RYAN HOWARD

The playoff-hopeful Seattle Mariners are holding their collective breath that All-Star rookie Julio Rodríguez isn’t seriously injured.

Aaron Judge became the second-fastest player in major league history to reach 200 career home runs, and the New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals 8-2.

Yankees star Aaron Judge became the second-fastest player in major league history to reach 200 career home runs with a two-run drive in the second inning for New York against the Kansas City Royals.

Yankees star Aaron Judge became the second-fastest player in major league history to reach 200 career home runs with a two-run drive in the second inning for New York against the Kansas City Royals on Saturday. The 6-foot-7 slugger, who became the first player in the majors this season to reach 40 homers Friday, fouled off two breaking balls from starter Jonathan Heasley before sending a 2-2 fastball into the right-center field seats. Judge’s 200th homer came in his 671st career game, behind just Philadelphia’s Ryan Howard, who achieved the feat in 2009 in 658 games.

David Ortiz, Ryan Howard, Tim Lincecum and Alex Rodriguez are among 13 first-time candidates on the Hall of Fame ballot of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, joining 17 holdovers.

Aaron Judge tied it with his second homer of the game in the eighth inning, Mets infielder Javier Báez gave away the lead with an error a few at-bats later and the New York Yankees beat their crosstown rival 8-7 at Citi Field following a stirring ceremony on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Zack Wheeler pitched a two-hitter and struck out 11, Bryce Harper homered and the first-place Philadelphia Phillies finished off a three-game sweep for their eighth straight victory, 3-0 over the fading New York Mets.

The Philadelphia Phillies have retired Roy Halladay’s No. 34 jersey, holding a tribute for the late Hall of Famer on the same diamond where he pitched himself into history.

On the surface, not much has changed in Philadelphia.

A decade ago, Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander were on top of the baseball world.

When Jimmy Rollins made his first All-Star team as a rookie with the Philadelphia Phillies 20 years ago, the percentage of Black players in the majors was 13.

Like many baseball writers, C. Trent Rosecrans viewed the Hall of Fame vote as a labor of love. Schilling, a right-handed ace who won three World Series titles, finished 16 votes short of the 75% threshold necessary for enshrinement. Schilling, Clemens and Bonds will be joined on next year's ballot by sluggers Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz. Schilling wrote on Facebook that he would like the veterans committee to review his Hall case. “I’ll defer to the veterans committee and men whose opinions actually matter and who are in a position to actually judge a player,” Schilling wrote.

Novak as Ryan HowardHappy holidays, "The Office" fans -- you're about to get the first two seasons of the comedy series for free. Seasons 1 and 2 of "The Office" will be available on the free version of Peacock, NBCUniversal's streaming service, the company said Monday. "The Office," for years Netflix's most-watched series, will be exclusively available to Peacock subscribers starting Jan. 4, 2021. In addition to "The Office" episodes, NBCUniversal will release behind-the-scenes footage and interviews and never-before-seen clips and deleted scenes for premium subscribers. NBCUniversal projected in January that 30 million to 35 million Peacock accounts will be active by 2024.

Left-hander James Paxton already was projected to miss the first two months of the season following back surgery on Feb. 5. The usual recovery time for Tommy John surgery is a year or more. John Means struck out three in the start for the Orioles, but gave up two earned runs on three hits. Kendall Graveman worked two innings in his return from Tommy John surgery, giving up a hit and a walk. Jesus Luzardo gave up a hit and struck out two over two innings of his start for the A's.