No. 1 draft pick Bazzana signs with Guardians

CLEVELAND — Travis Bazzana, the top overall pick in the MLB amateur draft out of Oregon State, signed his first professional contract with the Cleveland Guardians on Friday. Bazzana formally inked a deal at Progressive Field, agreeing to an $8.95 million contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the amount of the contract has not been announced. MLB assigned a $10.57 million slot value to the top pick, but the 21-year-old second baseman from Australia was realistic about the process, saying, "I was never going to get slot money anywhere." "I wanted to be in a place where I could flourish and, with the identity of the way the Guardians play the game, this is where I wanted to be," the 6-foot, 199-pound Bazzana said. "I put my trust in my great agents, but they knew I wanted to be a Guard." The left-handed hitting Bazzana will be assigned to Class-A Lake County and could make his minor league debut later this month. The Captains play in Eastlake, Ohio, an 18-mile drive from downtown Cleveland. Bazzana is scheduled to take batting practice with the Guardians on Saturday before the second game of the team's series against San Diego. He is the first No. 1 overall pick in franchise history and the first second baseman to be the top selection. "I've been watching Jose Ramirez highlights over and over, then you get out there and say, 'What's up?' to him," Bazzana said of Cleveland's six-time All-Star third baseman. "That's when it sinks in a little bit." In three seasons with Oregon State, Bazzana batted .360 with 45 home runs and 165 RBIs. He hit .407 with 28 homers and 66 RBIs this season. "I hope sports fans back in Australia will become Guardians fans and follow Major League Baseball," he said. "It's exciting, knowing that the next Travis Bazzana can sit at home and watch me on my journey." Dodgers and Cubs open 2025 season in Tokyo NEW YORK — The Los Angeles Dodgers and Shohei Ohtani will open the 2025 season in Tokyo against the Chicago Cubs on March 18 and the Athletics will start the home portion of their first season in Sacramento against the Cubs on March 31. All 30 teams are scheduled for March 27, marking the earliest opening day other than international games, Major League Baseball announced. There were games on March 28 in 2019 and this season. Each team will play six games against its prime interleague rival instead of four, increasing matchups between the New York Yankees and Mets, the Dodgers and Los Angeles Angels, Cubs and Chicago White Sox, and Athletics and San Francisco Giants. What is being called a Rivalry Weekend is scheduled for May 16-18 and includes the prime interleague rivalries along with Pittsburgh vs Philadelphia, Colorado vs. Arizona, Detroit vs. Toronto and Houston vs. Texas. In the third straight season of a return to a balanced schedule, a team will play 13 games against each division rival and six or seven against each other club in its league for a total of 62. The remaining 48 games are against interleague opponents, with a single three-game series against each of the 14 other clubs in the opposite league. Teams will be home against the same interleague opponents they hosted in 2023. The Dodgers and Cubs will play at the Tokyo Dome on March 18-19, marking the 25th anniversary of the Mets and Cubs playing MLB's first regular-season games in Japan. The All-Game will be at Atlanta's Truist Park on July 15 and the regular season ends Sept. 28. A's exec says club won't use all public moneyLAS VEGAS — Oakland Athletics executive Sandy Dean told the Las Vegas Stadium Authority that the club does not expect to spend the entire $380 million in public money allocated to build a new stadium in Las Vegas. Dean said the A's plan to spend $350 million of those funds, leaving $30 million on the table. He also told the authority that the club plans to finance $300 million of the stadium cost, but no lenders have been secured. "We've had strong interest from a number of companies that want to participate in that portion of the project," Dean said. The other $850 million needed to build the $1.5 billion stadium would come from private equity. The A's hope to open the 33,000-seat ballpark for the 2028 season.