Latest news with #SeoulSeries
Newsweek
13-05-2025
- Sport
- Newsweek
Padres Star Pitcher Yu Darvish Expected to Take Huge Step Toward Return From Injured List
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. San Diego Padres right-handed pitcher Yu Darvish began the season on the injured list with elbow inflammation, but threw another bullpen at Petco Park Monday. More news: Padres' Manny Machado Discusses Red-Hot Start to the 2025 Season Darvish returned to San Diego over the weekend, and the current plan is for the right-hander to make a rehab start Wednesday with Triple-A El Paso in Las Vegas. Prior to Darvish dealing with an injury this spring, the Padres were already considering limiting the veteran's workload in 2025. The soon-to-be 39-year-old went 7-3 with a 3.31 ERA, 78 strikeouts and a 1.065 WHIP across 81.2 innings pitched last season. There's no telling how long Darvish will extend his career, but the Padres hope to preserve the right-hander as long as possible. "We're gonna watch, we're gonna pay attention, we're gonna listen to him, we're gonna watch the metrics," Padres pitching coach Ruben Niebla said, via Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune. "But Yu is the one guy that you can trust on this more than anybody else. He's so aware. "Yu also has a lot of low-effort, less-stress innings (compared to) other pitchers. .... He doesn't exert a lot of energy through his outings. So it's not max effort. He conserves energy through the course of a game." SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - MARCH 20: Yu Darvish #11 of the San Diego Padres throws in the 1st inning during the 2024 Seoul Series game between Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres at Gocheok... SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - MARCH 20: Yu Darvish #11 of the San Diego Padres throws in the 1st inning during the 2024 Seoul Series game between Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres at Gocheok Sky Dome on March 20, 2024 in Seoul, South Korea. More Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images The priority remains for Darvish to take the mound in October, which won't happen if San Diego overworks the right-hander upon his return. In two outings during the National League Division Series last year, Darvish allowed just one run in seven innings during Game 2, and two runs across 6.2 frames in Game 5. President of baseball operations A.J. Preller stressed the idea of limiting Darvish in the summer in order to guarantee his availability in the postseason. "At times for Yu-san, less is more," Preller said in the offseason. "And I think for us in terms of understanding, hey, the most important thing is what we saw last year when he was pitching in October. Yu Darvish in October is obviously a very talented and capable pitcher — seeing what he did in L.A. in two starts. "So I think for us, it's like understanding that, like, yeah, the World Series isn't played in April or May. These games are important. But we're gonna try and do everything we can ... to make sure he is as prepared as he can to go perform at a high level." More news: Braves Make Massive Announcement Regarding Ronald Acuna Jr's Return For more MLB news, head over to Newsweek Sports.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Padres star Jackson Merrill reflects on his rapid rise in MLB and what's ahead in 2025: 'It was a process to get used to the new life'
This time last year, many in the baseball industry knew who Jackson Merrill was. Having been selected by the San Diego Padres in the 2021 MLB Draft, the then-20-year-old was considered a top prospect and a rising star to keep an eye on. Even so, the player himself wasn't sure when or even if he'd get his opportunity to break out. But sometimes a team need creates an individual opportunity, and that's what developed last spring in front of the former first-round pick. The 2024 Padres needed a center fielder, and so, with very few options in sight, they looked to Merrill to make a massive change during spring training: Move from shortstop, where he had played his entire career, to a new position in center. 'That was crazy,' Merrill recalled to Yahoo Sports. [Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Baseball league for the 2025 MLB season] Did he ever consider saying no? 'It wasn't even a thought in my mind,' he said. 'I never said no to myself. I never said no to anybody. It was like, 'You wanna play center?' I was like, 'Yeah, I'm out there. I'm out there for you guys.'' Looking back, you might say that the possibility of a position change had always existed somewhere in the back of the young player's mind. 'When I got drafted, I said I'd play anywhere. I actually asked when we [first] got out to Arizona. I said, 'Can I take some outfield drills?' and the coach was like, 'No, you're not allowed to,'' Merrill remembered with a smile. When the situation called for it, the Padres' new center fielder was up for the challenge, and not only did he accept his new reality, but he also flourished almost immediately. Starting in his debut against the Dodgers in the Seoul Series, Merrill quickly showed all of baseball that he's a force to be reckoned with. And at a time when the Padres' lineup needed a jolt coming off a dismal 2023, Merrill, who will turn 22 in April, delivered. In his first MLB season, Merrill slashed .292/.326/.500 in 156 games and led all rookies in batting average, hits (162), home runs (24), extra-base hits (61) and RBI (90). He also thrived defensively at a brand-new position, rating +11 in outs above average in center. Merrill became the first Padres rookie to make the All-Star Game, finished second in NL Rookie of the Year voting behind Paul Skenes and helped power San Diego to 93 wins and a spot in the postseason. That's to say nothing of the young slugger's six game-tying or go-ahead home runs in the seventh inning or later. 