BASEBALL MLB ARTICLES

The Los Angeles Angels started the season looking like the Houston Astros’ primary competition for the AL West title, but injuries have taken their toll on the Halos, particularly in the pitching staff. Los Angeles now sits at .500 and will have to play spoiler for the Astros as they host Houston in a three game series starting on Friday night. In that game, Houston should have Dallas Keuchel lined up to start opposite the Angels’ Andrew Heaney. ... 

With Washington Nationals and New York Mets were the two favorites in the NL East before the season started, but both haven’t lived up to expectations, with the Nationals arguably the biggest disappointment in baseball. With Washington now joining the ranks of the sellers with a couple August trades, these two teams will be battling for little more than pride when the face off on Saturday in the middle game of three. Gio Gonzalez and Zack Wheeler should be in line to make the start for their respective team. ... 

Two years ago, the Cleveland Indians upset the Boston Red Sox in the ALDS in route to a World Series Game 7 loss to the Cubs. Last year, both the Red Sox and Indians failed to make it past the first round. Here in 2018, we could be looking at a potential ALCS in between these teams, but both clubs will have to get that far first. For now, let’s just look at the four-game series between these two clubs as a possible postseason preview between the only two near-locks to win their respective divisions to this point in the season. ... 

The St. Louis Cardinals are traveling to Hollywood to take on a struggling Los Angeles Dodgers’ squad. The Red Birds will play the Boys in Blue in a best of three, with the middle game on Tuesday broadcast nationally. This game could serve as another announcement by the Cardinals that they’re for real as they continue to surge. Daniel Poncedeleon gets the start for the Cards in this important game as Hyun-Jin Ryu makes the start for the Dodgers.... 

The Philadelphia Phillies are in a dog fight atop the NL East with the Braves. They need to keep winning to try and overtake Atlanta in the division. On Wednesday, the take on the Washington Nationals in the middle game of a three-game series. Washington came into the season as the heavy favorites to win the NL East, but for now, they’re barely treading water around-.500 and on the outside looking in. They’ll need to take advantage of their head-to-head series—like this one—with the teams ahead ... 

Sitting at .500 at the All-Star break, many fans wrote off the St. Louis Cardinals as a true contender when they sent Mike Matheny packing and then traded Tommy Pham to the Rays. Those were signs of a failed season, but since then, this team has turned the corner and will face the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday in the middle game of a very important three-game series. Going into the series, the two teams are separate by a game in the standings and are both still within striking distance of the NL... 

The Little Leagues are the life blood of baseball in America, feeding into the High School and College ranks and, eventually, into Major League Baseball. The New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies will face each other in the MLB Little League Classic on Sunday night, broadcast nationally on ESPN. As Little League alum Todd Frazier will lead the Mets into a series finale showdown against a contending Phillies team full of excellent young players. ... 

The Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox kick off an interesting four-game series on Monday that ultimately will have little regular season impact for these two—almost certain—division winners. Despite the meaninglessness for the regular season, Monday’s game could be the first game of a preview series to this year’s ALCS. We have a good pitching matchup in the game, too, with Corey Kluber and Rick Porcello in line to get the start in what could be a statement game, and series. ... 

The Cleveland Indians will host what barely qualifies as a Major League team in the Baltimore Orioles in the middle game of a weekend series on Saturday with Fox Sports 1 broadcasting what should be an easy Tribe win. The one ray of hope for Baltimore may be the Indians’ starter, Adam Plutko, who will be called upon to make the start in place of the injured Trevor Bauer. The O’s starter, however, remains a mystery and the talent gap between the Indians and Orioles remains as wide as ever. ... 

Ranked atop their respective divisions, the Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies meet in the City of Brotherly Love for a brief two-game series, concluding on Wednesday night. The series—and game—could end up being a World Series preview though teams like the Yankees, Astros, Braves and Cubs—amongst others—will have something to say about that. Back to Wednesday night’s action, the game will feature new Sox’s right-hander Nathan Eovaldi trying to bounce back from a rough start and Vince Velasquez also coming off a less-than-stellar performance his last time out. ... 

The Washington Nationals and St. Louis Cardinals will close out a four-game series on Thursday as both desperately try to hang out to ever-shrinking postseason odds, both currently on the outside looking in. In an interesting pitching matchup for this contest, the Nationals will look to Tanner Roark who has come back from the brink of falling out of the rotation while the Cardinals give the ball to rookie right-hander Jake Flaherty.... 

Unless you think either the New York Yankees or Houston Astros are at risk of losing their playoff spot, in the American League, the push for the postseason essentially boils down to the Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics, meaning their three-game series this week has huge playoff implications. Though these are two teams headed in—seemingly—opposite directions, this series could serve as a major momentum shift for either team. Seattle needs a series win more than the A’s, but Oakland could d... 

