SEATTLE (AP) — Charlie Morton pitched seven innings of three-hit ball, Jose Altuve hit a three-run double and the Houston Astros beat the Seattle Mariners 9-2 on Thursday after Evan Gattis hit into a 5-4-3 triple play in the fourth inning.Morton (3-0) retired 15 straight at one stretch and didn't allow a runner to reach second base.Marco Gonzales (1-2) allowed three runs — all unearned because of a throwing error by third baseman Kyle Seager — and four hits in 4 2/3 innings.CUBS 8, CARDINALS 5CHICAGO (AP) — Jon Lester (2-0) was dominant through six innings of two-hit ball in his 100th start as Cub, and Jason Heyward hit a two-run homer.Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber each had two RBIs as Chicago took a 6-1 lead after two innings. Every Cubs starter had a hit, including three by Anthony Rizzo and two each by Heyward, Schwarber and Javier Baez.Brandon Morrow pitched a perfect ninth to complete a five-hitter and remain perfect in three save chances.Ten of Chicago's first 16 batters reached... [More]

SEATTLE (AP) — Charlie Morton pitched seven innings of three-hit ball, Jose Altuve hit a three-run double and the Houston Astros beat the Seattle Mariners 9-2 on Thursday after Evan Gattis hit into a 5-4-3 triple play in the fourth inning.Morton (3-0) retired 15 straight at one stretch and didn't allow a runner to reach second base.Marco Gonzales (1-2) allowed three runs — all unearned because of a throwing error by third baseman Kyle Seager — and four hits in 4 2/3 innings.CUBS 8, CARDINALS 5CHICAGO (AP) — Jon Lester (2-0) was dominant through six innings of two-hit ball in his 100th start as Cub, and Jason Heyward hit a two-run homer.Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber each had two RBIs as Chicago took a 6-1 lead after two innings. Every Cubs starter had a hit, including three by Anthony Rizzo and two each by Heyward, Schwarber and Javier Baez.Brandon Morrow pitched a perfect ninth to complete a five-hitter and remain perfect in three save chances.Ten of Chicago's first 16 batters reached... [More]

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Rookie sensation Shohei Ohtani hit a home run for the third straight game and the Los Angeles Angels rallied from an early six-run deficit to beat Oakland.The two-way star from Japan connected for a long, solo drive in the second inning. The ball landed in the rocks beyond the center field wall after traveling 449 feet and was measured with a 112.3 mph exit velocity according to Statcast, the hardest-hit and longest of Ohtani's three major league homers.Ohtani, who is batting .462 (6 for 13) with six RBIs at home, drew a walk on four pitches with the bases loaded to pull the Angels within 8-7 in the fifth.The 23-year-old is scheduled to pitch Sunday — he won his first big league start last weekend against the A's. It's uncertain if he'll be the designated hitter on Saturday and try to extend his homer streak, a day before he starts.Jim Johnson (1-0) got the win. Blake Treinen (0-1) took the loss for the A's, who hit five home runs.ORIOLES 7, YANKEES 3, 14 INNINGSNEW... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Pedro Alvarez hit a grand slam in the 14th inning, Manny Machado homered twice and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Yankees 7-3 Friday night after New York saw four players forced to make early exits.Yankees starter CC Sabathia left with hip soreness, star catcher Gary Sanchez limped off with a possible leg cramp right before Alvarez struck, third baseman Brandon Drury was lifted for migraines and second baseman Tyler Wade was removed because of flu-like symptoms.Alvarez connected off Jonathan Holder (0-1) after midnight, deciding a game that took 5 hours, 20 minutes and included 14 pitchers and a couple of wild misadventures on the basepaths.Rookie Pedro Araujo (1-1) got the win.BRAVES 8, ROCKIES 3DENVER (AP) — It was 27 degrees at gametime, and Brandon McCarthy used his arm and bat to help Atlanta win at Coors Field in Colorado's home opener.The coldest recorded start in major league history was 23 games at Coors when these same teams met on April 23, 2013.Brandon McCarthy... [More]

