Some perspective: On this date a year ago, the Los Angeles Dodgers were 12-16, fourth in the National League West and a whopping eight games behind the division-leading Arizona Diamondbacks. Meanwhile, the New York Mets were 17-9 and enjoying the view from the top of the NL East. So yes, it is early and things can change -- a lot -- but there's still plenty to learn from the first month of the MLB season.

With that in mind, we asked ESPN.com's Eddie Matz, Sam Miller, Jeff Passan and David Schoenfield to hand out some awards, look into some of the biggest disappointments and try to sort out the early blips from the season-long trends of April baseball.

Jump to ...: April winners | First-month losers | April blip or 2019 trend?

Revisit our preseason predictions: Division, playoff, World Series picks | Awards picks| Bets we'd make

Winners

If we were handing out April Champions T-shirts, which clubhouse would we be passing them out in?

Passan: Considering they've lost the past two actual championships, the Dodgers warrant some sort of overall title that extends beyond the National League pennant. Whatever April hangover has befallen the Boston Red Sox has skipped the Dodgers, who survived most of the month without Clayton Kershaw, and without Good Walker Buehler, to post the most wins and the second-best record and run differential in the NL. Cody Bellinger had the best April of anyone in baseball by a good margin -- and come the inevitable regression, the Dodgers have the depth, at the major league level and with minor league reinforcements, to make their lead stand up.

Schoenfield: The Seattle Mariners are playoffless since 2001, so leading the division at the end of April would be a nice surprise, especially given they traded away all their best players from 2018. Then I remembered they were in first place in mid-June last year, and the Texas Rangers clobbered them 15-1 and 14-1 over the weekend, so let's go with the St. Louis Cardinals, who lead a tough division while playing the second-toughest schedule so far (only the Milwaukee Brewers have played a tougher schedule, and that's because they had to play the Cardinals 10 times).

Matz: It has to be the Tampa Bay Rays. No matter which lens you use -- wins and losses, run differential or the good ol' fashioned eye test -- the Rays look like a very good baseball team. So good, in fact, that they were able to survive Blake Snell's freak foot injury, winning eight of 13 games without their ace.

Miller: It's undeniably the Rays. But the Minnesota Twins deserve maybe an April Champions visor, or maybe a pair of novelty April Champions socks. Other than the Rays, no team has increased its playoff odds more than the Twins, who entered Sunday with the third-best record in baseball, the third-best run differential and the second- or third-best offense in baseball.

Who are your April MVPs?

Passan: Cody Bellinger in a rout -- and that's with Christian Yelich also tying Alex Rodriguez and Albert Pujols for the most home runs ever before May 1. How good has Bellinger been? His slugging percentage by itself is higher than the OPS of Bryce Harper, Fernando Tatis Jr., George Springer, Josh Donaldson, Carlos Correa, Alex Bregman and Mookie Betts. And Mike Trout in a rout, because it rhymes, but also because it's true.

Schoenfield: Yelich has had one of the greatest Aprils we've ever seen. But it's only the second-best April in the National League this year as Bellinger has edged past him (plus, Bellinger hits home runs on the road). In the American League, Trout is getting on base more than he ever has, but it seems to be happening in a vacuum because the Angels mostly stink so far. Hunter Dozier actually led the AL in wOBA heading into Monday, but, well, he plays for the Royals, who are even worse than the Angels. So I guess it's Trout.

Matz: To paraphrase Ira and Barry from "City Slickers"... scoop of Trout, scoop of Bellinger, don't waste my time.

Miller: WAR would tell us Bellinger and Trout, but I often barely trust single-season defensive metrics, let alone single-month. So I'll give Yelich the ever-so-slight nod over Bellinger based on the timeliness of his hits, and Trout the nod over Tim Anderson based on the Troutliness of his.

Who are your April Cy Youngs?

