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IN HIS EIGHT seasons in the big leagues, New York Mets outfielder Terrance Gore has never hit a home run. He has just one career RBI. But he does lead baseball in one very important category: World Series rings.

With three, Gore is tied with Madison Bumgarner for the most rings among active players in the majors, and has more than the entire Mets clubhouse combined. With his team among the National League favorites heading into the 2022 postseason, the journeyman pinch-running specialist is looking to add to his collection — with a lofty goal in mind.

“I’m trying to catch Tom Brady,” Gore says. “I like my odds.”

Brady, of course, owns seven rings as a future Hall of Fame quarterback for the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but Gore — a 31-year-old speedster known only to the most die-hard baseball fans — finds himself nearly halfway there.

“I wish I had that many World Series rings,” All-Star Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor says. “I’m a little envious.”

There’s a catch: Gore has never actually played in a World Series game. Since the Kansas City Royals drafted him in the 20th round in 2011, Gore has put together one of the most unique careers in sports history, a playoff base stealer for hire, often added to rosters in late September or October as one of the game’s fastest runners, deployed in the late innings of close games. He’s been a key contributor along the way, but has yet to appear in the Fall Classic.

In June, Gore joined the Mets, his fourth team. In eight games, Gore does not have a hit in three at-bats, but has stolen three bases and has not been caught once. The Mets hope, come October, that Gore can help the team create runs on the basepaths while providing some of the luck he’s brought the past two seasons to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves, plus the Royals in 2015, all of whom won the World Series with Gore on their playoff rosters.

“Everyone knows when I go out there what I’m doing,” Gore says. “It’s like cat and mouse. Here we go. There’s no hiding.”


BEFORE GORE BECAME an October good luck charm, he almost quit baseball.

In 2014, Gore was frustrated with his progress. As a kid, Gore had envisioned a career like Ichiro Suzuki’s or Juan Pierre’s. But in his fourth year in the Royals organization, he wasn’t making much of a mark as an everyday player at High-A Wilmington, hitting .218/.284/.258 with no home runs and 36 stolen bases in 89 games. As he struggled in professional baseball, his ambitions shrunk, and he found himself dreaming not of MLB success, but of simply making a living, in the minors.

With a child on the way, though, Gore also considered hanging up his spikes altogether.

“I didn’t have a plan,” Gore says. “I knew I needed to do whatever it took to provide for the family.”

Gore didn’t see a path to the big leagues. He wasn’t developing as an all-around player and as his teammates got younger and younger, it felt like his window was closing. Gore routinely talked to his agent, Jay Witasik, who had pitched 12 years in the major leagues, about leaving the sport.

As he wavered, Gore grabbed dinner with former Royals slugger Mike Sweeney, who was working with the team as a special assistant. Sweeney pushed back on Gore’s plans to leave baseball, imploring Gore to stick with it for another year — an opportunity might be coming soon.

That opportunity came a few months later in early August when Gore got the call to join the Triple-A Omaha Chasers, where the Royals wanted him to pinch run and steal bases against a higher level of competition. The plan was for Gore to come up to the big leagues and be a pinch runner for the team’s postseason run.

“I had zero idea,” Gore says. “I stole bases down there, but I just did it because it was something I was good at.”

Just a month later, Gore made his major league debut against Cleveland, pinch running for the Royals just 26 days after his last game in Single-A.

“It was like he was shot out of a cannon every time he took off,” says ex-major leaguer Rusty Kuntz, then the Royals’ first base coach. “I grew up with Vince Coleman, Rickey Henderson, Tim Raines, the guys in the Hall of Fame with that kind of speed, and this guy is right there.”

Players like Salvador Perez, Jarrod Dyson, Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas took Gore under their wing, a 23-year old who nearly quit baseball now playing high-pressure games in October.

“I was just hoping and praying to God, do not fall on your face in the middle of the base path,” Gore says. “I am notorious for tripping and I’ve come really close to stumbling, so I was like, do not do this on TV.”

While the Royals did not win the World Series in 2014, they raised the trophy in 2015. That year, Gore stole a base in Game 4 of the ALDS against the Houston Astros after spending the majority of the season in Double-A. Gore says he does not remember much of his first two postseasons because he blacked out from the pressure. Still, the thrill of success in the majors got him hooked.

“There was no turning back. Once you get a taste of it, it’s almost like a shark,” Gore says. “You get the taste of that blood and you’re like oh man, I want to keep going.”


SINCE THEN, GORE has accepted his role as a premier pinch runner and shifted his training strategy accordingly, de-emphasizing hitting to focus on improving his speed through sprints and flexibility while working on reading pitchers on the mound. Perhaps the only comparable career in MLB history is that of Herb Washington, a four-time All-American sprinter at Michigan State who played two years for the Oakland Athletics, stealing 31 bases without a single at-bat and winning a championship in 1974. Gore’s legs alone got him his first World Series ring, and leaning all the way in like Washington seemed his best course forward.

