Baseball

6/30/2025 |  ESPN, MLB Relationship May Not Be Over After All (Front Office Sports) After a cooling-off period of more than four months, there could be a major reunion in the works between MLB and ESPN.
The two entities have resumed talks about a rights deal, marking a significant turn after their high-profile divorce announced in February. ESPN and MLB plan to end their existing agreement after the 2025 season, three years ahead of expiration, but a new pact could extend a relationship that’s been in place since 1990. It’s not yet certain whether the early-stage discussions will yield a deal, but talks, in part, involve a potential inclusion of local rights as MLB commissioner Rob Manfred looks to rework baseball’s media landscape. 

6/30/2025 |  Manfred, MLB Owners Pitch Directly to Players Ahead of CBA Expiration (Front Office Sports) Even though formal bargaining between MLB and the MLB Players Association is still nearly a year away, the league already has an emerging plan for the talks: Appeal directly to individual players to make the case for large-scale change. 

6/27/2025 |  Barry Bonds will be getting a statue outside the Giants’ ballpark, team CEO says (Associated Press (AP)) SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Barry Bonds will be getting a statue outside the San Francisco Giants’ home stadium where he set baseball’s career home run record, the team’s CEO said Thursday. 

6/27/2025 |  ampa Bay Rays’ Wander Franco convicted of sexually abusing a child and gets a suspended sentence (Associated Press (AP)) PUERTO PLATA, Dominican Republic (AP) — Suspended Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco was convicted of sexually abusing a child and handed a two-year suspended sentence Thursday.
Franco was arrested last year after being accused of having a four-month relationship with a girl who was 14 at the time, and of transferring thousands of dollars to her mother to consent to the illegal relationship.

6/26/2025 |  Fan who heckled Diamondbacks' Ketel Marte over his late mother indefinitely banned from all MLB stadiums (CBS Sports) The fan who caused Arizona Diamondbacks All-Star second baseman Ketel Marte to break down in tears Tuesday night after heckling the player about his dead mother has been banned from all MLB stadiums, the league said Wednesday. Marte's mother died in a 2017 car crash in the Dominican Republic.