Sports Business Journal reported Monday that the league has come to an agreement with Fox Sports on streaming rights that will open the door for live online broadcasts in many markets. PENNANT RACE PANIC: Why your team’s fan base is freaking out this week The Blue Jays are the only team live-streaming their games in-market, but Fox owns local broadcast rights for 15 other franchises. The agreement, which should be finalized and announced by the end of this season, could set the standard for all local rights-holders to eventually get on board....

MORE: Politics and sports | Jays’ Saunders voices support A member of The Tenors singing group replaced a line in “O Canada” with a statement in support of the All Lives Matter movement Tuesday night. The lyric, sung by Remigio Pereira, was delivered days after members of the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx wore T-shirts in support of Black Lives Matter before a game at Target Center. The players’ statement was a response to the recent shooting deaths by police of Alton Sterling and Philando Castille....

Baseball officials on Wednesday issued an apology to the Royals for a blown call on a replay challenge Tuesday that ended up costing the team in a 2-1 loss to the Indians, the Kansas City Star reported. MORE: Mariners acquire Mark Trumbo | Legendary Pictures to produce Roberto Clemente biopic | Worst draft misses The setup: First base umpire Bob Davidson called the Indians’ Jose Ramirez safe on what would’ve been the back end of a 4-6-3 double play in the top of the eighth inning....

The stunning news comes less than five months after the death of Jose Fernandez, who was one of three people killed in a boating accident in September. As was the case with Fernandez, tragedy has brought both sadness and an outpouring of support from the baseball community. MORE: Remembering those the sports world lost in 2016 Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas and former Royals DH Billy Butler reacted to the shocking death of their teammate....

The COVID-19 pandemic reduced the 2020 draft to just five rounds from the standard 40. This year, the draft will move up to 20 rounds, plus compensation picks and two competitive balance rounds, allowing 612 amateur baseball players to be drafted by MLB clubs. Because the draft was shortened last season, this year’s class will likely be deeper than in past years. Many college players who would have been drafted in the later rounds of a larger 2020 draft returned to college, which means teams will likely still get value late on Day 3....

REPORTED BY: MLB.com’s Jon Morosi THE DETAILS: Bautista rejected a one-year, $17.2 million qualifying offer in November, but hasn’t found many suitors since, in part due to his high asking price and the deep power-hitting market. Yahoo Sports reported on Saturday that Bautista is willing to take a one-year contract but it must be worth more than the $17.2 million he rejected. THIS PAST SEASON: Bautista, who has hit above ....

Motte saved 42 games for the Cards in 2012, but he missed all of 2013 because of Tommy John surgery and pitched in just 29 games last season, posting a 4.68 ERA in 25 innings with St. Louis. Chicago is gambling that the 32-year-old Motte is fully recovered and ready to be a late-inning power arm, perhaps even a ninth-inning complement to Hector Rondon. MORE: Top 10 free-agent pitchers | Lester: Cubs ‘ready to win now’...

Pierzynski, 38, was one of the top catchers in a thin free-agent market. He will be entering his 19th season in the big leagues. The left-handed hitter batted .300/.339/.430 with nine homers and 39 RBIs in 113 games last season for Atlanta. He committed just two errors.MORE: Ranking the top seven relievers | Former Brave Tommy Hanson’s death to be further investigated Even though he has a habit of rubbing people the wrong way, Pierzynski has played in at least 100 games every year since 2001 and has never hit below ....

The setting was perfect: Alex Rodriguez up late in a game at Yankee Stadium with a chance to get his third hit of the night, and the 3,000th of his career. But Miami’s Sam Dyson wasn’t having any of it. Dyson threw four straight balls inside to Rodriguez, who will have to wait until Friday for a chance to reach his latest milestone. After Carlos Beltran homered in the seventh to give the Yankees a 5-3 lead, Chase Headley and Rodriguez walked to lead off the bottom of the eighth....

Fans of baseball in Chicago had quite the day. The Cubs started the party with a 5-2 over the Pirates, as Kris Bryant and Jorge Soler flashed their mighty potential. White Sox outfielder Melky Cabrera then added some fireworks for the South Side with a walkoff hit against the Indians. Cubs fans got to celebrate for a second time, when the team announced the arrival of phenom Addison Russell, who is expected to start at second base Tuesday....

The 2019 Major League Baseball season schedule actually started March 20, when the Mariners and Athletics played a two-game set in Japan. But the true date to circle on your calendar is eight days later, when all 30 MLB teams will be in action for what is officially Opening Day — a national holiday for baseball fans everywhere. Watch ChangeUp, a new MLB live whiparound show on DAZN, on Opening Day...

Check The Linemakers on Sporting News’ odds page for current baseball lines from Las Vegas. Philadelphia Phillies +101 (@ Colorado Rockies) Aaron Harang vs Chad Bettis The pitching gives a definite edge for the visitors here, with Harang taking on the fly-ball batters of the Rockies. Last night, the Phillies took a narrow 3-2 victory and certainly showed they are no pushovers.Tonight, it’s unlikely that the Rockies have what it takes to beat Harang & Co....

The vaunted AL East, which sent three teams to the playoffs, saw both the Rays and Blue Jays eliminated by the Guardians and Mariners, respectively. Two of the biggest playoff underdogs will continue their postseason run. In the National League, the Mets had their season end as they dropped two of three to the Padres, while Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina concluded their final postseason run with a two-game sweep by the Phillies....

MLB PLAYOFFS 2015: The eight most bizarre moments (so far) His first-inning double off Zack Greinke drove home the Mets’ first run of the game. In the fourth inning, he led off with a single and soon after turned in maybe the most heads-up play of the entire postseason. The Dodgers were playing an extreme defensive shift on Lucas Duda, with three infielders on the right side of the diamond....

Joe Maddon had indicated before the series that Hammel likely would get the assignment, and the Cubs manager made it official before Monday’s Game 3. MORE: Cubs and Cards batters that must improve | NLDS photos Hammel, 33, has made four postseason appearances, three of them starts, for three different teams. Most notably, he allowed four earned runs in 11 1/3 innings over two ALDS starts against the Yankees for the Orioles in 2012....

Major League Baseball has had metal detectors in place at the entrances to all ballparks since the start of the season, and the Yankees have had the devices for longer than that, but even fans who arrived with plenty of time to spare before the game experienced long lines, and many were not able to get to their seats before first pitch shortly after 8 p.m. ET. MLB PLAYOFFS 2015: Picks, predictions | Ranking the 50 best players in 2015 playoffs...

Memorial Day is now nothing more than a memory, with the traditional holiday waypoint in the MLB season giving fans a clearer picture of what their teams will be entering the summer. MORE: How Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, others have widened the gap between good and great hitters For most fans, that means get ready for mediocrity: 18 teams across MLB are at or below .500 through May 30, which isn’t exactly indicative of strong competition across the board, especially...

The Los Angeles Times reported Thursday that all 15 games on Oct. 4 will begin at 3 p.m. ET (noon PT, 2 p.m. CT). MORE: Is era of vanishing offense good for baseball? | Sporting News Fantasy, now free “If a game impacts another game, they’re all occurring at the same time, so no team would be put into a lame-duck situation because their fate already had been decided by an earlier result,” Tony Petitti, MLB chief operating officer, said....