BASEBALL MLB ARTICLES

In years past, a Yankee-Red Sox matchup was often oversold in the name of rivalry, but this year the hype is real. The New York Yankees will host the Boston Red Sox in a best-of-three series over the weekend as the two teams remain neck-and-neck for the best record in the American League East. Perhaps the best race in the AL, the battle for AL East supremacy still has a long way to go but both teams will be looking to make a statement over the weekend against their hated rival. ... 

The Los Angeles Angels will wrap up the second leg—including a makeup game in Kansas City on Monday—of a four city road trip on Thursday with the final of a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway. At seven games out of a wildcard spot in June, the Angels are a long shot for postseason play while the Sox are seemingly shoe-ins for October. Can the Angels make up ground with a win in the finale of this series mismatch? They have a solid pitching matchup with Jaime Barria on the hill against the knuckleballer Steven Wright. ... 

The Chicago Cubs got a bit of revenge against the Los Angeles Dodgers last week, topping L.A. two games to one in a three-game series at Wrigley Field. With the season series continuing in Los Angeles this week, The Dodgers will look to issue a little payback, including in Tuesday’s middle game which will be broadcast nationally. The Dodgers have one of their biggest bright spots pitching that game in Ross Stripling while his counterpart for the Cubs has yet to be announced. ... 

This New York Yankees’ team is the best we’ve seen in years and could be the best since 2009 when the Bronx Bombers last won the World Series. New York won that series over the Philadelphia Phillies. They’ll face Philadelphia in a three game interleague series in the City of Brotherly Love starting on Monday. Both these teams have been remade since their last battled in the Fall Classic, but both are in contention here in 2018 and bring plenty of youthful exuberance. ... 

The second and final regular season series between the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers starts Monday with the first of four games in the City of Angels. The Cubs took the series when these teams met in Chicago and the Dodgers will look to return the favor at home. Jon Lester beat the Dodgers in the series finale at Wrigley Field and figures to get the nod in Monday’s matchup opposite Kenta Maeda for Los Angeles. ... 

The Tampa Bay Rays come up short—like most teams—when compared to the New York Yankees. They’ve lost five of six over their first two head-to-head series. They’ll get another chance against the Bronx Bombers this weekend, including in the middle game of three on Saturday on national television. The Rays will host the Yankees in this game, looking for better results than last weekend in the Bronx. Wilmer Font will need to out pitch Sonny Gray to give the Rays a shot. ... 

The Seattle Mariners are quickly falling out of the AL West race. They’re still within striking distance of the Houston Astros, but the Mariners are in the midst of a difficult stretch and it doesn’t get easier on Saturday when the Mariners take on the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park for the middle game of a three game series. Seattle has Mike Leake slated to make that start as they go against the Red Sox’s young southpaw, Eduardo Rodriguez.... 

A key three-game series between the Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals, two contenders for the NL East division crown, comes to a close in the Nation’s Capital on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. After finishing 2017 with the second worst record in the NL, the Phillies have made major strides this year and will look to make a statement on national television with a win on Sunday. To do so, they’ll need a good outing from Nick Pivetta who is slated to get the start. Washington’s starter ... 

The Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets will kick-off a three-game series up in the Big Apple on Friday with the teams heading in completely opposite directions. After a hot start, the Mets are in free fall now and are starting to shop their veteran players while the Dodgers were nearly dead and buried just a month ago, but have ascended the standings in a hurry despite injuries. Now the two will meet face to face with Alex Wood and Zack Wheeler on tap to get the ball in this series opener. ... 

The Seattle Mariners are the surprise team in the American League to this point in the season and will make the trip across country to take on the New York Yankees on Tuesday. The Mariners are still trying to prove they belong with the big boys and while their record would suggest they do, a big series win against the Yankees—starting with winning Game 1—would go a long way. While the pitching matchup on Tuesday won’t mirror a potential Wild Card showdown, it’s not beyond the realm of possibilit... 

The Chicago Cubs will get a chance at revenge this week as they host the Los Angeles Dodgers in a three-game series beginning on Monday. The series is the first meeting between the Cubs and Dodgers since the Dodgers knocked Chicago out of the 2017 postseason, taking the NLCS in five games. Both teams could face each other again this October, but for now, the Cubs seem better positioned as the Dodgers continue digging themselves out of an early season hole. Overall, this is set to be a series of two good teams, playing good baseball right now matching up. ... 

The Arizona Diamondbacks will kick off a brief two-game interleague series against the Los Angeles Angels on Monday when they travel to Orange County. The D-Backs have been playing much better baseball of late and have climbed back atop the NL West standings. They’ll do what they can to keep things going against Mike Trout and the Angels who are trying to stay relevant in a difficult AL West division. Can the Angels get back on track at home or will the D-Backs steal their thunder on Monday? ... 

