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After months of speculation and anticipation, MLB superstar slugger Juan Soto has decided to stay in New York City, but unfortunately, for Yankees fans he’ll be relocating to Queens as he signed a massive $765 million deal with the New York Mets.

Needless to say, half of the Big Apple is on cloud 9 while the other half is heartbroken and distraught. At least Juan Soto remains a New Yorker, right? Yes, a 15-year $765 million contract seems ridiculous, but the man is only 26-years-old and has already built himself a career worthy of the Hall of Fame, so by the time his contract is up he’ll still probably be a problem when stepping into the batter’s box.
According to NPR, Soto’s record-breaking contract isn’t only well-earned but well-deserved.
Per NPR:

From the beginning of his major league career, the Dominican-born Soto has been a star. In his first start as a 19-year-old with the Nationals, he hit a home run in his first appearance at the plate. He quickly became a fan favorite with his easy smile and “Soto shuffle,” his trademark shimmy at the plate. He won a World Series title with the team in 2019, the first in the franchise’s history.
In 2022, he was traded to the San Diego Padres, who then dealt him to the New York Yankees ahead of the 2024 season.
On a one-year deal in New York, Soto had the best year of his still-young career, with 41 regular season home runs and another four in the playoffs during the Yankees’ unsuccessful bid for the World Series. He received the third-most votes in the American League MVP race. Since his debut in 2018, he’s won a total of five Silver Slugger awards and four All-Star game appearances.
Yankees fans were hoping to see Soto and Aaron Judge terrorize pitchers for years to come, but it now seems like it’ll be Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor doing the terrorizing.
How do y’all feel about Juan Soto bouncing on the Bronx to turn up in Queens? Let us know in the comments section below. We know this guy wasn’t too happy…
https://twitter.com/NickTurturro1/status/1865994781433970844

Brad Paisley stepped into the baseball diamond on Friday night (Oct. 25), where he performed the national anthem at the first game of the World Series between the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Accompanied by a green electric […]

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce‘s romance has already taken the NFL by storm, so it was only a matter of time before it enchanted another major sports league.   After the couple stepped out at Game 1 of the American League Championship Series in New York City Monday (Oct. 14), the official MLB TikTok account […]

All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
With the MLB Division Series in full swing, there are four teams in the American League and four teams in the National League looking to advanced to the Championship Series in their respective leagues.

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Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

Who’s Playing During MLB Division Series?

There are four series (best-of-five games) scheduled. All of these post-season games broadcast across Fox, FS1, TBS and truTV, and stream on Max.

Wednesday, Oct. 9:

Game 3 — Cleveland Guardians at Detroit Tigers: 3:08 p.m. ET/12:08 p.m. PT, TBS/Max

Game 4 — Philadelphia Phillies at New York Mets: 5:08 p.m. ET/2:08 p.m. PT, FS1

Game 3 — New York Yankees at Kansas City Royals: 7:08 p.m. ET/4:08 p.m. PT, TBS/Max

Game 4 — Los Angeles Dodgers at San Diego Padres: 9:08 p.m. ET/5:08 p.m. PT, FS1

Thursday, Oct. 10:

Game 4 — Cleveland Guardians at Detroit Tigers: 6:08 p.m. ET/3:08 p.m. PT, TBS/Max

Game 4 — New York Yankees at Kansas City Royals: 8:08 p.m. ET/5:08 p.m. PT, TBS/Max

Where to Watch MLB Division Series for Free

For cord-cutters, there are a few ways to watch MLB Division Series on Fox, FS1, TBS and truTV if you don’t have cable. DirecTV Stream has a five-day free trial, while other streaming services, such as Hulu + Live TV, also offers a free trial, so you can watch games for free.

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Keep reading for more details on how to watch MLB Division Series with DirecTV Stream, Hulu + Live TV and Fubo.

