MLB players

Justin Verlander has announced his retirement from Major League Baseball, closing out a career spanning nearly two decades. The three-time Cy Young Award winner and multiple World Series champion pitched for the Tigers, Astros and Mets, and finishes among the top strikeout pitchers in league history. Fans and fellow players have been flooding social media with tributes to one of his era's defining pitchers.

The ongoing Major League Baseball lockout has drawn private equity into the fray, with ownership and investment interests now shaping the league's labor standoff between players and team owners. The dispute centers on economics, and the growing financial role of outside investors is adding a new dimension to negotiations and to how the work stoppage is being discussed.

As the MLB season reaches its final stretch, attention is on the wild card and division title races, with a particular focus on the Los Angeles Dodgers and other teams featuring Japanese players. Fans are tracking how Shohei Ohtani and fellow Japanese players' clubs are positioned heading into the postseason, and how the playoff picture is shaping up across the leagues.

USA Today columnist Bob Nightengale reports that 60 games is emerging as the key figure in negotiations between Major League Baseball and the players' union ahead of an imminent lockout. The number is being framed as a possible compromise point for the length of the season should the labor dispute delay the start of play.

An automated ball-strike challenge in Major League Baseball has been resolved, with the original strike call confirmed by the ABS system. This marks continued use of the automated review technology, which players and managers can invoke to contest umpire calls at the plate. The league has been expanding use of the challenge system as it moves toward wider adoption.

The Atlanta Braves are heading into the wild-card round with good health across their roster, and several players are returning from absences. That combination gives team management multiple options as they finalize their postseason roster. Reporting on the projected lineup and pitching decisions has drawn attention as fans await the official selections ahead of the playoffs.

Major League Baseball is showing how its Automated Ball-Strike system works in practice: a batter challenged a called second strike, and the call was overturned after the ABS review confirmed the pitch was outside the zone. The moment highlights how managers and players are adapting to the new challenge rules, with fans debating whether automated umpiring improves accuracy or slows the game.

The Chicago Cubs and San Diego Padres are set to meet in the MLB Wild Card Series, with previews laying out what fans should know before the best-of-three playoff matchup. Coverage is focused on pitching plans, key players and how each team got here, as both clubs look to advance in the postseason.

A first strike call was overturned after a challenge under MLB's automated ball-strike (ABS) system, which allows players to contest ball and strike rulings. The replay of the automated review confirmed the call on the field was wrong, flipping the pitch to a ball. It is an early example of how the new challenge system is changing game management and officiating debates.

MLB is introducing the automated ball-strike challenge system for the 2026 season, allowing players to challenge umpire calls on balls and strikes. ESPN has launched a tracker ranking how teams and individual players fare with challenges across spring games and early action. Attention is focused on which catchers, pitchers and hitters are adapting best to the new strike-zone technology and how often challenges succeed.