Rivalry games are always fun and ESPN gets the series finale of the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs, one of the more heated rivalries in the game between two teams in the thick of the NL Central race. The Cardinals have owned the season series so far and play this one at home. They’ll try to extend their dominance over the Cubbies on Sunday behind rookie right-hander Jack Flaherty while the Cubs turn to Jose Quintana to help maintain their lead over the Cards in the division standings. ... 

In what could be a preview of the AL Wild Card Game come October, the Seattle Mariners will host the Boston Red Sox for the third game of a four-game weekend series. The Mariners have been one of the hottest teams in baseball and are still trying to earn respect despite currently leading the AL West division over the reigning World Series Champions. A good series against the Sox will help gain that respect though this series, including Saturday’s game, will be a tough matchup as Seattle gets a knuckleballer in Steven Wright and counter with a little-known Wade LeBlanc. ... 

After a couple series against National League teams, the New York Yankees return to the American League and their own division to host the Tampa Bay Rays in the first of four on Thursday night in the Bronx. The Yankees continue to breeze through their competition, sitting on top of baseball with a .689 winning percentage. Both the Yankees and Rays haven’t announced their starter for the game, each juggling injuries in the rotation.... 

A couple of the game’s best teams collide on Wednesday in the finale of a short two-game series between the Washington Nationals and New York Yankees. The Bronx Bombers will host the Nats in this possible World Series preview, entering the series with the best record in baseball. In hopes of continuing their success, the Yankees will send a surging Sonny Gray to the mound against a Nationals team that’ll be scrambling for a starter thanks to injuries to Stephen Strasburg and Jeremy Hellickson.... 

The Chicago Cubs make the short journey up to Miller Park for a three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers starting on Monday. This is as important as a series gets in June with the Brew Crew holding a half game lead on the charging Cubs. The NL Central race figures to go down to the wire, but a series win by either team in this series could serve as an important confidence booster. After all, this series will determine the division leader come the final out on Wednesday. ... 

We’re now midway through the third month of the season and the Atlanta Braves are still atop the NL West, albeit tied with the Nationals. Atlanta’s next series kicks off on Tuesday as the Braves host the struggling New York Mets. In Tuesday’s series opener, the Mets will turn to veteran southpaw Jason Vargas while the Braves have one of the game’s most underrated arms set to make the start in Mike Foltynewicz. ... 

The first iteration of the 2018 Subway Series between the New York Yankees and New York Mets kicks off in Flushing on Friday with a weekend series at Citi Field. This interleague rivalry has created several memorable moments and both teams always get up for the series even if they’re not each at the top of their game. That’s certainly the case this year as the Mets are reeling, but the Yankees are cruising. ... 

Once again, the New York Yankees are on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, this time in an interleague showdown against the crosstown rival New York Mets. The Yankees have the better team. The offense is rolling while the Mets—after a hot start—have been reeling for a while. Still, this rivalry matchup brings intrigue, especially considering the amazing pitching matchup with Luis Severino on the mound for the Yankees against Noah Syndergaard who will be coming off the DL to make the start of the Mets. ... 

The battle for Lone Star State continues Saturday with a nationally broadcast showdown between the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers in the third game of a four-game series. It’s a bit of a David versus Goliath matchup with the Astros playing the part of the Giant. It’ll be up to the Rangers to get the surprise win to keep the comparison alive. That, however, seems like a long shot with Charlie Morton pitching for the Astros and a struggling Mike Minor toeing the rubber for the Rangers. ... 

The top two teams in the NL West, the Colorado Rockies and the Arizona Diamondbacks, will play a three-game series over the weekend to determine division supremacy—at least for the moment. The middle game of the three will be played on Saturday and broadcast nationally. With the Giants and Dodgers charging behind the two divisional leaders, winning this series is important to maintain an edge in the division. In this middle game of three, the Rockies will send Chad Bettis to the hill against the D-Backs’ Matt Koch. ... 

As Major League Baseball tries to be more engaged on social media, one of their avenues towards that goal involves broadcasting games live on Facebook. On Wednesday afternoon, the series finale between the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco Giants will be the latest game shown in such a way. The divisional foes are only separated by a few games and part of a four-team race in the NL West. To close out this three-game set, the Diamondbacks will give Clay Buchholz his fourth start, this one opposite Chris Stratton. ... 

Given the Philadelphia Phillies had the second worst record in the National League last year, it seemed unlikely that come June a series between the Phillies and the Chicago Cubs would be pinning two postseason hopefuls head-to-head. As it turns out, we live in a bizarre world where the real is often more surprisingly that the imaginary. The Phillies are in the thick of the NL East race and within striking distance, in a similar place to the Cubs in the NL Central. ... 

Marcell Ozuna gets his first chance to stick it to his former team on Tuesday when Ozuna and the St. Louis Cardinals host the Miami Marlins in the first of three. The Marlins, in rebuilding mode after the sale of the franchise, have really struggled lately, losing six in a row and nine of their last ten. They’ll send Jose Urena to the mound to try and be the stopper, but will have to contend with a newly healthy Carlos Martinez and playoff contending Cardinals team. ...