'Big Hurt' bids baseball farewell

BOSTON (AP) — Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz is planning to retire after the 2016 season.

The New York Yankees and New York Mets are expected to be active in the two weeks before MLB's trade deadline, and they could be going after the same player, Ben Zobrist.

CHICAGO (AP) — Hall of Fame slugger Ernie Banks, the two-time MVP who never lost his boundless enthusiasm for baseball despite years of playing on losing Chicago Cubs teams, died Friday night. He was 83.

Today, former White Sox first baseman and designated hitter Frank Thomas, along with former pitchers Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine and former managers Bobby Cox, Tony LaRussa and Joe Torre, were inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

CHICAGO (AP) — Chris Sale matched a career high with 15 strikeouts while pitching seven scoreless innings, and the Chicago White Sox snapped the crosstown Cubs' nine-game win streak with a 3-1 win on Sunday.

Miguel Cabrera is the two-time reigning American League MVP and arguably the best hitter in baseball. If we look at his career statistics he is starting to look an awful lot like Hank Aaron, a player many consider one of the best in baseball history. Both players began their careers at age 20. Cabrera has had 7.306 plate appearances in his career and is hitting .320 with 371 home runs and a .567 slugging percentage. Through the same number of plate appearances, Aaron was hitting .320 with 372 home runs and a .567 slugging percentage according to Baseball-Reference.com.

NEW YORK (AP) — Here's how stacked the NL Cy Young race is: Max Scherzer struck out 276 batters with a 2.79 ERA and became the first major leaguer in 42 years to throw two no-hitters in one season.