seven innings and the New York Mets beat the sloppy Atlanta Braves 6-2 to complete a doubleheader sweep.

When Juan Soto turned down a $440 million, 15-year deal to stay with the Washington Nationals, it ensured Tuesday’s trade deadline would have a little juice.

Starling Marte singled home the winning run in the ninth inning, and the New York Mets beat the crosstown Yankees 3-2 for a two-game sweep of their Subway Series.

Eduardo Escobar hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer that capped a four-run, first-inning rally, and the New York Mets beat the Yankees 6-3 in a rare Subway Series matchup of first-place teams.

Mets star pitchers Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom are both set to start, albeit not in the same ballpark.

Pete Alonso hit a go-ahead, three-run homer off Joe Musgrove and had four RBIs to retake the major league lead, leading the New York Mets over the San Diego Padres 8-5.

Breakout rookie Julio Rodríguez and the Mariners can match a franchise record with their 15th consecutive win as they open a home series against AL West-leading Houston.

WHEN the first pitch is delivered at tonight’s All-Star Game from the mound where Sandy Koufax threw a perfect game in 1965, it’ll be against ongoing murmuring that baseball has

Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw are two-way praisers.

Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw will start for the National League on Tuesday night in the first All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium since 1980, and Tampa Bay’s Shane McClanahan will be on the mound for the American League.

Washington Nationals outfielder Juan Soto expressed irritation hours after a report that he had turned down a record contract with the rebuilding club.

Max Scherzer misses hitting.

Max Scherzer pitched seven strong innings, Luis Guillorme homered and drove in two runs, and the New York Mets beat Max Fried and the Atlanta Braves 4-1 in the opening game of their National League East showdown.

There were 15 MLB players who signed new contracts worth $100 million or more before this season.

Max Scherzer was back on the mound, striking out 11 in six scoreless innings of two-hit ball. The NL starter in last year's game, Scherzer was 5-1 with a 2.26 ERA through his comeback Tuesday night in Cincinnati, only his ninth start this year. Scherzer is making a season-record $43.3 million in the first of his $130 million, three-year deal.

Now that the full Major League Baseball All-Star squads have been announced, look for the rosters to start changing.

It took four seasons for Shohei Ohtani to join the biggest major league stars of the last eight decades.

Every spring, the “experts” talk about how weak the National League East is going to be, but that division has won the World Series two out of the last three

Apple will offer free broadcasts of two exclusive MLB games on Apple TV+ starting Friday.

Will Strasburg bounce back from surgery? Will Corbin and Robles hit their strides? Unknowns make interesting baseball.

Dominic Smith homered twice Max Scherzer in a simulated game Wednesday at the New York Mets’ spring training stadium, a surprising development given that he's 0 for 16 against the three-time Cy Young Award winner in games that count. “He’s never hit those pitches against me,” Scherzer said with a brief laugh Wednesday. Smith took Scherzer deep to right field in his first at-bat, launching a drive that landed on the hill in front of the pavilion.

Video shows an attack using a baseball bat in Upper Manhattan.

Max Scherzer favors a radical reworking of the playoffs, one that would have the higher seed in the first round of a 14-team postseason start off a best-of-five series with a 1-0 lead. Major League Baseball and locked-out players, who resume talks Sunday, both would expand the postseason from 10 teams — that's been the field since 2012, other than the 16 teams in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. The union prefers 12 and the parties appear headed toward that number, but Scherzer said players would consider 14 if clubs would agree to the “ghost win” format.

MLB and the MLBPA will meet for a sixth straight day as the MLB Lockout ends its third month.

MLB and the MLBPA will meet for a sixth straight day as the MLB Lockout ends its third month.

Bargaining is scheduled to continue Friday, and both sides said they are prepared to meet through Monday.

Pitchers and catchers are not starting spring training workouts as scheduled Wednesday as Major League Baseball's lockout stretches into its 77th day.

A record-setting amount of cash was doled out in the MLB free agency market before the league's lockout.

Professional baseball players want higher pay and to stop teams from "tanking" during the season.

Professional baseball players want higher pay and to stop teams from "tanking" during the season.

Free agency restrictions and player salary disputes could cause MLB to suffer its first work stoppage in more than 25 years.

Baseball’s biggest payroll couldn’t buy the Los Angeles Dodgers another championship. Saturday night’s 4-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves in Game 6 of the NL Championship Series ended the Dodgers’ streak of seven consecutive postseason wins in elimination games. Max Scherzer watched helplessly from the dugout, unable to go in Game 6 as planned because of lingering fatigue in his powerful right arm.

Max Scherzer fatigued early, Julio Urías faltered late, and when Kenley Jansen couldn't strand an inherited runner in the bottom of the ninth inning, Los Angeles fell into a 2-0 hole in the NL Championship Series. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has made it clear he'll use any pitcher at any time. Eddie Rosario delivered the Braves' second straight walk-off hit, lining a ball against Jansen that caromed off shortstop Corey Seager's glove and gave Dansby Swanson an easy path home for the game-ending run in Atlanta's 5-4 victory Sunday night.

The Dodgers still have a heartbeat in the NL West race, and it was throbbing late in the game. Corey Seager hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the eighth inning, when Los Angeles went deep four times to rally past the San Diego Padres 11-9 on Wednesday night. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called it “a crazy explosion.”