'I think having confidence leading up to that moment is huge, but in the moment, it's a blackout,' he said. 'If you're locked in and you're focused, there's nothing that's gonna take you off. Like, you don't even think about anything. You're up there trying to hit a pitch and trying to do something for your team, so that was me in every moment.' Once October arrived, Merrill didn't shrink from that moment, either. In his first seven postseason games — before the Padres were eliminated by the Dodgers in Game 5 of the NLDS — Merrill went 6-for-24 with three walks, a double, a triple and a home run. His first hit of the wild-card series against Milwaukee made him the youngest player in Padres history with a postseason hit, a distinction that previously belonged to Fernando Tatis Jr. And he added his first playoff home run in the wild Game 2 of the NLDS against the Dodgers. 'It was like the Coliseum. You ever seen 'Gladiator'?' Merrill said when asked about the atmosphere that night at Dodger Stadium. '... But I think it was good for us. We needed that boost. We needed some anger in our lives. … 'Obviously, it didn't end the way we wanted, but that was a huge moment for us.' Going into 2025, Merrill is a fixture in San Diego's lineup and out in center field at Petco Park. And with a healthy roster, the Padres hope to be among the contenders in the National League once again. But their young star hasn't let his meteoric rise stop him from continuing to learn about himself and the game along the way. Asked what he might want to do differently in his sophomore season, Merrill had an answer ready. 'Share it with people. I think sharing it with people is what I want to do more,' he said. 'More with my family, more with my girlfriend, I think sharing it with people will be huge this year. Last year was kind of hard for me to find my feet, find where I was at. 'Even if it didn't look like it, it was still a process to get used to the new life.'
The Independent
22-03-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
Dodgers-Cubs opener in Tokyo averages more than 25 million viewers in Japan, a record audience
Tuesday's first game of the Tokyo Series averaged more than 25 million viewers in Japan according to Major League Baseball, making it the most-watched MLB game in the country's history. The audience for the Los Angeles Dodgers' 4-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs surpassed the 18.7 million viewers who tuned in for the first game of last year's Seoul Series in South Korea, which featured the Dodgers against the San Diego Padres. Tuesday's game featured the first all-Japanese starting pitching duel on opening day. Los Angeles' Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in five innings while Chicago's Shota Imanaga threw four scoreless frames. The Dodgers' 6-3 win on Wednesday, which featured a towering solo home run by Shohei Ohtani, averaged more than 23 million Japanese viewers. The second game also featured pitcher Roki Sasaki making his Dodgers' debut. The two games — which started at 5 a.m. CDT in Chicago and 3 a.m. PDT in Los Angeles — averaged 590,000 viewers in the U.S. Tuesday's game on Fox averaged 838,000 viewers with Wednesday's on FS1 drawing 361,000. The previous season opener in Japan, a 9-7 win by Seattle and Ichiro Suzuki over Oakland in 2019, was seen by 5.6 million, MLB said Friday. MLB said the games in Tokyo had the most merchandise sales of its international events, up 320% from last year's games in London between the New York Mets and Philadelphia. MLB did not specify the value of the merchandise sold but said its Tokyo Dome store averaged more than 1,000 transactions per hour and sold more than 500,000 products. The top-selling product was Ohtani Dodgers jersey with the Tokyo Series patch. ___
Washington Post
21-03-2025
- Sport
- Washington Post
Dodgers-Cubs opener in Tokyo averages more than 25 million viewers in Japan, a record audience
NEW YORK — Tuesday's first game of the Tokyo Series averaged more than 25 million viewers in Japan according to Major League Baseball, making it the most-watched MLB game in the country's history. The audience for the Los Angeles Dodgers' 4-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs surpassed the 18.7 million viewers who tuned in for the first game of last year's Seoul Series in South Korea, which featured the Dodgers against the San Diego Padres.
Fox Sports
21-03-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
Dodgers-Cubs opener in Tokyo averages more than 25 million viewers in Japan, a record audience
Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Tuesday's first game of the Tokyo Series averaged more than 25 million viewers in Japan according to Major League Baseball, making it the most-watched MLB game in the country's history. The audience for the Los Angeles Dodgers' 4-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs surpassed the 18.7 million viewers who tuned in for the first game of last year's Seoul Series in South Korea, which featured the Dodgers against the San Diego Padres. Tuesday's game featured the first all-Japanese starting pitching duel on opening day. Los Angeles' Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in five innings while Chicago's Shota Imanaga threw four scoreless frames. The Dodgers' 6-3 win on Wednesday, which featured a towering solo home run by Shohei Ohtani, averaged more than 23 million Japanese viewers. The second game also featured pitcher Roki Sasaki making his Dodgers' debut. The two games in the U.S. — which started at 5 a.m. CDT in Chicago and 3 a.m. PDT in Los Angeles — averaged 590,000 viewers. Tuesday's game on Fox averaged 838,000 viewers with Wednesday's on FS1 drawing 361,000. ___ AP MLB: recommended
