As the Dodgers enter their Shohei Ohtani Era, failure is not an option

Every sports story is a labor story, and this one dates back to 1965 when the fledgling Major League Baseball Players Association began to strengthen in response to the owners’ threat that they would cancel the players’ pension plan. Since then the sport has seen nine work stoppages, some $270 million in owner fines after the players proved the tea... See more

On their own, these avoidable incidents would be forgotten like the thousands of other ejections or calls that have come and gone. But together, they paint a portrait of an umpire who’s played a major role in establishing his own villainous reputation.

“I think he’s stuck in, like, a time warp, you know,” Mets broadcaster and former pitcher Ron Darl... See more