MLB
Cabrera 1 of 5 AL MVP finalists announced by BBWAA; Kershaw, Verlander try for Cy Young repeat
NEW YORK, N.Y. – Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera is one of five finalists for the AL MVP award in voting by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Division series’ TV ratings down from last year with teams from smaller markets in playoffs
NEW YORK, N.Y. – Television ratings for baseball’s division series are down from last year.

Sign of the times – autographs in baseball go high tech as players and fans connect via iPad
Jim Nash is such a big Yankees fan that he named his son George Mattingly Nash, combining two of his favourite players: George Herman Ruth and Don Mattingly.

Suspended Giants OF Melky Cabrera disqualified from NL batting title at his own request
NEW YORK, N.Y. – Major League Baseball no longer has to worry about having a suspended drug cheat as batting champion.

Broken bat issue returns after Jays pitching coach Walton struck in dugout
TORONTO – Blue Jays pitching coach Bruce Walton was expected to return to the dugout Friday after he was struck by a piece of a broken bat during Toronto’s game against the Seattle Mariners the previous night.

Column: Commissioner has to convince NHL owners concessions will make the league stronger
All these years later, and especially now with the prospect of a lockout looming large this weekend, it’s hard to look at a picture of Gary Bettman without recalling the going-away present one NBA general manager sent the soon-to-be-named NHL commissioner. That was in 1993, when Bettman left his post as general counsel and trusted lieutenant to NBA boss David Stern to try running a league of his own.

Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Justin Timberlake among ‘Stand Up to Cancer’ telethon participants
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – More A-listers have signed on to support the third Stand Up to Cancer telethon.
Person with knowledge of deal: Major League Baseball, ESPN extend TV contract through 2021
NEW YORK, N.Y. – A person with knowledge of the deal says Major League Baseball and ESPN have extended their television contract through 2021.
Monday’s Scoreboard
Monday’s Scores

Red Sox 1B Gonzalez posts: ‘Excited to get back to Cali’ as deal with Dodgers moves closer
Adrian Gonzalez posts on his Twitter account that he’s headed from the Boston Red Sox to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Melky Cabrera associate Juan Nunez banned from ballparks
NEW YORK, N.Y. – Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig has banned Melky Cabrera associate Juan Nunez from all team clubhouses.

Yankees, Cubs, other MLB teams who had Facebook pages hacked
NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Facebook pages of the New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs and several other Major League Baseball clubs have been restored after briefly being hacked.

AP News Break: Spending drops 11 per cent in Major League Baseball draft under new restrictions
NEW YORK, N.Y. – Spending by teams in baseball’s amateur draft dropped by 11 per cent in the first year of restrictions imposed by the new labour contract.

Hollywood-driven Stand Up to Cancer telethon returns in September to raise money, awareness
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – A year after movie producer Laura Ziskin lost her life to cancer, the ambitious telethon she helped start to fight the disease will be back on the air.

Selig critical of film about Dominican prospects produced by Bobby Valentine
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig has spoken to the Boston Red Sox with complaints over a film Bobby Valentine produced about Dominican prospects.