In America, the NFL laps every other sport. Around the world, where its product is labeled “American football,” the NFL has largely failed to export its massive domestic popularity.
When the Olympics called, the NFL said yes. In 2028, the L.A. Summer Games will include flag football — and a selection of NFL players. How better to sell your sport internationally than to attach it to the world’s largest sporting event?
Baseball is, uh, still thinking about it.
Two years after we first started talking about whether major leaguers would play in the 2028 Olympics, Major League Baseball still has not said yes, and now the NFL and its publicity-gobbling machine is threatening to steal the spotlight.
If MLB withholds its players, the NFL will steamroll whatever collection of minor leaguers and collegians appear on the Olympic diamond. So will the NBA All-Stars competing for basketball gold.
If MLB agrees to let its players participate — and Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge and Bryce Harper have made clear they want to compete — hardly anyone will care about flag football.
“Wimbledon will end, they’ll come here. The Tour de France will end, they’ll come here and compete. Obviously, men’s and women’s basketball will have the greatest basketball players in the world. So we think that a sport like baseball ought to have the best players in the world playing.”
Here is a statistic the NFL could never match: Of the rosters announced for Tuesday’s All-Star Game, one in three players was born outside the United States. Those players represent eight different countries.
MLB has leveraged that global marketing opportunity into the World Baseball Classic, which has grown over two decades from a curiosity into a must-see event. The WBC returns next spring.
“I think it’s eventually going to get moved to the middle of the season,” Team USA manager Mark DeRosa told me at Saturday’s Futures Game. “I think it’s going to be a monster event moving forward.”
The only difference between a WBC in the middle of the season and the Olympics in the middle of the season: MLB controls the WBC.
Dodger Stadium will host six games during the 2028 Olympics, but will MLB players be on any of the teams participating?
(Mike DiGiovanna / Associated Press)
That is not a good enough reason for MLB to skip the Olympics. The best interests of baseball cannot always be measured in today’s dollars.
Should major leaguers participate in the Olympics?
“Oh, yeah,” DeRosa said.
“It’s not that simple a question,” said Tony Clark, executive director of the players’ union, onSaturday.
Clark said the union has had “encouraging informal conversations” with LA28 officials. What Clark would like to see from MLB is an actual plan — all the logistics for all the players, as the NBA and NHL provide when their players participate in the Olympics.
MLB has its own logistics issues too. For instance, if MLB skips the 2028 All-Star Game to accommodate the Olympics, how does the league compensate Fox? The league’s media contracts expire after the 2028 season, so the 2029 All-Star Game might not be available to Fox, and MLB would rather not refund the big bucks.
This much is set, according to Wasserman: The Olympic baseball tournament would cover six days at Dodger Stadium, with a six-team field. The United States would automatically qualify as the host country. The 2026 WBC could serve as a qualifying tournament for other countries, although that is more concept than certainty at this point.
What did Wasserman say in his pitch to major league owners?
“What an incredible opportunity to elevate the sport in a city where you have one of the great cathedrals of the sport,” he said. “There is no better chance to tell the global story of baseball than from the Olympics in Los Angeles.
“They understand that. We could have another Dream Team, or two, depending on the countries. That is a vehicle to tell the story of baseball around the world, and that is really powerful.”
To his credit, commissioner Rob Manfred gets that.
“We do see LA28 as a, you know, real opportunity from a marketing perspective,” Manfred told the Associated Press Sports Editors in April.
Logistics aside, Manfred needs to convince the owners — his bosses — that interrupting the regular season is worth it. If the Games were held halfway around the world, shutting down the season for two weeks might be problematic.
But in Los Angeles, for one week? Kill the All-Star Game for a year, and start the regular season three days early, or finish it three days late.
Wasserman said he has had “pretty consistent dialogue” with the league.
“We hope they get to the right answer, which is Major League Baseball players being eligible to play,” Wasserman said.
“We’ll be as patient as we need to be to get to the right answer.”
The wrong answer: The world is watching the Olympics, and MLB is giving us the Colorado Rockies.
The MLB All-Star Game has served disparate purposes over the years. It always has been a showcase for baseball’s top talent. Once upon a time, the outcome determined home field advantage in the World Series. In recent years, it has been a fashion runway for ridiculous uniforms.
This year, it will be an incubator.
The Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System will take its next measured step toward regular-season implementation when it is used in the All-Star Game on Tuesday in Atlanta.
Just as ABS was conducted during spring training, each team will get two challenges that can be made only by the pitcher, catcher or batter. Successful challenges are retained.
The player making a challenge taps his cap or helmet to let the plate umpire know that his ball or strike call will be reviewed. The ubiquitous Hawk-Eye system tracks the trajectory and location of the pitch and and a graphic of the pitch is displayed on the scoreboard while the call is being reviewed.
