SCOTT SERVAIS

Since the 1970s, the length of a baseball game has increased from just over two and a half hours to an average of three hours and seven minutes last season.

Terry Francona won his third Manager of the Year award, while Buck Showalter earned the honor for the fourth time.

Terry Francona has been voted AL Manager of the Year for the third time in 10 seasons.

Terry Francona of the Cleveland Guardians and Buck Showalter of the New York Mets have been voted Managers of the Year, improving the already sparkling resumes of both veteran baseball leaders.

Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani and Yordan Alvarez are the finalists for American League MVP in voting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

The Seattle Mariners believe snapping their 21-year playoff drought is only the beginning.

There was bunting draped off the railings in October and logos painted on the grass of T-Mobile Park that were absent for the past two decades when the Seattle Mariners were stuck in baseball purgatory and left as a spectator every postseason.

Yordan Alvarez smashed a game-ending, three-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning off Robbie Ray, wrecking Seattle’s strategy of using a Cy Young Award winner in a rare relief role and vaulting the Houston Astros over the Mariners 8-7 in their playoff opener.

When Justin Verlander takes the mound for the Houston Astros in Game 1 of the AL Division Series on Tuesday against the Seattle Mariners, it will have been almost three years since his last playoff appearance.

There’s a whole lot riding on Alek Manoah’s first career playoff start, but the Toronto Blue Jays All-Star right-hander isn’t the least bit fazed about facing the Seattle Mariners in Friday’s wild-card opener.

Baseball is fun again in the Pacific Northwest in a way that it hasn’t been in more than two decades.

Mitch Haniger and Jarred Kelenic both homered twice, J.

Seattle Mariners outfielder Julio Rodriguez, a leading candidate for the AL Rookie of the Year award, has been put on the 10-day injured list because of a lower back strain.

Dansby Swanson hit one of Atlanta’s four home runs and the World Series champion Braves grabbed sole possession of first place for the first time all season with a 6-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Friday night.

Julio Rodríguez and the Seattle Mariners agreed to a $209.3 million, 12-year contract starting next season that would be worth $469.6 million over 17 years if he wins two MVP awards.

Seattle right-hander George Kirby set a major league record by throwing 24 straight strikes to start the game and fellow Mariners rookie Julio Rodriguez reached a new level, but Ildemaro Vargas hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning that lifted the Washington Nationals to a 3-1 win.

Shohei Ohtani turned in his usual strong start. The Seattle Mariners scored four runs in a chaotic ninth inning, taking advantage of the Angels' fielding woes for a 6-2 victory over Los Angeles on Monday night. Jesse Winker and J.P. Crawford each had two hits and two RBIs for the Mariners, who vaulted over Toronto and Baltimore into the top wild-card spot in the AL.

Carlos Santana snapped an 0-for-17 slump with a go-ahead two-run homer during Seattle’s three-run seventh inning, and the Mariners rallied to beat the slumping New York Yankees 4-3.

Pinch-hitter Luis Torrens singled with one out in the 13th inning to score Eugenio Suárez, and the Seattle Mariners beat the New York Yankees 1-0 in a game dominated by the starting pitching of Gerrit Cole and Luis Castillo.

Aaron Judge hit his 44th homer, Josh Donaldson went deep and drove in three runs, and the New York Yankees snapped a five-game losing streak by beating the Seattle Mariners 9-4.

Jesse Winker hit a grand slam, Marco Gonzales struck out seven and the Seattle Mariners beat the Los Angeles Angels 6-3 as Shohei Ohtani received a visit from trainers and continued to struggle.

Seattle star rookie Julio Rodríguez was placed on the injured list with a bruised right wrist Sunday after being hit by a pitch a night before.

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

Abraham Toro pinch-hit for injured All-Star Julio Rodriguez and delivered a two-run single with two outs in the ninth inning as the Seattle Mariners rallied past the AL-West leading Houston Astros 5-4.

Ron Guidry, Bernie Williams and Tino Martinez highlight the Yankees alumni set to appear at Old-Timers’ Day in the Bronx prior to a matchup with the Kansas City Royals.

Julio Rodríguez connected again, hitting a go-ahead, three-run homer in the seventh inning and the Seattle Mariners finished off a three-game sweep by beating the Texas Rangers 4-2.

Justin Verlander became the major leagues’ first 13-game winner, striking out nine and topping 99 mph in his final inning to lead the Houston Astros over the Seattle Mariners 3-1.

The Seattle Mariners won their 14th straight game when rookie All-Star Julio Rodríguez hit a two-run double and Ty France homered after joining him on the AL team to beat the Texas Rangers 6-2.

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Robbie Ray struck out 12 without a walk over 6 2/3 innings, rookie All-Star center fielder Julio Rodríguez hit a grand slam and the Seattle Mariners have their longest winning streak in more than two decades, beating the Texas Rangers 8-3 for their 12th win in a row.

Ty France hit a two-run single in the eighth inning as the Seattle Mariners rallied from four runs down to beat the Texas Rangers 6-5 and extended their winning streak to 11 games.

Jesse Winker hit his second solo homer of the day and the Seattle Mariners won their 10th straight game, edging the Washington Nationals 2-1 to sweep a doubleheader.

