MLB - Rays' Sale Transition Nears Completion, While Stadium Outlook Snails Along

The Tampa Bay Rays are less than two weeks from having their five-year run to the MLB postseason come to an end. Going into action on September 18, the Rays sit at 74-78, 15 games out of first in the American League East Division. The Rays are also nine games out of the final AL Wild Card spot. After the Baltimore Orioles were officially eliminated from postseason contention on Wednesday, the Rays will be next up on the chopping block in the AL.

To say the Rays are in a state of flux with the 2025 season would be putting it lightly. The Rays saw their home, Tropicana Field, damaged after Hurricane Milton ripped through the Tampa-St. Petersburg area in early October of 2024. The roof was completely destroyed, rendering the stadium unsuitable for the Rays to play in 2025. Tampa Bay has been playing at George Steinbrenner Field down the street, which is across the street from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, home of the NFL’s Buccaneers.

Steinbrenner Field is the home for the New York Yankees Class-A affiliate, the Tampa Tarpons.

NFL - Jones Stands Firm, Deals Parsons, and Sinks Cowboys' Season A Week Before Opener

Training camp storylines in the NFL are reserved for seeing which players want to hold out for larger contracts. Sometimes the player signs for one year to get into camp, while others get the ownership group to flinch, and get the contract they wanted from the start.

Then you get situations where the star and the ownership group are on entirely different pages, and Jerry Jones ends up trading the best player on his roster to a bonafide Super Bowl contender.

So Micah Parsons got his record-setting contract, and got away from Jerry Jones’ lost promises? None of us, even Parsons himself can believe that Jones would decide to instead sew his own eyes closed, proverbially of course.

NFL - Richardson To Backup Role For Colts' Opener, With "Bust" Conversation Gathering Steam

Two years ago marked one of the most underwhelming quarterback classes in the history of the NFL Draft. Four quarterbacks were taken in the top 32 picks, with three going in the first four overall picks. Among those were the Indianapolis Colts taking Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson with the fourth overall selection.

Two days ago, Richardson was announced to be holding a clipboard when the Colts will open the regular season against Miami on September 4.

Colts’ head coach Shane Steichen named former New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones as the opening day starter this week, with still one preseason game left to go. Richardson was deemed by Steichen to be the primary backup, and will sit for the first time in his young career for something other than injury or a disciplinary decision.

MLB - Harper Screams At Manfred, Making Commissioner's Point For Him

When reports surfaced on Monday that Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper profanely screamed at MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred to get out of the clubhouse, your first glance was that Manfred objected to Harper being thrown out of a game for his conduct.

As it turns out, Manfred meets with all teams during the course of the season, and this time just happened to be with the Phillies. Manfred danced around the idea of MLB introducing a salary cap, without specifically saying those words. This drew Harper’s ire, who told the league’s top executive to “..get the fuck out of our clubhouse.”

Of course Harper is going to object to a salary cap, as he is one of five players on the Philadelphia roster making over $20 million per season in 2025. Harper still has six more years left on a 13-year, $330 million contract signed prior to the 2019 season.

MLB - A's Have Their Young Hitting Core In Place Well Before Completion of Vegas Move

Once they finally have a home in Las Vegas in 2028, the Athletics should be a very scary contender in the American League.

This is assuming they are not ahead of schedule over the next two seasons.

Having lost over 95 games each of the past three seasons, the Athletics have something brewing within the organization. The fitting comparison is that the core of their roster are three kids who spent the start of the year playing in minor league stadiums, were all called up while the Athletics themselves are playing in Sacramento the next three seasons. The 14,014 capacity far exceeded the team’s average attendance their final two years in Oakland.

MLB - Misiorowski Nomination Emphasizes All Star Games Don't Mean Anything

Now that we can get back to actual baseball, I have to look back on the midseason exhibition that is the MLB All Star Game. We had the game decided by a Home Run Derby swing-off, which may not be too far off with baseball trying to speed up the pace of play. First there was the ghost runner on second base in extra innings, and now they may have found their version of the NHL’s overtime shootout.

This is not to say enough that you had a pitcher with only five professional appearances named to the National League squad, and threw more pitches than any on their roster, including starter Paul Skenes.

The irony is Jacob Misiorowski broke Skenes’ record for fewest MLB appearances to be named to an All Star team. The record was 11, and now stands at just five.

WNBA - Fever's Marketing Shift From One to "Tres" After Recent Fracas

The most marketable franchise in the WNBA has a marketing problem. Having the most dynamic player in the league being thrown all over the court on national television, the narrative should change to how the league can protect their stars, instead of the Wild West approach in recent years.

The Indiana Fever are 7-7 after Tuesday’s win against the Seattle Storm, in a game in which Caitlin Clark was held to six points on 3-13 shooting, including 0-6 from three point range. Clark’s last three games have seen her go a combined 1-for-23 from deep, but is a perfect 9-9 from the foul line.

When upright, Clark is the most lethal shooter in women’s basketball. When she is knocked to the floor, one teammate has taken it upon herself to be an enforcer you would rather find in hockey.

UFC - Uncrowned No More as Harrison Wins Gold, Setting Up Dream Fight with Nunes

Saturday night in New Jersey, the most decorated female combat sports athlete in history is no longer uncrowned. With only one loss in her professional career, Kayla Harrison tapped out Julianna Pena late in round two of their UFC 316 co-main event, becoming the new Bantamweight champion.

Harrison, 34, was the Olympic gold medalist at 78kg (127 lbs.) at the 2012 London games, and repeated at Rio in 2016. The transition to mixed martial arts was seamless, as she went on to win the Professional Fighter League (PFL) 2019 and 2021 Women’s Flyweight tournaments, which subsequently earned her the division’s championship title.

Her only loss to date was to Larissa Pacheco in the finals of the 2022 PFL tournament, whom she had beaten twice during the 2019 run.