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Home , Blake Snell, Bo Bichette, Buster Posey, Cavan Biggio, Corey Kluber, Corey Seager

BASEBALL IS BACK! By JAKE SEINER • AP Writer “I feel like our team and MLB han- dled it extremely well,” Price said. he defending champion Dodgers tooled up for OTHERS TO WATCH 2021 by signing , last year’s NL TBauer. e Padres added Blake Trevor Award winner, has joined start- Snell and . Nolan Bauer ers and Walker Arenado went to the Cardinals, Buehler with the eight-time defend- is with the Blake Francisco Nolan ing NL West champion Dodgers, Mets, and and Snell Lindor Arenado putting them in prime position for a have teamed up on Series repeat. LA’s toughest challenger the Blue Jays. might be an upstart Padres team that When open April 1, 2022, along with potential complications months of that mental grind of the test- revamped its rotation with Snell and though, they’ll hardly be baseball’s big- as MLB navigates a season through ing, worrying about the testing, making Darvish to back slugging stars Tatis and gest additions. what the country hopes is the end of the sure you’re doing all the right things.” -- a duo that might Pack away those cardboard cutouts pandemic. also compete with the Dodgers’ Mookie — baseball fans are coming back to the OLD FACES Betts for NL MVP. ballpark. PANDEMIC BALL Championship managers e AL champion Rays have their Following a pandemic-truncated Nearly all of last year’s health and and AJ Hinch are back aer serving work cut out repeating as division 2020 season full of rule book rewrites, safety protocols have returned, includ- one-year bans stemming from the 2017 champs aer the Yankees re-signed DJ schedule upheaval and a nearly com- ing some on-eld rules that frustrated cheating scandal. Cora LeMahieu to a $90 million, six-year deal plete lack of in-person fans, Major some fans. — red by shortly before last and added starters and League Baseball is opening its gates for a Doubleheaders will consist of two sev- year’s camp opened — was re-hired by , while the Blue Jays 162-game regular season. en- games, and runners will start the Red Sox, where he won a title in added Springer and Semien to a lineup e are on track to on second base to start extra 2018. Hinch, red as Houston’s already led by and Vladimir become the rst team in any major U.S.- — experiments introduced during last in the wake of his suspension, was hired Guerrero Jr. based to have a full-ca- year’s condensed regular season to ease to replace Ron Gardenhire in Detroit. Many of the top free agents ended pacity crowd since the coronavirus the burden on amid a ood of e only other new manager is a up staying with their 2020 club, in- pandemic struck when they open Globe postponements prompted by positive throwback — , now cluding Phillies J.T. Realmuto Life Field for their home opener April 5. tests and contact tracing. in charge of the . and , Braves MLB’s 29 other teams will limit capac- Other 2020 changes have been put on Already a Hall of Famer, La Russa hasn’t slugger , Astros outelder ities at the start of the season — most the bench. e universal designated - managed since 2011, and his hiring was and Dodgers third between 10-30%. e Rangers will also ter is gone, and so is the expanded post- met by skepticism about his potential baseman . revert to limited capacities following season. Both were added last summer, handling of modern players. , a three-time MVP for the . but negotiations between the league and , is hoping to win a A return to peanuts and Cracker players’ association to potentially bring THEY’RE BACK postseason game for the rst time. Two- Jack, but there will still be face masks, them back fell through. Several MLB stars who opted out of way teammate could be too. at also goes for managers, Scheduling gures to remain a head- the 2020 season have returned for 2021, the key to getting him there. coaches and players in the dugout — a ache. ere were 45 games postponed including le- surgery and lingering reminder that although baseball is for coronavirus-related reasons last year, hander , San Francisco Gi- injury issues have mostly kept Ohtani getting back to normal, the COVID-19 and all but two were made up. ants catcher and Milwau- o the mound since he won AL Rookie pandemic is still likely to impact the Players will again be tested 3-4 times kee Brewers outelder Lorenzo Cain. of the Year in 2018, but he’s been phe- 2021 season. per week for COVID-19 and heavily Nearly 20 players are expected back nomenal on both sides this spring. LA e on-eld storylines have plenty restricted in what they can do during in the big leagues aer passing on the might even let him hit and in the of juice: a surging rivalry between the their time o. Veteran ley , pandemic-shortened season for varying same game for the rst time in his U.S. Dodgers and Padres, a Mets signed by as a free agent in reasons. Price had concerns about the career. club energized by new ownership, a crop January aer six seasons with the Cubs, protocols, while Posey stayed away aer “I’m very excited to show what I can of uber-talented young stars including compared the exhaustion of last year’s he and his wife adopted twin girls who do,” Ohtani said through an interpreter. Fernando Tatis Jr., Ronald Acuña Jr. and protocols to a deep playo . were born prematurely. “ at’s why I came here back in 2018. . “Mentally, you don’t realize how Price said that aer watching his I’m sure I disappointed a lot of people Plenty looms o the diamond, too, draining it is until you’re done,” he said. Dodgers win a from afar, the last two years by being hurt. I am including a potential labor stoppage in “I think last year was that. It was two there was no doubt he’d want to aid their looking forward to showing everyone title defense. what I’m capable of.”