How to Watch MLB Division Series with DirecTV Stream

A subscription to DirecTV Stream — which comes with Fox, FS1, TBS and truTV for MLB Division Series baseball — gets you access to live TV, local and cable channels starting at $69.99 per month. The service even offers a five-day free trial to watch for free if you sign up now.

You can watch local networks such as NBC, CBS and PBS, while you can also watch many cable networks, including ABC, ESPN, Lifetime, FX, AMC, A&E, Bravo, BET, MTV, Paramount Network, Cartoon Network, VH1, Fuse, CNN, Food Network, CNBC and many others.

How to Watch MLB Division Series with Hulu + Live TV

The MLB Division Series on Fox, FS1, TBS and truTV is watchable with Hulu + Live TV too. Prices for the cable alternative start at $76.99 per month, while each plan comes with Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+ at no additional cost.

Hulu + Live TV might be best for those who want all of these streaming services together in one bundle. It also features many other networks, including CBS, ABC, ESPN, Hallmark Channel, BET, CMT, Disney Channel, NBC, Fox Sports and more.

How to Watch MLB Division Series With Fubo

To watch MLB Division Series on Fox and FS1, Fubo starts at $59.99 per month (the streamer’s current deal) with nearly 200 channels — including local and cable — that are streamable on smart TVs, smartphones, tablets and on web browsers. And with a seven-day free trial, you can watch for free, if you act fast and sign up now. Fubo doesn’t include TBS and truTV with any of their plans.

The service even gets you live access to local broadcast networks including NBC, Fox and CBS, while it also has dozens of cable networks, such as ABC, ESPN, Bravo, CMT, ID, TV Land, VH1, TLC, E!, MTV, FX, Ion, OWN, Paramount Network and much more.

How to Watch MLB Division Series With Max

During the MLB Division Series, games that are broadcasting on TBS and truTV are also available to steam on Max via the B/R Sports hub. The services starts at $9.99 per month and features hit movies and TV shows, including Barbie, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Dune: Part II, Civil War and more. It also features pro sports from leagues such as NBA, NHL, NCAA March Madness and others. Learn more about Max here.

MLB Division Series broadcast across Fox, FS1, TBS and truTV, while these post-season games are streamable with DirecTV Stream and Max.

Want more? For more product recommendations, check out our roundups of the best Xbox deals, studio headphones and Nintendo Switch accessories.

All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
Now that the 2024 MLB regular season is over and done with, it’s now time for the post-season to begin, with the top teams in the league competing to win the World Series.

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Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

For the opening playoffs Wild Card Series, there are four teams in the American League and four teams in the National League looking to advanced to the Championship Series in their respective leagues.

Who’s Playing During MLB Wild Card Series?

There are four series (best-of-three games) scheduled starting on Tuesday, Oct. 1. All of these post-season games broadcast across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2.

Tuesday, Oct. 1:

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Game 1 — Detroit Tigers at Houston Astros: 2:30 p.m. ET/11:30 a.m. PT, ABC

Game 1 — Kansas City Royals at Baltimore Orioles: 4:20 p.m. ET/1:30 p.m. PT, ESPN2

Game 1 — New York Mets at  Milwaukee Brewers: 5:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. PT, ESPN

Game 1 — Atlanta Braves at San Diego Padres: 8:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. PT, ESPN

Wednesday, Oct. 2:

Game 2 — Detroit Tigers at Houston Astros: 2:30 p.m. ET/11:30 a.m. PT, ABC

Game 2 — Kansas City Royals at Baltimore Orioles: 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT, ESPN

Game 2 — New York Mets at Milwaukee Brewers: 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, ESPN

Game 2 — Atlanta Braves at San Diego Padres: 8:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. PT, ESPN2

Thursday, Oct. 3:

Game 3 (if necessary) — Detroit Tigers at Houston Astros: 2:30 p.m. ET/11:30 a.m. PT, ABC

Game 3 (if necessary) — Kansas City Royals at Baltimore Orioles: 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT, ESPN

Game 3 (if necessary) — New York Mets at  Milwaukee Brewers: 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, ESPN

Game 3 (if necessary) — Atlanta Braves at San Diego Padres: 8:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. PT, ESPN2

Where to Watch MLB Wild Card Series for Free

For cord-cutters, there are a few ways to watch MLB Wild Card Series on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, if you don’t have cable. DirecTV Stream has a five-day free trial, while other streaming services — such as Hulu + Live TV and Fubo — also offer free trials, so you can watch games for free.

