It’s never too early to prepare for your future.

For Rick Rizzs, the words blurred with tears. He wanted to talk about Dave Henderson, but his heart still ached a day after his longtime friend had died at the age of 57 of a heart attack at Harborview Hospital.

Dellin Betances, Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller could form an all-time great trio in the Yankees bullpen in 2016.

Before Wednesday, the Dodgers had arguably the worst offseason of any team in baseball. Then they signed Scott Kazmir..

Trevor Hoffman is one of the many deserving candidates on this year’s Hall of Fame ballot.

Riley Unroe has gotten back on track this winter while playing in the Australian Baseball League, where he’s produced a .329/.398/395 batting line through 39 games for the Brisbane Bandits. The 20-year-old has been particularly hot of late, with a .436 (17-for-39) average over his last 10 contests.

Robert Andino, a Miami native and a second-round pick of the Marlins in 2002, is getting an opportunity to revitalize his big league career with his hometown team. The 31-year-old infielder signed a Minor League deal with the Marlins with an invitation to Spring Training. The Marlins also signed lefty reliever Troy Patton to a Minors deal with a Spring Training invitation.

Best. Stocking-stuffer. Ever.

It’s the offseason for mascots too, you know.

Did you know he was a ninja?

In what has become a year-end tradition, MLB.com takes a look back at the top storylines of the year — the Top 15 for 2015.

Baseball all the time.

Colbert. Fallon. Kimmel. Meyers. The gang’s all here.

More fans should make catches in beer cups, apparently.

A long list of women reached accomplishments in the past calendar year that made them either pioneers in their field or one of only a handful of women in history to do what they did.

In three decades of covering the Braves, Orioles and Cardinals, Joe Strauss touched thousands of people. Some knew him only through his work, most recently with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, but all of them grieve for him today with the news that, at 54, his brief, hellish fight against cancer has ended.

Results of this year’s Hall of Fame vote will be revealed on MLB Network on Jan. 6. For some candidates, the question is not whether they will be elected, but whether they will garner the support required to avoid falling off the ballot. Jim Edmonds, eligible for the first time, is one player who could be in danger of meeting such a fate.