A look at what's happening all around the majors today:___LOST LUMBERCubs star Anthony Rizzo is hitting .130 this season, and the rest of his team isn't doing much better. Chicago has been shut out in its last two games, and managed only one run in a 17-inning loss to Miami over the weekend. Kris Bryant and the Cubs will try to break out the bats in Cincinnati when they face 24-year-old Cody Reed, who's 1-8 in his big league career.SECRET OF HIS SUCCESSStuck in a 0-for-13 slump to begin the season, Cardinals leadoff man Dexter Fowler wrote "I will get a hit" 13 times in a tweet. He then played at Milwaukee on Monday and, after a flyout to lead off the game, blooped a single for that elusive first hit.TRY AGAINA day after getting snowed out, Giancarlo Stanton and the New York Yankees hope to play their home opener. The Tampa Bay Rays are in town for two more days — rain is in the forecast, too.Six games have already been postponed across the majors. These were the earliest non-international openers ever, moved up as baseball adjusted its schedule this year to add three extra off-days during the season.V FOR VICTORYJustin Verlander is back on the mound for Houston, starting against the visiting Orioles. He won on opening day, pitching six shutout innings for the World Series champs at Texas.___More AP baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball

A look at what's happening all around the majors Tuesday:___LOST LUMBERCubs star Anthony Rizzo is hitting .130 this season, and the rest of his team isn't doing much better. Chicago has been shut out in its last two games, and managed only one run in a 17-inning loss to Miami over the weekend. Kris Bryant and the Cubs will try to break out the bats in Cincinnati when they face 24-year-old Cody Reed, who's 1-8 in his big league career.SECRET OF HIS SUCCESSStuck in a 0-for-13 slump to begin the season, Cardinals leadoff man Dexter Fowler wrote "I will get a hit" 13 times in a tweet. He then played at Milwaukee on Monday and, after a flyout to lead off the game, blooped a single for that elusive first hit.TRY AGAINA day after getting snowed out, Giancarlo Stanton and the New York Yankees hope to play their home opener. The Tampa Bay Rays are in town for two more days — rain is in the forecast, too.Six games have already been postponed across the majors. These were the earliest non-international openers ever, moved up as baseball adjusted its schedule this year to add three extra off-days during the season.V FOR VICTORYJustin Verlander is back on the mound for Houston, starting against the visiting Orioles. He won on opening day, pitching six shutout innings for the World Series champs at Texas.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kenta Maeda struck out 10 over five innings, and the Los Angeles Dodgers finally found their offense to beat the San Francisco Giants 5-0 on Saturday night for their first win of the season.After striking out 18 times in a pair of 1-0 defeats to open the season, the Dodgers got the loudest cheers in the first inning for a sacrifice fly by Yasiel Puig that scored their first run off Derek Holland (0-1). Matt Kemp followed with an RBI single to make it 2-0.Maeda (1-0) allowed five hits and walked one. He faced baserunners in every inning except the fifth.Joe Panik, whose solo homers beat the Dodgers in the first two games, hit into a game-ending double play in the ninth.BREWERS 7, PADRES 3SAN DIEGO (AP) — Christian Yelich tied his career high with five hits, leading the Brewers to a sweep of their season-opening series.Yelich scored three times and drove in two runs as Milwaukee improved to 3-0 for the first time since it won its first five games in 2006. Lorenzo Cain had... [More]

ATLANTA (AP) — The Philadelphia Phillies are eager to get started on a new, winning era.For the Atlanta Braves, opening day still feels like it's a few weeks away.The NL East rivals begin the season Thursday at 2-year-old SunTrust Park, where Julio Teheran will make his fifth straight opening day start for the Braves against Philadelphia's Aaron Nola.The Phillies are coming off their fifth straight losing season, a 96-loss debacle that left them at the bottom of the division, but all signs points to a team on the rise .Stocked with young talent on the big league roster and plenty of top prospects in the minors, Philadelphia began to fill in the gaps from its long rebuilding job. The team doled out a three-year, $75 million contract to 2015 Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta . First baseman Carlos Santana received a three-year, $60 million deal."The chemistry is coming together," said Nola, who will make his first opening day start after going 12-11 with a 3.54 ERA last season. "The guys are coming... [More]