Keep reading for more details on how to watch MLB Wild Card Series with DirecTV Stream, Hulu + Live TV and Fubo.

How to Watch MLB Wild Card Series with DirecTV Stream

A subscription to DirecTV Stream — which comes with ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 for MLB Wild Card Series baseball — gets you access to live TV, local and cable channels, starting at $69.99 per month. The service even offers a five-day free trial to watch for free, if you sign up now.

You can watch local networks such as NBC, CBS and PBS, while you can also watch many cable networks, including FS1, Lifetime, FX, AMC, A&E, Bravo, BET, MTV, Paramount Network, Cartoon Network, VH1, Fuse, CNN, Food Network, CNBC and many others.

How to Watch MLB Wild Card Series with Hulu + Live TV

The MLB Wild Card Series on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 is watchable with Hulu + Live TV too. Prices for the cable alternative start at $76.99 per month, while each plan comes with Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+ at no additional cost.

Hulu + Live TV might be best for those who want all of these streaming services together in one bundle. It also features many other networks, including CBS, Hallmark Channel, BET, CMT, Disney Channel, NBC, Fox Sports and more.

How to Watch MLB Wild Card Series With Fubo

To watch MLB Wild Card Series on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, Fubo starts at $59.99 per month (the streamer’s current deal) with nearly 200 channels — including local and cable — that are streamable on smart TVs, smartphones, tablets and on web browsers. And with a seven-day free trial, you can watch for free, if you act fast and sign up now.

The service even gets you live access to local broadcast networks including NBC, Fox and CBS, while it also has dozens of cable networks, such as Bravo, CMT, ID, TV Land, VH1, TLC, E!, FS1, MTV, FX, Ion, OWN, Paramount Network and much more.

Starting on Tuesday, Oct. 1, MLB Wild Card Series broadcast across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, while these post-season games are streamable with DirecTV Stream.

Want more? For more product recommendations, check out our roundups of the best Xbox deals, studio headphones and Nintendo Switch accessories.

HipHopWired Featured Video

Source: Kevin C. Cox / Getty
You can always count on Ludacris to Luda. The MC showed up wearing giant Air Force 1’s to throw the first pitch at an Atlanta Braves game.

As spotted on Sneaker News the Disturbing The Peace mogul was invited by the his local MLB team to participate in the opening tradition. To everyone’s surprised the Ludacris showed up with the same fake “Hulk” arms from his iconic “Get Back” video. To make the cypher complete he wore a pair of giant white on white Air Force 1’s that he sported in the video for “Stand Up”, cut off denim shorts, a Braves jersey and a blinged out watch on the wrist.

As expected those who were at Truist Park loved the outfit and cheered him on as he walked to the mound. Surprisingly Ludacris was able to throw a respectable pitch even while wearing the oversized costume. Following the ceremony he took pictures, waved to fans and made it clear the honor was all his. Each ticket holder received a Ludacris bobble head figurine to commemorate Ludacris Night.

When I move, you move (just like that)#LudaNight pic.twitter.com/KHb78lrwos
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) September 4, 2024

You can see footage of Ludacris’ entrance and first pitch below.