“I’m just going to ride this wave,” Gore says. “Be really freaking good at it and see where it takes me.”

In 2018, the Royals shipped Gore to the Chicago Cubs, who put him on the postseason roster for the wild-card game, where Gore stole a base and scored a run in a Cubs loss to the Colorado Rockies. He returned to the Royals in 2019, getting his most extended time in the majors to date, playing 37 games while hitting .275/.362/.353 and stealing 13 bases before being sent to the New York Yankees and finding himself back in the minor leagues.

Ahead of the 2020 season, Gore signed with the Dodgers, for whom he appeared in two regular-season games before being added to the 28-man roster for the wild-card game and the NLDS. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said it would “be pretty costly” to not have Gore on the playoff roster, despite the outfielder not appearing in any games. And when the Dodgers won the World Series, Gore got his second championship ring.

Gore next signed with the Braves, who did not call him up during the 2021 regular season. But when Atlanta reached the NLDS, Gore joined the roster, making one appearance as a pinch runner. And when the Braves won the World Series, Gore got his third championship ring, his second in a row.

Noticing a trend in how teams used him, Gore and Witasik came up with a different free agent strategy for 2022, deciding not to sign with a team until halfway through the season. The approach allowed Gore to gauge which interested teams had a shot at making the postseason and where he could maximize his impact. They knew the same teams interested in his speed in February would be just as interested in June ahead of a postseason run.

“For 99.9 percent of how things work, you get the player the deal and they develop throughout the season. But with Terrance, he’s not that guy,” Witasik says. “He’s a once-in-a-generation type guy with his speed and skill set.”

Gore feels the pressure every time he takes the field, knowing he’ll be called onto the basepaths in key situations. To prepare for these moments, he reads scouting reports that break down the pickoff moves and windup timing for each pitcher on the opposing team, studying video of how each of them holds runners on base, examining everything from their feet to their eyes.

“I’ve embraced it now. It’s got me three World Series rings so why not just keep on chugging along and see how far I can go.”

He might never win as many rings as Tom Brady, but with another on the line this October, he’s feeling pretty ambitious. If he wins a fourth ring, and his third straight?

“Put me in the Hall of Fame,” Gore says with a laugh.

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2025 MLB All-Star Game: Everything you need to know

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2025 MLB All-Star Game: Everything you need to know

For the first time since the turn of the century, MLB’s All-Star Game will be held in Atlanta — the first ever at Truist Park since its opening in 2017.

All-Star festivities begin July 11 and culminate in the Midsummer Classic on July 15, as the National League looks to gain just its second win since 2013 while the American League aims to extend its dominance.

Following the first phase of All-Star voting, we know the top overall vote-getters in each league — Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani — automatically earned the starting spot at their positions, outfield and designated hitter, respectively. Now, the starting lineups have been revealed, with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Detroit Tigers leading the way each with three starters, followed by the Chicago Cubs with two. Four players named as starters — Cal Raleigh, Jacob Wilson, Ryan O’Hearn and Pete Crow-Armstrong — are first-time All-Stars.

Stay tuned, as we’ll have everything you need to navigate All-Star Week — from event schedules and full rosters to All-Star Game analysis.

Vote for the All-Star starters: All-Star Ballot 2025

Latest news and analysis

How does MLB All-Star voting work?

2025 MLB All-Star roster predictions, biggest debates

Which slugger will win the HR Derby? Breaking down the field

All-Star schedule

(All times ET)

July 2: MLB All-Star starters reveal at 7 p.m. on ESPN

July 6: MLB All-Star full rosters announced at 5 p.m. on ESPN

July 11: HBCU Swingman Classic at 8 p.m. on MLB Network

July 13: MLB Draft at 6 p.m. on ESPN and MLB Network

July 14: MLB All-Star Celebrity Softball Game at 1 p.m. on MLB Network

July 14: MLB Home Run Derby at 8 p.m. on ESPN

July 15: All-Star Red Carpet Show at 2 p.m. on MLB Network

July 15: MLB All-Star Game at 7 p.m. on FOX

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Raleigh, rookie Wilson among All-Star starters

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Raleigh, rookie Wilson among All-Star starters

Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh, MLB’s home run leader, and American League Rookie of the Year candidate Jacob Wilson of the Athletics will be in the starting lineup for the All-Star Game on July 15 at Truist Park in Atlanta, it was announced Wednesday.

Raleigh, nicknamed “The Big Dumper,” earned his first All-Star selection and starting spot on the back of his 33 first-half home runs and MLB-leading 71 RBIs (through Tuesday). Wilson, the Athletics’ shortstop, was voted in after a dynamic first half in which he has hit .339, second in all of MLB, through Tuesday’s games.

