Category: Baseball

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Shohei Ohtani’s 50th home run ball has sold at auction for nearly $4.4 million, a record high price not just for a baseball, but for any ball in any sport, the auctioneer said Wednesday.

Mark McGwire’s 70th home run ball was the previous record-holder at $3 million.

[Related: Aaron Judge believes Shohei Ohtani is ‘the best player in the game’]

Ohtani became the first player in baseball history to hit 50 homers and steal 50 bases in a season, reaching the milestone on Sept. 19 when the Los Angeles Dodgers star hit his second of three homers against the Marlins.

“We received bids from around the world, a testament to the significance of this iconic collectible and Ohtani’s impact on sports, and I’m thrilled for the winning bidder,” Ken Goldin, the founder and CEO of auctioneer Goldin Auctions said in a statement.

The auction opened on Sept. 27 with a starting bid of $500,000 and closed just after midnight on Wednesday. The auctioneer said it could not disclose any information about the winning bidder.

The auction has been overshadowed by the litigation over ownership of the ball. Christian Zacek walked out of Miami’s LoanDepot Park with the ball after gaining possession in the left-field stands. Max Matus and Joseph Davidov each claim in separate lawsuits that they grabbed the ball first.

All the parties involved in the litigation agreed that the auction should continue.

Matus’ lawsuit claims that the Florida resident — who was celebrating his 18th birthday — gained possession of the Ohtani ball before Zacek took it away. Davidov claims in his suit that he was able to “firmly and completely grab the ball in his left hand while it was on the ground, successfully obtaining possession of the 50/50 ball.”

Ohtani and the Dodgers are preparing for Game 1 of the World Series against the New York Yankees on Friday night (8 p.m. ET Friday on FOX and the FOX Sports App).

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The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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Fernando Valenzuela, the Mexican-born phenom for the Los Angeles Dodgers who inspired “Fernandomania” while winning the NL Cy Young Award and Rookie of the Year in 1981, has died. He was 63.

The team said he died Tuesday night at a Los Angeles hospital, but did not provide the cause or other details.

His death comes as the Dodgers prepare to open the World Series on Friday night at home against the New York Yankees.

Valenzuela had left his color commentator job on the Dodgers’ Spanish-language television broadcast in September without explanation. He was reported to have been hospitalized earlier this month. His job kept him as a regular at Dodger Stadium, where he held court in the press box dining room before games and remained popular with fans who sought him out for photos and autographs.

Valenzuela was one of the most dominant players of his era and a wildly popular figure in the 1980s, although he was never elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. However, he is part of Cooperstown, which features several artifacts including a signed ball from his no-hitter in 1990.

This is a developing story.

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Freddie Freeman is penciling himself into the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ lineup for their World Series opener against the New York Yankees.

“I don’t think there’s any question in anybody’s mind that I will be in the lineup for Game 1,” he said Tuesday during a Zoom news conference.

By Game 1 on Friday, Freeman will have had a week since running on his sprained right ankle in NL Championship Series Game 5 against the New York Mets.

Of course, the final lineup decision rests with manager Dave Roberts after discussions with the front office.

The All-Star first baseman missed Games 4 and 6 of the NLCS. Freeman was 3 for 18 against the Mets after hitting .286 in the NL Division Series against San Diego.

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Freeman said he can hit and walk comfortably but his ankle flares up when he takes the first step to run. He’s been receiving hours of treatment for the first sprained ankle of his long career.

“I want to get this thing as calmed down as I possibly can, to give my best self and be ready to go by Game 1,” he said.

Freeman hurt his ankle on Sept. 26 against the Padres while trying to avoid a tag at first base by San Diego’s Luis Arráez and missed the Dodgers’ last three regular-season games.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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Jack Flaherty will start for the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series opener against the New York Yankees.

The right-hander opposes Gerrit Cole on Friday night at Dodger Stadium in a matchup of area natives.

Flaherty is from nearby Burbank and attended high school at Harvard-Westlake in Los Angeles. Cole is from Tustin in Orange County and pitched at UCLA.

Right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto — the $325 million rookie — will start Game 2 on Saturday, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday on a Zoom call with media.

Roberts said there will be a bullpen game during the best-of-seven series.

Flaherty has started three times in these playoffs with a 7.04 ERA. He struggled in his most recent start against the New York Mets in Game 5 of the NL Championship Series, giving up eight earned runs and four walks in three innings.

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Flaherty had dominated in Game 1 against the Mets, allowing two hits over seven innings.

He joined the Dodgers at the July trade deadline from Detroit.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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As Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani gets set to play in his first career World Series, a memento from the biggest swing of his historic regular season is looking like it will be worth a small fortune.