The west coast’s best rivalry continues as the Los Angeles Dodgers welcome the San Francisco Giants to town for a best-of-three series starting on Monday. The Dodgers enter the series with the edge in terms of roster and standings, sitting in a tight fought battle atop the NL West while the Giants do everything in their power to hold-on on the fringes of contention. With that, San Francisco should be plenty motivated and in a rivalry series like this, you never can tell even if one team—like the... 

It’s a possible Wild Card game preview on Saturday as the Atlanta Braves play host to the Milwaukee Brewers in the second game of a crucial three-game weekend series. These two teams currently sit in a Wild Card spot, but each have bigger aspirations with their sights set on a division crown. Wherever they end up, the push for October baseball is one and we have an interesting pitching matchup lined up with Wade Miley going for the Brew Crew and Julio Teheran on the bump for the Braves. ... 

Ever the disappointment for the Washington Nationals, it was the Chicago Cubs who knocked them out of the 2017 postseason. The Nationals are again a disappointment to this point this year as they’re fighting to even get to October baseball. This will be the first series between these two teams since last post season and the two squads will square off on national television in the series finale on Sunday. ... 

After five games against each other this year, the season series between the New York Mets and New York Yankees comes to an end on Monday with a makeup of a game postponed due to rain on July 22. This isn’t the 2000 World Series featuring two elite New York teams. Instead, this is more a David versus Goliath story though can the Mets really beat the Goliath that is the Yankees and even the season series? They’ve got the right arm on the mound in Jacob deGrom, but will have to overcome Luis Severino to give deGrom his second consecutive victory. ... 

After a strong start to the year, the Los Angeles Angels have faded into the group of also-rans in the American League while the Oakland Athletics took the opposite path sailing along for the first part of the season before their recent hot spell. The A’s will look to keep the good times rolling when they roll into Anaheim to start a three-game series on Friday. To kick off the series, Oakland will turn to Brett Anderson while Felix Pena gets the nod for the Angels. ... 

The Seattle Mariners have fallen behind the Oakland Athletics in the Wild Card race and the Mariners are still a threat to both the A’s and the Houston Astros in the NL West. The Astros currently hold a 6.5-game edge on Seattle, but the Mariners will try and cut that down over the weekend as they kick off a four-game head-to-head series on Thursday night. Thursday’s game will be a fun one to watch with both teams sending their aces to the mound and James Paxton and Justin Verlander are slated to... 

In what is a surprisingly important battle for the NL Wildcard, the suddenly competitive Pittsburgh Pirates will journey out west to the mountains to take on the Colorado Rockies in a three-game set. The Rockies took two of three when these two teams met in Pittsburgh back in April and will be looking for a similar result from this series. They’ll have to face a reinforced Pirates rotation, however, which includes Chris Archer who is slated to start game three of the series.... 

The Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics both find themselves in the heart of key postseason races when they meet for the first game of a brief two-game series on Tuesday night. While the Dodgers have a much better chance at their division, the A’s coming into the series with a better record in a more difficult division. Can the A’s continue to prove the doubters wrong against a big-name team like the Dodgers? They’ve got their best on the mound to prove the point on Tuesday as Sean Manaea will make the start for Oakland opposite the Dodgers’ Rich Hill. ... 

The Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals are two of three teams battling for the top spot in the NL East. These two clubs will meet in the Nation’s Capital on Wednesday night following a doubleheader on Tuesday. The Braves have found success in this matchup this year, winning seven of their first 12 meetings and also have the upper hand in the standings when they send Mike Foltynewicz to the hill in Wednesday’s game looking to extend their lead on the Nats. ... 

A World Series rematch series between the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers kicks off on Friday night with the Astros sending Justin Verlander to the hill against the Dodgers’ likely starter, Alex Wood. The Astros were victorious in a hard fought seven-game series last time these teams met. Things are a bit different this time around with the likes of Manny Machado, Brian Dozier and Robert Osuna involved in the showdown. ... 

With the rest of the AL Central selling at the deadline, the Cleveland Indians can cruise to the postseason, but they still have to play the games and that includes hosting the middle game of a three-game series against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday. In the contest, the Indians will throw their ace, Corey Kluber, against the 28-year old Felix Pena who is trying to establish himself at the Major League level for the pitching hungry Angels. ... 

The historic rivalry continues with yet another ESPN Sunday Night Baseball game featuring the beasts of the AL East: the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. It’s the Sox who are in first place and hosting the Yankees in this series finale, looking to end the four-game set on a good note, but they’ll have David Price on the mound who has been terrible against the Yankees this year while the inconsistent Masahiro Tanaka pitches for the Yankees, looking to extend a scoreless streak. ... 

On Monday, the Philadelphia Phillies head south to the desert of Arizona to take on the Arizona Diamondbacks and kick off a three game series between teams battling for their respective division crowns. To start the series, the Phillies turn to one of their dueling aces with Jake Arrieta getting the start while Zack Godley figures to try and build off his last start and gain some momentum moving forward for the D-Backs....