MORNING ROUNDUP
Source: Astros agree to 2-year deal with Brantley
A person familiar with the negotiations tells The Associated Press the Houston Astros have agreed to a two-year deal with free agent outfielder Michael Brantley.
The 31-year-old Brantley has spent his entire 10-year career with Cleveland, where he was a threetime All-Star.
Brantley is a career .295 hitter and gives Houston an upgrade to an outfield anchored by center fielder George Springer.
Sabathia gets $500K bonus despite ejection
The New York Yankees gave pitcher CC Sabathia a $500,000 performance bonus, even though the 38-year-old left-hander was ejected from his final regular-season start six outs shy of the 155 innings specified in his contract for the payment.
Sabathia hit Tampa Bay’s Jesus Sucre starting the sixth inning on Sept. 27 with his 55th pitch of the night, retaliation for Andrew Kittredge throwing a pitch behind Austin Romine in the top half.
MLS shortens season, goes to all-knockout playoffs
Major League Soccer is shortening its season by a month, going to single-elimination playoffs and scheduling the 2019 MLS Cup final for Nov. 10 in its earliest finish since 2002.
The league announced the change Monday and will have an all-knockout postseason in place of a two-leg format for the conference semifinals and finals. MLS had started using a two-leg, total-goals format in 2003.