In the minor leagues, ABS has been tested since 2021 and the ABS challenge was implemented in 2022. Major leaguers got their first taste during spring training.
Result? Not much difference from the calls made by human umpires. Strikeouts were reduced slightly and walks increased a tick.
“We have made a lot of progress in the way the system works,” MLB vice president of on-field strategy Joe Martinez said at a media-demonstration session during spring training, “and also the way we weave the system into the game play. And we’re at a point in triple-A where we have a system that the players like, the coaches like, the umpires like and the fans like.”
The shape of a major league strike zone as called by umpires isn’t the precise cube seen on television but takes a rounded form that bulges wider in the middle of the zone and tightens at the top and bottom.
Human umpires continue to improve, in no small part because pitch tracking puts every call under a microscope. MLB umpires have improved their accuracy in calling balls and strikes every year since pitch tracking technology was introduced in 2008, according to FanGraphs. Accuracy has spiked from 81.3% to 92.4%. Expressed another way, incorrect calls have been reduced by nearly 60% in 15 years.
Major League Baseball negotiated a change with the umpires association last offseason in how home-plate umpires are evaluated, effectively tightening the strike zone. The change decreased the margin of error for umpires in their evaluations, resulting in fewer called strikes off the edges of the plate.
Still, a handful of calls are missed in nearly every game, and the all-stars will have an opportunity to tap their caps and challenge at least two calls per team. Should the experiment be a hit with participants and fans, the next step will be for the 11-person MLB competition committee to consider implementing the challenge system for the 2026 regular season.
All-Star notes
— All-Stars will wear what they wear during regular-season games, meaning those unsightly uniforms that were uniformly panned by players and fans the last several years will remain in a closet somewhere. This will be the first year since 2019 that players wear the regular-season uniforms of their teams.
— Department of serendipity: The All-Star Game will take place on Tuesday (7/15) in Atlanta, the number and location of Hank Aaron’s historic home run in 1974 that vaulted him past Babe Ruth to become MLB’s all-time leader at the time. Hammerin’ Hank blasted No. 715 off the Dodgers’ Al Downing at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. The tribute will re-create the moment through the use of projection mapping and custom pyrotechnics at the end of the sixth inning.
— MLB All-Star week begins Saturday with the Futures Game. The MLB draft will be held Sunday, the Home Run Derby is scheduled for Monday with the All-Star Game taking place Tuesday.
Before Jerry Hairston Jr. became a voice of the Dodgers, that buoyant broadcaster on Spectrum Sports Net LA putting a blue-tinged spin on pregame and postgame analysis, he was a Major League ballplayer for 16 seasons.
The name Hairston is synonymous with baseball, Jerry and his brother Scott the third generation of men whose livings were made on the diamond.
Their father, Jerry Hairston, played 14 big league seasons through the 1970s and ‘80s. Their uncle John was a ballplayer. And their grandfather, Sam Hairston, was a career .300 hitter in the Negro American League in the 1940s.
The lineage between the lines benefited Hairston Jr., who leaned on his dad for advice whenever he struggled at the plate.
“If things aren’t going the right way or if I feel passive or uneasy at the plate, I definitely give him a call,” Hairston Jr. said in 2011, shortly before joining the Dodgers for the last two years of his playing career.
Following a father’s footsteps into a family business is a tried and true path. And it’s become increasingly frequent in baseball. Nearly every fan knows that Ken Griffey Jr.‘s father was a cog in the Big Red Machine, that the son of San Francisco Giants star Bobby Bonds is the all-time home run king, that Prince Fielder‘s dad, Cecil, was an equally prolific slugger.
But the MLB draft — which will be held Sunday and Monday in Atlanta as part of the All-Star Game weekend — will feature a plethora of familiar names. Will any of them blossom as quickly as Bobby Witt Jr., the Kansas City Royals superstar whose father pitched for six MLB teams in 16 seasons?
The No. 1 prospect in this year’s draft as ranked by MLB Pipeline is Ethan Holliday, an infielder from Stillwater High in Oklahoma. The name should sound familiar because Ethan’s brother, Jackson, was the first overall pick in the 2022 MLB draft by the Baltimore Orioles and already has secured the starting job at second base.
Oh, and their father, Matt Holliday, was a seven-time All-Star who batted .299 with 316 home runs over a decorated 15-year career with the St. Louis Cardinals and Colorado Rockies.
“My dad’s never put pressure on me, Jackson’s never put pressure on me, nor my mom,” Ethan Holliday told Nice Kicks. “Nobody’s ever put pressure on me to play the game. I just fell in love with it and I love playing. I love training. And like the pressure and expectations — those things have kind of always been there since I was really little with my dad playing in St. Louis and playing youth baseball there.”
The fathers of other highly regarded prospects in this year’s draft may not be as much of a household name as Holliday. The No. 5 prospect is Eli Willits, a shortstop from Fort Cobb-Broxton High in Oklahoma whose father, Reggie Willits, was an Angels outfielder from 2006 to 2011.
