MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

ROYALS TO BUILD A $1.9B BALLPARK AT CROWN CENTER AS PART OF A $3B DOWNTOWN KC REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Royals are moving from their longtime home at Kauffman Stadium to the downtown Crown Center area, partnering with Hallmark Cards on a $3 billion project that includes a mixed-used development with a new ballpark as its centerpiece.

Royals owner John Sherman was joined by Hallmark chairman Don Hall Jr., Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe and Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, along with other local and state dignitaries, in making the announcement Wednesday near Hallmark headquarters.

While the finalized master plan has yet to be complete, Sherman said the $1.9 billion stadium would break ground next year in the middle of Crown Center as part of the first phase of an 85-acre project. Two-thirds of the funding will come from private sources and the remaining one-third from public partners, including money earmarked by the state for stadium projects.

“This is a partnership between two treasured Kansas City institutions,” Sherman said. “We are committed to creating a vision which honors our history, the rich past of both organizations, while reinvigorating and reimagining what our future can be together.”

The announcement came about a week after Kansas City officials passed an ordinance authorizing City Manager Mario Vasquez to negotiate a $600 million deal to help the Royals move downtown. Most believed the stadium would sit on Washington Square Park, which is next to Union Station, but it will instead be located just south of it, with the park featured in the development.

Hallmark intends to build a new headquarters in the area, which is connected by a streetcar to the Power & Light District, where the T-Mobile Center serves as its anchor. That part of downtown Kansas City will provide the backdrop beyond the outfield fence.

Officials touted the availability of public parking already in the area and convenient traffic flow from nearby highways.

Missouri’s contribution comes from a law enacted last year that authorized bonds covering up to 50% of the cost of new or renovated stadiums in the state, plus up to $50 million of tax credits for each stadium and unspecified aid from local governments.

“We think it’s a great investment for our Missouri taxpayers, because this does not affect existing programs,” Kehoe said. “The ripple effect from this facility will truly be far-reaching into rural Missouri and other parts of the state.”

The Royals have insisted they would leave Kauffman Stadium when their lease expires at the Truman Sports Complex in 2031, and the intention of Sherman ever since purchasing the club in 2019 was to build a downtown ballpark as its replacement.

Yet reaching Wednesday’s announcement did not come without plenty of pitfalls.

The biggest stumbling block came in April 2024, when the Chiefs joined the Royals in a plan to renovate Arrowhead Stadium and replace Kauffman Stadium. The plan hinged on the extension of a sales tax that had been paying for stadium upkeep, and voters in Jackson County, Missouri, overwhelmingly rejected the proposal, forcing the franchises to go their own way.

The legislature in neighboring Kansas aggressively pursued the Chiefs, committing last December to issuing $2.4 billion in bonds to cover 60% of the cost of a new $3 billion domed stadium in Kansas City, Kansas. The NFL franchise ultimately decided to move across the state line, where it also will build a new training facility in the nearby suburb of Olathe, Kansas.

Officials in Kansas briefly pursued the Royals, too, but their interest in the MLB franchise had always been lukewarm.

The Royals had been weighing several options in recent months. But they ultimately rejected an option in the suburb of Overland Park, Kansas, and allowed a deadline to pass for a site north of downtown and across the Missouri River in Clay County, Missouri.

Economists have long concluded that subsidizing stadiums isn’t worth the cost for communities because the venues pull economic activity away from other parts of the area, rather than expanding the overall economy. Yet states and cities continually provide money to renovate stadiums or build new ones — 49 of the 60 used by MLB or NFL teams are publicly owned or sit on public land.

One of the stadiums that Sherman has cited as an example of what’s possible in Kansas City is Truist Park in Atlanta.

The stadium was a public-private partnership in which the Cobb-Marietta Coliseum & Exhibit Hall Authority issued up to $397 million in bonds, the county raised millions more from transportation taxes and businesses added millions in cash. The Braves contributed the remaining money for the park and The Battery, a mixed-used development, with a total cost of more than $1.1 billion.

“There are many great ballpark neighborhoods in Major League Baseball,” Sherman said, “but this is a bigger project with more land in downtown and in the heart of the city. We are bringing a modern, state-of-the-art ballpark experience to our fans, closer to our public transportation and where more people work and live.”

