Author: rincon

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The Los Angeles Dodgers announced on Thursday that star first baseman Freddie Freeman “underwent surgery on his right ankle consisting of debridement and the removal of loose bodies.” He’s expected to be ready for spring training.

Freeman suffered an ankle injury in the final week of the regular season but played through it in the postseason — and proceeded to put on a show in the Fall Classic.

In the Dodgers’ five-game series win over the New York Yankees in the World Series, Freeman blasted four home runs and drove in 12 runs, helping him win MVP of the series. Furthermore, Freeman hit a walk-off grand slam in the 10th inning in Game 1 of the series at Dodger Stadium.

In the regular season, Freeman totaled 22 home runs and 89 RBIs, while posting a .282/.378/.476 slash line, 4.7 WAR and 1 DRS at first base.

Freeman, 35, is entering the fourth season of a six-year, $162 million deal with the Dodgers.

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Is there anything more enjoyable than bonding over sports with loved ones while winning some cash?

People get to do exactly that every week with our free-to-play FOX Super 6 contest.

With opportunities to win thousands of dollars, the Super 6 game gives fans a new reason to get excited about sports.

The contest — which has been live since the beginning of the 2023 NFL season — has already given away a ton of cash. 

This season, across all contests (NFL, College Football, NFL Network and MLB), more than $239,000 in cash and prizes has been awarded.

Let’s take a look at a few of our recent winners.

Home of the Braves

Les from North Georgia won the MLB Championship Super 6 contest, perfectly fitting for him as an Atlanta Braves fan.

“I’ve been playing Super 6 since September, and knowledge is my strategy,” the retiree explained. 

While Les’ rooting interest is in the Braves, he does have a bold prediction about how the rest of the college football and NFL seasons will play out.

“It’s hard to win it all,” he said, “but I do think the Buckeyes, Dawgs and Falcons will make the postseason.”

College Football, MLB Reign Supreme

Justice from Maryland is one of our recent winners who chose not to tell his folks right away about his good fortune.

“No, I haven’t told my family yet, but I do plan to start my Christmas shopping earlier than later,” the college football Week 9 winner revealed. 

And then there’s Midwest Jeff, a software engineer from Minnesota, who abandons strategy when it comes to FOX Super 6.

“I just pick and pray,” he admitted after cashing in on the FOX Super 6 MLB World Series contest.

West Coaster Cashes In

NFL Week 6 winner Michael from Washington admits that he was shocked when he found out he had won.

“When I realized it was actual and factual, I was in disbelief,” the beverage industry worker told us. “I told my family and friends, and their reaction was very similar to mine — shocked and excited.”

When it comes to his favorite team, Michael is a diehard Raiders fan. “I have been a fan of the Raiders since they were in Oakland, then L.A., back to Oakland and I’m still a fan now that they’re in Vegas.”

So what does he plan to do with the cash?

“Although I did not win the Super Bowl, I will be going to Disneyland!”

Terrible Towel, Wonderful Winner

Dakota from Pittsburgh works in finance and won the NFL Network contest in October.

“I’ve been playing for about two years and make selections primarily based off of the players’ opponents,” she explained. “A receiver or running back that might not be top 10 can still have dominant performances against weaker teams or a team facing injuries.”

The Steelers fan also gave us her bold prediction for the season.

“T.J. Watt is locked in this year, so Defensive Player of the Year is his for the taking. I think the Steelers will definitely make the playoffs and will hopefully make a run for a Super Bowl.”

Super 6 at a Glance

Every week, the contest challenges its participants with fun, knowledge-oriented questions. We dug into the data to grab a few nuggets from the weeks that our highlighted winners won.

MLB League Championship Contest

There were four perfect entries in the MLB League Championship contest. Les took the top prize via the tiebreaker by most accurately predicting the final score of Game 4 of the NLCS when the Dodgers beat the Mets 10-2.

College Football Week 9

Ranker questions continue to be our most difficult question each week. During college football Week 9, Justice was part of only 1.95% of entries that correctly ordered Question No. 4: “Order the following by who will have the MOST TOTAL YARDS (highest to lowest)” as DJ Giddens > Omarion Hampton > RJ Harvey > Kaleb Johnson.

MLB World Series

The easiest question in the World Series contest was Question No. 6: “Who will win GAME 4 of the World Series? Yankees or Dodgers?” It was a relatively even split between picks, but Jeff was part of 48.7% of entries that correctly picked the Yankees to beat the Dodgers.

NFL Week 6

The hardest non-ranker question for NFL Week 6 was Question No. 1: “Who will have the MOST RECEIVING YARDS?” Michael was part of 11.9% of entries that correctly picked Chris Godwin, who had 125 receiving yards over A.J. Brown, CeeDee Lamb and Amon-Ra St. Brown.

