WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — These are the new sounds of spring for the Houston Astros: a fan banging on a trash can, another calling José Altuve a cheater. That’s what greeted the Astros…

NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball is considering expanding the playoffs to nearly half the 30 teams and allowing higher-seeded wild-card teams to choose opponents. The playoffs would grow from 10 clubs to 14…

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The moment that sticks in the memory is a loud and wet and smoky Royals clubhouse, another wild celebration with the volume turned up to 12. Tarps protected lockers. Music blared.…

NEW YORK (AP) — Technology unleashed baseball’s Analytics Era, and now it’s holding the sport prisoner. AJ Hinch, Alex Cora and Carlos Beltrán are casualties, a triple play of hubris. At the cutting edge with…

BOSTON (AP) — Alex Cora has already been identified as a ringleader in an illegal system of sign stealing when he was with the Houston Astros. The Red Sox didn’t wait to see what punishment…

AJ Hinch won’t be managing in the big leagues any time soon, if at all. Alex Cora will soon join him in the unemployment line, and it’s hard to believe anyone will ever give him…

NEW YORK (AP) — Computer plate umpires could be called up to the major leagues at some point during the next five seasons. Umpires agreed to cooperate with Major League Baseball in the development and…

SEATTLE — This column is not exactly directed at Josh Gordon and his heartbreaking situation. There are some extenuating circumstances that make Gordon an entity unto himself — the repeated violations of the NFL’s substance-abuse…

NEW YORK — A scout who spent time last season following the Astros around, trying to figure out how to beat Gerrit Cole offered up one thought that the right-hander could struggle when he puts…

ARLINGTON, Texas — John Sherman wore a dark gray suit with a purple tie on the biggest day of his public life. He can never again just be a self-made billionaire who married a Kansas…