Column: A proposal to save bullpens without using position players  —  Chicago Tribune  —  The Mets were trouncing the Phillies in the first game of a doubleheader Thursday, so Phillies manager Gabe Kapler wanted to save his bullpen for the nightcap.  —  Center fielder Roman Quinn …

Yankees' Severino tries to get back into groove vs. Jays  —  NEW YORK — One of the many questions surrounding the New York Yankees as they slog through mid-August is the state of Luis Severino and his recent performances.  —  Severino will be five days removed from his shortest start …

Indians' Trevor Bauer has stress fracture in leg, to miss 4-6 weeks  —  CLEVELAND — Cleveland Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer, one of the leading candidates for the AL Cy Young Award, will be out four to six weeks because of a stress fracture in his right leg.

Scherzer picks up 16th win, Nationals beat Marlins 8-2  —  WASHINGTON (AP) - Max Scherzer is using all his tools to help keep the Nationals' playoff hopes alive.  —  Scherzer pitched six scoreless innings, doubled and scored twice as the Nationals beat the Miami Marlins 8-2 on Friday night for his major league-leading 16th win.

Dodgers had the depth to survive key injuries in the past; Kenley Jansen is a different story  —  When the New York Mets spent the first pick of the 1961 expansion draft on a catcher, manager Casey Stengel explained why.  —  “You gotta have a catcher,” he said, “or you're gonna have a lot of passed balls.”

Matt Olson homers in 10th, A's pull within game of Astros  —  OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) With September approaching, the Oakland Athletics are showing the baseball world what they believed from the start: This group and its young sluggers are ready to make a playoff push.

What Aaron Judge's absence means for the rest of his season  —  NEW YORK — Aaron Judge has willingly embraced his current role as the New York Yankees' big-bodied hype man and cheerleader on the bench.  —  But he's long past ready to retire from it.  —  When the right fielder was taken …

Orioles fall 50 games below .500, incredible 50½ games behind Red Sox  —  The 2017 World Series teams are struggling with injuries and depth.  Can they make it back to the postseason?  USA TODAY Sports  —  CONNECT  —  The Baltimore Orioles' miserable season struck a new low.

Matt Davidson hitting cleanup for White Sox against Royals — his favorite opponent  —  Chicago Tribune  —  Matt Davidson is looking for a good weekend against the Royals.  He's in the White Sox lineup Friday night against right-hander Jakob Junis, off whom he homered twice April 26 in Kansas City.

Column: Hitting refresh button may be Chris Sale's key to winning 1st Cy Young Award  —  Chicago Tribune  —  Red Sox ace Chris Sale has a career ERA of 2.82 or lower for April, May, June and July.  But the number rises to 3.16 in August and 3.78 in September, suggesting he tires as the season wears on.

How far have the Phillies come?  Ask pair who started at the bottom  —  The Philadelphia Phillies have been through darker periods before.  After all, they had a record-setting steak of 16 consecutive losing seasons on their way to becoming the first team in professional sports to lose 10,000 games.

Three up, three down: The Mets have done it all this year, except win  —  A look at what's trending in Major League Baseball this week:  —  THREE UP  —  One shining moment: The New York Mets have done it all this season, except win.  GM Sandy Alderson stepped down to fight a recurrence of cancer.

DeWitt on Shildt: ‘Hard to imagine he could do any better’ as Cardinals manager  —  Calling the vibe around his team “fresh” and the turnaround led by interim manager Mike Shildt “impressive,” Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. said a search for the team's next manager is not happening …

Last Slide  —  SAN DIEGO - Twice in the early innings on Thursday night, a Padres hitter scorched a ball to left field, and twice the Diamondbacks' David Peralta raced to make a play, the first ball taking him into the gap, the second one back toward the wall.