MLB

A highly coveted Shohei Ohtani card just sold for some insane coin at auction -- a record $1,067,500, to be exact!

The 1-of-1 autographed card -- which features a piece of Ohtani's pants when he reached the 50/50 club -- is from Topps' "Dynasty Black" line and has a PSA Mint 9 Auto 9 grade.

The rare memorabilia was made available by Heritage Auctions ... and once bidding closed on Saturday, the final price tag was revealed.

The New York spotlight might scare some people away ... but new voice of the Yankees Dave Sims isn't sweating over his new gig, even though he has big shoes to fill -- telling TMZ Sports he's excited for the dream opportunity!!

We caught up with Sims on the streets of NYC ... and he explained he feels no pressure to fill the shoes of longtime radio announcer John Sterling, who retired after 36 years -- 'cause it's something he's experienced in the past.

"John had a great run," he said. "I had a great run in Seattle. I essentially replaced Dave Niehaus in Seattle. I've done this before. I'm back home in New York, I mean it doesn't get better than this."

Resorts World casino in Las Vegas just got hit with a bad beat ... as the venue was fined $10.5 million in connection to a money laundering case involving a bookmaker who took thousands of bets for Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board dropped the news on Friday ... saying  the two sides entered into a settlement over the "unsuitable methods of operation primarily resulting from activities at the licensed property by illegal bookmakers Matthew Bowyer and Damien LeForbes."

Along with the fine ... the Vegas location will be making changes to its executive leadership and implementing stricter protocols to prevent money laundering, but it will not have to admit or deny any of the allegations made against it.

Tanner Bibee was set to make his first-ever Opening Day start for the Cleveland Guardians on Thursday before his tummy had other plans -- but the pitcher wants to make it absolutely clear it was NOT Chipotle's fault!!

For those unfamiliar with the 26-year-old, he revealed his pregame superstition ahead of the 2024 MLB season -- which involves hitting up the popular Mexican restaurant to get ready for a start.

Bibee even shared his go-to order ... which involved brown rice, chicken, pico de gallo, hot sauce, cheese, guacamole and lettuce.

Ice Cube delivered the Commissioner's trophy to the 2024 World Series champion Dodgers before their home opener on Thursday ... and he did it in true California style, like only an L.A. legend could!

Cube had the honor of handing over the coveted hardware ... and he did it in a totally unique way, cruising on the field in what looks like a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air.

As you can imagine, the 53K plus fans in the house went nuts when they saw the "Check Yo Self" rapper who was dripped out in an all-Dodgers blue fit.

Fans hoping to catch some Major League Baseball Opening Day action were unfortunately striking out ... as the league's streaming service stopped working as the season got underway -- and fans were pissed!!!

Social media was flooded with people voicing their displeasure with MLB.TV and its rough start out of the gates ... with some being met with playback errors and never-ending loading screens.

As of 1:04 PST ... Downdetector.com reported 21,000 outages. MLB.TV is no stranger to hiccups, with the app having a history of complaints from fans of America's pastime. Those issues have ranged from people calling out the service interface to the blackout restrictions that come with it.

Opening Day 2025 has arrived for the New York Yankees ... and while there's always excitement leading into a new season, the team's manager said the players will take the field with "heavy hearts" following the shocking death of former star Brett Gardner's 14-year-old son.

Aaron Boone spoke with the media ahead of first pitch at Yankee Stadium ... and he said the athletes will have Miller on their minds throughout the season.

"I talk to our guys a lot about perspective," he said. "While this matters so much to us, it's our livelihood, we pour so much into this, so many people care about it, it's baseball. I really think it's important we reflect on that every now and then when we get consumed with this."

12:15 PM PT -- The Arenas Del Mar tells TMZ Sports the Gardners did not eat at any of its restaurants for lunch or dinner the day before Miller's death ... but will continue to work with the family and officials on the tragic matter.

It also noted the establishment had an inspection on March 14 ... and received a passing 98.5 out of 100 score.

The cause of Brett Gardner's son's sudden death remains a mystery ... but Costa Rican officials said Tuesday they believe food poisoning might have played a role in the tragedy.

14-year-old Miller Gardner passed away Friday while on vacation with Brett and other family members in Manual Antonio ... and, initially, investigators thought he might have died from asphyxia, as his body was found with vomit on it.

