The Chicago Cubs still had a manager under contract, but that didn't stop the club from firing him and hiring one of MLB's top managers in a surprise move.
The Cubs fired David Ross on Monday and hired Craig Counsell away from their NL Central rival Milwaukee Brewers.
To lure Counsell away from the Brewers, the Cubs emptied their wallets, making the 53-year-old the highest-paid manager in MLB history, signing him to a five-year, $40million contract.
"On behalf of the Cubs organization, we express our deep gratitude for David's contributions to our club, both on and off the field," President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer said in a release. "First as a player and then as a manager, David continually showcased his ability to lead. David’s legacy will be felt in Chicago for generations and his impact to our organization will stack up with the legends that came before him.
"Going forward, our major league team will be managed by Craig Counsell. We look forward to welcoming Craig at Wrigley Field early next week."
Counsell spent the last nine seasons managing Milwaukee, leading the franchise to five play-off berths. Prior to Counsell's arrival in Milwaukee during the 2015 season, the Brewers made a total of four play-off appearances.
The Brewers only won play-off series under Counsell, but many experts believe he is one of the smarter managers in baseball and was able to accomplish more with less for a small-market team that didn't spend a lot of money.
His contract expired at the end of this past season, and he became one of the biggest free-agent managers in recent years.
Counsell led the Brewers to three NL Central titles and went 707-625 as Milwaukee's manager, establishing franchise records for wins and games managed.
The 46-year-old Ross went 262-284 in four seasons with Chicago.
Beloved in Chicago as a member of the Cubs' 2016 World Series championship team, Ross took over as manager following the departure of Joe Maddon.
In his first season at the helm in 2020, the Cubs won the NL Central, but that marked their only play-off appearance under Ross. Chicago overachieved for much of this past season and was in position to make the playoffs before collapsing over the final few weeks.
The Brewers went on to win the 2023 NL Central title, and following the season, Counsell interviewed for the open managerial position with the Cleveland Guardians and was also being pursued by the New York Mets.
Both of those teams ended up naming new managers earlier Monday.
The Guardians hired former catcher Stephen Vogt to replace Terry Francona, while the Mets named Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza to take over for the fired Buck Showalter.
Mendoza, who turns 44 this month, spent the past four seasons as a bench coach with the Yankees and has never managed above Class A in the minors.
He becomes the fifth Mets manager since the start of the 2018 season, and takes over a club that finished fourth in the NL East in 2023 at 75-87 - 29 games behind the division-winning Atlanta Braves.
Vogt was the Seattle Mariners bullpen coach last season and has no managerial experience.
A two-time All-Star, the 39-year-old Vogt played for six teams over a 10-year MLB career before retiring in 2022.
The Guardians finished third in the AL Central in 2023, but won four division titles and made the play-offs six times during Francona's 11 years as the franchise's manager.
MLB: Harper's grand slam lifts Phillies to 7th straight win
Bryce Harper belted a grand slam and Cristopher Sanchez pitched seven strong innings as the red-hot Philadelphia Phillies extended their winning streak to seven games with a 10-1 rout of the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday.
Kody Clemens homered, tripled and tied a career high with four RBIs as the Phillies won their 11th in a row at home and 18th in 21 games overall.
Philadelphia leads the majors with 26 victories and has had more wins through 37 games just twice before, in 1976 and 1993, when it started 27-10 in both seasons.
Sanchez limited the Blue Jays to one run on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts.
Jose Berrios entered play leading the majors with a 1.44 ERA but was tagged for eight runs and seven hits in 3 2/3 innings. He gave up more runs against the Phillies than the seven runs in seven starts over 43 2/3 innings before this game.
Harper chased Berrios with a drive to right with two outs in the fourth to put the Phillies ahead 8-0.
Harper is 6 for 11 with three home runs and 10 RBIs in his last three games.
Yamamoto, Muncy keep Dodgers surging
Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched a season-high eight innings and was backed by Max Muncy’s first-inning grand slam as the Los Angeles Dodgers won their sixth in a row, 8-2 over the Miami Marlins.
Yamamoto allowed two runs and five hits without a walk and struck out five to win his third straight start.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. homered on Yamamoto’s first pitch of the game, but the Dodgers answered with four runs in the bottom half against Edward Cabrera, who walked two and hit Freddie Freeman before Muncy went deep for the ninth time this season.
Gavin Lux hit a two-run homer to cap a four-run third for Los Angeles, which has won 13 of 15 and outscored opponents 42-11 during the six-game run.
Rangers score 10 in 2nd in win over Athletics
Marcus Semien had two hits and three RBIs during a 10-run second inning and the Texas Rangers rolled to a 15-8 rout of the Oakland Athletics.