Two uncles of Quentin Young, the No. 37 prospect from Oaks Christian High in Westlake Village, were first-round picks who grew up in Camarillo: Dmitri and Delmon Young. Cade Obermueller, a left-handed pitcher from the University of Iowa, is the No. 53 prospect. His dad, Wes Obermueller, was a second-round pick out of Iowa in 1999 and pitched in five MLB seasons.
Dodgers coach Dino Ebel made it to triple A as a player and is regarded as one of baseball’s best third base coaches. His oldest son, Brady, a shortstop from Corona High, is the No. 64 prospect and should be available to the Dodgers, who have the Nos. 40 and 41 overall picks, the latter from the Gavin Lux trade to the Cincinnati Reds. Brady will play for College World Series champion Louisiana State if he isn’t drafted high enough for his liking.
A player who rivals the Hairstons for MLB family ties is Cam Leiter, a right-handed pitcher from Florida State and the No. 114 prospect. His uncles Mark and Al Leiter combined to pitch in more than 750 MLB games and his cousins Jack and Mark Leiter Jr. are current MLB pitchers. Cam’s dad, Kurt Leiter, advanced to double A with the Orioles.
Jayden Stroman, the son of 11-year MLB veteran pitcher Marcus Stroman, has taken a different path from his dad, emerging as the No. 130 prospect as an outfielder after playing at three different high schools.
Draft-eligible players not ranked among the top 200 whose fathers were MLB stars include Kaeden Kent, Brady Counsell, Max McGwire, Manny Ramirez Jr. and Carsten Sabathia.
Kent is a left-handed-hitting infielder from Texas A&M whose dad Jeff Kent was a power-hitting second baseman with the Dodgers and Giants for 17 years. Counsell’s dad, Craig, played 16 years and is now manager of the Chicago Cubs. McGwire’s dad, Mark, hit 573 home runs and Ramirez’s dad hit 555. Sabathia’s dad, CC, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in a couple weeks.
That’s a lot of familiar names, but hardly an anomaly. Last year nearly 40 draft picks had a close relative with an MLB pedigree.
The first three rounds of the 2025 draft will be broadcast live Sunday, with a pregame show at 3 p.m. PDT on MLB Network and ESPN. Rounds four through 20 will be streamed Monday on MLB.com beginning at 8:30 a.m.
According to rankings released Friday based on sales of Nike jerseys from the Fanatics network, fans have purchased Ohtani’s No. 17 Dodgers jersey more than that of any other player during the first half of the 2025 season.
It’s not Ohtani’s first time at the top of the jersey sales rankings. The two-way superstar from Japan was No. 1 for the 2023 regular season, his last with the Angels, and the 2024 regular season, his first with the Dodgers. His jersey was also the top seller during the most recent offseason, after he was named the 2024 National League MVP and won his first World Series championship.
According to MLB, Ohtani’s jerseys have sold more than any other player in the U.S., Japan and worldwide since 2023.
New York Yankees superstar and reigning American League MVP Aaron Judge is No. 2 on the 2025 list, followed by Freeman at No. 3 and Betts at No. 4. Freeman and Betts also joined Ohtani in the top four in sales during the offseason, with Freeman at No. 2 and Betts at No. 4.
For the 2024 regular season, Betts ranked at No. 4, while Freeman came in at No. 18. Freeman has been riding a wave of popularity since the World Series, during which he hit a walk-off grand slam in Game 1 and eventually was named the series MVP.
New York Mets star Francisco Lindor has the No. 5 jersey of 2025 so far, followed by Mets teammate Juan Soto, Rafael Devers of the San Francisco Giants, Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros, Fernando Tatis Jr. of the San Diego Padres and Bryce Harper of the Philadelphia Phillies.
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, in his 18th MLB season, has the No. 20 bestselling jersey.
Poised to set a record for player popularity and elite production, the Dodgers had eight finalists for the National League starting lineup in the 2025 All-Star Game as voted by fans.
Voters had 48 hours to choose between the two players at each position who had accumulated the most votes over the last month in what MLB called Phase 1. Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani already was in the starting lineup because he led NL players in Phase 1 votes.
The record of five starting players held by the 1976 Cincinnati Reds, the 1956 and 1957 Cincinnati Redlegs, and the 1939 New York Yankees still stands. The Dodgers fell short, despite the bevy of finalists.
It is the ninth All-Star berth for Freeman, who is batting .308 with 21 doubles, and the third for Smith, who leads the NL with a .320 batting average and .419 on-base percentage. Both players have 10 home runs.
Eleven-time All-Star Mike Trout was the only Angels player among the American League finalists, and he did not finish among the top three outfielders in Phase 2. Thousand Oaks High product and Athletics rookie Jacob Wilson was voted the AL starter at shortstop, beating out Bobby Witt Jr.