But Costa Rica's Judicial Investigation Police told CNN on Tuesday that after they discovered the teen's airways were clear, they now believe his body's unfortunate reaction to a meal was what sparked the passing.

Former Dodgers star Julio Urias has just been suspended for roughly half the 2025 season ... after the MLB announced the pitcher violated its domestic violence policy.

Commissioner Rob Manfred revealed the punishment on Wednesday ... nearly two years after Urias was accused of roughing up his wife outside of BMO Stadium in Los Angeles following an LAFC vs. Inter Miami matchup.

"The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball has completed its investigation into allegations that free agent pitcher Julio Urías violated Major League Baseball’s Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy," the commish said in a statement.

The most famous Paul Skenes rookie card in existence just sold for a staggering $1.1 MILLION!!!

The piece -- which sparked a frenetic manhunt from hobbyists last year -- was bought out of the Fanatics Collect’s March Premier Auction on Wednesday night. No word yet on who ultimately came away with it.

The hefty price tag set multiple records -- it not only became the most expensive Skenes card ever publicly sold, but it also earned the mark for priciest debut patch.

Artificial Intelligence is still pretty new tech and has a lot of room for mistakes ... which might explain why legendary baseball player and civil rights hero Jackie Robinson's story about his time in the U.S. Army got pulled from the Department of Defense website, according to one U.S. congressman.

Republican U.S. Representative from Kentucky James Comer spoke to "TMZ Live" Wednesday, where we grilled him on what exactly would’ve had to be plugged into an A.I. scraper for the Robinson entry to get pulled ... especially with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth apparently wanting to scrap anything related to DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion).

When we question the terms used to execute the search, Comer does his best to explain his belief that Trump and his administration don’t have a history of racism, and that it’s not the image they’d want to project.

A story highlighting Jackie Robinson's time in the United States Army is back up on the Department of Defense website ... less than 24 hours after it was removed.

The story reappeared on the DoD's government site Wednesday afternoon ... after a wave of public backlash over its removal.

It's unclear whether the initial takedown was intentional or accidental.

Dodgers star Max Muncy was super pissed off after a fan derailed his attempt at catching a foul ball during the MLB Tokyo Series Wednesday ... but the culprit wasn't the average spectator -- it was ex-NFLer Rodney Peete!!

The random moment broke out amid L.A.'s 6-3 win over the Chicago Cubs in Japan ... when the 34-year-old third baseman ran near the seats to try and catch a pop-up.

Muncy was just inches away from making the highlight ... but Peete, too, extended his limb in hopes of getting a souvenir -- and he came away with it, which shouldn't come as a surprise considering he was also drafted several times by MLB teams, but pursued football instead.

Shohei Ohtani made his long-awaited return to the baseball diamond in Japan ... and he rocked some special cleats for the occasion -- which prominently featured his beloved pup, Decoy!!

Ohtani gave fans a close look at the footwear following his Los Angeles Dodgers' 4-1 win over the Chicago Cubs ... showing off the popular pooch stitched into the heel of his shoe and painted on the bottom.

He also displayed some tasty treats his wife, Mamiko, got from Ete ... which is an exclusive restaurant in Japan that says they only serve one group per day!

The MLB officially kicked off its 2025 season in Japan on Tuesday morning ... and plenty of celebs caught lengthy flights to check out the action in person -- including Bill Murray!!

The diehard Chicago supporter was joined by Billie Jean King, Ken Griffey Jr. and a host of other legends to catch Game 1 of the Cubs vs. Dodgers Tokyo Series ... and the action both on the diamond and off of it didn't disappoint.

Shohei Ohtani starred, recording two hits and scoring two runs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shota Imanaga each pitched great games, too.

Shohei Ohtani and Takashi Murakami teamed up to autograph some highly coveted baseball cards ahead of the MLB Tokyo Series ... and it goes without saying, these pieces of cardboard are going to be insanely valuable.

The Los Angeles Dodgers superstar and famous Japanese artist got together on Monday ... where they opened several boxes of the exclusive Topps x Takashi Murakami MLB Tokyo Series collection.

They appeared on Fanatics Live and signed "redemption cards" for two Topps sets created by Murakami ... which will surely be highly coveted by any collector.