“Just trying to stay as consistent as I can — my work, preparation going into games and my approach at the plate,” Raleigh told ESPN on Wednesday. “It’s been working out so far, and I just got to keep it rolling and keep my head down.

“… This is all I’ve ever known — this city, Seattle. They’ve taken me in with open arms and I’m very blessed and very lucky to have them in my corner. They’ve been awesome and they’ve always been there for me in this organization. It’s great that I’m going to get to represent them, like I said, in the [Home Run] Derby and the All-Star Game. Hopefully I can make them proud.”

The 23-year-old Wilson, whose father, Jack, was an All-Star for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2004, is the lone rookie in either league to be voted into the starting lineup after edging the RoyalsBobby Witt Jr. 52% to 48%. He is the first rookie shortstop to win an All-Star fan election and just the second to start an All-Star Game after Baltimore’s Ron Hansen, who started both games in 1960.

Three players from the Detroit Tigers — second baseman Gleyber Torres and outfielders Riley Greene and Javier Baez — will join them in the AL’s starting lineup, while the National League starters are led by three representatives from the Los Angeles Dodgers: first baseman Freddie Freeman, catcher Will Smith and DH Shohei Ohtani, who received the most votes among NL players during Phase 1 of the voting.

Rounding out the starting lineup for the AL: Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez and Baltimore Orioles designated hitter Ryan O’Hearn. They’ll all join New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who was the AL’s top vote-getter in Phase 1.

Joining the Dodgers trio in the NL starting lineup will be Chicago Cubs outfielders Pete Crow-Armstrong (first selection) and Kyle Tucker (fourth), Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte, San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado and New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor, who was named an All-Star starter for the first time.

Despite missing the first seven weeks of the season, Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. also earned a starting nod after getting the most votes at the position during Phase 2 voting.

There are nine first-time starters for the second time in three years.

“I am overly grateful right now,” Crow-Armstrong, who has 21 home runs and 62 RBIs so far this season, told ESPN. “It’s pretty cool. … That’s definitely the highlight of the year so far.

“… I think what I kind of surprised myself with is obviously the power production, but in this specific time span. You know, pulling the ball in the air is something I’ve worked on for my whole pro career, and we’re really starting to make some good improvements here. But I think inherently I’ve always had enough confidence to produce a year like this.”

The Tigers had three fan-elected starters for the fourth time in history, matching a franchise best also accomplished in 1984, 1985 and 2007. Meanwhile, the three fan elections for the Dodgers marks their most in a single season since the team had four fan-elected starters for the 1980 Midsummer Classic: Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell and Reggie Smith.

Freeman, 35, was picked for the ninth time — fifth as a starter — and is the oldest player on either team. He will return to Atlanta, where he starred from 2010 to 2021.

For Torres and Baez, it marks the first time since 2019 that they are All-Stars. Baez, meanwhile, will be making his third All-Star start at his third different position, having started for the NL at second base (2018) and shortstop (2019) while with the Cubs.

Baez edged the Los Angeles AngelsMike Trout 26% to 24% in the closest vote.

Overall, 13 MLB teams are represented among the 18 positional starters, including seven clubs in the AL and six in the NL.

Judge, Ramirez and Machado each earned their seventh All-Star selection.

Under rules that began in 2022, voting was split into two stages, and the second phase ran from Monday to Thursday.

Pitchers and reserves for both teams — totaling 23 for each side — will be determined through a combination of player ballot choices and selections made by the MLB commissioner’s office. They’ll be announced Sunday (5 p.m. ET, ESPN).

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Rangers activate Burger from IL, demote Jung

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Rangers activate Burger from IL, demote Jung

The Texas Rangers reinstated first baseman Jake Burger from the 10-day injured list before Wednesday night’s series finale against the visiting Baltimore Orioles.

Burger, 29, missed the Rangers’ past 10 games with a left oblique strain. He is batting .220 with 10 homers and 29 RBIs in 65 games this season, his first with Texas.

Burger is a career .246 hitter with 82 home runs and 214 RBIs in 409 games with the Chicago White Sox (2021-23), Miami Marlins (2023-24) and Rangers.

The Rangers optioned All-Star third baseman Josh Jung to Triple-A Round Rock in a corresponding move. Jung, 27, is batting .237 with eight homers and 35 RBIs in 75 games this season.

Jung is hitting .152 with one homer, eight RBIs and 13 strikeouts in his last 11 games.

Drafted No. 8 overall by Texas in 2019, Jung made the American League All-Star team in 2023 and is a career .252 hitter with 43 home runs and 135 RBIs in 269 games.

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