Toronto first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had a throw bust through the webbing of his glove and the Seattle Mariners took advantage for their eighth straight win, beating the Blue Jays 6-5 on two home runs by Carlos Santana.

Twins pitching coach Wes Johnson is serving his final days with Minnesota before leaving for the same job with LSU.

Los Angeles Angels interim manager Phil Nevin was suspended 10 games and Seattle Mariners outfielder Jesse Winker received a seven-game ban from Major League Baseball for their roles in a benches-clearing brawl during the second inning of Sunday’s game.

A lengthy bench-clearing brawl resulted in the ejections of six players and both managers in the second inning of the Los Angeles Angels’ 2-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners.

Major League Baseball will certainly soon be handing out penalties after the Seattle Mariners and Los Angeles Angels got into a huge brawl at Anaheim.

Justin Verlander struck out a season-high 12 in seven sparkling innings, Yordan Alvarez hit a two-run homer and the Houston Astros beat the Seattle Mariners 4-1.

Astros pitcher Héctor Neris was suspended four games and Houston manager Dusty Baker was banned one game by Major League Baseball after both were ejected from a game against Seattle in which Neris plunked one hitter and nearly hit another in the head.

Mariners manager Scott Servais was ejected for his role in a benches-clearing scuffle in the ninth inning of Seattle’s 7-4 win over the Houston Astros, a game in which Cal Raleigh had a career-high four RBIs and Julio Rodriguez hit a late two-run shot.

Astros reliever Héctor Neris whizzed a pitch at Mariners slugger Ty France, and Seattle manager Scott Servais led his team toward a melee at home plate. Both sides shoved and shouted — except for cool-headed 21-year-old Julio Rodriguez, who wrapped up Neris in his arms and pulled him safely away from the scuffle. Rodriguez hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning moments after Servais was ejected for his role in a benches-clearing fracas, Cal Raleigh added a career-high four RBIs and the Mariners beat Houston 7-4 Monday night.

A pair of Cy Young Award winners are on the mound when Corbin Burnes and the Milwaukee Brewers visit Blake Snell and the San Diego Padres in a matchup between two of the National League's top teams Tuesday night.

Mariners left-hander Robbie Ray isn’t joining Seattle for a series in Toronto this week, missing a chance to celebrate the Cy Young Award he won with the Blue Jays last season amid border restrictions related to the COVID-19 vaccine.

The Pirates head to Wrigley Field seeking a slightly more convincing victory a day after beating the Reds 1-0 despite having zero hits.

Milwaukee’s Willy Adames is powering a Brewers surge with seven homers in his past 10 games, including two during a 10-5 trouncing of Cincinnati on Thursday.

Justin Verlander pitched three-hit ball over eight innings for his first win since July 2020 and the Houston Astros beat the Seattle Mariners 4-0.

Cleveland rookie Steven Kwan hit.

Gary Sánchez hit a grand slam into the third deck and Carlos Correa launched his first homer for the Minnesota Twins in a 10-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners.

The Seattle Mariners won for the 10th time in 11 games and stayed in the thick of the AL wild-card race with a 4-2 win over the Oakland Athletics.

Jarred Kelenic stood outside the Seattle Mariners dugout with the crowd roaring and holding a placard with a phrase borrowed from a popular television show. “Believe” has become Seattle's rallying call, and the Mariners are charging into the final weekend of the regular season with plenty of belief and right in the thick of the AL wild-card race. The Mariners won for the 10th time in 11 games beating the Oakland Athletics 4-2 on Wednesday night, keeping the pressure on their fellow competitors for the two wild-card spots in the AL.

Mitch Haniger hit two identical three-run homers and the Seattle Mariners gained precious ground in the AL wild-card race with a 13-4 win over the Oakland Athletics.

Carlos Correa drove in the winning run in the 10th inning after Alex Bregman tied the game in the ninth, and the Houston Astros rallied past the Seattle Mariners 5-4 on Tuesday night. Correa greeted Yohan Ramirez (1-3) with a ground-rule double to right-center, scoring Yuli Gurriel, who started the inning at second. “It was an important outing for us knowing that they have been playing great baseball,” Correa said.

MLB clubhouses and dugouts are no longer as crowded during the final weeks of the regular season.

Jake Meyers had the last of three singles as part of Houston’s eighth-inning rally against former teammate Joe Smith, scoring Kyle Tucker with the go-ahead run and sending the Astros over the Seattle Mariners 4-3 on Monday night. Dylan Moore had a pinch-hit, two-run homer for Seattle in the sixth for a 3-2 lead.

Luis Torrens hit a tiebreaking two-run single, Chris Flexen pitched neatly into the seventh inning and the Seattle Mariners swept a quick two-game series against the Oakland Athletics with a 5-1 win.

Ty France tied the game with a solo home run in the ninth inning and put the Seattle Mariners on top with an RBI single in the 11th before Kyle Seager belted a three-run homer in a 6-3 win over the Houston Astros on Sunday.

Anthony Rizzo and the New York Yankees host surprising Seattle in the opener of a four-game series between AL wild-card contenders Thursday night.

Dylan Moore hit a grand slam in the eighth inning to lift the Seattle Mariners to an 11-8 comeback win against the Houston Astros.