Finalists not voted as starters have no guarantee of making the All-Star Game as a reserve. Pitchers and reserves for the 32-man rosters will be determined by a vote of MLB players and the commissioner’s office.
Complete rosters of 20 position players and 12 pitchers will be announced at 2 p.m. PDT Sunday on ESPN. The All-Star Game will take place July 15 at Truist Park in Atlanta. Managers Dave Roberts of the Dodgers and Aaron Boone of the Yankees have no say in the selections.
The teams that boasted five starters included Hall of Famers and also lesser-known players.
The ’39 Yankees had All-Star starters Joe DiMaggio, George Selkirk, Bill Dickey, Red Rolfe and Joe Gordon. Red Ruffing was named the starting pitcher by manager Joe McCarthy, making the ’39 Yankees the only team with six starting players.
The most recent team to land five All-Star starters was the ’76 Cincinnati Reds, known as the Big Red Machine, led by future Hall of Famers Johnny Bench and Joe Morgan. Pete Rose, Dave Concepción and George Foster also started.
The Reds were called the Redlegs from 1953 to 1959 because of a period of intense anti-communism in the U.S. To distance themselves from the Red Scare, the Reds temporarily changed their name.
Cincinnati fans loved their team by any name, casting a deluge of last-minute votes two years in a row that eventually required intervention from MLB commissioner Ford Frick and caused MLB to eliminate fan voting for more than a decade.
Frick stood by the voting in ’56 despite complaints that five Redlegs were voted in, saying, “Everybody had a chance to vote, so there should be no squawks.”
A year later he changed his tune when last-minute voting — remember, all votes were handwritten and manually tabulated — resulted in an all-Redlegs lineup. Frick swiftly stepped in and replaced three Redlegs with future Hall of Famers Stan Musial, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron.
Redlegs fans were incensed, some making an effigy of the commissioner and driving it through Cincinnati tied to a truck. The reaction from players was more muted, with Redlegs center fielder Gus Bell saying, “I’m not exactly burned up about being replaced by Willie.”
Yoshinobu Yamamoto (8-6, 2.51 earned-run average) of the Dodgers is a strong candidate to make the NL pitching staff. At least one Angels player must be chosen as a reserve or pitcher, and the nod could go to Trout, who has 13 home runs but is batting .230.
Other possibilities for the resurgent Angels are catcher Logan O’Hoppe (17 home runs), shortstop Zach Neto (12 home runs, team-high 2.7 WAR), outfielder Jo Adell (18 homers, 44 runs batted in) and starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi (2.79 ERA in 96.2 innings).
MLB All-Star Starting Lineups
National League C: Will Smith, Dodgers 1B: Freddie Freeman, Dodgers 2B: Ketel Marte, Diamondbacks SS: Francisco Lindor, Mets 3B: Manny Machado, Padres OF: Pete Crow-Armstrong, Cubs OF: Kyle Tucker, Cubs OF: Ronald Acuña Jr., Atlanta Braves DH: Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers
American League C: Cal Raleigh, Mariners 1B: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays 2B: Gleyber Torres, Tigers SS: Jacob Wilson, Athletics 3B: Jose Ramirez, Guardians OF: Aaron Judge, Yankees OF: Riley Greene, Tigers OF: Javier Baez, Tigers DH: Ryan O’Hearn, Orioles
All-Star voting resumes Monday at 9 a.m. PDT for 48 hours with the Dodgers entertaining the possibility of fielding an unprecedented eight position players.
The top two vote-getters at each position through Phase 1 of voting are finalists and moved on to Phase 2, which ends Wednesday at 9 a.m. PDT. The defending World Series champion Dodgers boast a finalist at each infield position and two among six outfielders.
Even though only three Dodgers led National League Phase 1 voting at their position, all eight have an equal chance of starting because votes don’t carry over to Phase 2. The player at each position to accumulate the most votes in the two-day window will start the July 15 game at Truist Park in Atlanta.
“Very proud. It’s great,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Obviously we’re playing well. As it stands now, we’re the best team in the National League, so we should have the most All-Star voting for the team.”
Shohei Ohtani locked in an automatic spot as starting designated hitter because he led all National League players with 3,967,668 votes in Phase 1. Catcher Will Smith and first baseman Freddie Freeman are the other Dodgers to lead voting, while second baseman Tommy Edman, shortstop Mookie Betts and third baseman Max Muncy finished second. Among outfielders, Teoscar Hernández and Andy Pages finished second and fifth, respectively.
In American League voting, the Angels’ Mike Trout is one of four finalists to secure one of two openings in the outfield. Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees already earned a starting spot by leading all players with 4,012,983 votes in Phase 1.
