LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers spent $325 million and won the bidding war last winter for Yoshinobu Yamamoto and will trust him in their biggest game of the season on Friday.

“I had to look myself in the mirror and be like, how am I going to stay in the game?” he said. “Because I don’t want to go back to the minor leagues. I don’t want to get another job. I love the big ...

Baseball can provide lessons for how the U.S. can overcome the challenges it faces in an age of polarization and populism.