MLB

Oakland A's catcher Bruce Maxwell -- the only MLB player who took a knee this season -- tells TMZ Sports he was confronted by a pro-Trump waiter at an Alabama restaurant who refused to serve him.

"He was like, 'You're the guy who took the knee? I voted for Trump and I stand for everything he stands for.'"

Maxwell says it all went down at a lunch with a local politician -- and after they complained to management, they got a new server.

But Maxwell says there's been a lot of POSITIVES that have come from his demonstration -- including a new friendship with Colin Kaepernick who's sort of mentoring him now.

"The dude's so positive," Maxwell says ... "He's such a strong, level-headed individual."

"His friendship definitely helps. His guidance comes through that. And just being able to use him as a sounding board some days does me some good."

Maxwell also says some very big names from both the NFL and MLB have reached out to lend their support ... guys like Dusty Baker, Coco Crisp, Torii Hunter, Adam Jones and more.

He hopes to unite everyone to help spread Colin's message. We know where they WON'T be having the next lunch meeting.

The Dodgers might have an even BIGGER advantage in the World Series -- because 'Walking Dead' star Jeffrey Dean Morgan says he's willing to loan his beloved barbed wire bat to Kiké Hernandez.

JDM -- whose character, Negan, has been using his bat, Lucille, to smash heads on the show since 2016 -- was at LAX when we started talkin' baseball.

First off, this dude is the coolest ... taking pics and signing for everyone who recognized him.

But when it came to the legendary bat -- Morgan says there's one guy in New York he REALLY wants to give it to ... if the Astros hadn't spoiled the party.

#MaybeNextYear

Can't have a playoff beard when you're not in the playoffs.

After the L.A. Dodgers beat up on the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS, pitcher Jake Arrieta decided to axe his October face warmer ... and dammit, he's beautiful.

Jake's wife Brittany had to show off Arrieta's clean-cut look on social media -- saying, "Well hello there #MyOffseasonBoyfriend."

Can't really give Arrieta too much grief -- he was lights out in the NLCS -- leading the Cubs to their only win during that series.

The Astros have touched down in L.A. -- and the pitchers are already hitting the hot spots!

Justin Verlander and Dallas Keuchel -- along with relief pitcher Tyler Clippard hit up Delilah in West Hollywood on Sunday evening ... one of the hottest joints in town (Bieber was there last month).

Don't worry ... nothing crazy happened. They all appeared sober and left before midnight.

Justin said the guys were gonna try and win the World Series for the city of Houston. Keuchel said the guys feel pretty good about their chances.

It would be awesome if it happened ... but the Dodgers tell TMZ Sports ... Vin Scully will NOT be firing up his legendary microphone for a World Series cameo.

The greatest Dodgers broadcaster of all time retired last year -- but many are holding out hope he will come back to work to call an inning or two now that the Blue Crew is playing in the WS.

But unfortunately, it ain't gonna happen.

We spoke with Dodgers exec. Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Lon Rosen who tells us, "Neither Vin Scully nor Sandy Koufax will be returning to action for the World Series. They will be enjoying the Dodgers like all the rest of our great fans."

Scully watched the Dodgers clinch the NLCS from the couch with his wife and daughter -- and they were so excited, they tweeted out a celebratory pic!

Early Friday morning, Vin emailed with L.A. Daily News reporter Tom Hoffarth about the possibility of a World Series broadcast booth cameo and said, "I honestly don’t feel I belong there and I would not want anyone to think I was eager for a spotlight."

We reached out to Vin's daughter Cat who tells us Vin's "really enthused" about the Dodgers making the World Series and is considering going to at least 1 game ... but as of now, there's "nothing percolating" about a comeback.

Here's 40 seconds of Jamie Foxx showing love to Dodgers ... right after busting out his Stephen A. Smith impression on the streets of L.A. -- and it's pretty hilarious.

Foxx had appeared on ESPN's "First Take" early Thursday morning in full costume and makeup as "Cleveland A. Smith" ... Stephen's equally excitable brother.

Hours after the show, he was still doing the Stephen A. voice -- "Ballers are gonna ball" -- before showing love to the Dodgers.

After smashing 3 home runs and clinching the National League pennant -- Dodgers hero Kiké Hernandez had a message for his team ... WE AIN'T DONE YET!!

Hernandez gave the victory speech in the locker room after the Dodgers punched their ticket to the World Series on Thursday night ... and it was awesome.

"First of all great job," Kiké said ... "I don't remember the last time the Dodgers got to the World Series 'cause I wasn't even born yet!"

Then this -- "We got 4 f**king games to go!"

Congrats!

The Yankees are screwed. So are the Astros ... because whatever team wins the ALCS is a lamb to slaughter for the L.A. Dodgers -- so says Steve Garvey.

