Jose Abreu tested negative for COVID-19 and is set to link with the Chicago White Sox ahead of their American League Division Series (ALDS) opener against the Houston Astros.
Abreu – the reigning AL MVP – had been dealing with flu-like symptoms and did not travel with the White Sox to Houston on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, White Sox manager Tony La Russa confirmed star Abreu would link up with the team and be a game-day decision for Thursday's Game 1 in the best-of-five series at Minute Maid Park.
"He caught a bit of the flu," La Russa told a news conference. "He got to the workout [in Chicago] and he had been through a tough night with fever.
"Now we're all brimming with happiness and excitement because his fever broke and he passed the test, which [is] mandatory and he'll be flying back here tonight [Wednesday]."
Abreu – a three-time Silver Slugger and three-time All-Star – batted .261 with 30 home runs and 117 RBIs during the regular season.
The 34-year-old also had a franchise-best slugging percentage of .481 and OPS of .831 in 2021, along with 86 runs and 148 hits from 566 at-bats.
"I think he's the biggest key that we need healthy," White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson added. "But I'm sure you know, we all know, how stubborn he is, and you know he's not going to want to sit out. He's not going to be happy about that."
The White Sox also announced Lance Lynn and Lucas Giolito as their starters for Game 1 and 2 against the Astros.
Chicago finished the regular season at 93-69 to top the AL Central, while the Astros were 95-67 to lead the AL West division.
MLB: Sale beats Yankees as surging Braves pound Rodon
Chris Sale became the third in the majors to reach 10 wins and Ozzie Albies, Matt Olson and Austin Riley homered off Carlos Rodon as the surging Atlanta Braves rolled to an 8-1 rout of the New York Yankees on Friday night.
Sale allowed one hit and one run over five innings with three walks and eight strikeouts to join Philadelphia’s Ranger Suarez and Kansas City’s Seth Lugo as 10-game winners.
Four relievers finished up the three-hitter.
The Braves built a 2-0 lead on Rodon’s first two pitches as Jarred Kelenic singled before Albies homered to left.
Riley added his seventh home run later in the inning for a 3-0 lead. He finished 2 for 3 with two walks and has 12 hits in his last 22 at-bats, including four homers and four doubles.
Kelenic singled home a run in the second and Ramon Laureano doubled home another run in the third. Olson’s two-run blast in the fourth made it 7-1 and an error by left fielder Jahmai Jones allowed the eighth run to score.
Atlanta has won four in a row and seven of its last eight games.
Rodon, who also was bidding for his 10th victory, was tagged for season highs of eight runs and 11 hits in 3 2/3 innings. He lost his second straight start following a personal seven-game winning streak.
The Yankees have lost three straight and five of six after winning 12 of 15.
Ohtani homers against former team in loss
Shohei Ohtani hit a two-run homer in his first game against his former team, but Taylor Ward singled home the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th inning to lift the Los Angeles Angels to a 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Nolan Schanuel sacrificed automatic runner Jo Adell to third to open the 10th. Evan Phillips then retired Luis Rengifo on a groundout with Adell holding, but Ward followed with a single to left to give the Angels their first lead of the game.
Ohtani’s two-run blast off reliever Matt Moore in the fifth opened the scoring. It was his National League-leading 22nd homer of the season and seventh in the last 11 games.
He finished 2 for 3 with two RBIs and two walks in his first game against the Angels, the team he spent his first six major league seasons with before signing a 10-year contract with the Dodgers in December.
The Angels tied it in the next inning when Zach Neto was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and an RBI groundout from Mickey Moniak.
Mets hammer Imanaga, Cubs
J.D. Martinez, Francisco Alvarez and Brandon Nimmo homered against Shota Imanaga to power the New York Mets to an 11-1 drubbing of the Chicago Cubs.
Francisco Lindor had three hits and two runs and Jose Iglesias added four hits and three RBIs to help the Mets win for the eighth time in nine games.
They are 12-3 in their last 15 games and averaging 6.6 runs during that stretch.
Imanaga was roughed up for 10 runs and 11 hits in three-plus innings after he pitched seven innings of three-hit ball in a 1-0 win over the Mets on May 1. His ERA ballooned from 1.89 to 2.96 following the shortest outing of his rookie season.
Jose Quintana allowed one unearned run and four hits over 6 1/3 innings while striking out eight in his second straight win.
Orioles hammer Gil, roll to 17-5 rout of Yankees
The New York Yankees turned to the American League ERA leader in their series finale with the Baltimore Orioles.
The Orioles turned the tables on Luis Gil.
Baltimore scored seven runs off Gil and clubbed three homers in rolling to a 17-5 win over the Yankees in the Bronx on Thursday.
Cedric Mullins hit a two-run homer off Gill as part of a six-run second inning, while Anthony Santander and Austin Hays also homered for the Orioles, who improved to 5-2 against the Yankees this season.
Baltimore (49-25) set a major league record by winning a 22nd consecutive series against an AL East opponent and moved one-half game back of New York (51-26) for first place in the division.
Gil entered the game with a league-leading 2.03 ERA, but was tagged for seven runs and recorded just four outs in his shortest outing of the season. His ERA ballooned to 2.77 after the Orioles battered him, and New York was forced to use seven relief pitchers.
Baltimore pounded out a season-high 19 hits - including seven doubles - with Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman and Ryan Mountcastle each registering three hits apiece.
Mountcastle had a bases-clearing double and an RBI single, while Ryan O'Hearn also drove in four runs.