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MLB ROUNDUP: METS EKE OUT WIN OVER TWINS, END 12-GAME SKID

Mark Vientos redeemed himself for an earlier baserunning miscue by delivering the tiebreaking single in the eighth inning, and the host New York Mets snapped a 12-game losing streak with a 3-2 win over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday.

The losing streak was the longest for the Mets since a 12-game skid from Aug. 10-23, 2002. However, the much-needed victory may have been costly for New York, which lost shortstop Francisco Lindor due to left calf tightness after he scored from first on Francisco Alvarez’s double in the fourth inning.

Lindor, who was 2-for-2 with an RBI infield single in the first, was injured the same night Juan Soto returned from a 15-game absence caused by a strained right calf. The Mets won their first three games after Soto was injured on April 3 before beginning their losing streak.

Victor Caratini lofted a game-tying sacrifice fly in the fourth for the Twins, who have lost five of their past six. Byron Buxton knotted the game again with a solo homer in the sixth.

Cubs 7, Phillies 2

Pete Crow-Armstrong went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and Seiya Suzuki connected on a two-run homer, helping Chicago beat visiting Philadelphia for its eighth straight win.

Ian Happ also drove in two runs and Alex Bregman tallied three hits for the Cubs. Ben Brown (1-0) tossed 2 1/3 scoreless frames in relief, striking out five.

Taijuan Walker (1-4) surrendered five runs (four earned) across four innings as the Phillies dropped their eighth straight game. It’s Philadelphia’s longest skid since a nine-gamer in September 2018.

Diamondbacks 11, Padres 7

Ildemaro Vargas hit two homers and drove in a career-high five runs and Arizona withstood Munetaka Murakami, who homered in a fifth straight game, to hold off Chicago in Phoenix.

Murakami went 3-for-5, and he became the fastest player in White Sox history to reach 10 homers, doing it in 24 games. He also joined Shohei Ohtani to become the second Japanese-born player to homer in five straight games.

Nolan Arenado had four hits, including a homer, scored three runs and drove in three for the Diamondbacks, who evened the three-game series. Colson Montgomery homered for the fourth consecutive game and Miguel Vargas went deep in a third straight for the White Sox.

Angels 7, Blue Jays 3

Nolan Schanuel homered and also had a three-run, go-ahead double and Jose Soriano continued his historic start to the season with five shutout innings as the Los Angeles snapped a four-game losing streak with a victory over Toronto in Anaheim, Calif.

Soriano extended his scoreless inning streak to 24 2/3 innings while lowering his ERA to 0.24, the lowest ERA in a pitcher’s first six starts to a season since earned runs became official in both leagues (1913) with a minimum of 30 innings pitched. Mike Trout homered, walked twice and scored twice for the Angels.

Ernie Clement went 3-for-5 with an RBI for the Blue Jays, whose three-game winning streak ended. Tommy Nance (0-2) allowed two runs in 1 1/3 innings of relief.

Yankees 4, Red Sox 1

Amed Rosario had four RBIs in just two plate appearances and Max Fried pitched eight shutout innings, leading New York to a win at Boston.

Rosario’s three-run shot in the first inning was all that New York needed, as Fried (3-1) allowed just three hits. The Yankees were one strike away from pitching a third consecutive shutout for the first time since 1962 before Jarren Duran hit an RBI single in the ninth.

Duran had three hits and doubled twice. Ranger Suarez (1-2) gave up four runs through 4 2/3 innings, and Eduardo Rivera pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings in his big-league debut.

Mariners 5, Athletics 4

Josh Naylor singled home Cal Raleigh with two outs in the bottom of the ninth as host Seattle defeated the Athletics to salvage the finale of a three-game series.

The A’s tied the score in the top of the inning on Nick Kurtz’s one-out homer to straightaway center off Mariners closer Andres Munoz (3-2), who blew the save opportunity but ended up getting the victory.

Raleigh, who homered for a third consecutive game, sparked the winning rally with a two-out single to center. Raleigh and Naylor each went 3-for-5 as the Mariners collected a season-high 14 hits.

Astros 2, Guardians 0

Yordan Alvarez had three hits, including a two-run homer in the first inning, and Peter Lambert threw six shutout innings as visiting Houston beat Cleveland in the decisive game of a three-game series.

Lambert (1-1) allowed three hits while striking out eight for the Astros, who had lost five of six and surrendered at least seven runs in four of those defeats.

Chase DeLauter had two of the five hits for the Guardians, who had won three of four. Tanner Bibee (0-3) permitted two runs and five hits over six innings.

