The NCAA baseball tournament opens Friday with play in 16 double-elimination regionals.

Dansby Swanson and Matt Olson homered off Max Scherzer, lifting the Atlanta Braves to a crucial 4-2 victory over the New York Mets and a one-game lead in the NL East.

Atlanta finally passed the New York Mets this past week.

Matt Olson hit a three-run homer against his former club and the Atlanta Braves won their sixth in a row, outslugging the Oakland Athletics 10-9 and finally catching the slumping Mets atop the NL East.

Kyle Wright pitched seven scoreless innings to earn his major league-leading 17th victory, Austin Riley and Ronald Acuña Jr. homered, and the Atlanta Braves beat the Colorado Rockies 3-2.

Austin Riley and the Atlanta Braves aim for their 15th straight win, which would tie for the longest streak in franchise history in the post-1900 era.

The New York Mets and Max Scherzer have finalized a $130 million, three-year deal, a contract that shattered baseball’s record for highest average salary and forms a historically impressive 1-2 atop New York’s rotation with Jacob deGrom.

The Atlanta Braves have won their first World Series championship since 1995, hammering the Houston Astros 7-0 in Game 6.

Atlanta was denied a hometown celebration when the Houston Astros rallied from an early 4-0 deficit for a 9-5 win over the Braves in Game 5 of the World Series.

The Atlanta Braves are in the World Series in no small part thanks to the trades general manager Alex Anthopoulos made during the season.

Eddie Rosario capped a remarkable NL Championship Series with a three-run homer that sent the Atlanta Braves to the World Series for the first time since 1999.

When Freddie Freeman and the Atlanta Braves meet Jose Altuve and the Houston Astros, it will be a World Series that's been six decades in the making.

Joe Carter met his childhood idol when he won the first Hank Aaron Award in 1986 after leading the majors in RBIs. Hank Aaron. Aaron broke Ruth's record with his 715th home run for the Atlanta Braves in 1974 in former President Jimmy Carter's native Georgia. “He grew up poor and faced racism as he worked to become one of the greatest baseball players of all time. It’s going to be at the Hall of Fame, it was Hank Aaron, Joe Morgan, and Frank Robinson.

Atlanta Braves players celebrate after defeating the Miami Marlins in Game 3 of a baseball National League Division Series, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020, in Houston. And even those future Hall of Famers didn't throw the way these Braves have this postseason. Wright (1-0) was sharp despite not pitching since Sept. 25, allowing three hits and walking two with a career-high seven strikeouts. Atlanta became the second team in history to throw four shutouts in the first five playoff games, joining the 1905 New York Giants behind Hall of Famers Christy Mathewson and Joe McGinnity. D’Arnaud knocked a double off the bullpen in right-center to send two home and extend the lead to 3-0.

That average of 2.93 homers per postseason game tops the regular-season mark of 2.57. The Athletics and Astros combined to connect seven times as the A’s avoided a sweep with a 9-7 win. Houston will make another attempt to advance to its fourth consecutive ALCS in Game 4 on Thursday at Dodger Stadium. Kyle Wright will make his postseason debut when he starts against Miami rookie Sixto Sanchez as Atlanta aims to sweep the best-of-five NL Division Series. ESPN’s wild-card game averaged 5,591,000 to 7,604,000 from 2014-17.

Atlanta Braves' Dansby Swanson hits a home run during the second inning in Game 2 of a baseball National League Division Series against the Miami Marlins Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020, in Houston. That was before the Yankees-Rays and Padres-Dodgers started their Division Series matchups. That average of 2.88 homers per postseason game tops the regular-season mark of 2.57. Kyle Wright will make his postseason debut when he starts against Miami rookie Sixto Sanchez as Atlanta aims to sweep the best-of-five NL Division Series. ESPN’s wild-card game averaged 5,591,000 to 7,604,000 from 2014-17.

Atlanta Braves' Marcell Ozuna (20) hits a two-run home run during the eighth inning against the Cincinnati Reds in Game 2 of a National League wild-card baseball series, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)ATLANTA – It had been so long since the Atlanta Braves won a postseason series, Marcell Ozuna wanted to make sure he captured the moment. After winning Wednesday’s series opener 1-0 in 13 innings, Atlanta broke open Game 2 on two-run homers by Ozuna and Duvall off Raisel Iglesias in the eighth. Anderson struck out nine in six innings as the Braves snapped their record-tying string of losses in 10 consecutive postseason rounds since their last playoff series win in 2001. Braves: After sitting out the final two regular-season games with a sore quadriceps, Riley had no setback in the series opener.

FILE - In this July 8, 2020, file photo, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts pulls down his mask to talk to someone in the dugout during an intrasquad baseball game in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)A look at what's happening around the majors today:ROBERTS RETURNSLos Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts will be back from a one-game suspension when the defending NL West champions visit Arizona for the Diamondbacks home opener. Major League Baseball suspended Roberts one game and Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly eight games on Wednesday, the day after benches cleared in the sixth inning of Los Angeles 5-2 victory at Houston. Astros manager Dusty Baker drew an undisclosed fine. We are going to evaluate him today and tomorrow to see what exactly is going on, Rangers manager Chris Woodward said.