Trout, who has 13 home runs in 56 games, is competing against Riley Green and Javier Báez of the Detroit Tigers and Steven Kwan of the Cleveland Guardians.
Voting can be done online at MLB.com/vote, all 30 team websites, the MLB app and the MLB ballpark app. The winners will be announced on ESPN at 1 p.m.
The most position players voted to start an All-Star Game from a single team is five — accomplished by the 1976 Cincinnati Reds ,the 1956 and 1957 Cincinnati Redlegs and the 1939 New York Yankees.
“I hope we get five, six, seven Dodgers,” Roberts said. “That’d be great.”
National League finalists Catcher: Will Smith (Dodgers), Carson Kelly (Cubs) First base: Freddie Freeman (Dodgers), Pete Alonso (Mets) Second base: Ketel Marte (Diamondbacks), Tommy Edman (Dodgers) Shortstop: Francisco Lindor (Mets), Mookie Betts (Dodgers) Third base: Manny Machado (Padres), Max Muncy (Dodgers) Outfield: Pete Crow-Armstrong (Cubs), Teoscar Hernández (Dodgers), Ronald Acuña Jr. (Braves), Kyle Tucker (Cubs), Andy Pages (Dodgers), Juan Soto (Mets)
American League finalists Catcher: Cal Raleigh (Mariners), Alejandro Kirk (Blue Jays) First base: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Blue Jays), Paul Goldschmidt (Yankees) Second base: Gleyber Torres (Tigers), Jackson Holliday (Orioles) Shortstop: Jacob Wilson (Athletics), Bobby Witt Jr., (Royals) Third base: José Ramírez (Guardians), Alex Bregman (Red Sox) Outfield: Riley Greene (Tigers), Javier Báez (Tigers), Mike Trout (Angels), Steven Kwan (Guardians)
In addition to the suspension, Major League Baseball announced Roberts was fined an undisclosed amount. Padres manager Mike Shildt also was suspended one game and fined, and Padres right-handed pitcher Robert Suarez was suspended three games and fined for “intentionally hitting” Shohei Ohtani with a pitch in the ninth inning.
“I support it. I think that obviously, I never want to make the game about the managers, it shouldn’t be,” Roberts said Friday. “It should be about the players and winning.”
He continued: “It unfortunately came to a point where we became the focus and that’s not the way it should be.”
Bench coach Danny Lehmann will manage the Dodgers against the Nationals.
The back-and-forth animosity on the field came to a peak Thursday when Dodgers relief pitcher Jack Little hit Fernando Tatis Jr. with a pitch in the ninth inning.
Shildt exited the dugout and pointed at Roberts, causing the Dodgers manager to charge toward home plate. Roberts bumped Shildt, causing the benches to clear and bullpens to empty. Both managers were ejected.
The winter wails of “Are the Dodgers ruining baseball?” pretty much established the Dodgers as the team other major league owners love to hate. If there is one thing most owners love more than winning, it is cost control. That is why they covet a salary cap.
The team other owners love? It might just be the Angels.
For owners, costs go beyond the salaries of major league players. In 2021, Major League Baseball eliminated 43 minor league teams affiliated with MLB organizations. Why, owners wondered, should we continue to pay two dozen entry-level players to fill out a roster when only two of them might be legitimate prospects?
And what could be more efficient than turning over player development to colleges? The NFL has no minor league. The NBA has one. Even after those 2021 cuts, MLB teams remain affiliated with 14 minor leagues.
That brings us to the Angels. In football and basketball, a first-round draft pick almost always goes from college one year to the NFL and the NBA the next. In baseball, even a first-round draft pick can spend several years in the minor leagues.
The Angels just called up second baseman Christian Moore, who could make his major league debut Friday in Baltimore, and pitcher Sam Bachman. That means the Angels’ roster now includes eight of their first-round picks — including each of their past five, all 25 or younger.
None of them spent even 100 games in the minor leagues, and almost all of that limited time was spent at the highest levels of the minors. This time last year, Moore was preparing for the College World Series with eventual national champion Tennessee. The Angels gave him 20 games at triple-A Salt Lake, in which he hit .350 with a .999 OPS, and summoned him to the majors.
Of the nine players likely to take the field for the Angels on Friday, the team drafted six in the first round: Moore (2024), first baseman Nolan Schanuel (2023), shortstop Zach Neto (2022), and outfielders Jo Adell (2017), Taylor Ward (2015) and Mike Trout (2009). The bullpen would include Bachman (2021) and Reid Detmers (2020).
Angels shortstop Zach Neto walks through the dugout during a game against the Miami Marlins on May 24.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
This is not the only way to win. None of the Dodgers’ past five top draft picks are even in the major leagues, and the team’s current roster includes only two Dodgers’ first-round draft picks: catcher Will Smith (2016) and pitcher Clayton Kershaw (2006).
