The Boston Red Sox open a four-game series at Fenway Park against the Chicago White Sox Monday night. The White Sox head into the series having lost three straight and six of their last 10. They’ve dropped all the way down to No. 4 in the AL Central. Chicago does, however, have both Chris Sale and Jose Quintana set to start this week. The Red Sox are listed as heavy favorites in Vegas, and AccuScore confirms that pick with an even higher winning probability for the home team....

Below are the complete results of Rounds 1 and 2 of the 2017 MLB Draft with pick number, team, player and position, minus the analysis and draft grades. Of course, if you would like our MLB experts to tell you how smart (or stupid) your team’s picks were, we’ve got you covered with our pick-by-pick analysis for Round 1, and we’ll have our Draft Grades on Tuesday to determine the winners and losers....

Projected American League standings (All projections based on records through the All-Star break.) Before the season the most probable teams to reach playoffs in the AL were the Indians, Astros, Yankees and Red Sox. Each team has played over 90 games and our projection hasn’t changed a bit: these four teams have the highest probabilities to reach the playoffs after the rest of the regular-season games were simulated. The last wild-card spot was expected to be a very tight race between the Twins, Blue Jays, Mariners and Angels when every single game was simulated before the season....

That Game 3 lineup was an amazing testament to the power of roster construction. And the lineup worked, of course. The Dodgers dominated the Cubs 6-1 on Tuesday night and are now just one win away from advancing to the World Series for the first time since 1988. It’s true the Dodgers have the highest payroll in baseball — and that has been the case for a couple years now — but they aren’t standing on the precipice of greatness only because of massive free-agent contracts or blockbuster trades (such as the one for Game 3 starter Yu Darvish)....

The Nationals, as you surely were reminded in every single preview of the NL wild card contest, had never won a postseason series since the franchise moved from Montreal (RIP Expos) to Washington, D.C., after the 2004 season. They beat the Brewers in dramatic fashion Tuesday night, and almost immediately the question was asked, “Yeah, but does that really count as winning a playoff series? It’s one game. One game isn’t a series....

The Nationals took down the Brewers 4-3 with an improbable comeback in the eighth inning. The Brewers had Josh Hader on the mound and the Nationals had the bottom of the lineup at the plate. But Michael Taylor was hit by a pitch, Ryan Zimmerman reached on a broken-bat single and Anthony Rendon walked to load the bases. Then Juan Soto broke the Brewers’ hearts. Keep reading below to find out how....

This year’s spring training features some wrinkles, as some games will be played in new territories. The Diamondbacks and Rockies will meet south of the border March 9-10 in a pair of spring training games to be played in Estadio de Béisbol Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico. It’s a precursor to many MLB games being played around the globe this year: The Mariners and Athletics will play a two-game series in Tokyo to start the 2019 season on March 20-21 — a week before the rest of the league opens — while the Yankees and Red Sox bring their rivalry to England’s London Stadium on June 29-30....

It’s a familiar, understandable story: A team goes up 3-1 in a best-of-seven postseason series and nearly everyone declares the series over. It makes perfect sense: With only one more win between that team and a championship — and with three chances to win that one game — it definitely seems like a safe bet. Yet, as baseball often reminds us, there really aren’t any safe bets. Since 1979, MLB teams have overcome a 3-1 postseason deficit 11 times....

One thing we do know is that the biggest OF prospect won’t be in the majors when the season starts, but several others could be helping your fantasy team in Week 1. DOMINATE YOUR DRAFT: Ultimate 2019 cheat sheet MLB Top Prospects: OF Three rookie outfielders are on track to open the season as big league regulars, and all of them project to be significant offensive contributors in 2019....

Given that the free-agent market for shortstops is pretty sparse, St. Louis is looking to upgrade through a trade. Among the names the team has been linked to in addidtion to Lowrie: Troy Tulowitizk, iJurickson Profar, Elvis Andrus and Erick Aybar. PHOTOS: SN ranks the top 25 free agents Lowrie, 29, hit .290/.344/.446 with 15 home runs and 45 doubles for the AL West champion A's. "The Athletics could trade Lowrie and send Addison Russell to the majors this season," Peter Gammons writes in the report....

We know this because the team’s owner, Jim Crane, told everyone the reigning World Series champions are looking for another high-end starting pitcher. That’s about as open and honest of an admission as you’ll ever see from a team in the offseason. Pretty refreshing, actually. MORE: 18 thoughts and predictions for the 2018 season The thing is, it’s not like the Astros have a bare-bones rotation. Quite the opposite. They have an excellent rotation for 2018, a rotation that’s very capable of leading the club to another World Series title: Justin Verlander and Dallas Keuchel up top, followed by Lance McCullers Jr....

One of the clubs that’s trying to bust a move is the Mariners. Seattle has eyes (still) for Rays ace David Price, but now he reportedly is a lower priority. Instead, the M’s are thought to be more focused on Price’s teammate Ben Zobrist as they try to goose the offense. MORE: Fagan’s proposed moves — Price to Cardinals, Zobrist to Royals Fox Sports’ Jon Paul Morosi, followed by CBSSports....

Kemp, 30, was one of baseball’s best players in 2011 but has struggled with injuries and inconsistency since then. Healthy in the second half of 2014, he put up excellent numbers after the All-Star break: .309/.365/.606 with 17 home runs. The Dodgers have an abundance of outfielders, so Kemp’s name has come up in trade rumors many times over the last few years. The veteran is under contract through 2019....

Philadelphia has “had conversations” with the Tigers about a potential deal for starter Matthew Boyd and closer Shane Greene, according to a report from NBC Sports Philadelphia, which cites unidentified league sources. Greene has recorded 22 saves while Boyd holds a 6-8 record with a 4.13 ERA in 20 starts so far this season. “It’s just noise, right?” Boyd said about the trade rumors last month. “There’s no action that needs to be taken or anything....

In an interview with USA Today, general manager Dave Dombrowski sounded as though he’s prepared to wave the white flag on the Tigers’ season if their postseason outlook doesn’t improve within 10 days. MORE: AL Fleeting Four: Short stay, big impact | Mets trade rumors: These bats could help “At this point our focus is trying to win right now,” he said. “We’re trying to do everything we can to qualify for the playoffs....

Trades have to happen, too. A handful of them happened before the start of the lockout on Dec. 2 but there are several big names — playoff-impact types — who almost certainly will get dealt away in the next couple of weeks. MORE: Ranking the 35 best MLB free-agents after the lockout Let’s take a look at a few of the biggest names. Matt Olson, 1B, A’s Why he could be moved: The A’s reportedly have listened to trade offers for just about everyone, and you can bet there will be plenty of teams interested in a first baseman who hit 39 homers with a ....

Why? Because it’s always trade deadline season. Always. Just peruse Twitter: Fans of certain teams are already playing armchair GM, making trades for front-end starters while licking the Doritos cheese residue off their fingers. While the amount of quality starting pitching that could be available is pretty impressive, there are plenty of questions. Here’s a look at starting pitching that may be available heading into the trade deadline. MORE: MLB Power Rankings — There’s a new No....

The study — led by professor Mark T. Williams — looked at nearly 4 million pitches from the past 11 MLB seasons, and early in the study’s report, its authors make clear the basis for the study: “(T)hroughout its history, MLB has protected its error-prone umpires, resisted adopting strong performance measurements, and not taken advantage of available technology that could better the game. At a time of autonomous cars and machine learning, MLB needs to embrace useful change....