7 candidates to replace Pedro Strop as Cubs closer  —  Cubs closer Pedro Strop discusses the hamstring injury he suffered in the team's 4-3 win at Washington on Sept. 13, 2018.  (Paul Sullivan/Chicago Tribune)  —  Chicago Tribune  —  Who will manager Joe Maddon choose to be the new Cubs closer for the stretch run?

Yankees need to come up big against Jays  —  NEW YORK — When they left Yankee Stadium for a cross-country flight to Oakland following a tedious 11-7 loss to the Detroit Tigers, the New York Yankees held a decent amount of comfort in the wild-card race.  —  Now they come back still occupying …

'It's like group therapy': How a rookie skipper won over the Cards clubhouse  —  Somehow, Mike Shildt got the St. Louis Cardinals to buy into “Ball Talk.”  —  It would've been all too easy for the Cardinals players, especially the veterans, to roll their eyes.

Arenado, Story homer to help Rockies beat Diamondbacks 10-3  —  DENVER (AP) - Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story homered, Kyle Freeland pitched effectively into the seventh, and the Colorado Rockies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 10-3 on Thursday to extend their NL West lead.

Former Reds exec Bob Miller of Nats auctions World Series ring for colleague with leukemia  —  Washington Nationals assistant general manager Bob Miller, who spent nine seasons with the Cincinnati Reds as vice president and assistant general manager, put the World Series ring he earned …

Mike Trout Reportedly Expected to Receive ‘Lifetime’ Contract Offer from Angels  —  While Bryce Harper and Manny Machado will be the biggest names on the free-agent market this offseason, it could be a player already under contract for the foreseeable future who could make the biggest splash.

MLB playoff picture: Updated look at division, wild card races  —  With just more than two weeks remaining, the Boston Red Sox are the only team to officially punch their ticket to the postseason.  —  The Red Sox still have work to do to clinch the American League East, although that …

Matt Kemp is finally home again in LA  —  There is no easy way to tell a player he's been traded.  But generally whatever awkwardness or emotion an executive feels from those calls is offset by the excitement of the calls welcoming the players joining the club.

The 2018 Phillies.  So what the heck was that?  |  Bob Ford  —  The lone saving grace of the Phillies' late tumble from postseason contention was that the baseball they played while exiting the race wasn't much uglier than what they played while taking part.

How big is Rays-A's this weekend?  Well ...  That the Rays are playing a series with even the slightest amount of playoff implications in mid-September is somewhat of an accomplishment.  —  How big the matchup with the A's that starts tonight at the Trop is depends on your perspective.

Jose Reyes hopes to be next to David Wright in his finale … Before David Wright announced he would return and start one last game in his Mets career, on Sept. 29, he found Jose Reyes in the clubhouse Thursday and shared the plan.  —  “We were both crying, it was a tough moment,” …

Braves, Giants franchises molded by 1993, MLB's last great pennant race  —  SAN FRANCISCO — The last great pennant race left some with the most beautiful memories in their careers and others with the ugliest of scars.  —  It created the most radical change in baseball's playoff format …

New book “Baseball Cop” explores MLB's investigation into the Biogenesis PED scandal by one of the men who uncovered it … “Tell THE DEA I WANT THIS DONE F— NOW!”  —  The DEA agents we first met in the Biogenesis investigation weren't exactly your type A sports fans.

And the Star-Telegram's No. 1 Rangers prospect is ...  The debate over who should be the No. 1 Texas Rangers prospect in the Star-Telegram's rankings came down to the value of a position player or the importance of developing a front-line starting pitcher.  —  And there was debate on who should be No. 1 among the two groups.

Braves try to secure division title in homestand starting with Nationals  —  ATLANTA — The Atlanta Braves have built a 7 1/2-game lead in the National League East thanks to 42-21 record within the division and a 45-30 overall road record — the best in the league.

Brewers in thick of playoff race as they host Pirates  —  MILWAUKEE — Gio Gonzalez made a strong first impression on his new teammates.  —  Acquired by Milwaukee on Aug. 31 from Washington, where he'd gone 7-11 with a 4.57 ERA, Gonzalez returned to the mound after a 10-day rest and allowed …

Ex-Phillies pitcher Dan Plesac: A day in the life of an MLB Network analyst  —  It was an eventful evening in baseball, featuring a walk-off home run, a near no-hitter, an October-like match-up in a tight divisional race and the final game of a sweep that all but closed the door on the Phillies' hopes of playing this postseason.

Detroit Tigers' Casey Mize will be top-10 prospect in MLB, analyst says  —  Who are Detroit's next batch of star athletes?  We looked at the rosters of the Lions, Tigers, Red Wings and Pistons, and came up with a ranking of who could become our city's next big talent.