FAMILIAR FACES AT NEW PLACES MLB GAMES TO WATCH THIS SEASON

George Springer, Trevor Bauer and Francisco traded from the to the San After one of its strangest seasons ever, baseball are well-positioned for a run at another champi- Lindor are wearing blue now. Diego Padres for four players in December. returns to a full schedule this year. The All-Star onship. Springer received the biggest contract The left-hander left the mound with a 1-0 lead Game is back. Fans are back, too, at least small in the o season from the . in the sixth inning of Game 6 of the World crowds in some places. And an Iowa corneld is THURSDAY, JULY 1 Bauer got the most money per season from Series but the bullpen blew it and the Dodgers about to welcome a bunch of special visitors. St. Louis Cardinals at : Nolan the Los Angeles Dodgers. Lindor was traded to clinched the title with a 3-1 win. Here are a handful of dates to mark on the Arenado returns to Colorado after the Rockies the in a six-player deal. Snell had a 3.24 ERA in 11 starts last season. calendar: traded the Gold Glove to The three star players headline the list of big He was 21-5 with a 1.89 ERA in 2018. The the Cardinals on Feb. 1. Arenado was names on new teams. Padres had the second-best record in the NL in THURSDAY, APRIL 1 drafted by Colorado and spent his rst Springer, a three-time All-Star outelder 2020, snapping a 13-year postseason drought. Toronto Blue Jays at : eight seasons with the team, blossoming and MVP with Houston, But they were swept in the NL division series Opening day begins in the Bronx, with George into one of baseball’s most dangerous signed a team-record $150 million, six-year by the Dodgers. Springer and the Blue Jays taking on sluggers. Frustrated with his treatment contract with the Blue Jays in January. He Snell will anchor a rotation that features DJ LeMahieu and the Yankees. Springer by Colorado’s front oce, he was shipped joined a roster that includes young sluggers newcomers Yu Darvish and . nalized a $150 million, six-year deal o to St. Louis for left-hander Austin Gomber and Jr. and Bo Bichette, plus YU DARVISH with Toronto in January, part of an active four minor leaguers. The Rockies are headed toward , Teoscar Hernandez and Lourdes The four-time All-Star right- o season for the Blue Jays. He batted .265 another tough decision with shortstop , Gurriel, Jr. hander was traded to the Padres with 14 homers and 32 RBIs during his who is eligible for free agency after this season. “I really like the blue. It’s a good color,” from the in a nal year in Houston. While Springer found a new Springer said after his rst seven-player deal on the same day home in free agency, LeMahieu stayed in New York TUESDAY, JULY 13 for a $90 million, six-year contract after he led the All-Star Game in : The Midsummer game with Toronto. “It was a little weird but I’m acquired Snell. Darvish majors with a .364 last season. Classic is back after last year’s game was canceled over it. It’s fun and I enjoy it.” has twice nished runner-up for a Cy Young because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Opened in Bauer, who won the NL last Award, including last season when he was 8-3 FRIDAY, APRIL 9 2017, hosts the event. The American season with Cincinnati, signed a $102 million, with a 2.01 ERA in 12 starts. at Los Angeles Dodgers: League has won the last seven All-Star Games. The three-year deal with the Dodgers last month. Darvish has three years and $59 million left The last two World Series champions meet in the last time the All-Stars descended on Atlanta, Yan- The reigning World Series champions already on the $126 million, six-year deal he signed home opener at Dodger . The kees shortstop had three hits and two had a pair of Cy Young Award winners in Clay- with the Cubs before the 2018 season. Nationals are looking to bounce back RBIs in the AL’s 6-3 victory at Turner Field in 2000. ton Kershaw and David Price. JON LESTER after struggling last year, and the return “This uniform is special,” Bauer said in a The six-time All-Star left-hander of ace right-hander THURSDAY, AUG. 12 two-minute video announcing his decision to signed a $5 million, one-year deal should help after he missed most of last New York Yankees at Chicago