The Mets’ primary focus this winter falls on pitching, catching and center field. So why, according to an industry source, have they expressed an interest in stud free-agent bat Marcell Ozuna?

Because their lineup leans to the left more than Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Ozuna, who just turned 30, will be able to choose from myriad suitors, although his process might take a while thanks to both the COVID-induced Hot Stove slowdown and the collective bargaining over returning the designated hitter to the National League for next season. He spent 2020 with the Braves after signing a one-year, $18-million contract with them in January and rewarded their commitment with a .338/.431/.636 slash line in 60 games. His 18 homers, 56 RBIs and 145 total bases led the NL and his 267 plate appearances paced the entire major leagues as he arguably elevated his status more than any other hitter on this open market.

Despite a tough 2020, Edwin Encarnacion is looking to return next year for his 17th Major League season, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (Twitter link). Encarnacion is on the free agent market after the White Sox declined their $12MM club option on his services.

Signed to a one-year, $12MM deal (with that 2021 option) last winter, Encarnacion struggled in Chicago, hitting only .157/.250/.377 with 10 home runs over 181 plate appearances and posting some ugly Statcast metrics.

One year after signing Hyun-Jin Ryu to the biggest pitching contract in the history of the franchise, the Toronto Blue Jays are once again positioned to be active in the free-agent market.

Compared to super-teams like the Yankees and Dodgers, the Blue Jays have lots of areas that need improvement. And at a time that much of the industry is paring back expenses, the Blue Jays are able to spend. As GM Ross Atkins said when the off-season began, that could mean “talent that is condensed in one player and a super high impact” or it could be complementary players who aren’t quite as splashy.

“Hopefully it’s both,” he concluded.

The Blue Jays need pitching, want to improve their defence and could certainly use another big bat. Under those circumstances, just about every free agent is a potential fit in Toronto, and many trade candidates are, too. But some are better fits than others.

Using MLB Trade Rumors’ invaluable contract predictions as a guideline, let’s take a look at how this year’s top 15 free agents would fit in Toronto (omitted are Marcus Stroman and Kevin Gausman, both of whom accepted qualifying offers in lieu of exploring free agency further).

Theo Epstein is stepping down as president of baseball operations for the Chicago Cubs. After winning World Series with the Cubs and Boston Red Sox, Epstein would be right to take some time off to weep if he sees no more worlds to conquer, but in this economy, at just 46 years-old, he needs a job and he can probably have any one he wants in any field. Here are 10 potential destinations for the free agent.

New York Mets President / General Manager

Epstein was making a ton of money running the Cubs and he was worth every penny. For another club to lure him away, they would probably need some very persuasive money and that's exactly what Steve Cohen, the Mets new owner has. If the Mets want to win, Cohen will have to spend and there is no better investment than Epstein if you're trying to build a contending baseball team.

Chicago Bears General Manager

There are reports that Epstein wants a different challenge. So why not go across town and fix the Bears and become a Chicago legend on par with Jordan, Ditka and upside-down pizza? Working with a salary cap alone could be enough of a challenge to entice him to try it.

Chicago Bears Quarterback

Chicago Bears fans would also be on board with this. Mitch Trubisky and Nick Foles are both battling injuries and when they are healthy they haven't been very good either. If one of them doesn't get healthy, Tyler Bray, who has attempted one pass in the NFL since he went undrafted out of Tennessee in 2013, will start their next game against the Packers. Epstein certainly has better options, but do the Bears?

Left-hander Clayton Kershaw will start Game 1 of the World Series for the Los Angeles Dodgers, per the Los Angeles Times' Bill Shaikin.

The Tampa Bay Rays announced earlier Monday that right-hander Tyler Glasnow will get the call when the series starts at Globe Life Field on Tuesday at 8:09 p.m. ET.

As the Dodgers head to their third World Series in four years following a 3-1 series comeback against the Atlanta Braves, Kershaw will make his third career Game 1 World Series start.

There’s little inevitable about any World Series, but here’s a headline you can probably already write about the 116th Fall Classic pitting the Los Angeles Dodgers against the Tampa Bay Rays:

Hey, it’s nothing against the Dodgers and Rays. It’s just that the ratings game is a tough gig right now for any sport. Same goes for almost any programming not geared toward the upcoming election or the pandemic that has driven this Series away from SoCal and the Gulf Coast and instead to a neutral site residing, literally, in the shadow of the NFL.

The paucity of fans – some 11,000 will be allowed to attend games at brand new Globe Life Field, just a fly ball down the road from ostentatious and overwhelming AT&T Stadium – and the neutral site will certainly dull some of the event’s aesthetics.

And let’s be honest: The Rays aren’t exactly on the lips of anyone at your mythical office water cooler.

They won more games than anyone in the American League, but their penchant for platooning and player churn make them largely unrecognizable beyond the I-4 corridor.

With that, a look at the Rays you truly need to know before they match up with the glitzier, World Series-seasoned, Mookie Betts-having Dodgers:

Randy Arozarena: Breakin’ II

A month ago, Arozarena was known to a small circle of Cardinals and Rays fans, as well as supporters of the Mexican League’s Toros de Tijuana and those who witnessed his power and speed as a youngster in Cuba.