ATLANTA (AP) — The Philadelphia Phillies are eager to get started on a new, winning era.For the Atlanta Braves, opening day still feels like it's a few weeks away.The NL East rivals begin the season Thursday at 2-year-old SunTrust Park, where Julio Teheran will make his fifth straight opening day start for the Braves against Philadelphia's Aaron Nola.The Phillies are coming off their fifth straight losing season, a 96-loss debacle that left them at the bottom of the division, but all signs points to a team on the rise .Stocked with young talent on the big league roster and plenty of top prospects in the minors, Philadelphia began to fill in the gaps from its long rebuilding job. The team doled out a three-year, $75 million contract to 2015 Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta . First baseman Carlos Santana received a three-year, $60 million deal."The chemistry is coming together," said Nola, who will make his first opening day start after going 12-11 with a 3.54 ERA last season. "The guys are coming... [More]

Shohei Ohtani has a starting assignment, and the Los Angeles Dodgers have a mess on their hands.With the regular season set to begin Thursday, the Angels scheduled Ohtani to make his major league pitching debut Sunday in their fourth game at Oakland. The two-way sensation from Japan is expected to be Los Angeles' designated hitter in at least one of the first three games, but manager Mike Scioscia said Tuesday night the team hadn't decided on an opening-day lineup yet.The 23-year-old Ohtani, who struggled in spring training, was told after the exhibition finale against the Dodgers that he'll pitch Sunday."He's gotten into the mid-80-pitch range and should be able to get over 90 if he's throwing to his capabilities," Scioscia said. "That's plenty of pitches for him to get deep into the game. We're going to take it one pitch at a time with all of our pitchers."Ohtani was supposed to get an at-bat or two Tuesday night but that didn't happen because the game was called in the bottom of the... [More]

Baseball is increasingly becoming focused on what's known as the "three true outcomes": home runs, walks and strikeouts. These plays in the sport take the defense out of the equation and have increased around baseball.While a record 6,105 home runs were hit last season, stolen bases declined last season.Your competitors will be looking for power bats in fantasy drafts, leading to one of several scenarios where players can be overvalued or undervalued when it comes time to make selections.OVERVALUED POWERMarcell Ozuna OF, Cardinals: The 27-year-old outfielder had his best year in 2017, hitting .312 with 37 HRs and 124 RBIs. However, his BABIP of .355 would indicate he's more likely to drop back to his previous career high below .270 than to maintain anything close to .300 this year. Ozuna was also traded along with everyone else from Miami (where he had Christian Yelich and Giancarlo Stanton ahead of him in the order and actually enjoyed the tutelage of Barry Bonds) to a Cardinals lineup... [More]

Capsules of National League Central teams, listed in order of finish last year:___Chicago Cubs2017: 92-70, first place, lost to Dodgers in NLCS.Manager: Joe Maddon (fourth season).He's Here: RHP Yu Darvish, RHP Brandon Morrow, RHP Tyler Chatwood, RHP Steve Cishek, LHP Drew Smyly, C Chris Gimenez.He's Outta Here: RHP Wade Davis, C Alex Avila, C Rene Rivera.Projected Lineup: CF Ian Happ (.253, 24 HRs, 68 RBIs, .842 OPS) or Albert Almora Jr. (.298, 8, 46), 3B Kris Bryant (.295, 29, 73, 38 2Bs, 111 runs), 1B Anthony Rizzo (.273, 32, 109, 91 BBs), C Willson Contreras (.276, 21, 74), LF Kyle Schwarber (.211, 30, 59), SS Addison Russell (.239, 12, 43), RF Jason Heyward (.259, 11, 59), 2B Javier Baez (.273, 23, 75, .796 OPS).Rotation: LH Jon Lester (13-8, 4.33 ERA, 180 Ks), RH Kyle Hendricks (7-5, 3.03), RH Yu Darvish (10-12, 3.86, 209 Ks with Rangers and Dodgers), LH Jose Quintana (11-11, 4.15, 207 Ks with White Sox and Cubs), RH Tyler Chatwood (8-15, 4.69 with Rockies).Key Relievers: RH Brandon... [More]