White Sox, in sign with Los Angeles. “It’s more than clothing. with the Washington Nationals. season because of a nerve issue in his Iowa: comes to Iowa. Well, It’s a lifestyle.” Lester is a three-time World Series right wrist. The Dodgers are going for it’s going to try anyway. In an homage to Lindor, a four-time All-Star shortstop in champion, winning twice with Boston their second straight title, and they add- “Field of Dreams,” the Yankees and White , was traded along with right-hander and once with the Cubs. ed Trevor Bauer to their already-loaded rotation in Sox are scheduled to play at the corneld Carlos Carrasco to the Mets in January for He’s part of a rotation led by three-time February. in eastern Iowa where the 1989 movie was young inelders Andrés Giménez and Amed Cy Young Award winner , 2019 lmed. The tribute was supposed to take Rosario, and two minor league prospects: World Series MVP Stephen Strasburg and lefty MONDAY, MAY 17 place last year, but it was canceled because right-hander Josh Wolf and outelder Isaiah . New York Mets at : Francisco of the pandemic. Greene. JACKIE BRADLEY Jr. Lindor gets his rst taste of one of He arrived to spring training with his hair The former All-Star center elder signed a baseball’s best rivalries when the Mets SUNDAY, SEPT. 26 dyed blue, something he also did during his $24 million, two-year deal with Mil- open a three-game series against Fred- Houston Astros at : time with the Indians. waukee last week after spending his die Freeman and the Braves. Lindor, The AL West rivals close out their season “You can see that I am all blued out,” Lindor rst eight seasons in Boston. a four-time All-Star shortstop who series with Oakland’s home nale. The A’s said. “Everything is blue in my life right now — Brad- was acquired in a January with went 7-3 against the Astros last year on the blue and orange.” ley was Cleveland, is hoping to lead New York way to their rst division title since 2013. Here are ve more well-known players in a Gold Glove back into the playo s for the rst time and are back di erent places: winner in 2018 since 2016. Freeman won the NL MVP award last for Oakland, but fellow inelder Marcus when the Red season, helping Atlanta get all the way to the NL Semien signed with Toronto in free agency. The ve-time All-Star third baseman was Sox won the World Championship Series. With a good young rotation The Astros have a hole in their lineup with Spring- traded from Colorado to the St. Louis Cardinals Series. He was an All- and a deep lineup, the Braves are looking for their er’s departure, but Yordan Álvarez rst World Series title since 1995. returns after missing most of last year. for ve players. Arenado, who won a Gold Star in 2016 when he Glove in each of his eight seasons with the set career highs with 26 MONDAY, JUNE 21 THURSDAY, SEPT. 30 Rockies, joined a team that reached the post- homers and 87 RBIs. Los Angeles Dodgers at San at : Detroit season seven times in the past 10 years. The Milwaukee, which George Springer Diego Padres: The Dodgers have slugger is 13 homers shy Cardinals last won a World Series in 2011. has reached the been on top of the NL West for of 500 and 134 hits away from 3,000, and Arenado hit .300 with a .937 OPS and postseason three almost a decade, but the Padres reaching those milestones this year could be averaged 40 homers and 124 RBIs between straight seasons, are looking to end their reign really close. The two-time AL MVP, who turns 2015-19. He led the league in homers three also has Christian after making the playo s last 38 in April, had 12 homers and 139 hits in 136 times in that span. Yelich and Lo- year for the rst time since games during his last full season in 2019. The renzo Cain in its 2006. San Diego traded for aces Blake rebuilding Tigers nish the regular season at The 2018 AL Cy Young Award winner was outeld. Snell and Yu Darvish in the o sea- Minnesota, and Cabrera is a .316 hitter with 45 son, and shortstop Fernando Tatis homers in 202 career games against the Twins. MORE AP BASEBALL Jr. agreed to a $330 million, 14-year https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports contract. While San Diego is much improved, World Series MVP and Los Angeles CONTENT BY THE