The ball that Ohtani hit for his 50th home run of the 2024 regular season — making him the first MLB player ever to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a single season — could fetch over $10 million at auction.

[Related: Aaron Judge believes Shohei Ohtani is ‘the best player in the game’]

Auctioneer Ken Goldin, whose company Goldin Auctions is overseeing the sale of Ohtani’s record-setting home run ball, told TMZ Sports he believes the ball could fetch over $10 million at auction. Bidding is currently in the multimillion-dollar range, Goldin said, and he is expecting a dramatic increase in both the number and value of bids as the auction deadline nears.

“It wouldn’t blow my mind,” Goldin told TMZ, “if some foreign bidder put this to eight figures and it topped $10 million.”

Goldin said he has not heard from Ohtani or anyone in his camp about possibly bidding on the baseball. Ohtani signed a historic, deferral-heavy $700 million contract with the Dodgers last offseason after proving himself as a two-way superstar with the Los Angeles Angels.

Bidding is currently underway for the home run ball despite an ongoing lawsuit over who has claim to the ball.

Ohtani finished the 2024 regular season with 54 home runs and 59 stolen bases. He has three more home runs in the playoffs so far to help the Dodgers take down the San Diego Padres and New York Mets en route to their fourth National League pennant in eight years. He is set to win the 2024 National League MVP despite only being a designated hitter this season as he was sidelined as a pitcher due to a torn UCL suffered in 2023.

Ohtani’s 54 home runs were more than any other player this season — except Aaron Judge, who hit 58. Judge’s New York Yankees take on Ohtani’s Dodgers in the 2024 World Series, which starts at 8 p.m. ET Friday on FOX and the FOX Sports App.

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Major League Baseball hopes to find the Tampa Bay Rays a temporary home near their fanbase at least for the start of the 2025 season if the damage to Tropicana Field from Hurricane Milton cannot be repaired in time.

The translucent fiberglass dome at the ballpark in St. Petersburg was shredded by Milton’s winds, leaving its immediate future in doubt. A number of spring training sites around the Tampa Bay area have been suggested as temporary homes, and MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said the league wants a location in the region if possible.

“We’re hopeful that we can figure out something in [the Tampa Bay area] for them and that the repairs can be done in a way that allows them to resume playing,” Manfred said on a recent episode of The Varsity podcast.

“The easiest thing is always to stay in the market where the clubs are anchored, if we can manage it.”

The Rays have played at Tropicana Field since their inaugural 1998 season, although the building was constructed in 1990. The hurricane damage comes a few months after the city of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County approved a new $1.3 billion ballpark in an adjacent location that would open in the 2028 season, part of a much larger downtown revitalization project.

The city has hired the Hennessy/AECOM firm to do a complete analysis of the Tropicana Field damage and contracted with another company to remove the remaining roof material, said St. Petersburg spokeswoman Alizza Punzalan-Randle. The city has also filed a claim with its insurance carrier, she said.

“We will have more information on next steps once the analyses have been completed and the remaining roof has been removed,” Punzalan-Randle said.

City Council member Brandi Gabbard said she expected the analysis by the first week of November.

“At that point we will have a better picture of the path forward,” Gabbard said.

So, where would the Rays go if the Trop isn’t ready on opening day of 2025?

Suggestions have included local-area spring training sites used by the Phillies, Blue Jays, Yankees, Pirates and Tigers. A bit further away is the Rays’ own spring training complex in Port Charlotte, about 85 miles (136 kilometers) south of St. Petersburg. Another option may be the ballpark at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports complex near Orlando.

Most of those ballpark options host minor league teams after spring training ends, which could prompt significant adjustments to minor league team schedules. One way around that would be to play at the Orioles‘ spring training site in Sarasota, which does not have a minor league team.

There has also been talk of the Rays sharing the Miami Marlins‘ stadium, but that would be a major scheduling challenge and about a four-hour drive from St. Petersburg. A previous proposal to have the Rays play some home games in Montreal resurfaced, but the stadium there is undergoing renovation and would not be ready for next season.

The Rays declined comment Tuesday and have said only that it could take weeks “to assess the true condition of Tropicana Field.” Playing there without a roof is another idea, but the Trop doesn’t have the drainage systems necessary in such a rain-prone location.

Another factor to consider is how much money should be spent to repair a facility that will be torn down for the new ballpark in a few years.

The Rays’ opening “home” game against the Colorado Rockies is scheduled for March 27, 2025, and Manfred said MLB, the team and other entities will come up with a solution.

“The one thing I can tell you for sure, they’re playing next year. We’re going to find them someplace to do it,” Manfred said on the podcast.

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Reporting by The Associated Press.