The Atlanta Braves made it all about Ludacris on Wednesday night (Sept. 4) when the team honored the hometown hero with a bobblehead night and a ceremonial first pitch. After handing out the bobble to the first 15,000 fans who showed up at Truist Park — depicting the Grammy-winning MC wearing jeans, a throwback Hank […]

The Foo Fighters came to play on a picture-perfect Thursday night (July 25) in Cincinnati on the latest date of their Everything or Nothing At All summer stadium tour. After rocking warm-ups from Wolfgang Van Halen’s WVH and Akron, OH-native Chrissie Hynde’s Pretenders, the veteran band charged onto the stage at Great American Ball Park and got right to work with the one-two punch of “All My Life” and “No Son of Mine,” with the latter meandering through digressions into Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” and Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.”
The hit-packed set touched on all the classics that fans — lead singer/guitarist Dave Grohl kept shouting out the group’s “OG” day ones throughout the night — were there for, including “The Pretender,” “Breakout,” and “My Hero,” in addition to an extended band introduction bit that included various members flashing their style on covers of songs by the Beastie Boys, Ramones and Nine Inch Nails.

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But the moment that likely swelled the hearts of the crossover areas in the rock and roll/baseball Venn diagram was when lead guitarist Chris Shiflett came out for the encore wearing a red “Cincinnati Invented Hustle” t-shirt that he’d picked up that day to show his support for the city’s disgraced hit king.

The choice was even more apt considering that HBO dropped its new four-part documentary series about baseball’s all-time hits leader this week, Charlie Hustle & The Matter of Pete Rose, which touches on Rose’s illustrious career, as well as the betting scandal that resulted in the former Cincinnati Reds player and manager’s lifetime ban from the game and the Baseball Hall of Fame; Rose’s nickname as a player was Charlie Hustle in reference to his tenacious style of play.

Shiflett made sure the fans who filled the Reds’ home stadium got a glimpse at his homage to their beloved, tarnished local legend, swinging his guitar to the side a few times during the emotional, roiling encore tribute to Grohl’s late educator mother, Virginia, “The Teacher” to make sure they got the wink-wink reference; check out fan footage of the song, and the shirt, here. The show also featured the band’s nightly tribute to late drummer Taylor Hawkins, “Aurora,” with Grohl noting that it was Taylor’s favorite Foo Fighters song.

The Rose shout-out was just one of a handful of nods to the band’s ties to the Buckeye state during the raucous show that ran for nearly three hours and found the band veering from near speed metal tempos to a touching solo acoustic segment in which Grohl strummed an acoustic guitar for a hushed “Under You.” Earlier in the show, Grohl noted that he’d grown up in Warren, OH before moving to Virginia, and also referenced the fact that bassist Nate Mendel’s wife is from the Queen City. “He married a Cincinnati girl,” Grohl said. “Fellas, if you want to find a good girl, you come to Cincinnati.”

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Source: Stacy Revere / Getty
Baseball legend Reggie Jackson recalled the shocking instances of racism that he endured in Alabama during an interview.
On Thursday (June 20), Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson was being interviewed by the Fox Sports broadcast crew covering the game between the San Francisco Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals at the historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama honoring Negro League Baseball. Alex Rodriguez, the former New York Yankees star player, asked Jackson what it was like being back there. Jackson, who’d go on to greatness as a power-hitting fielder for the Oakland Athletics and New York Yankees, started with the minor-league Birmingham A’s who played at Rickwood in 1967.

“Alex, when people ask me a question like that, it’s like, coming back here is not easy,” Jackson replied. “The racism that I played here, when I played here, the difficulty of going through different places where we traveled — fortunately, I had a manager and I had players on the team that helped me get through it. But I wouldn’t wish it on anybody.” The crew went quiet

as Jackson continued: “People said to me today — I spoke and they said, ‘You think you’re a better person, you think you won when you played here and conquered?’ I said, you know, I would never want to do it again.”
“I walked into restaurants and they would point at me and say, the n—– can’t eat here. I would go to a hotel and they say, the n—– can’t stay here,” the legend known as “Mr. October” said, the emotions from that time vivid in his face. “I walked into restaurants and they would point at me and say, the n—– can’t eat here. I would go to a hotel and they say, the n—– can’t stay here. We went to Charlie Finley’s country club for a welcome-home dinner, and they pointed me out with the N-word. ‘He can’t come in here.’ Finley marched the whole team out, finally they let me in there, he said, ‘We’re going to go the diner and eat hamburgers. We’ll go where we’re wanted.” Reggie Jackson would go on to thank his Birmingham A’s manager, Johnny McNamara, and teammates Rollie Fingers, Dave Duncan, and Joe Rudi who with his wife Sharon gave Jackson a place to stay – until racists threatened to “burn our apartment complex down unless I got out.”