No matter, of course, because the team’s current roster also includes Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Total cost for that quartet: $1.6 billion. Total signing bonuses for the eight Angels first-round picks: $30 million.
And there is no evidence to show what we might call the Angels Way — drafting polished college stars capable of getting to the majors in a hurry — is a way to win. The Angels are trying to rebuild without investing heavily in scouting and player development. They have not posted a winning season in 10 years.
As the Angels open play Friday, they are one game under .500. They played .360 ball in April and .500 ball in May, and they have played .700 ball so far in June. They are 4 ½ games out of first place in what appears to be baseball’s weakest division, the American League West.
What the Angels are trying means you absolutely cannot miss on your top draft picks. Although each of their first-rounders this decade now has made the majors, to this point only Neto has displayed star potential. It’s still early, of course, and a team that learned that Ohtani and Trout alone cannot deliver October is hoping to develop a broader base of talent.
The Angels will try again in a few weeks. They have the second overall pick in the July draft. They could aim to fill their Anthony Rendon-sized third-base hole with Oregon State’s Aiva Arquette. On Thursday, prospect analyst Keith Law of The Athletic projected the Angels would take Tennessee left-hander Liam Doyle.
“Everyone expects the Angels to take Doyle or (LSU left-hander) Kade Anderson,” Law wrote, “and then put whoever they select in the majors before the ink is dry on the contract.”
That would make nine first-rounders on the major league roster. That, certainly, would be efficient. Negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement start next year, and the Angels Way could embolden owners to eliminate even more minor league teams.
The fans might be rooting for the star-studded Dodgers. The cost-conscious owners are rooting for the Angels.
Major League Baseball has been trying for years to increase the number of Black players participating in the sport, creating such programs as the Compton Youth Academy and the DREAM Series. There were 59 Black players on opening day MLB rosters, a slight increase from the previous year but far from the numbers in the 1980s.
St. John Bosco’s baseball team, which plays for a Southern Section Division 1 championship on Friday against Santa Margarita at Cal State Fullerton, offers hope for the future with five Black players in the starting lineup.
“Definitely something to be proud of,” center fielder Miles Clark said.
The sports of football and basketball have been taking away Black athletes, but St. John Bosco’s group of Clark, his twin brother James, Noah Everly, Jaden Jackson and Macade Maxwell have embraced baseball and put themselves in position to pursue college baseball and beyond.
Each player offers speed and athleticism. Maxwell had an RBI single in the semifinals against Seth Hernandez of Corona. James Clark and Everly lead the team in hitting at .394 and .347, respectively. St. John Bosco won its first Trinity League title since 2017 and is 24-5. …
Santa Margarita is much improved after getting players back from injuries, so ignore the fact it has 12 losses. Carter Enoch came back to add hitting to the Eagles’ lineup and Brennan Bauer has been the winning pitcher in all four playoff games. Seventeen seniors are graduating at 10 a.m. at the Honda Center.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].
The Chargers welcomed Arctos as a limited partner Tuesday as NFL owners approved a sale that transferred some the team’s shares to the Dallas-based private equity firm that already has ties to the Dodgers.
“Arctos’ track record in major professional sports speaks for itself,” Chargers owner Dean Spanos said in a statement, “and we are grateful for their alignment moving forward during this time of tremendous growth for our organization.”
According to a league memo The Times obtained last week, Arctos acquired 8% of the team’s shares. Spanos and his family will retain control of the Chargers organization with approximately 61% of the franchise.
Arctos now has stakes in two NFL teams less than a year after the league approved private equity ownership. The company acquired a 10% stake in the Buffalo Bills in January, adding to its portfolio that already included MLB, NBA, NHL and MLS teams. Arctos has ownership stakes in six MLB teams: the Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres, Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox.
“We’re honored to join the Los Angeles Chargers ownership group and are grateful to Dean and the rest of the management team for their partnership,” Arctos cofounder and co-managing partner Doc O’Connor said in a statement. “We’re excited to get to work and help the team achieve their vision however we can.”
Approaching a decade since their move to L.A., the Chargers have added two major ownership groups in the last year. Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores bought a 27% stake in the team in September, resolving a long-running dispute between Dea Spanos Berberian and her siblings as Gores and his wife bought Spanos Berberian’s share of the franchise.
Rose had been exiled from the sport since 1989, after he was found by then-commissioner Bart Giamatti (yes, the father of actor Paul Giamatti) to have been betting on his team’s games while he was manager of the Cincinnati Reds. Rose died Sept. 30, 2024, at age 83.
Rose’s daughter, Fawn Rose, filed a petition for reinstatement Jan. 8 and met with current MLB commissioner Rob Manfred. In February, President Trump advocated for the lifetime ban to be lifted in a social media post, then met with Manfred in April to discuss the matter.
Jeffrey Lenkov, a Los Angeles lawyer who represented Rose at the time of his death and prepared the petition pro bono, told The Times the decision was the result of several years of working with Manfred and his executive team.
