BASEBALL IS BACK! By JAKE SEINER • AP Baseball Writer GAMES TO WATCH he defending champion Dodgers tooled up for After one of its strangest seasons 2021 by signing Trevor ever, baseball returns to a full sched- TBauer. e Padres added Blake ule this year. The All-Star Game is Snell and Yu Darvish. Nolan back. Fans are back, too, at least small Trevor crowds in some places. And an Iowa Arenado went to the Cardinals, Bauer Francisco Lindor is with the corneld is about to welcome a bunch Mets, and George Springer and of special visitors. Blake Francisco Nolan Here are a handful of dates to mark Marcus Semien have teamed up Lindor Arenado on the calendar: on the Blue Jays. Snell When stadiums open April 1, THURSDAY, APRIL 1 though, they’ll hardly be base- and safety protocols have re- — red by Boston shortly before toughest challenger might be Toronto Blue Jays at New York ball’s biggest additions. turned, including some on-eld last year’s camp opened — was an upstart Padres team that Yankees: Opening day begins in the Bronx, with George Springer and the Pack away those cardboard rules that frustrated some fans. re-hired by the Red Sox, where revamped its rotation with Snell Blue Jays taking on DJ LeMahieu and cutouts — baseball fans are com- Doubleheaders will consist of he won a title in 2018. Hinch, and Darvish to back slugging the Yankees. Springer nalized a $150 ing back to the ballpark. two seven-inning games, and red as Houston’s manager in stars Tatis and Manny Machado million, six-year deal with Toronto in Following a pandemic-trun- runners will start on second base the wake of his suspension, was -- a duo that might also compete January, part of an active oseason cated 2020 season full of rule to start extra innings — exper- hired to replace Ron Gardenhire with the Dodgers’ Mookie Betts for the Blue Jays. He batted .265 with book rewrites, schedule upheaval iments introduced during last in Detroit. for NL MVP. 14 homers and 32 RBIs during his and a nearly complete lack of year’s condensed regular season e only other new manager e AL champion Rays have nal year in Houston. While Springer in-person fans, Major League found a new home in free agency, to ease the burden on pitchers is a throwback — Tony La Russa, their work cut out repeating as LeMahieu stayed in New York for a $90 Baseball is opening its gates for a amid a ood of postponements now in charge of the Chicago division champs aer the Yan- million, six-year contract after he led 162-game regular season. prompted by positive tests and White Sox. Already a Hall of kees re-signed DJ LeMahieu to the majors with a .364 batting average e Texas Rangers are on contact tracing. Famer, La Russa hasn’t managed a $90 million, six-year deal and last season. track to become the rst team Other 2020 changes have since 2011, and his hiring was added starters Corey Kluber and in any major U.S.-based sports been put on the bench. e met by skepticism about his Jameson Taillon, while the Blue FRIDAY, APRIL 9 league to have a full-capacity universal designated hitter is potential handling of modern Jays added Springer and Semien Washington Nationals at Los crowd since the coronavirus Angeles Dodgers: The last two World gone, and so is the expanded players. to a lineup already led by Bo Bi- Series champions meet in the home pandemic struck when they postseason. Both were added THEY’RE BACK chette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. opener at Dodger Stadium. The open Globe Life Field for their last summer, but negotiations Several MLB stars who opted Many of the top free agents Nationals are looking to bounce back home opener April 5. MLB’s 29 between the league and players’ out of the 2020 season have ended up staying with their 2020 after struggling last year, and the other teams will limit capacities association to potentially bring returned for 2021, including Los club, including Phillies catcher return of ace right-hander Stephen at the start of the season — most them back fell through. Angeles Dodgers le-hander J.T. Realmuto and shortstop Strasburg should help after he missed between 10-30%. e Rangers Scheduling gures to remain David Price, San Francisco Didi Gregorius, Braves slugger most of last season because of a nerve will also revert to limited capaci- issue in his right wrist. The Dodgers a headache. ere were 45 games Giants catcher Buster Posey and Marcell Ozuna, Astros outelder are going for their second straight ties following opening day. postponed for coronavirus-relat- Milwaukee Brewers outelder Michael Brantley and Dodgers title, and they added Trevor Bauer A return to peanuts and ed reasons last year, and all but Lorenzo Cain. third baseman Justin Turner. to their already-loaded rotation in Cracker Jack, but there will still two were made up. Nearly 20 players are expect- Mike Trout, a three-time February. be face masks, too. at also Players will again be tested 3-4 ed back in the big leagues aer MVP for the Los Angeles An- goes for managers, coaches times per week for COVID-19 passing on the pandemic-short- gels, is hoping to win a postsea- TUESDAY, JULY 13 and players in the dugout — a and heavily restricted in what ened season for varying reasons. son game for the rst time. Two- All-Star Game in Atlanta: The reminder that although baseball Midsummer Classic is back after last they can do during their time Price had concerns about the way teammate Shohei Ohtani year’s game was canceled because of is getting back to normal, the o. Veteran ley Jon Lester, protocols, while Posey stayed could be the key to getting him the COVID-19 pandemic. Opened in COVID-19 pandemic is still signed by Washington as a free away aer he and his wife ad- there. 2017, Truist Park hosts the event. The likely to impact the 2021 season. agent in January aer six seasons opted twin girls who were born Tommy John surgery and lin- American League has won the last e on-eld storylines with the Cubs, compared the ex- prematurely. gering injury issues have mostly seven All-Star Games. have plenty of juice: a surging haustion of last year’s protocols Price said that aer watch- kept Ohtani o the mound since rivalry between the Dodgers and to a deep playo run. ing his Dodgers win a World he won AL Rookie of the Year in THURSDAY, AUG. 12 Padres, a New York Mets club New York Yankees at Chicago “Mentally, you don’t realize Series from afar, there was no 2018, but he’s been phenomenal White Sox, in Iowa: Major League energized by new ownership, a how draining it is until you’re doubt he’d want to aid their title on both sides this spring. LA Baseball comes to Iowa. Well, it’s crop of uber-talented young stars done,” he said. “I think last year defense. might even let him hit and pitch going to try anyway. In an homage including Fernando Tatis Jr., was that. It was two months of “I feel like our team and MLB in the same game for the rst to “Field of Dreams,” the Yankees and Ronald Acuña Jr. and Juan Soto. that mental grind of the testing, handled it extremely well,” Price time in his U.S. career. White Sox are scheduled to play at the Plenty looms o the diamond, worrying about the testing, said. “I’m very excited to show corneld in eastern Iowa where the too, including a potential labor making sure you’re doing all the OTHERS TO WATCH what I can do,” Ohtani said 1989 movie was lmed. The tribute stoppage in 2022, along with was supposed to take place last year, right things.” Bauer, last year’s NL Cy Young through an interpreter. “at’s but it was canceled because of the potential complications as MLB OLD FACES Award winner, has joined start- why I came here back in 2018. pandemic. navigates a season through what Championship managers Alex ers Clayton Kershaw and Walker I’m sure I disappointed a lot the country hopes is the end of Cora and AJ Hinch are back af- Buehler with the eight-time of people the last two years by the pandemic. ter serving one-year bans stem- defending NL West champion being hurt. I am looking forward PANDEMIC BALL ming from the 2017 Houston Dodgers, putting them in prime to showing everyone what I’m CONTENT BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Nearly all of last year’s health Astros cheating scandal. Cora position for a Series repeat. LA’s capable of.”.