A pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol on January 6 in a violent attempt to prevent the certification of President Joe Biden’s win in the Electoral College. Five people died in the riot, which temporarily delayed the certification process. Ahead of the insurrection, Trump urged his supporters at a nearby rally to “fight like hell” to keep him in office, instructing them to march to the legislative building. The former president misled many of his supporters to believe that the election was stolen through widespread fraud, a baseless claim that has been thoroughly debunked and discredited....

A staple of MLB All-Star weekend, the 2021 All-Star celebrity softball game is going to be held Sunday afternoon and broadcast Monday night following the Home Run Derby, for those willing to stick around and watch some amateurs chuck a ball into the dirt and have the running form of a toddler with their shoelaces tied together. They’re not all athletically inept, though: The five-inning contest features some MLB greats taking the field, with a group of very young, fresh look celebrities rounding out the rosters for this year’s car wreck spectacle....

MVP: Robinson Cano, Mariners. Cano gets a free car because, of course, it’s always fun to give millionaires expensive stuff for free. Goodnight, baseball friends. Bottom of the 10th The Indians’ Andrew Miller is on to close it for the AL. This could get nasty. Oh, hey, Justin Upton. Nice catch. One out. Francisco Lindor with a nice play, too. Two outs. Joey Votto draws a walk. He’s good at the on-base percentage thing....

The Dodgers opened 2016 with a three-game sweep at Petco Park -— all by shutouts, but since then it’s been the Padres winning three of the past four meetings. The struggling Dodgers (21-22) have lost their last three games and five of the past six to drop below .500, but are still -155 favorites tonight behind left-hander Alex Wood (1-3, 4.17 ERA). Cesar Vargas (0-2, 3.55) gets the start for the Padres (18-25) just three weeks after Wood and Vargas hooked up at Dodger Stadium, a 5-1 Padres win that paid out at +160....

All is well in Cleveland right now with the Cavaliers winning the NBA Championship on Sunday, a never-before-seen downtown parade on Wednesday and the Indians leading the AL Central by three games on the basis of a sizzling 16-5 June record, which includes being 11-0 at home. Tonight they hit the road for a three game set at Detroit, a team they have beat in all six meetings this season....

The Yankees have offloaded most of the veteran bashers that were bogging down their checkbooks. They can now turn their attention to Encarnacion and start the cycle over again. MORE: MLB free agency tracker and rankings Really, New York would be a great spot for Encarnacion, a home run hitter who can still field. The Yankees need a veteran leader to help teach their young stars how to react to different MLB pitches and consistently deliver though the rigors of a 162-game season....

His agent Paul Kinzer told Sportsnet 590 The Fan in Toronto on Wednesday that several potential deals are on the table for the slugger, who turns 34 next month. MORE: Every MLB team’s worst regular season memory, revisited “We’ve had multiyear offers from six different teams between three and four years, most of them in the three range,” Kinzer said. “We’ll come out of it OK.” There’s still a chance Encarnacion finalizes a deal soon, even though MLB business often goes on unofficial hiatus the week between Christmas and New Year’s....

REPORTED BY: MASN’s Roch Kubatko THE DETAILS: The Orioles and Trumbo liked the length of the deal (four years), but were way off in the price. Baltimore’s offer reportedly is between $52 million and $55 million, while Trumbo wants $80 million. LAST SEASON: The slugger enjoyed a .256/.316/.533 slash line with an MLB-leading 47 homers, 94 runs scored and 108 RBIs. Trumbo made $9.15 million, but will likely see a pay raise in his new contract....

When does MLB free agency start? MLB free agency gets under way at 12:01 a.m. ET on Saturday, Nov. 7. Who are the top MLB free agents? SN’s Ryan Fagan lists David Price, Jason Heyward and Zack Greinke as the top free agents this offseason. Here’s his complete list of the top 25. Meanwhile, we have also listed the top free agents by position. Here are our thoughts on the top catchers , first basemen , second basemen , shortstops and third basemen ....

Of Sporting News’ top 101 free agents, seven of the 10 highest ranked players on the list are still available as we hit Valentine’s Day, and The Athletic is making more moves than most teams right now. Let’s break it down. MORE: Full list of spring training reporting dates Arizona won 93 games last year, reaching the division series after beating Colorado in the wild-card game, but we can’t possibly know how its offseason went until J....

It’s rough, adjusting to the reality that baseball’s Hot Stove season never really gets, well, hot. But let’s not change the name quite yet, and not only because Tepid Time doesn’t have much of a ring. MORE: MLB free-agent tracker: Tracking, analyzing the signings Instead of killing time until mid-February, there’s still plenty of intrigue out there. With that in mind, let’s look at the seven most important decisions yet to be made this offseason....

Major League Baseball executive vice president Joe Torre said Tuesday momentum is building toward taking action that would help prevent collisions at home plate. "There's a pretty good possibility that something eventually will happen," he said after a meeting of big league general managers. "Whether it's going to be soon enough to have it done this coming year, that remains to be seen. But I don't think it's impossible." Torre said a written proposal will be developed that will be discussed when GMs gather again during the winter meetings, to be held at Lake Buena Vista from Dec....

After a bullpen session Wednesday, Ryu showed no signs of aggravation from a strained glute muscle that has kept him out of the starting rotation since Aug. 14. While he’s been gone the Dodgers have tried to make the best of things behind the likes of Roberto Hernandez and Kevin Correia, but today they are looking at losing three straight. Meanwhile, the Giants have won five straight, as they have made easy work of the NL Central-leading Brewers the past two nights....

Check The Linemakers on Sporting News’ odds page for current baseball lines from Las Vegas. Cincinnati Reds -120 (vs. Detroit Tigers) Keyvius Sampson (2-2, 4.43 ERA) vs Buck Farmer (0-2, 8.39 ERA) Neither of the teams have much to play for and have already set their sights on next season. Both are starting inexperienced pitchers tonight, with Detroit taking a look at Farmer, and the Reds going with Sampson. Sampson seems more like a big-league starter, while Farmer has struggled in his relieving duties this season....

The season will begin on Sunday, April 5, with a reunion of those historic rivals TBD and TBD, to be televised on ESPN. Since the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are now the Rays, and a team cannot play itself, perhaps “TBD” actually stands for “to be determined,” and it will be ESPN that does the determining. Given the matchups for opening series, the best bets for the nationally-televised lid lifter are the Jeter-less Yankees hosting the Blue Jays, Red Sox at Phillies, Angels at Mariners, or the Cardinals visiting the Back to the Future 2-foretold 2015 World Series champion Cubs....

With Shin-Soo Choo, a nemesis of knuckleballing starter R.A. Dickey, looming on deck, Gibbons said he wasn’t taking any chances of squandering the lead and Toronto’s shot at a Game 5. It worked — the Blue Jays won 8-4 — but the move further fueled critics of Gibbons’ managerial calls so far this postseason, especially now that Price won’t be available to pitch in Wednesday’s series decider. MORE: Five takeaways from Game 4 | Best ALDS photos...

The Blue Jays’ manager, however, is not on board with the idea of computerizing the strike zone. Not that it’s a realistic possibility to implement robot umpires in the middle of a playoff series, but Gibbons is not fond of the idea in general. MORE: The 50 best players of the MLB playoffs “You have humans at the plate, there’s going to be mistakes,” Gibbons said on Monday before Game 3 of the ALCS....