LEADING OFF: White Sox check Farquhar, Ohtani's blister  —  A look at what's happening around the majors today:  —  CHECK HIM  —  The White Sox will see how Danny Farquhar is feeling, a day after he passed out in the dugout during a home game against Houston.

Chicago embarrasses Colorado Rockies at Coors  —  DENVER — Javier Baez and Kyle Schwarber each had a homer and four RBIs, and the Chicago Cubs rode a seven-run sixth inning to a 16-5 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Friday night.  —  Baez had four hits, finishing a triple shy of the cycle.

Nats beat Dodgers 5-2 in uneven matchup of Scherzer, Kershaw  —  LOS ANGELES (AP) The Dodgers didn't make it easy on Max Scherzer.  In the end, though, he was just better than Clayton Kershaw.  —  Scherzer allowed one run over six innings in the 13th all-time meeting of three …

Fowler sits as Pham bats leadoff  —  Dexter Fowler wasn't in Friday night's Cardinals lineup, which meant he wasn't leading off, which meant that Tommy Pham was.  —  The switch-hitting Fowler, just one for 17 (.059) against lefthanded pitching, didn't start against Cincinnati lefthander Brandon Finnegan last Saturday, either.

Sonny Gray struggles again, gives up five runs as Yankees fall to Blue Jays 8-5  —  After his worst start as a Yankee last week in Boston, Sonny Gray decided he needed to make a change.  So the righthander sat down with pitching coach Larry Rothschild and identified some necessary mechanical fixes.

Cespedes' clutch hit, Gsellman's heroics propel Mets to win in 12  —  ATLANTA — Robert Gsellman's rubber arm and baggy shirt were a perfect combination for the Mets in extra innings Friday night.  —  After pitching the 10th and 11th, the right-hander remained in the game to bat …

Justin Verlander got offended by Tim Anderson in the latest unwritten rules spat  —  Houston Astros pitcher Justin Verlander said he “took offense” to the “over-aggressive” play of Chicago White Sox infielder Tim Anderson in the Astros' 10-0 win on Friday night.

Yankees' Greg Bird heading to Tampa soon, Brandon Drury closer to rehab assignment  —  NEW YORK - Greg Bird continues to feel “happy with where I'm at” in his rehab from right ankle surgery, pointing to a return to the Yankees lineup “sometime in May.”  —  The lefty-hitting first baseman …

Here's Shohei Ohtani!  Yankees to get first look at 2-way stud who has Angels abuzz  —  ANAHEIM, Calif. — Three minutes have elapsed since the Angels' clubhouse has opened to the media, and 15 reporters have already staked out real estate on opposite ends of the room.

Red Sox GM's winter patience with J.D. Martinez is paying off big time  —  For months during the winter my friend Tony Massarotti whiled away the hours on his afternoon-drive radio show in Boston by crushing GM Dave Dombrowski and the Red Sox for not doing enough to keep up with the Yankees.

Brewers players have found their rhythm - with percussion instruments in the dugout  —  Friday marked the Milwaukee Brewers' fourth straight victory, and it's pretty clear the Brewers are in a rhythm, both on the field and - while this is debatable depending on what your ears tell you - in the dugout as well.

Cubs' Albert Almora Jr. making most of leadoff time  —  Albert Almora Jr. on the current state of the Cubs: 'We're having so much fun.' (Mark Gonzales/Chicago Tribune)  —  Chicago Tribune  —  Cubs manager Joe Maddon had some discouraging words for those clamoring to keep Albert Almora Jr. at the leadoff spot on a permanent basis.

Three up, three down: Bartolo Colon is back, Bryan Price paid the price for Reds' failures  —  THREE UP  —  Bart Man: The roly-poly Bartolo Colon might be baseball's most joyful sight, guiding 88-mph fastballs to the corners of the strike zone and frustrating opposing batters.

If you rebuild it, they will come.  Minor league teams join forces to help repair vandalized ‘Field of Dreams’  —  The New York Yankees went to bat for a 10-year-old girl who was being bullied at school.  All class in this video.  USA TODAY Sports  —  CONNECT  —  Turns out, if you rebuild it, they will come, too.

Bullpen collapses late as Rangers fall to Mariners, 6-2  —  ARLINGTON, Texas — Jean Segura hit a two-run double in a four-run ninth inning after Mitch Haniger's tying homer in the eighth, lifting the Seattle Mariners over the Texas Rangers 6-2 on Friday night.

For starters: Rays vs. Twins, with a familiar look  —  Not that Friday's game went as planned, but the Rays ended up with an 8-7 10-inning win, and they're going to trot out the same lineup tonight in hopes of doing it again.RELATED: Rays find a way to p

Phillies, Rhys Hoskins don't panic with two strikes  —  Rhys Hoskins kickstarted the Phillies' five-run second inning Thursday night by crushing a pitch through a stiff wind and over the left-field fence at Citizens Bank Park.  —  But it didn't happen until Hoskins was in a two-strike count.