Baseball

President Barack Obama pardoned baseball Hall of Famer and San Francisco Giants great Willie McCovey on Tuesday of tax evasion. 

According to the Guardian's Ben Jacobs, McCovey was sentenced to two years of probation and fined $5,000 in 1996 after he falsified federal income tax returns.

Jose Bautista may have entered the free-agent waters thinking they would take him to a better, richer harbor. Instead, they've pushed him right back from where he came.

And that's not so bad.

Jose Bautista's search for a contract has come to an end after he agreed to a deal that will keep him with the Toronto Blue Jays; the team made the announcement Wednesday:

Veteran outfielder Josh Hamilton reached an agreement Tuesday to re-sign with the Texas Rangers. 

Former MLB star Alex Rodriguez is set to host a CNBC reality show, Back in the Game, according to Alex Weprin of Politico.

The Chicago Cubs will enter the 2017 season as marked men, looking to undertake the uphill battle that is repeating as World Series champions.

Just three times in the last 30 years has a team managed to win consecutive titles, as the New York Yankees won three in a row from 1998 to 2000 and the Toronto Blue Jays won it all in 1992 and 1993.

The Cubs have the talent to join that exclusive club.

When the Boston Red Sox report for spring training, they'll officially embark on a 2017 season that they hope will result in their fourth World Series title since 2004.

Oh, by the way, the magic date is February 13.

Pitchers and catchers with a predilection for pre-planning (say that five times fast) have already begun packing their bags for Florida and Arizona. Spring training is almost here, people, and not a moment too soon.

As we prepare for the glory of fresh-cut grass and exhibition baseball, let's zoom a lens on the New York Yankees.

For the first time since 1888, the Chicago Cubs visited the White House on Monday to meet President Barack Obama and celebrate the team's first World Series title since 1908.

"They said this day would never come," Obama said to open his remarks, per the ESPN broadcast, amid laughter and applause in the White House. "Here is something my predecessors never got to say: Welcome to the White House the World Series champion Cubs."

Free-agent outfielder Michael Saunders has agreed to a one-year contract with the Philadelphia Phillies.