Column: A modest proposal for saving 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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 …

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 …

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.

Injury to Jeremy Hellickson latest blow to Nats' pitching staff  —  WASHINGTON — The struggling Washington Nationals have lost another pitcher to injury.  —  Starter Jeremy Hellickson will be placed on the disabled list after an MRI revealed a sprain to his right wrist area.