“The Rose family and I are extremely overjoyed at the wisdom, courage and compassion exhibited by the commissioner,” Lenkov said. “The reinstatement in and of itself is a historic moment because many people, including Pete at times, thought the ban would never be lifted.
“Getting into the Hall of Fame on his merits is an opportunity he wanted and should be able to receive now.”
Cincinnati Reds player-manager Pete Rose hits a line drive single to break Ty Cobb’s all-time hits record in 1985.
(Associated Press)
From his 24-year career that resulted in more MLB hits — 4,256 — than any other player in history to his lifetime ban, Rose’s saga was as complex and sad as it was triumphant. Pete Rose Night will take place Wednesday at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, and the decision to lift the ban undoubtedly will elevate the mood.
Here is a look at key elements of his rise, fall and potential inclusion in the Hall of Fame.
Will Rose immediately be inducted into the Hall of Fame?
No. Barring an unforeseen exception, a three-year waiting period will apply before Rose can be put on the ballot because the committee that could vote him in doesn’t convene until December 2027 to consider candidates for induction in the summer of 2028.
Rose remains ineligible to be voted in by the Baseball Writers Assn. of America because its ballot includes only candidates whose playing careers ended no more than 15 years prior to the election. Players are eligible to be voted into the Hall of Fame by the baseball writers five years after they retire. However in 1991, two years after Rose was banned from baseball and months before he was set to make the ballot, the Hall’s board of directors passed a rule prohibiting anybody on the ineligible list from being a candidate for induction.
Now that he is eligible, his case will be reviewed by the 16-member Classic Baseball Era Committee that evaluates players who made their greatest impact before 1980. Rose would qualify for consideration because his 24-year career began in 1963.
The committee voted in Dick Allen and Dave Parker this year. When it convenes again to vote for 2028 induction, Rose would need an aye from a 75% majority — 12 of the 16 members.
What did Rose do to deserve a lifetime ban?
Since before the 1919 Black Sox Scandal resulted in Shoeless Joe Jackson and other players being banned for life for taking money from gamblers and throwing games, Major League Baseball has had a rule against gambling to protect the integrity of the game. Rule 21(d) is posted in every clubhouse and states: “Any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform, shall be declared permanently ineligible.”
Rose bet on the Cincinnati Reds when he was the team’s player-manager in 1985 and ‘86, and the manager in ’87. An MLB investigation headed by lawyer John Dowd resulted in a 225-page report released in 1989 that named men that Rose allegedly placed bets with and cited evidence that Rose bet on Reds games.
Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose before a spring-training game March 22, 1989, after the Commissioner’s Office investigation into his gambling was released.
(John Swart / Associated Press)
After denying for nearly 15 years that he bet on baseball, Rose admitted it in his 2004 book, “My Prison Without Bars,” written with Rick Hill. Later, he would sign and sell baseballs with the inscription, “Sorry I bet on baseball.” The balls currently go for $200 to $400 apiece online.
Born and raised in Cincinnati, Rose began gambling as a youngster when his dad took him to a local racetrack. By the time he reached the big leagues, he bet on college and pro basketball and pro football in addition to the horses.
“On Feb. 5, 1986, I wrote three checks for eight grand each to cover my losses on the NFL playoffs,” Rose wrote. “The NFL turned into March Madness, which turned into the NBA playoffs, which always turned into the skids.
“I always lived by one hard and fast rule: You don’t bet on baseball. But for the first time in my life, I was no longer playing baseball, just managing. A part of me was still looking for ways to recapture the high I got from winning batting titles and World Series. If I couldn’t get the high from playing baseball, then I needed a substitute.
“I can’t honestly remember the first time I bet on baseball. But I remember the first time I spoke openly about it. I was sitting in my living room, watching the 1986 playoffs between the Mets and the Astros. I had a group of friends over for the game. Without even thinking of the consequences, I said, ‘Betting on the playoffs makes the games more exciting to watch.’ ”
Rose’s immense popularity in his hometown began to erode when the Dowd Report was made public on June 27, 1989.
“Forever and ever and ever, the people here have been solidly behind Pete,” Marty Brennaman, longtime broadcaster for the Reds, told The Times’ Bill Plaschke. “This is the most provincial city I’ve lived in. I can’t imagine a more provincial city.
“But now, there is a segment of the population where, if they haven’t completely gone the other way against Pete, there is at least an element of doubt in their minds. People are becoming divided.”
Longtime Cincinnati historian Dan Hurley insisted the public reaction was even harsher.
“I think the reaction finally is, ‘Hey, they got him,’ ” Hurley said of Rose. “And for us, that’s not very pleasant.”
Rose does have his supporters within baseball. Terry Francona, his former teammate who is in his first season as Reds manager, recently said, “If he’s not in the Hall of Fame, there isn’t one.”
