Baseball

3/28/2025 |  MLB’s opening day: Bearded era begins with a win for the Yankees; Ohtani goes deep for the Dodgers (Associated Press (AP)) The New York Yankees showed they can still win with a little scruff on their chins while Baltimore’s Tyler O’Neill might be the best player on Earth during the first game of the season.
And to no one’s surprise, Japanese star Shohei Ohtani delivered more big hits for the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers as Major League Baseball celebrated its domestic opening day with 14 games on Thursday.

3/28/2025 |  MLB Opening – Best Picks and Parlays (March 27): Phillies Moneyline & Dodgers to Win (Sports Handle) We’re finally here – MLB Opening Day 2025 arrives on March 27 with intriguing early-season games.
The Yankees struggled through their last four spring training games, creating uncertainty as they face the Brewers, who had a stronger preseason record. The Phillies and Dodgers look promising due to strong spring performances, while the Red Sox hope to capitalize against a vulnerable Rangers squad.

3/28/2025 |  CNBC Sport: MLB’s playbook to grow media revenue (CNBC Sports)

• MLB is working toward a new media rights agreement after ESPN walked away from its “Sunday Night Baseball” package.
• While carving up the rights is an option, MLB may be content to keep the package together if it can broaden exposure for the league – potentially through a broadcast network. 
• MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred may agree to take a smaller package for the next three seasons if he can cash in when all of the league’s major media rights expire after the ’28 season.

3/26/2025 |  Yankees RSN Faces Comcast Blackout Threat Ahead of Opening Day (Front Office Sports) Comcast’s large-scale effort to reposition regional sports networks around the country is now clashing with one of the top local sports channels in the U.S. 
A contract between YES Network, which airs MLB’s Yankees and the NBA’s Nets, and the No. 2 U.S. cable carrier expires after 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday night, industry sources said. Without a deal, the channel will go dark for subscribers in the country’s largest media market. The two sides have reached a lengthy series of short-term extensions and are still talking, but according to industry sources, they remain far apart on several key issues. 

3/25/2025 |  There’s no easy answers for slowing down rising level of pitching injuries at all levels of baseball (Associated Press (AP)) GOODYEAR, Ariz. (AP) — Figuring out a cause for the skyrocketing number of arm injuries among pitchers is easy.
Finding a solution could prove much more challenging.
Major League Baseball issued a 62-page report in December that showed how the focus on throwing with increased velocity and using maximum effort on every pitch was a likely reason for the increase in injuries. The study provided numerical data backing a thesis already supported by conventional wisdom.