NEW YORK (AP) — Umpires Tom Hanahan and Ryan Wills will make their postseason debuts in the Division Series, with Hanahan assigned to the Chicago White Sox matchup against Cleveland and Wills working the New York Yankees' games against Tampa Bay.
Hanahan, 36, made his major league debut in 2023 and joined the full-time major league staff this year. Wills, 39, also debuted in 2020 and was promoted to the MLB umpire staff in 2024.
Both will work right field for Game 1s on Saturday, and they will not be behind home plate in the best-of-five series.
Dan Bellino, James Hoye, Alfonso Márquez and Todd Tichenor will be crew chiefs, Major League Baseball said Friday. Bellino will work his 10th Division Series and be a DS crew chief for the second year in a row. Márquez will work his 13th, Tichenor his eighth and Hoye his sixth.
Bellino will work the Yankees-Rays series and Tichenor the White Sox-Guardians. Márquez is assigned to the San Diego Padres-Milwaukee Brewers and Hoye to Atlanta Braves-Los Angeles Dodgers. All four crew chiefs will be at second base for their series openers and work the plate for Game 3.
Umpires rotate from right field to left and then clockwise around the bases starting at third.
The Yankees-Rays series will start with Shane Livensparger behind the plate, Jeremie Rehak at first, Ben May at third and D.J. Reyburn in left.
The White Sox-Guardians series opens with Cory Blaser working the plate, Gabe Morales at first, Jansen Visconti at third and Vic Carapazza in left.
Nick Mahrley will call balls and strikes for the Padres-Brewers opener, with Lance Barrett at first, Nic Lentz at third, Quinn Wolcott in left and Brennan Miller in right.
Roberto Ortiz is behind the plate for the start of the Braves-Dodgers series, joined by Chris Guccione at first, Tripp Gibson at third, Jim Wolf in left and Mike Estabrook in right.
Marvin Hudson, Dan Iassogna, Malachi Moore and Mike Muchlinski will be the video review umpires at MLB’s office in New York.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
FILE - Miami Marlins manager Clayton McCullough (86), left, talks with home plate umpire Tom Hanahan during the second inning of a baseball game against the Minnesota Twins, Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal court in Texas on Friday issued a ruling temporarily blocking the Trump administration from building a border wall and other infrastructure across the state's Big Bend region.
The news marks a major win for landowners, businesses and environmentalists in the region who have united to oppose the planned infrastructure projects, which are part of a $46 billion effort by the Trump administration to line the southern border with a mix of 30-foot-tall steel walls, vehicle barriers, roads and surveillance technology.
Judge Kathleen Cardone said in her ruling that the plaintiffs were “likely to succeed on the merits of at least one of the claims in suit, that there is a likelihood that they will suffer serious, irreparable harm without an injunction, and that the balance of the equities and the public interest weigh in their favor.”
Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Opponents of the border wall project have argued that the Big Bend region of Texas is so remote and the landscape so rugged that it serves as its own deterrent to illegal immigration and that the administration violated the law when it issued a swath of waivers allowing it to bypass numerous regulations in order to speed up border wall infrastructure projects.
Laiken Jordahl, with the Center of Biological Diversity that brought the suit, called Cardone’s ruling a “total victory.”
“The bulldozers are going to be sent packing until she rules on the merits,” Jordahl said. “This is such a historic day for Big Bend and for Texas and the Constitution.”
The court's decision comes just weeks after the administration erected the first border wall panels in the Big Bend sector in the middle of September.
The border wall project through the Big Bend sector has sparked bipartisan opposition.
Much of the opposition has been geared around Customs and Border Protection’s plans for inside the Big Bend National Park, which is prized for its beautiful landscapes, limestone cliffs and crystal clear night sky views.
When bulldozers were spotted clearing land in the park in August, it sparked widespread opposition with both Republicans and Democrats calling for the administration to stop. Customs and Border Protection paused all activity there, but that pause expired on September 30. The administration has said it’s reevaluating plans for the National Park but has so far not said what it will do there.
But the judge’s ruling also extends to areas up and downriver from the National Park, where Customs and Border Protection has planned a range of border infrastructure projects that would largely require build across privately owned land.
Big Bend National Park, Texas, is seen, Sept. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Santana)
Big Bend National Park, Texas, is seen, Sept. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Santana)