Semien finished with four hits and five RBIs, Jonah Heim went 4 for 4 with two RBIs and three runs and Leody Taveras had three hits, two RBIs and three runs as the Rangers won their fourth straight.
Texas sent 16 batters to the plate in the second in its biggest inning since May 13, 2015, when it scored 10 in the third against the Yankees.
Ross Stripling allowed a career-high 11 runs – five earned – and 10 hits in 1 2/3 innings.
Kyle McCann and Seth Brown homered for Oakland, which lost its third in a row after six consecutive wins.
MLB: Ohtani homers again in Dodgers' win
Shohei Ohtani's major league-leading 11th home run of the season helped make Walker Buehler's return to the mound a winning one for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who posted a 6-3 victory over the Miami Marlins on Monday.
The Dodgers homered four times in all to take the opener of this three-game series and extend their winning streak to five games. Ohtani and James Outman delivered two-run blasts, while Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez had solo shots for the reigning National League West champions.
Making his first MLB start since June 2022 after recovering from the second Tommy John surgery of his career, Buehler did not factor in the decision while allowing three runs on six hits with four strikeouts in four innings.
Buehler's return began in a rocky way, as Jazz Chisholm Jr. opened the game with a single before stealing second and scoring on Bryan De La Cruz's base hit. De La Cruz later scored on Jesus Sanchez's single for a 2-0 Miami lead.
The Dodgers quickly pulled even, as Ohtani followed a lead-off walk to Mookie Betts in the bottom of the first with his fourth homer in three games. Two pitches later, Freeman connected off Miami starter Roddery Munoz to put Los Angeles in front.
Nick Gordon's solo homer off Buehler in the second tied the score once again, but Outman sent Los Angeles back ahead in the bottom of the inning with his blast to center that followed a walk to Gavin Lux.
Hernandez's ninth homer of the season increased the lead to 6-3 in the third, and relievers Ryan Yarbrough, Blake Treinen and Alex Vesia combined for five scoreless innings to protect Los Angeles' advantage.
Chisholm and Sanchez each had two hits for the Marlins. Munoz allowed all six Los Angeles runs in 4 2/3 innings of work.
Wheeler, Harper help scorching Phillies finish sweep of Giants
Zack Wheeler struck out 11 over seven innings, Bryce Harper belted a three-run homer for a second consecutive game, and the torrid Philadelphia Phillies completed a four-game sweep of the San Francisco Giants with a 6-1 victory.
Wheeler allowed one unearned run and four hits in a dominant effort that gave Philadelphia its sixth straight win and 10th in a row at home. The Phillies have now won 10 of their last 11 overall and improved to 17-3 since April 15.
The Phillies did have one streak end, however, as Alec Bohm went 0 for 4 to end a run of 18 straight games with at least one hit.
Giants starter Mason Black, making his major league debut, kept the Phillies off the board until the rookie issued back-to-back walks in the fourth inning and gave up a run-scoring single to Whit Merrifield.
Black ran into greater trouble in the fifth, as Kyle Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto began Philadelphia's half of the inning with singles before Harper launched a pitch into the left field seats for a 4-0 lead.
The Giants got their only run in the sixth when Thairo Estrada reached on an error, moved to third on LaMonte Wade Jr.'s single and scored on Wilmer Flores's sacrifice fly.
Schwarber capped the scoring with a solo homer off reliever Tyler Rogers in the eighth.
Black lasted 4 1/3 innings and permitted five runs on eight hits while walking three.
Twins bounce back, win series opener against Mariners
Simeon Woods Richardson allowed just one hit over six scoreless innings for the Minnesota Twins, who scored twice in the seventh inning to earn a 3-1 win over the Seattle Mariners to open a four-game series.
Carlos Correa went 2 for 4 with an RBI double to help Minnesota get back on track following Sunday's 9-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox, which ended the Twins' 12-game winning streak.
Seattle's Luis Castillo held the Twins to one run through six innings, but was touched for two in the seventh as Minnesota broke a 1-1 tie.
Castillo walked Max Kepler to start the Twins' half of the inning and Correa followed with his second double of the night to put two on. Correa advanced to third on a fielder's choice grounder as Kepler was thrown out at the plate, then scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly from Christian Vasquez.
Manuel Margot then greeted reliever Trent Thornton with a run-scoring single that extended the lead to 3-1.
Woods Richardson recorded a career-high eight strikeouts while yielding just a third-inning single to Mitch Garver and a walk to Cal Raleigh in the fifth. The right-hander exited with a 1-0 lead, but reliever Griffin Jax surrendered two hits and a walk in the seventh before Garver got Seattle on the board with a sac fly that plated former Twin Jorge Polanco.