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) — New Philadelphia Phillies manager Gabe Kapler's progressive approach includes a strategy straight from a slow-pitch softball league.Kapler plans to flip-flop outfielders in the middle of an inning to put his best defensive player in the position where the spray charts indicate a batter is most likely to hit the ball.This isn't the typical infield shift and old-school thinkers will scoff at the idea, but Kapler feels so strongly about it that he has these words written on a white board in his office:"We know that different players have different skills. One hitter may crush fastballs. Another may hammer change-ups. That doesn't mean either is a better hitter. They just have different strengths. Outfielders are similar. Whenever we have a chance to maximize a man's strengths to get an additional out, we'll do so."Strange shifts are nothing new to baseball. The influx of analytics has led managers to try different things.Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon tried a four-man... [More]

Capsules of National League Central teams, listed in order of finish last year:___Chicago Cubs2017: 92-70, first place, lost to Dodgers in NLCS.Manager: Joe Maddon (fourth season).He's Here: RHP Yu Darvish, RHP Brandon Morrow, RHP Tyler Chatwood, RHP Steve Cishek, LHP Drew Smyly, C Chris Gimenez.He's Outta Here: RHP Wade Davis, C Alex Avila, C Rene Rivera.Projected Lineup: CF Ian Happ (.253, 24 HRs, 68 RBIs, .842 OPS) or Albert Almora Jr. (.298, 8, 46), 3B Kris Bryant (.295, 29, 73, 38 2Bs, 111 runs), 1B Anthony Rizzo (.273, 32, 109, 91 BBs), C Willson Contreras (.276, 21, 74), LF Kyle Schwarber (.211, 30, 59), SS Addison Russell (.239, 12, 43), RF Jason Heyward (.259, 11, 59), 2B Javier Baez (.273, 23, 75, .796 OPS).Rotation: LH Jon Lester (13-8, 4.33 ERA, 180 Ks), RH Kyle Hendricks (7-5, 3.03), RH Yu Darvish (10-12, 3.86, 209 Ks with Rangers and Dodgers), LH Jose Quintana (11-11, 4.15, 207 Ks with White Sox and Cubs), RH Tyler Chatwood (8-15, 4.69 with Rockies).Key Relievers: RH Brandon... [More]

CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Cubs remember what it was like in 2016, and they remember what happened last year. They remember all the fun they had two years ago, and how tired they were at the end of last season.The past two years could hold the key to how they perform in 2018."These guys absolutely get it. They're on a mission, no question," manager Joe Maddon said. "They want to go back to what happened in 2016. They didn't like what happened last year, but they kind of understand what did (happen) and how we worked through it and eventually almost got back to our goal."One of the big differences between the World Series-winning 2016 team and last year's group was the start of the season. The Cubs struggled at the beginning of last season and then pushed hard to overcome the Brewers and win the NL Central. After surviving a grueling playoff round against Washington, they were run over by the rested Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Championship Series.Chicago's 25-6 start in 2016 set up the... [More]