The 37-year-old Los Angeles Dodger pitched an immaculate inning during Sunday's game en route to the milestone.

Dodgers lefty Julio Urías (16-3, 3.11 ERA) tries to add to his major league-leading win total when he pitches at St. Louis. The Cardinals are the only Dodgers opponent in the National League that Urías has never started against. With a formidable rotation that also includes former Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer, Clayton Kershaw and David Price along with star Walker Buehler, the Dodgers are competing with San Francisco for the NL West title.

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 on Wednesday night to complete a three-game sweep. The Dodgers got more good news after their game ended. San Francisco lost 5-2 to Milwaukee, giving Los Angeles sole possession of the NL West lead by a half-game over the rival Giants.

While lamentations of Washington Nationals fans are still centered on the shocking departures of all-stars Max Scherzer and Trea Turner, reverberations of Washington’s sell off at last week’s trade deadline

Rutledge shines as FredNats top Delmarva

Hooks pitchers share their thoughts on the new MLB foreign substance rule and what it means for them and the game moving forward.

MLB raises the seams of the baseball to make it curve more and then has umpires check pitchers for sticky substances when it does just that.

Professional baseball players have a long history of cheating to gain an advantage over opponents

STEVE DeSHAZO: Nationals' struggles reflect their new reality

Tossing a major league no-hitter should be a monumental achievement. But is it losing its glamour after a sixth no-hitter was thrown in 41 days?

Star players rarely go out gracefully, but the future Hall of Famer's departure from Anaheim was especially uncomfortable.

Remember, games cannot be played without you, Boras wrote. Players should not agree to further pay cuts to bail out the owners. Owners are asking for more salary cuts to bail them out of the investment decisions they have made, Boras said. If this was just about baseball, playing games would give the owners enough money to pay the players their full prorated salaries and run the baseball organization. They are not offering players a share of the stadiums, ballpark villages or the club itself, even though salary reductions would help owners pay for these valuable franchise assets.

Carlos Correa #1 of the Houston Astros celebrates as he rounds the bases on his two-run home run against the Washington Nationals during the 4th inning in Game 5 of the 2019 World Series at Nationals Park on Oct. 27, 2019, in Washington, DC. (CNN) - You could almost say the Washington Nationals have the Houston Astros right where they want them. The National League champs have perennial all-star pitcher Max Scherzer starting the deciding World Series contest and Wednesday night's Game 7 is for the Nationals a road contest. And the road team winning the World Series decider is a recent trend; the past five events were won on the road. The Nationals won when they scored 10 runs in the final three innings.

The Washington Nationals came back Wednesday night from being down two runs for most of the game to win 6-2 and become World Champions. It's the first World Series win in the history of the Nationals' franchise. Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin and the Nats brought the first World Series championship to the nation's capital since ol' Walter Johnson delivered the crown for the Senators in 1924. So close to seeing the Astros win their second crown in three years, they watched their chance suddenly vanish as Houston fell apart. This World Series had lacked a lot of drama, aside from a volatile call of interference in Washington's Game 6 win that stoked heated debate across the sports world.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Houston Astros have taken the in lead the World Series with a third straight victory over the Washington Nationals, 7-1. Houston has notched three consecutive definitive wins, all on the road, as they have come back from a 2-0 deficit against Washington to lead the series 3-2. The Nationals suffered an early blow when scheduled starting pitcher Max Scherzer was unable to play due to an irritated nerve near his neck. Yuli Gurriel added two runs with a single in the eighth and George Springer capped the victory with a home run. The series takes a day off Monday and returns to Houston on Tuesday, with Justin Verlander slated to start for the Astros and Stephen Strasburg for the Nationals.

Jos Urquidy outpitched all those big-name aces who preceded him, the unheralded Houston rookie quieting Washington's bats and the Nationals Park crowd, too. "From the very beginning I thought he was calm, I thought he was in control of his stuff," Astros manager AJ Hinch said about Urquidy. Game 6 will be Tuesday night in Houston, when the Astros lose their road-field advantage. Fans started leaving in the seventh, when the Astros sent 10 batters to the plate and battered the bullpen. The Astros burst ahead with timely hitting for the second straight night, getting consecutive one-out singles by Jos Altuve, Michael Brantley, Bregman and Gurriel.

Washington Nationals' Asdrubal Cabrera and Juan Soto celebrate after Game 1 of the baseball World Series against the Houston Astros Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019, in Houston. Springer set a record by homering in his fifth straight World Series game, breaking a record he had shared with Lou Gehrig and Reggie Jackson. The first player ever drafted by the Washington Nationals hit the team's first World Series home run. before the Astros opened the World Series against the Washington Nationals on Tuesday night. ___11 a.m.Chris Devenski replaced Bryan Abreu on the Houston Astros' World Series roster against the Washington Nationals in a swap of right-handed pitchers.

Washington Nationals' Asdrubal Cabrera and Juan Soto celebrate after Game 1 of the baseball World Series against the Houston Astros Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019, in Houston. Springer set a record by homering in his fifth straight World Series game, breaking a record he had shared with Lou Gehrig and Reggie Jackson. The first player ever drafted by the Washington Nationals hit the team's first World Series home run. before the Astros opened the World Series against the Washington Nationals on Tuesday night. ___11 a.m.Chris Devenski replaced Bryan Abreu on the Houston Astros' World Series roster against the Washington Nationals in a swap of right-handed pitchers.