Your Turn!

So how can you join in on the fun?

It’s simple. 

Just look out for our next FOX Super 6 contest, and when it goes live, try your hand to see if you can win.

The best part is that it’s free.

Your lucky day could be a few guesses away. Head to the app and start playing now!

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Rob Manfred has floated another idea that would drastically change the foundation of how Major League Baseball is played.

The MLB commissioner recently shared on Puck’s “The Varsity” podcast that the idea of implementing the “Golden At-Bat” has gained steam among owners. 

“There are a variety of (rule change ideas) that are being talked about out there,” Manfred said on the podcast. “One of them — there was a little buzz around it at an owners’ meeting — was the idea of a Golden At-Bat.”

Manfred’s comment was actually made back in October, but resurfaced in recent days due to a story from The Athletic. In the story, MLB officials reportedly declined to elaborate further on what the rule would entail.

However, Manfred hinted at what the “Golden At-Bat” would look like.

“[It’s] putting your best player out there out of order at a particular point in the game,” Manfred said. “That rule and things like that are in the conversation-only stage right now.”

[Related: MLB Roundtable on the Golden At-Bat rule]

While Manfred didn’t mention it on “The Varsity” podcast, the Savannah Bananas have a similar rule in their games. The Savannah Bananas, who are an exhibition barnstorming team that’s been viewed as baseball’s version of the Harlem Globetrotters, have the “Golden Batter” rule. The rule, which was implemented ahead of the Bananas’ 2024 world tour, allowed teams to pinch-hit any hitter at any time of the game. Each team can only use the “Golden Batter” once.

In a video explaining the rule, the Savannah Bananas pointed to the epic final at-bat in the 2023 World Baseball Classic championship game when Shohei Ohtani struck Mike Trout to help Japan beat the United States. 

“With the ‘Golden Batter’ rule, these insane matchups are guaranteed in each and every Banana Ball game,” a presenter for the Savannah Bananas said in a video. 

If it were brought to MLB, the “Golden At-Bat” rule would most likely come into play in the ninth inning or in high-leverage spots in the later innings of close games. There are countless times fans would’ve wished for their team to have their top hitter at the plate rather than someone in the midst of a cold streak or a bottom-of-the-line-up hitter. 

For instance, the 7-8-9 hitters in the New York Yankees‘ lineup went up against Walker Buehler in the ninth inning of the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ series-clinching win in Game 5 as Aaron Judge and Juan Soto watched from the dugout.

Of course, such a rule could have major implications toward MLB’s history books as well. Star players would, presumably, gain an extra at-bat each game, which would likely allow them to inflate their stats relative to previous all-time greats. 

As Manfred has introduced rules such as the universal designated hitter, the ghost runner, pitch clock and shift bans that have altered the game, he noted the obstacles of getting traditionalists to accept the changes. However, Manfred said the biggest issue has been getting the players’ union fully on board. 

“The player side of it is really difficult for the union,” Manfred told “The Varsity” about making those sorts of rule changes. “Obviously, you want consensus, and we need agreement, or would like agreement, with the union. The reason it’s so hard for them is that if you think about it, almost every change, the pitchers line up one way, and the hitters line up another, and they represent them both. 

“It’s very hard for the union to figure out where it ought to be on these role changes, and it makes the process more difficult.”

It appears Manfred’s notion about a pitcher/hitter split might be true. In the story for The Athletic, two of the three hitters (Christian Yelich and Carlos Correa) were open to the idea of the “Golden At-Bat” making its way into regular-season games. Meanwhile, the lone pitcher interviewed for the story (Matt Strahm) wasn’t a fan of it being enacted.

So, it appears the implementation of the “Golden At-Bat” rule is still a debate, at least for now. But it could be something that baseball fans might have to get accustomed to seeing sooner rather than later. 

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Baseball star Shohei Ohtani wants his former interpreter to hand over hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of baseball cards he says were fraudulently bought using his money.

The Los Angeles Dodgers star is also requesting Ippei Mizuhara, who previously pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud for stealing nearly $17 million from the unsuspecting athlete, return signed collectible baseball cards depicting Ohtani that were in Mizuhara’s “unauthorized and wrongful possession,” according to court documents filed Tuesday.

The legal filing alleges Mizuhara accessed Ohtani’s bank account beginning around November 2021, changing his security protocols so that he could impersonate him to authorize wire transfers. By 2024, Mizuhara had used that money to buy about $325,000 worth of baseball cards at online resellers eBay and Whatnot, according to the court documents.

Mizuhara’s attorney, Michael G. Freedman, declined to comment on the filing.