Major League Baseball’s players’ union is firing back at claims that it discriminated against Bad Bunny’s sports agency, saying the company was penalized due to “egregious and systemic” rules violations, including offering prospective clients free VIP tickets to Bad Bunny concerts.
Rimas Sports sued the MLB Players Association (MLBPA) last month, claiming the union had used a “pre-determined investigation” to ban the Puerto Rican agency to protect existing agents from competition. The lawsuit is seeking an injunction that would overturn the league’s penalties and allow Rimas to continue to represent players.

But in a response filing this week, attorneys for the union said Rimas had incurred the punishment through its own “unethical conduct” that had broken MLBPA rules — namely, offering splashy and valuable gifts to prospective clients to win them over.

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“The regulations strictly forbid such inducements,” the union’s lawyers wrote in a motion on Wednesday (June 5). “Player agents must compete for clients based on the quality of their representation, not the quality of their gifts.”

The MLBPA’s investigation into Rimas had unearthed “egregious and systemic violations” of those rules, the union’s attorneys said, quoting from an arbitrator’s ruling that said Rimas’ core strategy had been “building a baseball agency by luring players with forbidden gifts.”

“Immunizing Rimas from the consequences of its own bad conduct will harm players and other player agents by encouraging player-player agent relationships borne out of perquisites not performance,” the union’s lawyers wrote. “What Rimas seeks is a get out of jail free card for itself. The public has no interest in such an outcome.”

Launched in 2021 by Bad Bunny (Benito Martínez Ocasio) and his longtime manager, Noah Assad, Rimas Sports aimed to provide homegrown representation to Major League Baseball’s many players from Latin America.

But in April, the MLBPA handed down a raft of penalties against the agency, including decertifying one agent, barring Assad from seeking certification and prohibiting existing certified agents from joining the company. When Rimas challenged the penalties, an arbitrator rejected the appeal and upheld the union’s actions.

Last month, attorneys for Rimas escalated the dispute by filing a lawsuit in federal court that accused the MLBPA of imposing a “death penalty” on the new agency. They claimed the penalties had come from a “discriminatory” investigation that had been launched because Rimas had threatened established agencies with competition.

“The ‘good ole boy’ order of baseball sports agency … was being put at risk, as these Puerto Rican ‘outsiders’ were disrupting baseball sports agency order too much, too fast,” attorneys for Rimas wrote. “This was something that the MLBPA and Rimas Sports’ competitors would not allow.”

Calling the penalties “extraordinary and unprecedented,” Rimas sought a preliminary injunction putting them on hold while the case plays out. The agency claimed the penalties had caused immediate harm, including preventing the agency from completing its agreement to sign reigning National League MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. as a client.

In its initial filing of the lawsuit, Rimas did not specifically indicate what exactly MLBPA accused the group of doing wrong. But in Wednesday’s opposition, the union laid out the accusations in great detail.

According to the filing, certain prospective clients were offered free concert tickets, including VIP concert tickets to Bad Bunny concerts and suite access to a Phoenix Suns game. Another player was allegedly offered a $200,000 interest-free loan. “This kind of conduct became culture at Rimas,” the MLBPA wrote.

The agency was “so dismissive” of the rules around illegal gifts that it continued to violate them even after they were notified that they were under investigation, the union’s attorney wrote Wednesday.

In technical terms, the MLBPA has filed both an opposition to deny Rimas an injunction, as well as a motion to compel arbitration — meaning a judge will order that the dispute must be handled via private arbitrator, not in federal court. A hearing is set for later this month for the judge to weigh the key issue in the case.