Aaron Judge hit his major league-leading 27th homer in his return to the lineup after missing Wednesday's 7-6, 10-inning loss to the Orioles, one day after he was hit on the left hand by a pitch in Tuesday's 4-2 series-opening win.
Judge also hit a run-scoring single for the Yankees, who got a homer from Gleyber Torres before he exited with a groin injury in the fifth inning.
Cardinals beat Giants in game honouring Mays, Negro Leagues
The St. Louis Cardinals held on for a 6-5 win over the San Francisco Giants in the first MLB game played at historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama.
Played at the 114-year-old stadium - the oldest professional ballpark in the United States - the game had been scheduled to honour former Negro League players, including Hall of Famer Willie Mays, who played for the Birmingham Black Barons.
The tribute produced an additional emotional element with Mays passing away on Tuesday.
In the game, the Cardinals jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning - highlighted by Brendan Donovan's two-run homer.
Donovan, who grew up in Alabama, also singled and doubled and finished with three RBIs.
Alec Burleson scored three runs and Masyn Winn scored twice for the Cardinals (37-37), who won for the first time in three games to move back to .500.
Heliot Ramos hit a game-tying three-run home run in the third inning for the Giants (36-40), but St. Louis quickly responded with two runs in the bottom half of the inning.
Ohtani homers as Dodgers beat Rockies
Shohei Ohtani led off with a homer and the Los Angeles Dodgers went on to beat the Colorado Rockies 5-3 to take three of four in the series.
Ohtani's homer was his 21st, while Will Smith and Freddie Freeman each hit their 11th home run, going back-to-back in the fourth inning for the Dodgers (47-30).
Freeman had two hits, and is batting .378 with three homers and nine runs in his last 10 games, while Ohtani is 10 for 21 (.476) with four home runs, three doubles, nine RBIs and eight runs in his last five contests.
The Dodgers next play Friday against the Los Angeles Angels, which will be Ohtani's first game against his former team since signing a 10-year, $700million deal with the Dodgers in the off-season.
Gavin Stone won his fourth straight decision and improved to 8-2, permitting two runs while matching a season high with seven strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings.
Since giving up eight runs in his first two starts of the season, Stone has allowed two runs or fewer in 10 of 12 starts.
Ryan McMahon hit his 13th homer and had his third straight two-hit game for the Rockies (26-49), who lost for the fourth time in five games.
Orioles hold off Yankees in 10 innings after Cole makes season debut
The Baltimore Orioles' Cedric Mullins ended Gerrit Cole's long-awaited season debut in the fifth inning.
Five innings later, he sent the New York Yankees to a loss.
Mullins hit the go-ahead single in the 10th inning and later scored on a throwing error as the Orioles held on to beat the Yankees 7-6 on Wednesday.
The game went to extras on Giancarlo Stanton's run-scoring single off Baltimore closer Craig Kimbrel with one out in the ninth.
Two innings earlier, Stanton's three-run home run off reliever Yennier Cano pulled New York within one run at 5-4.
In the 10th, Mullins' tie-breaking single scored Anthony Santander, and he made it to second base on the throw to the plate. He then stole third and came around to score as catcher Jose Trevino overthrew third baseman DJ LeMahieu.
With the win, Baltimore (48-25) pulled within 1 1/2 games of New York for first place in the AL East.
The Yankees (51-25) were playing without Aaron Judge after he was hit on the left hand by a pitch in Tuesday's 4-2 win in the series opener.
While New York was without its star slugger it did get its pitching ace back.
Cole had been on the injured list since experiencing nerve inflammation and swelling in his pitching elbow during spring training and delivered an encouraging performance.
The 2023 AL Cy Young Award winner allowed two runs and three hits while striking out five and walking one in four-plus innings.
He permitted a single to Mullins to lead off the fifth inning and was promptly pulled after throwing 62 pitches.
Bibee, Naylor lead Guardians in rout of Mariners
Tanner Bibee struck out a career-high 12 batters and Josh Naylor homered twice as the Guardians rolled to an 8-0 win over the Seattle Mariners in a matchup of American League division leaders.
Naylor drove in four runs, and got things started with a run-scoring single in the first inning.
That would be all the offence Bibee would need, as he limited the Mariners to three hits and a walk over six innings.
Steven Kwan hit a two-run homer and singled and has hit safely in all 13 games since missing nearly four weeks with a strained left hamstring, batting .510 with nine RBIs and 13 runs scored during his hitting streak.
Jose Ramirez and Bo Naylor also each had a pair of hits for the AL Central-leading Guardians (45-26), who snapped a three-game losing streak and bounced back from Tuesday's 8-5 setback in the series opener.
The AL West-leading Mariners (44-32) lost for just the second time in 10 games and were shutout for the first time since May 30.
Rangers break up no-hitter to end Mets' seven-game winning streak
Leody Taveras came off the bench to hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning to lead the Texas Rangers to a 5-3 win over the New York Mets.
The Rangers (34-40) ended a five-game losing streak and snapped the Mets' seven-game winning streak.
Texas prevailed despite being no-hit into the sixth inning.
Mets starter Sean Manaea retired the game's first two batters before issuing three consecutive walks to load the bases. He then hit Wyatt Langford with a pitch to force in a run before getting Nathaniel Lowe to ground into a fielder's choice to end the inning.
Manaea then retired the next 13 batters before giving up his first hit on Robbie Grossman's single with one out in the sixth inning.
Pete Alonso hit his 16th homer for the Mets (35-38), who lost for just the third time in 14 games.
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