Passan: Cheers to Marcus Stroman, who in a season that could well see 7,000 home runs has spent an entire month without allowing one. His 1.43 ERA reflects that and illustrates how the not-definitively-but-definitely-kinda-maybe-probably-is-juiced ball penalizes pitchers. Stroman's brother in heavy sinkerdom is his award-winning NL counterpart: Cincinnati's Luis Castillo, who, like Stroman, has a ground ball rate over 50 percent. At 1.23, Castillo's ERA is even better, and he has yielded just one homer in 36⅔ innings and is punching out more than 10.5 per nine.

Schoenfield: I'd consider Trevor Bauer, except he just gloated about "dominating" the Astros in a game in which he walked six batters and struck out three. Please. So the slight edge goes to a hard-throwing Tampa Bay starter who has taken his game to the next level -- not 2018 Cy Young winner Blake Snell, but Tyler Glasnow and his 1.75 ERA and sudden ability to throw strikes. Luis Castillo of the Reds has picked up from his strong second half and crushed so far, with a 1.23 ERA and just one home run in 36⅔ innings.

Matz: Stroman hasn't allowed a home run yet and has been generally brilliant, so he gets my AL vote. In the NL, I'm going to give it to Padres rookie Chris Paddack, even though his workload is a bit light relative to the other contenders. I mean, it's hard to ignore it when a guy allows 10 hits in his first five starts.

Miller: After a month we still see big discrepancies between the best ERAs and the best FIPs, but Luis Castillo and Trevor Bauer have each been great by both what-happened and what-should-have-happened measures.

Losers

Which team has been the biggest disappointment so far?

Passan: Non-Red Sox division, it has to be the Washington Nationals. The star power on the team is undeniable: Max Scherzer, Juan Soto, Anthony Rendon, Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin, Trea Turner. That's a quarter of a roster with true All-Star-caliber talent. And just like last year, when they were the league's biggest disappointment, the Nationals are languishing around .500, waiting for a run to rescue them from doldrums that have become too common.

Schoenfield: Certainly the Red Sox, not just because of their record, but because of some putrid all-around baseball. Heading into Monday, only the Baltimore Orioles and Miami Marlins had a worse run differential, and Boston is somehow 0-6 in games Chris Sale has started.

Matz: Of the three teams that rank at the bottom of the majors in run differential, two were expected to be awful (O's, Marlins) and the other is ... the defending champs??? The Red Sox earn this dubious distinction, and it's not even close.

Miller: It's the Red Sox as surely as the other answer was the Rays, but outside of the AL East it's probably the Angels. They started the season as real wild-card contenders; they end April with a 1-in-25 chance of making the playoffs, and probably a 7-in-8 chance of having Mike Trout lead the league in WAR but lose out in the MVP voting.

Which player off to a slow start are you most concerned about for the rest of the season?

Passan: Miles Mikolas was so good in his return from Japan last year, the Cardinals tacked on four years to his contract, guaranteeing him $77 million between the beginning of this season and the end of 2023. Between Mikolas' strikeout rate (5.03 per nine innings, dead last among 89 qualified starters) and his home run rate (2.12 per nine, or 86th of 89), it's either a really bad month or the spark that sets those many, many millions on fire. The key: Mikolas' slider, which was one of the best in baseball last year and has been one of the worst this season.

Schoenfield: Speaking of Chris Sale, he has been a little better his past couple of outings. After getting just two swing-and-misses on his fastball through his first four outings, he has had six in each of his past two starts. Still, we're waiting for that first CHRIS SALE game where he proves the shoulder is OK and that he can still crank the fastball up above 95 and when opponents have no chance against him. Until we see that, there has to be some worry.

Matz: Corey Kluber. A control freak his entire career, Kluber boasted the lowest walk rate in the American League each of the past two years. This season, he's walking more than four batters per game, more than triple his clip from 2018. Color me concerned, with a capital C -- just like the one on the Indians' caps.

Miller: I've spent the past month trying to talk myself out of being worried about Jose Ramirez, who as recently as early as last August was probably one of the best half-dozen players in baseball. Players that good don't turn bad overnight, not in their mid-20s, not without a good reason, and I know that Ramirez hasn't, either. But he has now hit .161/.281/.220 in his past 295 plate appearances, a half-season's worth of at-bats as one of the worst hitters in baseball, a half-season with four home runs. I'm very excited for him to prove that players as good as him don't turn bad overnight, but for now, yes, concerned.