There is one catch ... Garvey says the Blue Crew needs to clinch tonight and lock up the pennant over the Cubs -- and if/when that happens, the momentum will carry L.A. right to a championship.

Garvey knows what it takes to get the job done -- he won the World Series with the Dodgers back in 1981 and was a 2-time NLCS MVP.

Former L.A. Dodgers and N.Y. Yankees second baseman Steve Sax has a bone to pick with the company that made his bobbleheads -- he says it screwed him out of some cash for his John Hancock.

Sax claims he made a deal with sports gear company Forever Collectibles for $10,000 -- allowing them to produce a bunch of bobbleheads in his likeness and sell them at an event in June ... and he'd sign about 504 of the 'heads.

According to the legal docs that all worked out fine, but Sax says FC also agreed to pay him another $5,000 to be at the event and sign extra autographs and inscriptions ... which he claims he did.

The problem, according to the suit, is the company never coughed up the additional dough. Now he's going after them for the $5k ... plus interest.

A Dodgers World Series would be a HUGE win for the entire country -- so says longtime L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Not that he's biased or anything.

We got Mayor V -- who was in office from '05 to '13 -- out at Craig's ... and dude was straight beaming over his Boys in Blue -- declaring them America's team and saying this is absolutely their year.

"It would be great for the city of Los Angeles. It's great for America. Everybody loves the Dodgers," Antonio told TMZ Sports.

Don't know about that ... but we do know one celeb who's on the bandwagon.

From one 'Long Beach legend' to another ... Snoop Dogg had HIGH praise for Dodgers hero Justin Turner after crushing a 3-run walk-off homer against the Cubs Sunday night.

Snoop is known for giving his hilarious commentary -- both positive and negative -- for his favorite sports teams. This time, he was lovin' the late-game drama from his fellow L.B. native.

J.T. took notice ... and thanked the rap icon for the shout-out on Instagram.

David Ortiz says he's got a great idea which teams are gonna end up in the World Series ... and in true Red Sox fashion, he's showing no love for the Bronx Bombers.

TMZ Sports spoke with the Boston legend and current FS1 analyst at Mastro's in Beverly Hills about his fall classic picks ... and Big Papi has no faith in the Yanks to bounce back from being down 0-2.

Derek Jeter got a proper Miami introduction on Thursday night -- a star-studded welcome bash co-hosted by P. Diddy!!

The new Marlins owner turned up with Diddy and friends at KOMODO ... with huge artists like DJ Khaled, Busta Rhymes, French Montana and Prince Royce also coming through.

We're told Diddy's signature Ciroc vodka was free-flowin' ... and that Puff even stood up to toast the former Yankees captain at the end of the night.

A bunch of the gang headed to STORY Nightclub for the after-party ... but not Jeter.

DJ's an MLB CEO (and Dad) now -- probably the right call.

Sorry, Dodger fans ... but ain't NOTHIN' gonna stop the Yankees from goin' all the way this year -- so says NYY superfan Nick Turturro.

We spoke to the former "NYPD Blue" star after New York came back on Cleveland ... and to say he was hyped out of his mind wouldn't be doing him justice.

After sounding off on the franchise's greatness, Nick told TMZ Sports his Yankees will beat the Astros by any means necessary ... before upsetting the Dodgers in a "crazy" World Series.

NY Yankees legend Jorge Posada has teamed up with some HUGE stars to rescue injured and sick people in hurricane ravaged Puerto Rico ... and he's not done yet.

TMZ Sports spoke with Jorge and his wife Laura -- who just got back from another humanitarian mission to P.R. -- where they brought food, supplies, water and more to people in need.

But they're not going at it alone -- the Posadas joined forces with superstars like Gloria Estefan, Ray Allen, Luis Fonsi (the "Despacito" guy!), Ricky Martin, Carlos Arroyo, Bernie Williams, Ivan Rodriguez and more.

The gang has flown into P.R. together to distribute aid to residents. They've also raised more than $300,000 in their YouCaring page.

Laura Posada says she and Jorge have personally flown to P.R. three times already -- "We’ve brought back in each plane 50 people. And this Friday, we’re going to do that again."

"We’re gonna send a plane with 10,000 pounds and we’re gonna to bring back 15 patients. And these are patients that are critically in need of medical treatment."

Salute.

Tribe fans might wanna look away ... 'cause this one's gonna sting.

The New York Yankees went booze bonkers after eliminating the Cleveland Indians in Game 5 of the ALDS Wednesday night ... celebrating with tons of bubbly and brew.

Didi Gregorious -- who single-handedly crushed Cleveland's dreams with 2 homers in the game -- picked up right where he left off the Wild Card victory party ... but on a budget this time around.

ICYMI -- Didi and Aaron Judge brought out the huge $300-a-bottle Ace of Spades champagne after beating the Twins last week. This time ... they went with $20 bottles of Mumm Napa Cuvee M.

Hey, whatever gets the job done, right?