Joe Maddon’s Cubs and Mike Scioscia’s Angels will play one more tuneup on Sunday, then square off for real Monday night in the regular-season opener. The managers go way back, and share a lot in common.

Jack Morris has been one of the most discussed Hall of Fame candidates in recent years. He came close, but never achieved the 75 percent of votes necessary from veteran members of the BBWAA.

$5.6 million goes to the first person to get a 57-game hitting streak. Custom search makes it easier than ever! Play now.

This weekend, as the games that don’t count blend with those that do, we make predictions — a national pastime within the national pastime.

Familiar foes and division rivals since the National League West was born, the Dodgers and Padres meet to begin the regular season for a second straight year, once again bringing the Opening Day atmosphere to a Southern California rivalry dating back to 1969. When the three-time division champion Dodgers travel down Interstate 5 to Petco Park to open the season with a 4:05 p.m. PT opener against the Padres on Monday, they’ll be bringing much the same team that started the season a year ago. The Padres, meanwhile, moved a few key players this past offseason and retooled at several positions.

All the questions are about to be answered. The days are warming as Opening Day gets closer, and with the beginning of Major League Baseball’s regular season comes the official end of speculation.

Brewers starting pitcher Matt Garza exited in the fourth inning of Friday’s exhibition game against the Astros with “right shoulder soreness,” team officials said.

Papa John’s has signed a multiyear deal to be MLB’s official pizza, bringing “Papa Slams” to the game. Papa John’s will activate an integrated marketing and experiential campaign across MLB’s media platforms, signature events and the Play Ball initiative. It also is set to contribute for a lot of pizza deals. For every Papa Slam hit from Opening Day through the season, fans can receive 40 percent off any pizza at regular menu price online the following day.

Right-hander Dan Straily is now on his third team this week, after the Reds claimed him off waivers from the Padres on Friday.

Spring Training stats don’t matter. Right? Right. Well, mostly. But, for these few players at the very end of each spectrum in these particular statistics, it’s okay to move your expectations up or down a tick or two.

With iconic landmarks around the world ready to “Light It Up Blue” for Autism Awareness Month this April, Major League Baseball announced on Friday that it will once again conduct a league-wide effort this season to raise awareness for the millions of people living with autism.

Maybe it began with the first prominent public presentation of the radar reading, that now-ubiquitous scoreboard and television screen standard that satisfies our need to know and overwhelms the art of estimation. A generation of kids saw mph scrutinized and monetized, and now they are bringing the heat to the bigs and altering the average.

Logan Kensing couldn’t remember the last Opening Day roster he made. It was 2009, when he was a young reliever with the Marlins.

Because depth and flexibility can reveal themselves in various ways, let’s examine a few of them and how they apply to some outlooks for 2016.

A day in the life with Heidi Watney — and really, the entire MLB Network crew — starts with a little coffee talk.

Ned Yost gets it. The odds are against the Royals repeating as World Series champions. It has nothing to do with analytics or player evaluations. It’s just a reality.

Tar Heels and Wildcats and Sooners, oh my!