April blip or 2019 trend?

Chris Sale has a 6.30 ERA

Passan: The 6.30 is a blip. The struggles are a trend. Is that an unreasonable answer? Sale's arm has been through a lot, and the idea that it's going to be pumping 96 mph fastballs regularly isn't entirely reasonable. At the same time, Sale's competitiveness is legendary, and he'll figure out the problem(s), adjust and iterate, even if that means evolving into something he has never been.

Schoenfield: What's halfway between blip and trend? Blrip? That's kind of how I feel about Sale. He keeps saying, "I have to do better." It's just odd for a pitcher who has been so absolutely dominant to suddenly struggle like this. Maybe the slow spring training in which he hardly pitched was a factor. It has been cold and wet in the Northeast. Maybe it's a slight mechanical tweak.

Matz: Trend. Slow starts for pitchers are always way more alarming than slow starts for position guys because, more often than not, there's an underlying injury to blame. Especially when that pitcher is Chris Sale. After missing much of the second half last season with shoulder issues, his velocity and K rate are down, while his WHIP and home run rate are up. Way up.

Miller: More confounding than the velocity drop is the velocity fluctuation: His average fastball this year, by start, has been 93, 90, 92, 96, 93, which doesn't tell a story I can really grok. That 96 gives me just enough faith that it's mechanics, not injury, and so blip.

Kris Bryant is hitting .229 with three home runs

Passan: Good-year blip. He's still Kris Bryant, he still has that same swing, he still hits the ball hard. Others are free to doubt that. Just won't see it here.

Schoenfield: Trend. He did hit two home runs over the weekend, but he has pulled only one home run all season and his hit chart swings heavily to right-center and right field -- telltale signs of a hitter without the bat speed to pull the ball on a consistent basis. And most home runs still come when you pull them. So I'm worried something still isn't right with the shoulder.

Matz: Big ol' blippety-blip. Bryant's strikeout-to-walk ratio is significantly healthier than his career rate, which bodes well. Also, he has never shown a lot of power in March/April: His 2.7 percent HR rate prior to May is well below his 4.6 percent mark in all other months combined. Deep breath.

Miller: Blip. He's hitting the ball as hard as he did in his good years, and much harder than he did in his injury-stunted 2018 season.

Cody Bellinger and Christian Yelich are the two best hitters in the NL

Passan: Trendier than ... Googles April 2019 trends, sees them, is horrified, feels old, chooses not to include because it would be obvious he Googled. Much love to Anthony Rendon, Nolan Arenado, Freddie Freeman and others, but Belly and Yelly are the capital-D Dudes of this moment.

Schoenfield: I'm a total sucker for hot starts. Of course, Yelich has been hot since the second half of last season, so this isn't a complete shocker. Bellinger hit 39 home runs as a rookie in 2017, and while his sophomore campaign was a bit of a disappointment, he has come in focused and locked in -- he has cut his strikeout rate in half from last year. I'll buy them as the two best hitters in the NL.

Matz: Blapril trip. I'd put Yelich in that group any month of the year. And long term, Bellinger might join him. But for now, I'd rank guys such as Anthony Rendon, Freddie Freeman and Paul Goldschmidt (to name a few) ahead of Belly.

Miller: The NL hasn't had the tier of clear superstars that the AL has the past couple of years, but Yelich and Bellinger are in the top tier in the NL.

The Mariners lead the league in runs and home runs

Passan: Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. (One for each of their 59 home runs so far, which deserve homage but ain't gonna hold up.)

Schoenfield: Blip. It has been fun, though. Daniel Vogelbach forever.

Matz: Trick question. The only reason the M's lead the league in runs and bombs is because they've played more games than any other team. (Remember that whole Japan thing?) Going by rates, the Twins are home run kings and the Rangers lead in scoring. So ... blip.

Miller: The response to every "Is [this April thing] real?" question should start with, "Well, look, the Mariners lead the league in runs and home runs, so ..."

