The Phillies and the Philadelphia chapter of The ALS Association celebrated their 30-year relationship Friday.

The Pirates are bringing back A.J. Burnett. The club and Burnett, who last week turned down the player option he held with the Phillies, reached agreement on a contract for the 2015 season Friday.

Less than a year ago, the Indians were discussing a multiyear extension for sinkerballer Justin Masterson. Now he is looking to re-establish himself with a short-term deal. Given their strong history and rapport with Masterson, the Indians are one of about a dozen teams that have checked in with the pitcher’s camp this winter.

In giving contract extensions to general manager Jon Daniels and assistant GM Thad Levine, Rangers management delivered a statement of stability.

White Sox slugger and AL Rookie of Year Jose Abreu better understands the duress of a 162-game schedule after seeing it up close and personal for the first time in his baseball career. But don’t think those extra games will reduce the time and energy put in by Abreu, including his preparation during this offseason.

While the Reds search to add offense during the offseason, they know they will still need their best hitter — Joey Votto — to be healthy and ready for next season. So far this winter, Votto appears to be progressing in the right direction after missing most of the 2014 season with a distal strain of the quadriceps near his left knee.

The Rangers are trying to bring some stability to their organization as they close out a tumultuous year, and the organization has announced extensions for president of baseball operations and general manager Jon Daniels and assistant GM Thad Levine.

A new chapter in the classic Cardinals-Cubs rivalry will have a quick start, as those two teams are scheduled to meet April 5 at Wrigley Field in the Sunday Night Baseball opener on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. ET.

Mariners righty Hisashi Iwakuma and Cubs lefty Tsuyoshi Wada were touched up for seven runs on Friday in their return to baseball in Japan, but they were nonetheless honored by the reception they received from their countrymen at the Tokyo Dome during Game 2 of the Japan All-Star Series.

An impromptu meeting at a traffic light resulted in a lot of laughter as a Japanese fan entertained a bus full of players from the MLB All-Star team with his batting-stance impersonations on Wednesday night.

MLB.com’s live game notebook for today’s Japan All-Star Series matchup between a squad of Major League stars and Samurai Japan, the country’s national team, at the Tokyo Dome. This article will be consistently refreshed with key developments from the game.

Mike Trout has been considered the best all-around player in the game, and now the Angels’ center fielder has the trophy to help back that claim. Trout was named the American League’s Most Valuable Player on Thursday, an honor that became a foregone conclusion after yet another superb season.

The Arizona Fall League regular season is complete, with just Saturday’s championship game yet to be played. With all but the Salt River Rafters and the Peoria Javelinas packing up and heading home, it seemed a good time to start taking a look at the best the 2014 AFL had to offer.

A doubleheader of scrimmage games had left most of the other campers at Historic Dodgertown exhausted. Rockies farmhand Ryan Garvey, however, slipped into the batting cages for some extra practice. Tossing to him in the cage was his father, Dodgers icon Steve Garvey.

A day after arriving to Tokyo from Osaka via bullet train, Astros outfielder Dexter Fowler, Cardinals reliever Randy Choate and Angels pitcher Hector Santiago participated in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony on Friday, several hours before their game against the Japanese National Team at the Tokyo Dome.

On Thursday night at Chelsea Piers, Andrew Eugene Pettitte, the winningest (19-11) postseason pitcher of all time, was the honoree at the star-studded 12th annual Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation Gala.

Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw completed his quest for a rare awards double taking home National League MVP honors on Thursday, a day after he earned a third NL Cy Young Award in four seasons by a unanimous vote. In the American League, the third time was indeed the charm for Mike Trout in his quest for an AL MVP Award.