But seven home runs over two playoff series – including a vanquishing of the New York Yankees and the antiheroic Houston Astros – have a funny way of increasing someone’s appeal.

The Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) has announced a new award to honor baseball labor luminary Curt Flood. The award, which will be part of the annual Players' Choice awards, will be given, in the words of a statement released by the MLBPAA, "a former player, living or deceased, who in the image of Flood demonstrated a selfless, longtime devotion to the Players Association and advancement of Players' rights."

The announcement marks the 50th anniversary of Flood's legal challenge of the reserve clause, which once upon a time bound a player to one team until the team decided to release or trade that player. While Flood's bid to weaken the clause failed after reaching the Supreme Court in 1972, it paved the way for a later successful challenge, which in the mid-1970s led to advent of free agency. Without Flood's sacrifices, that hard-won player freedom may not have come to pass for another generation.

Former Houston Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow feels he was unfairly targeted as a scapegoat in the sign-stealing scandal that raised questions about the legitimacy of the Astros' 2017 World Series title and ultimately cost him his job.

If he had known about it, Luhnow said, he would have tried to shut down the system in which video technicians stole opposing teams' signs and relayed them to Astros coaches and players on the field.

"It was bad. It shouldn’t have happened. Our team broke the rules. And I’m sure there was some advantage gained from breaking the rules," he told reporter Vanessa Richardson of Houston's KPRC television in his first one-on-one interview since he was fired in January.

"But, unfortunately, had I known about it, I would have stopped it. Nobody came to me and told me it was going on, and I just didn’t know.”

Luhnow said he cooperated fully with a three-month MLB investigation into the allegations and was "shocked" when he was implicated in the scandal. He said he even told MLB commissioner Rob Manfred he would be willing to take a lie detector test to prove his innocence.

Stop us if you've heard this one before, but Mike Trout is very good and the Los Angeles Angels are, well, not.

As can happen with even the best of jokes, this one's starting to get old.

To be clear, the joke's not on the aforementioned superstar center fielder. Though Trout was cool enough for a while there for his OPS to dip under—gasp!—the .900 mark as recently as August 25, he's since gone on a Trout-ian hot streak with 15 hits, 12 walks and five home runs since August 28.

The 29-year-old was so hot at one point that he made just one out in the span of 15 plate appearances.

Altogether, Trout has played in 39 games and put up a .293/.392/.653 slash line with an MLB-high-tying 15 home runs. He's on track for a fourth straight season of at least a 180 OPS+. Between 2017 and 2019, only one other player reached that mark so much as once.

This, of course, is but one of many feathers in a cap that could easily be mistaken for a head-bound peacock at this point.

Within this underwhelming Mets pitching rotation, less might actually be more.

Continued struggles from that unit, coupled with two days off in the next five, at least seem to have team brass considering a four-man rotation for the short term. In such a scenario, disappointing Michael Wacha would likely be thrown into the bullpen for at least one turn.

Before the Mets’ 7-6 win over the Orioles Wednesday at Citi Field, manager Luis Rojas wouldn’t rule out the idea of a four-man rotation as the Mets attempt to resurrect a season on the brink of imploding.

The Mets won’t need a fifth starter until Sept. 19 when they face the Braves.

Major League Baseball and the players union are moving towards an agreement for the final three rounds of the postseason, with the entire World Series to be played at a neutral site. Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, would stage the World Series as well as the National League Championship Series, two officials with direct knowledge of the negotiations told USA TODAY Sports.

The officials were granted anonymity since the deal has yet to be finalized.

The only holdup, the two officials said, are the details on the health and safety protocols for the proposed bubbles in Texas and Southern California. The bubble format would minimize the chance of a coronavirus outbreak like the ones that shut down the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals.

Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez's last-ditch effort to purchase the New York Mets appears to have been a whole lot of smoke.

The celebrity couple made waves earlier this week by announcing they weren't abandoning their bid for the Mets, despite billionaire Steve Cohen in exclusive negotiations with the Wilpon family. However, a source told Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News that the revamped J-Rod offer is "total bullshit."

Rodriguez and Lopez claimed this week their offer was either close to, or better than, Cohen's reported bid of around $2.35 billion.

New York Mets owners Jeff and Fred Wilpon are inching closer to selling their franchise, and the most star-studded group looking to buy the team may be the one that wins the bid.

Multiple MLB executives told USA Today’s Bob Nightengale that the ownership group led by Alex Rodriguez and his fiancee Jennifer Lopez is considered the “clear-cut favorite” to win the Mets bid. The interested parties reportedly have until Aug. 31 to submit their best offers.

Despite the Reds’ and Pirates’ most recent test results showing no positive tests, the two teams will not play a makeup doubleheader on Monday in Cincinnati, as reported by Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Also per Mackey, Bucs skipper Derek Shelton said that “MLB has decided protocol-wise that they did not want us to play Monday.” Tomorrow will mark the third consecutive day that the two teams will have been out of action following a positive test within the Reds organization.