Why the change of heart by MLB?
Pete Rose speaks at a news conference in Las Vegas after MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said he has no intention of altering Rose’s lifetime ban from baseball.
(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
Rose first petitioned for reinstatement in 1997 when Bud Selig was commissioner. Selig didn’t meet with Rose until 2002 and did not rule on the issue before he retired in 2006. Manfred rejected a second petition by Rose in 2015, saying, “Mr. Rose has not presented credible evidence of a reconfigured life either by an honest acceptance by him of his wrongdoing, so clearly established by the Dowd Report, or by a rigorous, self-aware and sustained program of avoidance by him of the circumstances that led to his permanent eligibility in 1989.
“Absent such credible evidence, allowing him to work in the game presents an unacceptable risk of a future violation by him of Rule 21, and thus to the integrity of our sport. I, therefore, must reject Mr. Rose’s application for reinstatement.”
The fact that Rose died in September created an opportunity to revisit his status. If the permanently ineligible list exists to prevent a person who poses a threat to the integrity of the game from working in baseball, could that status change when the person is no longer living?
Roses adorn the statue of Pete Rose at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati after the all-time hits leader died.
(Kareem Elgazzar / Associated Press)
That argument was made in the December petition by Rose’s family, and Manfred took it into consideration.
“The decision was very complex and it’s not easily said that it could have been done during his lifetime,” Lenkov said. “MLB had a lot of factors to work through. They had to be receptive to listening for a number of years on this issue, and they did.
“Pete in his lifetime felt he had done his time, paid the price. I believe he lived with a scarlet letter on him because of it. His punishment was substantial.”
The relationship between gambling and professional sports — including MLB — has evolved dramatically in recent years. Sports betting is legal in 40 states, and the American Gaming Assn. estimates that its total economic impact is $328 billion a year and revenue from it exceeded $115 billion in 2024.
Yet restrictions still apply, again to protect the integrity of the game. Can a baseball player, coach or umpire bet on March Madness brackets, the Super Bowl or participate in a fantasy football league? Yes. Can they bet on anything — baseball or otherwise — through illegal or offshore bookmakers? No.
What was President Trump’s role in the reinstatement?
Seemingly out of nowhere, the president injected himself into the conversation. Even before the family’s petition for reinstatement had become public, Trump posted a bombastic message on Truth Social on Feb. 28 that read:
“Major League Baseball didn’t have the courage or decency to put the late, great, Pete Rose, also known as ‘Charlie Hustle,’ into the Baseball Hall of fame. Now he is dead, will never experience the thrill of being selected, even though he was a FAR BETTER PLAYER than most of those who made it, and can only be named posthumously. WHAT A SHAME!
“Anyway, over the next few weeks I will be signing a complete PARDON of Pete Rose, who shouldn’t have been gambling on baseball, but only bet on HIS TEAM WINNING. He never betted against himself, or the other team. He had the most hits, by far, in baseball history, and won more games than anyone in sports history. Baseball, which is dying all over the place, should get off its fat, lazy ass, and elect Pete Rose, even though far too late, into the Baseball Hall of Fame!”
No evidence has surfaced of Rose betting on the Reds to lose. After confessing in his book that he bet on baseball, he emphasized that point.
“I bet on my own team to win,” Rose told NJ.com. “That’s what I did in a nutshell. I was wrong, but I didn’t taint the game. I bet on my team every night because that’s the confidence that I had in my players. And I was wrong.”
A pardon wasn’t necessary for Manfred to reinstate Rose, although in 1990 Rose served five months in prison after pleading guilty to tax evasion.
Trump met with Manfred at the White House on April 16, but neither man spoke publicly about what they discussed. MLB issued a statement that said, “President Trump is a longtime fan of baseball. As he has done in the past, Commissioner Manfred was pleased to visit the White House again to discuss issues pertaining to baseball with the president.”
What are Pete Rose’s Hall of Fame credentials?
Cincinnati Reds player-manager Pete Rose is congratulated by his teammates after he broke Ty Cobb’s hitting record in Cincinnati on Sept. 11, 1985.
(Associated Press)
Rose broke Ty Cobb’s career hits total of 4,189 in 1985 and finished with 4,256. That alone would be enough for entry into the Hall of Fame, but Rose also was named National League Rookie of the Year in 1963 and the NL Most Valuable Player in 1973. He won three batting titles and three World Series titles — two with the Reds in 1975 and ’76 and one with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1980.
Rose batted .303 with an on-base percentage of .375, earning the nickname Charlie Hustle because he sprinted to first base even on a walk. He led the NL in hits seven times, doubles five times, and in 1978 put together a 44-game hitting streak, second in baseball history to Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game streak.
Rose played in more games (3,562), had more plate appearances (15,890) and more at-bats (14,053) than any other player.
