The 2026 World Series opens Oct. 23 and could run to Halloween night. Five decades of playoff expansion explain why the Fall Classic keeps landing later on the calendar.

Major League Baseball has no salary cap, just a $244 million threshold, escalating tax rates, and a Dodgers front office that's turned paying it into strategy.

Three days before MLB's Aug. 3 deadline, Mike Trout and Willson Contreras each shut down trade talk in the same week, one leaning on 10-and-5 rights, the other on a negotiated no-trade clause.