Chaim Bloom was in Pawtucket on Sunday morning to watch some of the Red Sox prospects get in a workout ahead of the rain.

These days it’s better to dream about the future when you’re the chief baseball officer of the Red Sox. The present is too painful.

It was clear the Sox would take a step back after trading Mookie Betts and David Price. When Chris Sale was subsequently lost to elbow surgery and Eduardo Rodriguez to complications from COVID-19, the challenge was simply to be competitive and at that they have failed.

The pitching staff is historically dreadful, the hitters are underachieving, and the defense is unreliable outside of a few players.

In a conversation before a 4-2 loss against the Yankees that dropped the Sox to 6-16 after seven consecutive losses, Bloom was asked where the responsibility lies.

Major League Baseball players who test positive for COVID-19 and continue to test positive can apply to return to play in 10 days, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network.

Players who request early reinstatement are likely allowed back after 14 days, even with continued positive tests, Heyman added. The MLB-MLBPA joint committee will need to approve any returns.

The 2020 MLB season rolls on and it’s already proven to be a wild ride with some teams already a quarter through the 60-game schedule, while the St. Louis Cardinals have only played five games.

A key matchup this week between the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays provided us a potential sneak preview of a clash in October. While that series might have drawn the headlines, it’s another AL team that is shooting up the power rankings and claims the No. 2 spot behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.

As we look ahead to the upcoming week of MLB games, there’s plenty for baseball fans to get excited about. We’ll see a few top-10 teams clash during the upcoming slate in what should be another exciting week of baseball. Before we dive into the games ahead, though, we must examine where things stand in MLB after the weekend.

Let’s take a look at the latest update to our in-season MLB power rankings.

1. Los Angeles Dodgers

The San Francisco Giants seem to be the Dodgers’ kryptonite. Credit it to the wildness of an unusual season or the nature of an epic rivalry, but it’s proven to be true in seven meetings this season. Outside of that, the Dodgers are rolling and they should get even better once Cody Bellinger heats up and Corey Seager is healthy.

2. Oakland Athletics

Since dropping three straight to end July, the Athletics have gone streaking. While the lineup drew most of the attention before the year, the rotation is carrying this club right now. Chris Bassitt (1.08 ERA) and Frankie Montas (1.57 ERA) are dominating, while Jesús Luzardo is making an early case for Rookie of the Year. An eight-game winning streak could reach double digits with an upcoming set against the Los Angeles Angels.

3. New York Yankees

New York skated by with an easy schedule to begin the season and knew a major test was coming against the Tampa Bay Rays. While they lost some close games, dropping three-of-four isn’t a great look, especially with the Atlanta Braves on deck. One thing is for certain, Gleyber Torres (.157 BA) and Gary Sanchez (.103 BA) need to turn things around.

4. Chicago Cubs

The Cubs are one-fifth of the way through the 2020 MLB season and they are riding a wave of confidence, even after their series against the St. Louis Cardinals was wiped out. A 10-3 record is a great place for this club to be, but there is reason for concern. Between their 4.38 team ERA and only a +7 run differential, this team is due for some regression. Fortunately, the hot start means they are an easy bet to make the postseason.

Arizona Diamondbacks pitchers surrendered six home runs in the first three innings against the San Diego Padres on Sunday. With the Padres up big and launching balls out of Petco Park left and right, D-backs TV commentator Bob Brenly had enough and let his moronic ideals of baseball flow out of the clenched sphincter he calls a mouth. Brenly essentially said Arizona's pitchers should start throwing at San Diego's hitters.

Brenly started his statement with, "I'm not advocating this at all." He went on to say no team he ever played on would allow six home runs in three innings and not put an opposing batter "on their back in that batters box." It's obvious from his tone that he was saying back in his day things were better because of that.

The benches cleared when A’s outfielder Ramón Laureano appeared to hear something Houston Astros hitting coach Alex Cintrón said coming out of the visitor’s dugout during the A’s 7-2 win on Sunday.

Laureano was hit by a pitch from Astros reliever Humberto Castellanos in the bottom of the seventh inning. When Laureano got to first base, Cintrón said something to him from the dugout. That’s when madness ensued.

Laureano and A’s catcher Austin Allen were ejected from the game, but no members of the Astros were thrown out.

A’s manager Bob Melvin said Laureano would have never gone over to the Astros dugout unless something extremely offensive was said.

Who needs a Yankees-Red Sox rivalry — currently deader than the VCR — when you have a burgeoning Yankees-Rays rivalry?

Even if Sunday saw a turndown of Saturday’s heat that saw the ejection of Yankees manager Aaron Boone and his hitting coach Marcus Thames, tranquility hardly reigned. Instead, chirping, a staredown and post-game trash talk ran a thread through the Yankees’ 4-3 loss to the Rays at Tropicana Field that gave Tampa Bay the series victory, three games out of four.

“It’s pretty frustrating to have them think that you’re not able to chirp and say anything back to them. They’ve been doing it the whole time and for us to not be able to do it back, it’s a little childish,” Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe said after the game. “You’ve got to wear it. If it’s going to happen, just wear it.”