The Baltimore Orioles figured Alex Cobb would be a fine fit.Cobb stayed in the division he knew best, finalizing a $57 million, four-year contract on Wednesday."They used the AL East and the success I've had in it to their advantage," the 30-year-old right-hander said. "They kept challenging me with it and I love the challenge of pitching in this division and they know that over the times we talked. They did a really good job of making me feel like this is where I need to be."Cobb had spent his entire six-season big league career with Tampa Bay and was the last top starting pitcher available in a slow-moving free agent market.Cobb joined Andrew Cashner and Chris Tillman, who were signed last month, in a revamped rotation that includes holdovers Dylan Bundy and Kevin Gausman.The Orioles are coming off a last-place finish and 75-87 record.Cobb was 12-10 with a 3.66 ERA in 29 starts last season. He pitched 179 1/3 innings in his first full year back after missing nearly two seasons because... [More]

The Baltimore Orioles figured Alex Cobb would be a fine fit.Cobb stayed in the division he knew best, finalizing a $57 million, four-year contract on Wednesday."They used the AL East and the success I've had in it to their advantage," the 30-year-old right-hander said. "They kept challenging me with it and I love the challenge of pitching in this division and they know that over the times we talked. They did a really good job of making me feel like this is where I need to be."Cobb had spent his entire six-season big league career with Tampa Bay and was the last top starting pitcher available in a slow-moving free agent market.Cobb joined Andrew Cashner and Chris Tillman, who were signed last month, in a revamped rotation that includes holdovers Dylan Bundy and Kevin Gausman.The Orioles are coming off a last-place finish and 75-87 record.Cobb was 12-10 with a 3.66 ERA in 29 starts last season. He pitched 179 1/3 innings in his first full year back after missing nearly two seasons because... [More]

SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) — Yu Darvish looked as if he would stumble on the mound, yet still managed to unleash a pitch that struck out Drew Robinson of the Rangers."I got off-balance," Darvish said through a translator. "I thought of not throwing it, but I ended up getting a strikeout. I think that was my best pitch of the day."The whole day was rather awkward for Darvish, who faced Texas for the first time since signing a six-year, $126 million contract with the Chicago Cubs last month. The four-time AL All-Star spent his entire major league career with the Rangers until getting traded to the Dodgers last summer. He became a free agent after losing Game 7 of the World Series."I drove myself here today and as I got closer to the stadium, it's nice seeing the scenery I'm used to watching," Darvish said. "There were a lot of familiar hitters. I heard some heckles from the opponent's side and that got me relaxed and I had fun out there."Darvish limited the Rangers to three hits, including Juan... [More]

The Baltimore Orioles figured Alex Cobb would be a fine fit.Cobb stayed in the division he knew best, finalizing a $57 million, four-year contract on Wednesday."They used the AL East and the success I've had in it to their advantage," the 30-year-old right-hander said. "They kept challenging me with it and I love the challenge of pitching in this division and they know that over the times we talked. They did a really good job of making me feel like this is where I need to be."Cobb had spent his entire six-season big league career with Tampa Bay and was the last top starting pitcher available in a slow-moving free agent market.Cobb joined Andrew Cashner and Chris Tillman, who were signed last month, in a revamped rotation that includes holdovers Dylan Bundy and Kevin Gausman.The Orioles are coming off a last-place finish and 75-87 record.Cobb was 12-10 with a 3.66 ERA in 29 starts last season. He pitched 179 1/3 innings in his first full year back after missing nearly two seasons because... [More]

Third base is a polarizing position for 2018, as some fantasy analysts say it's extremely deep and others say it falls off tremendously after the top 10.It all comes down to roster structure and your league size.Outside of Mike Trout and Jose Altuve, the safest player in fantasy baseball is Nolan Arenado. And quite honestly, safety is what you want from your first-round pick. You want someone who will put up elite numbers, but doesn't have a lot of risk attached. Over the past three years, Arenado has averaged a .297 batting average, 40 home runs, 131 RBIs and 104 runs for the Rockies. If you want Arenado, you'll have to pay an early first-round price for him, but is he the only third baseman that deserves to be a first-round pick in fantasy this year?Kris Bryant, Manny Machado and Jose Ramirez all make the case, but they are a tier below Arenado, typically falling in the middle of the second round.Is it worth grabbing Arenado in the first round or one of the other aforementioned second-tier... [More]