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The 2024 World Series isn’t just a matchup of Major League Baseball’s two most famous teams. It also features the two biggest stars in baseball — and this season’s two presumptive league MVPs — in Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani and New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge.

One of those stars, Judge, had nothing but praise for his fellow baseball icon Ohtani during the Yankees’ media availability Tuesday ahead of the World Series.

Judge chuckled when asked by a reporter what he admires about Ohtani.

“Besides the obvious — I feel like everything’s obvious — he hits for average, hits for power, the speed,” Judge said. “Doing what he did this year with 50 stolen bases, I know it got talked about a lot, but I don’t think it got talked about enough.

“He’s just an impressive athlete. The best player in the game. What an ambassador for this sport.”

As Judge alluded to, Ohtani stole 59 bases in addition to his 54 home runs in his first full regular season with the Dodgers, becoming the first player in MLB history with a 50-50 season. Ohtani’s 54 home runs were more than any other MLB player this season — except for Judge, who hit 58.

This year marks the first time two players who hit 50 or more home runs during the regular season will face each other in the World Series. Additionally, it’s only the second World Series in this millennium headlined by both (presumptive) MVPs from the regular season. The only other time that has happened since 2000 was in 2012, when Miguel Cabrera’s Detroit Tigers faced Buster Posey’s San Francisco Giants. 

It is, however, the fifth Yankees/Dodgers World Series to feature that year’s regular season MVPs (h/t FanGraphs):

• 1941: Joe DiMaggio (Yankees) vs. Dolph Camilli (Dodgers)
• 1955: Yogi Berra (Yankees) vs. Roy Campanella (Dodgers)
• 1956: Mickey Mantle (Yankees) vs. Don Newcombe (Dodgers)
• 1963: Elston Howard (Yankees) vs. Sandy Koufax (Dodgers)

[Related: Yankees-Dodgers World Series history: A look back at 11 previous showdowns]

The two teams have split those previous four matchups — the Yankees beat their then-crosstown rival Dodgers in 1941 and 1956, while the Dodgers won in 1955 while still in Brooklyn and in 1963 after moving to Los Angeles.

The 2024 World Series begins on Friday at 8 p.m. ET on FOX when the Yankees visit the Dodgers in L.A.

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Resale tickets for the World Series opener between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees at Dodger Stadium started at $1,358 on Monday evening on StubHub.

That’s an increase from opening prices on TickPick earlier Monday, where the cheapest tickets available came in at $999 and later increased to $1,085.

StubHub said sales outpaced last year’s final figures and are four times higher than the pace of the 2022 World Series Series. Sales for Games 3-5 in New York are 40% higher than for Games 1, 2, 6 and 7 in Los Angeles.

Vivid Seats, another resale outlet, said its average price of tickets sold for this year’s Series was $1,368, about double the $685 last year for the Texas Rangers–Arizona Diamondbacks matchup. Vivid said its resale price averaged $550 for the 2009 World Series between the Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies.

Vivid said the average price of tickets it sold Monday was $1,302 for Game 1 on Friday, $1,392 for Game 2 on Saturday, $1,443 for Game 3 at Yankee Stadium and $1,389 for Game 4 on Oct. 29. It did not disclose a figure of how many tickets it sold. As of Tuesday afternoon, the cheapest Game 3 ticket was standing room only at Yankee Stadium for $1,705.

For those unable to make it in person, Game 1 of the 2024 World Series will start at 8 p.m. ET Friday, and you can catch that and every game of the series on FOX and the FOX Sports App.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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The New York Yankees may add a 13th pitcher to their roster for the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

New York had 12 pitchers and 14 position players for the AL Championship Series against Cleveland after going with 11 pitchers and 15 position players for the Division Series versus Kansas City.

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“Could be 13. We’ll see,” manager Aaron Boone said Tuesday.

Left-hander Nestor Cortes, sidelined since Sept. 18 because of a flexor strain in his pitching elbow, was scheduled to throw batting practice Tuesday and could be added to the roster, which must be submitted about seven hours before Friday’s opener in Los Angeles.

First baseman Anthony Rizzo, who recovered from two fractured fingers, was added for the series against the Guardians along with right-hander Marcus Stroman. New York dropped first baseman Ben Rice and speedy outfielder Duke Ellis.

In addition to starters Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, Clarke Schmidt and Luis Gil, the Yankees included right-handers Luke Weaver, Clay Holmes, Tommy Kahnle, Jake Cousins, Ian Hamilton and Marcus Stroman, and left-handers Tim Hill and Tim Mayza against Cleveland.

Hamilton strained a calf muscle while covering first base in Game 3 last Thursday and was replaced the following day by right-hander Mark Leiter Jr.

New York is seeking its 28th title and first since 2009.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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