Mizuhara pleaded guilty in June to spending millions from Ohtani’s Arizona bank account to cover his growing gambling bets and debts with an illegal bookmaker, as well as his own medical bills and the $325,000 worth of baseball cards.

Mizuhara is due to be sentenced in January after pleading guilty to one count of bank fraud and one count of subscribing to a false tax return, crimes that carry a potential sentence of more than 30 years in federal prison. He also could be on the hook for restitution to Ohtani that could total nearly $17 million, as well as more than $1 million to the IRS. And as a legal permanent resident who has a green card, he might be deported to Japan.

Mizuhara stood by Ohtani’s side for many of the Japanese sensation’s career highlights, from serving as his catcher during the Home Run Derby at the 2021 All-Star Game, to being there for his two American League MVP wins and his record-shattering $700 million, 10-year deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Off the field, Mizuhara became Ohtani’s friend and confidant. He famously resigned from the Los Angeles Angels during the 2021 MLB lockout so he could keep speaking to Ohtani — he was rehired after a deal was struck — and their wives reportedly socialized.

But Mizuhara gambled it all away, betting tens of millions of dollars that weren’t his to wager on international soccer, the NBA, the NFL and college football — though prosecutors said he never bet on baseball.

Earlier this year, Ohtani and the Dodgers won the World Series, and the baseball star won his third Most Valuable Player award.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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Brandon Crawford is retiring after 14 major league seasons, all but one of those played with his hometown San Francisco Giants as a slick-fielding shortstop and fan favorite.

A four-time Gold Glove winner and three-time All-Star, the veteran infielder announced his decision in an Instagram post Wednesday.

“During this time of the year, I am constantly being reminded of the things in my life that I am most thankful for. Baseball is one of them,” Crawford wrote. “Baseball has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, and for the rest of my life I will be thankful for the opportunities and experiences it has given me. Time is precious. I’m incredibly grateful for all the years I spent playing the game I love, but now it is time for me to spend it with the people who I’m most thankful for. Thank you to all of you who have been there for me throughout the years. It’s been an unbelievable ride.”

A fourth-round draft pick in 2008 out of UCLA, Crawford made his debut on May 27, 2011, and won World Series championships with the Giants in 2012 and ’14 — the final two titles in their every-other-year run from 2010-14.

The Giants said they will honor Crawford’s career April 26 at Oracle Park. He was a career .249 hitter with 147 home runs and 748 RBIs, but his knack for making the key defensive play is what he will long be remembered for by many.

“It was an honor to get to know Brandon as a friend and as a teammate,” new Giants President of Baseball Operations Buster Posey said in a statement. “From the first day we were both drafted in 2008 to our final year playing together in 2021, it was an honor to play alongside him for 14 years. Whether it was the clutch moments like the grand slam he hit in the 2014 wild-card game in Pittsburgh, the franchise-record, seven-hit game he recorded in Miami, or the dazzling defensive plays and acrobatic throws he made over and over again, Brandon made his mark in a way few athletes ever do.”

There was some thought Crawford might retire after the 2023 season when his contract expired in San Francisco, but he decided to give it one more year and joined the St. Louis Cardinals on a $2 million, one-year deal. He was released in August after hitting .169 with a homer and four RBIs over 80 plate appearances.

Crawford and wife Jalynne have five young children, and family will be Crawford’s primary focus going forward.

As a boy, Crawford leaned on the railing at Candlestick Park with his hat on backward supporting his beloved Giants — and eventually would star for them.

When he signed a two-year, $32 million contract in August 2021 while wrapping up a $75 million, six-year deal he had signed in November 2015, Crawford expressed his gratitude for playing in one place for so long.

“Being drafted by my hometown team and spending most of my career with them far surpassed any dream I had as a kid,” Crawford wrote in Wednesday’s post. “I definitely pretended to win a World Series in my backyard — but winning two? That was beyond my wildest dreams.”

He is the Giants’ career leader in games played at shortstop with 1,617.

“Watching Brandon play was an absolute privilege for not only me but for Giants’ fans everywhere,” President and CEO Larry Baer said.

“He was an All-Star, Gold Glove and Silver Slugger winner, a two-time World Series champion, and a Lou Gehrig and Willie Mac Award winner, that always carried himself with class, honor and respect. The Giants have been incredibly blessed to have had Brandon as part of the franchise for 16 years — really for his entire 37 years, first as a young fan, who will ever forget that indelible photo of him leaning on the railing at Candlestick Park when there was a possibility that his Giants might leave San Francisco — and as this chapter closes on his career, his legacy in the game will be celebrated by fans, teammates, and future generations of players who look up to him by the example he set.”

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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