If you aren’t a tennis fan, maybe you’ve been wondering what all the fuss was about with the late, great Bud Collins. Here’s why he mattered.

Major League Baseball has denied the claim by Mets reliever Jenrry Mejia that he received a lifetime suspension for a third violation of the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program because he declined to share information with the league after his first failed test.

Shannon Forde, longtime Mets media-relations team member, passed away Friday at the age of 44, following a long battle with breast cancer.

The Zack Greinke era began for the D-backs on Friday at Salt River Fields against a split squad of A’s just the way most baseball observers figured: efficiently.

The MLBPipeline.com staff ranked the Top 10 systems in the game by considering which organizations have an abundance of elite-level prospect talent as well as depth, in terms of future big leaguers up and down the system. The Dodgers took top honors, followed by Atlanta, Texas, Colorado and Minnesota.

Sean Manaea didn’t disappoint in his first act in green and gold. The A’s top pitching prospect quickly rid himself of any spare nerves and delivered a memorable performance in his spring debut, striking out four batters in two innings of the A’s 9-4 win over the Rockies on Friday.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled conspiracy theories. Hank the Dog is alive and well.

Nationals top prospect Lucas Giolito — who is ranked No. 3 overall — made his Spring Training debut on Friday with two impressive innings, and Wilmer Difo connected on a pinch-hit three-run homer against the Marlins.

Evan Marshall made his triumphant return to the mound in the ninth inning against a split squad of A’s on Friday, almost exactly seven months after a line drive fractured his skull during a Triple-A game in El Paso, Texas.

Each time Mike Napoli wakes up, he immediately checks the clock. If he got three straight solid hours of sleep, it is a small victory. If he can remember details from a dream he just had, he knows that means good things for the day ahead.

The Rockies have agreed to a one-year deal with outfielder Ryan Raburn.

Javier Baez may have to find a bigger locker to handle all the gloves he needs.

Madison Bumgarner is what sets the Giants apart from other teams. He’s a big old country boy from North Carolina with a soft Southern drawl, a bit of a smile, and a whole lot of focus.

Zack Greinke’s defection from an established NL West power to one on the rise is going to be a fascinating storyline this season, and the pitcher injury news emanating out of Dodgers camp makes Greinke’s move to the D-backs, for whom he made his Cactus League debut Friday, all the more meaningful.

In the top of the fourth inning on Friday afternoon, the bullpen gate swung open at JetBlue Park and on came Craig Kimbrel for his first appearance in a Red Sox uniform.

Cole Hamels has started a lot of baseball games in his 11-year big league career. On Saturday he gets to do so for the first time ever in Cactus League play.

As David Ortiz made his Grapefruit League debut on Friday for the Red Sox, you could call it the soft launch to his final Major League season. But Ortiz is too immersed in getting ready for the 162-game grind (plus the hoped-for postseason) to start smelling the roses.