The Twins had gone ahead in the fifth on back-to-back doubles from Kepler and Correa, the first hits Castillo surrendered during the game.
Castillo allowed just three hits overall in 6 2/3 innings, but did walk three and was charged with three runs - two earned - to take the loss.
MLB: Ohtani's two homers help Dodgers sweep
Shohei Ohtani went 4 for 4 and delivered his first two-homer game as a Los Angeles Dodger to power his new team to a 5-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Sunday.
Ohtani's big performance enabled the Dodgers to complete a sweep of this three-game series between National League clubs who each won their division last season.
Two other notable offseason additions also contributed to Los Angeles' fourth straight win. Teoscar Hernandez added a two-run homer, while James Paxton yielded just one run on five hits over 6 2/3 innings to improve to 4-0.
Ohtani staked the Dodgers to an early lead with a two-run homer off Max Fried in the first inning. The 2023 American League MVP later singled in the sixth before Hernandez launched Fried's curveball into the stands in left center field to extend the margin to 4-0.
Paxton kept Atlanta off the scoreboard until the seventh, when Marcell Ozuna connected for his 10th home run of the season to move into a tie with Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson and injured Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout for the major league lead.
Ohtani joined that group an inning later with a titanic 464-foot blast off A.J. Minter in the eighth.
Fried (2-1) struck out seven in seven innings, but was dealt his first loss of 2024 after allowing four runs on just four hits.
Red Sox end Twins' streak as bats break out
Sparked by two-run homers from Ceddane Rafaela and Rafael Devers, the Boston Red Sox broke out of an offensive funk to snap the Minnesota Twins' 12-game winning streak with Sunday's 9-2 victory.
Boston also received two-run doubles from Vaughn Grissom and Dominic Smith to halt a three-game skid in which it scored a combined four runs. The Red Sox had gone six consecutive games without a home run until Rafaela connected off Minnesota starter Joe Ryan in the fifth inning to break a 1-1 tie.
The Twins' 12-game run was tied for the franchise's second-longest winning streak since relocating to Minnesota in 1961, surpassed only by a 15-game stretch in 1991.
Minnesota did own a 1-0 lead following Ryan Jeffers' solo homer off Cooper Criswell in the third inning, but Rob Refsnyder doubled home Jarren Duran in the fourth to pull Boston even.
Rafaela then followed Reese McGuire's single with his fifth homer of the season to give the Red Sox a 3-1 advantage in the fifth. The score remained that way until Boston broke the game open with four runs against the Twins' bullpen in the eighth.
After loading the bases with one out on a Devers single, a Tyler O'Neill double and a walk, Grissom drove in two with an opposite-field double that preceded Smith's two-run double that increased the lead to 7-1.
The Twins got a run back in their half of the eighth when Max Kepler doubled and scored on Trevor Larnach's single, but Devers followed a triple by Duran with his blast off reliever Jay Jackson in the ninth.
Brennan Bernardino received the win after retiring both batters he faced in relief of Criswell, who allowed one run in 4 1/3 innings.
Ryan (1-2) surrendered three runs while striking out five in six innings.
Harper's three-run homer helps Phillies stay hot
Bryce Harper's three-run homer in the third inning provided the biggest blow as the scorching Philadelphia Phillies won their fifth straight game by holding on for a 5-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants.
J.T. Realmuto had three hits and Alec Bohm extended his hitting streak to 18 games to help Philadelphia win for the ninth time in 10 outings. The Phillies, owners of MLB's best record at 24-11, are 16-3 since April 15.
The Phillies also got a strong effort from Taijuan Walker in his second start back from the injured list. The right-hander worked 6 1/3 innings and allowed three runs while striking out seven to move to 2-0.
Walker was touched for a run in the first inning after permitting a single to Lamonte Wade Jr. and a run-scoring double to Michael Conforto. The veteran hurler settled down from there, though, and the Phillies pulled even in the second when Bohm reached second on an error and later crossed the plate on Edmundo Sosa's infield single.
Harper then put Philadelphia ahead in the third when he followed a walk to Kyle Schwarber and a Realmuto single with a drive into the home bullpen off San Francisco starter Logan Webb.
Webb (3-3) struck out six but was removed after throwing 98 pitches in four innings. The Giants' ace was tagged for five runs - four earned - on six hits and two walks.
Walker protected the 5-1 lead until serving up a two-run homer to Thairo Estrada in the seventh. The Giants inched closer on Jakson Reetz's solo homer off Jose Alvarado with one out in the ninth, but the Philadelphia closer retired the next two hitters to record his seventh save of the season.
Reetz's homer was his first in the majors. The catcher had his contract purchased from Triple-A prior to the game.
Bohm kept his hitting streak alive in his final plate appearance when he doubled in the seventh.
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