Here are four pitchers who are good bounce-back candidates in 2018. MORE: Opening Day schedule for all 30 teams Kevin Gausman, Orioles Baltimore seems to be built for one more year before a lengthy rebuild, with infielder Manny Machado, outfielder Adam Jones, pitcher Zach Britton, manager Buck Showalter and general manager Dan Duquette all entering the last year of their contracts. Their offense should be good enough to compete. Their pitching is the question mark, and they did not do anything to address it this offseason....

The 87th MLB All-Star Game will be held Tuesday, July 12, at Petco Park in San Diego. MORE: The worst All-Star starters of the past 40 years When will the starting lineups be announced for the 2016 MLB All-Star Game? MLB will announce the 2016 All-Star teams on Tuesday, July 5. What TV channel will announce the 2015 MLB All-Star Game starting lineups? MLB will announce the 2016 All-Star teams on the Esurance All-Star Selection Show on ESPN at 7 p....

While American League ballparks have not staged the annual extravaganza since 2014, an American League team has won the contest for the last six years straight. The most recent success came last year, with an 8-6 win over the Nationals League All-Stars thanks to Alex Bregman’s go-ahead homer in the 10th innings. Here’s everything you need to know ahead of Tuesday. When and where is the MLB All Star Game?...

Through the first 60 games of the 2015 season, for example, Jake Arrieta had been good but wasn’t more than an afterthought in the NL Cy Young race, with his 3.16 ERA and 71 hits allowed in 77 innings. In his final 20 starts, though, Arrieta was incredible, posting a 0.86 ERA and allowing just 76 hits in 147 innings. He won a tightly contested Cy Young race over Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw, who also had incredible seasons....

A spokesperson from the MLBPA confirmed the negotiations for a new drug policy, according to the Houston Chronicle on Tuesday. Major League Baseball players are not tested, so if it passes, then players from short season leagues all the way to the World Series champions can blaze up without fear of retribution from baseball. It’s likely a sign of the changing times of lax marijuana laws in the United States....

The Pirates, who entered tied with the Nationals and Athletics for the best odds to select No. 1 overall, landed the first pick in the 2023 Draft. This is the Pirates’ second No. 1 pick in the last three years, giving Pittsburgh an opportunity to add another premier talent to its farm system amid a comprehensive rebuild. MORE: MLB Draft lottery, explained — Everything to know about the first-ever lotto...

Some have suggested that teams are intentionally stifling the market to drag down players’ prices, and to an extent they are correct. However, the slowdown has taken also shape because, unlike in years past, clubs have resisted veering from their player valuations based on performance projections of the player going forward. Meanwhile, players’ agents are sticking to the mindset that their clients are due contracts based on past performance. The impasse has crippled much of the free-agent market....

Darvish put a mystery team into the mix after the Fort Worth-Star Telegram reported the Rangers, Yankees, Cubs, Astros and Twins are the clubs Darvish is considering. (The Astros are in the “maybe” column, as the Star-Telegram noted, because of their rumored near-trade for Pirates ace Gerrit Cole.) MORE: Gerrit Cole was ’traded,’ then he wasn’t So which team is lurking? Yu is keeping that a secret. That means it’s time to guess (in an educated manner, of course)....

According to Yahoo! Sports, the Rockies and free agent Kyle Kendrick have agreed to one-year, $5.5 million deal. Kendrick can make an additional $500,000 if he pitches 190 innings. MORE: New faces, new places | Latest on Cole Hamels Kendrick, 30, has a 5.26 career ERA at Coors Field (37 2/3 innings) but he offers the promise of durability; last season he averaged just over six innings per start for a 73–89 Phillies squad....

More MLB odds: Today’s lines from Las Vegas | World Series futures Blue Jays (70-55) vs. Rangers (64-60) David Price (12-4, 2.40 ERA) vs. Colby Lewis (14-5, 4.29 ERA) Line: Blue Jays -170Total: 8.5 (-110)Time: 8:10 p.m. ET Rangers skipper Jeff Banister calls on the 35-year old Lewis, who is having perhaps the best season in his career, to command the mound tonight against the super-slugging Blue Jays. Price (12-4, 2....

Nelson Cruz, April’s American League Player of the Month, hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down as the season rolls into May. Cruz hit his major league-leading 14th home run Monday and is batting a cool .343 for the season. MORE: Fantasy rankings, sleepers for Tuesday | NL MVP Watch | Counsell had one of best batting stances ever There were quite a few interesting events across baseball Monday. A fan sprinted across the diamond in St....

This series has just about everything a baseball fan could ask for. You‘ve got the teams with the two best records in baseball battling for the AL West crown, with Oakland a game behind the Angels. The eventual winner is ensured a crack of advancing from the ALDS into the ALCS, while the loser is stuck in the wild-card game where anything can happen in a one-game format. You’ve got superstars galore with likely AL MVP Mike Trout, who hit his career-high 30th home run last night against Minnesota, as well as Oakland’s deep starting rotation that features World Series hero Jon Lester, who is set to start on Friday....

The Tigers (19-12) come in as a -140 favorite behind Shane Greene, while the Royals (19-11) counter with Chris Young making his second start as a replacement for the injured Jason Vargas. This line looks about 20 cents too high, as Greene is on the biggest roller-coaster ride of any pitcher in baseball. MLB odds: Current Las Vegas lines Through his first three starts, it looked as though Greene was on his way to baseball glory by starting 3-0 and allowing only one run through 23 innings (0....

MLB odds: Today’s games | Futures odds reset The Yankees came into the season at 25-to-1 to win the World Series, while Seattle was 12-to-1. As of Friday, the Yankees (48-40) are now 12-to-1, with a 3.5-game lead atop the AL East, and the Mariners (41-48) are 60-to-1, with hardly any takers believing they can rebound from a 7.5-game deficit in the AL West. Masahiro Tanaka (5-3, 3.63 ERA) takes the mound tonight as a -160 favorite over rookie lefthander Mike Montgomery (4-3, 2....

Molina told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that catching the ball is still difficult even though he sat out the last two weeks of the regular season. MORE: Most devastating playoff moments | NLDS predictions, what to watch “I was thinking it was going to be the hitting part," Molina said. “But hitting was feeling good. Some of the pitches, I had trouble with. “It’s not pain. It’s about weakness. My hand is not strong enough to hold the ball like I used to, when I’m healthy....

As is so often the case with the Giants in the postseason, the heroes were unexpected — relievers Derek Law, Hunter Strickland, Will Smith and Ty Blach. Backup third baseman Conor Gillaspie. And second baseman Joe Panik, who missed a chunk of the season to a concussion, and never seemed to regain his hitting form after he returned. MORE: Best images from the NLDS In the bottom of the 13th, Panik launched a soaring fly ball off the bricks in right field at AT&T Park, scoring Brandon Crawford from second, and sending the Giants and their fans into a frenzy....

The fact Britton has been used in tie games on the road only twice over the past two years stoked debate Wednesday about when a closer should pitch in a non-save situation. Red Sox manager John Farrell isn’t about to let his closer, Craig Kimbrel (31 saves, 3.40 ERA), sit in a must-win game. MORE: 50 best players in playoffs “I think we’ve demonstrated that the closer has [pitched] in non-save situations....