Giants 3, Dodgers 0

Shohei Ohtani pitched six shutout innings, but Patrick Bailey belted a tiebreaking three-run homer off reliever Jack Dreyer in the seventh, lifting San Francisco to a shutout victory over visiting Los Angeles.

Tyler Mahle (1-3) tossed seven innings and teamed with two relievers on a four-hitter, giving the Giants a second straight low-scoring win over the two-time defending champs.

Ohtani and Mahle matched zeros for six innings before the Dodgers star was pulled after having thrown 91 pitches. He has pitched exactly six innings in each of his four starts this season, and he owns a National League-leading 0.38 ERA.

Braves 8, Nationals 6

Michael Harris II hit two home runs, Matt Olson smacked a three-run shot and Atlanta rallied from an early three-run deficit to claim a win at Washington.

Drake Baldwin homered for a second straight game for the Braves, who have earned at least a split of the four-game series. Dylan Lee (1-0) pitched a scoreless inning, and Robert Suarez handled the ninth for his second save.

James Wood homered for the second straight game for the Nationals. Daylen Lile hit a three-run homer and Joey Wiemer had a pinch-hit solo shot. Zack Littell (0-3) surrendered eight runs (six earned) over six innings.

Pirates 8, Rangers 4

Nick Gonzales beat the tag at home plate and scored the go-ahead run in the ninth inning as Pittsburgh picked up a win over Texas in Arlington, Texas.

Gonzales came home on pinch hitter Jake Mangum’s slow roller to third base. Jalen Beeks then replaced Cole Winn (1-1) on the mound, and Oneil Cruz greeted the new reliever with a three-run homer. The ninth-inning rally allowed Pittsburgh to even the three-game series.

Josh Jung had a two-run homer and a single for the Rangers. Jack Leiter allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits over five innings.

Marlins 4, Cardinals 1

Janson Junk allowed just one hit and a walk over five innings, and Jakob Marsee drove in a pair as Miami beat visiting St. Louis to claim the deciding contest of a three-game series.

Junk (1-2) pitched efficiently, needing just 56 pitches to go five. Javier Sanoja had his third three-hit game of the season, getting three singles in four at-bats to lead a 12-hit attack, all singles, for the Marlins.

Kyle Leahy (2-3) gave up eight hits and walked three over five innings for the Cardinals.

Rays 6, Reds 1

Nick Martinez pitched eight strong innings and Junior Caminero homered to lead Tampa Bay past Cincinnati in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Martinez (1-1) allowed a run on five hits against his former team as the Rays averted a sweep in the three-game series. Yandy Diaz finished 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI.

The Reds had their five-game winning streak snapped as Brandon Williamson (2-2) gave up five runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings.

Orioles 8, Royals 6

Coby Mayo belted a three-run homer to highlight a sixth-run sixth inning, fueling Baltimore to a victory at Kansas City.

Pete Alonso also homered as the Orioles won the rubber match of the three-game series. Chris Bassitt (1-2) allowed five runs in 5 1/3 innings, and Anthony Nunez pitched a scoreless inning for his first career save.

Kyle Isbel crushed a two-run homer and Vinnie Pasquantino and Carter Jansen also went deep for the Royals, who have lost nine of their past 10 games. Michael Wacha (2-1) yielded six runs in 5 1/3 innings.

Tigers 5, Brewers 2

Spencer Torkelson hit his first homer of the season, a two-run shot, and Kerry Carpenter added a solo blast as host Detroit downed Milwaukee.

In six-plus innings, the Tigers’ Casey Mize (2-1) gave up one run and three hits. Kenley Jansen escaped a ninth-inning jam to record his sixth save.

Brewers opener DL Hall tossed two scoreless innings before Chad Patrick (1-1) allowed four runs and six hits in four innings.

Rockies 8, Padres 3

Hunter Goodman homered and doubled twice, Mickey Moniak also had two doubles, and Colorado beat San Diego in Denver.

TJ Rumfield, Jake McCarthy and Willi Castro had two hits each to back a strong outing by Colorado starter Tomoyuki Sugano (2-1), who allowed one run on five hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Luis Campusano homered among his three hits and Xander Bogaerts had two hits for the Padres, who had won 11 of their previous 12 games. Walker Buehler (1-2) was tagged for four runs on eight hits in 2 2/3 innings.

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