SoCal Varsity Awards: Harvard-Westlake's Ryan Neapole tops the All-Varsity Boys Water Polo Team  —  The Southern California News Group honors the region's top fall sports athletes:  —  SoCal Varsity Awards special section is in Sunday's edition of your local SCNG newspaper.  —  PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Yasiel Puig: Get to know the new outfielder the Cincinnati Reds got from the LA Dodgers  — Puig signed a 7-year, $42 million contract with the Dodgers in 2012 after defecting from Cuba.  He finished second in the National League Rookie of the Year voting to late Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez in 2013.

Baseball notes: Dodgers' Kelly is happy to be going home  —  Joe Kelly helped the Boston Red Sox win a World Series title.  His next goal is to try to win one for the team he grew up rooting for and defeated in October.  —  The Dodgers on Friday officially announced signing Kelly …

Texan of the Year finalist Adrian Beltre brought a love of baseball to Texas Rangers fans  —  Athletes provide the rest of us with lesser motor skills the joy of living vicariously.  And when they are good guys, too, so much the better.  —  Such is Adrian Beltre, one of the greatest players …

Red Sox writer refuses to vote Mariano Rivera into Hall of Fame  —  Leave it to a Red Sox scribe to rain on Mariano Rivera's historic quest.  —  Bill Ballou, of the Worcester, Mass., Telegram, spent about 1,500 words Saturday arguing that the Yankees legend shouldn't receive a bid into the Hall.

Who will counsel MLB, union to avoid labor strife?  —  Underneath the anticipation of Manny Machado's tour of teams and a continued flurry of trades, the Associated Press published news jarring and yet completely unsurprising to some agents and executives — for the first time since 2004 …

LONGLEY LOOKS BACK: Blue Jays hit full-blown rebuild mode in 2018  —  Usually, when a well-planned demolition is scheduled and designed, the explosives are planted at strategic places to make the implosion as seamless as possible.  —  Not with the Toronto Blue Jays of 2018, however …

Rams running back Todd Gurley inactive for Sunday's game at Arizona  —  The Rams included running back Todd Gurley on their list of inactive players for Sunday's game at Arizona, so Gurley will not be in the lineup for the game against the Cardinals.  —  Gurley's status had been in doubt …

Cubs remaining relatively quiet while NL Central rivals make their moves  —  Photos of Theo Epstein, the Cubs' president of baseball operations.  —  Chicago Tribune  —  The Cubs' official 2018 postseason T-shirts were marked down from $40 to $10 at a local sporting-goods store Saturday morning.

A's to re-sign RHP Mike Fiers to two-year deal  —  The Athletics and Mike Fiers have agreed to a two-year contract for the right-hander to return to Oakland, according to MLB.com.  —  MLB.com reports that the deal, which is pending a physical, could be worth up to $15 million.