GAFFNEY, S.C. — The World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series kicks off a busy month of May this Friday and Saturday at Cherokee Speedway and Lavonia (Ga.) Speedway, with South Carolina-native Chris Madden hoping some home cooking is what he needs to put himself in victory lane for the first time this season.

A two-time series runner-up, Madden did a final tune-up last weekend to prepare for the busy month ahead, finishing second at Smoky Mountain Speedway on Friday and third at Dixie Speedway the very next night.

This Friday, May 3, he’ll have what he would consider his best chance at getting his first World of Outlaws win this season at Cherokee Speedway — his home track.

“The biggest thing about racing around home, to me, is my fan base,” said Madden, who’s race shop is located in Gaffney. “That’s where I’m from, and it gives [my fans] an opportunity to come out and see not only me but the other guys that travel around with us. They get to see all of us race and it’s pretty exciting to have one of the ultimate, elite racing series come into our hometown. It’s a pretty big deal to me, and I’m just proud to be a part of it.”

The field will be extremely competitive. While veteran racers like Madden have been battling on the tour for a number of years, several rookies have been learning lessons quickly and applying them in local and regional competition when not on the road.

Showcasing how far they’ve come since joining the series in February, the rookie-of-the-year class bagged a total of three wins in two days last weekend.

Ricky Weiss kicked things off last Friday night with a win at Smoky Mountain Speedway, while Cade Dillard picked up his second super late model win of the year at his home track of ShowTime Speedway in Many, La.

Finally, Kyle Hardy scored a victory on Saturday night at the Winchester (Va.) — his first of the season for Viper Motorsports and Barry Wright Race Cars.

Earlier in April, several more of the series veterans scored good finishes in preparation for this month’s action, too.

Chase Junghans, who currently sits tied for third in series points, picked up a win at Davenport (Iowa) Speedway on April 19 — his first of the season aboard the ShopQuik No. 18. Championship leader Brandon Sheppard also continued his incredible hot streak by scoring another pair of back-to-back podium finishes at Atomic Speedway on April 11 and Hagerstown Speedway on April 13.

COLUMBUS -- The cannon is a lie.

There's a hand-crafted replica of a 1857 Napoleon cannon, once called "the best gun for all round field service" in the Civil War, that rests on two large wheels in Section 111 of Nationwide Arena. It fires at the start of Columbus Blue Jackets home games. It fires after they score. It fires after their home victories. Only it doesn't fire. It flashes, and it smokes. The "BOOM" emanates from the rafters through a concussion charge. The cannon firing is merely perception.

David Baker predates the cannon by a decade, as it arrived in 2007 and he became a Blue Jackets season-ticket holder on day one in 1997. The president of the Jacket Backers, the official booster club of the team, he's had the unique experience of witnessing both the "everything" and the "nothing" in the franchise's previously ignominious history.

Until 2017, coach John Tortorella's first full season with Columbus, the Jackets made the playoffs twice in 15 years of existence: a meek sweep at the hands of the Detroit Red Wings in 2009 and a spirited but ultimately fruitless six-game loss in 2014 to the Pittsburgh Penguins, currently their only semblance of a rival.

There have been some moments of individual glory -- goalie Sergei Bobrovsky winning the Vezina Trophy twice, former goalie Steve Mason winning the Calder Trophy, Rick Nash's goal-scoring title in 2003-04, which he shared with two other players -- but not many. Despite their futility, the Jackets' draft history saw top-10 picks that were outright busts (Alexandre Picard, Nikita Filatov), eventual trade fodder (Jakub Voracek, Ryan Johansen) and Nash, the face of the franchise for nine laborious seasons until the pressure reached a boil in 2012 and a contentious trade to the New York Rangers ended his tenure in Columbus.

And that's not even getting into the off-ice stuff: The shadow of Ohio State blocking out attention. The infantilizing "Lumbus" nickname for the franchise on social media. Oh, and that time they attempted to introduce a new mascot that resembled that 1857 Napoleon, only to scuttle it quickly because everyone thought it resembled a phallus.

(The cannon, again, was a lie.)

Every season had a flicker of optimism for the fans, some smoke ahead of the fire. But the "boom" was never there.

"I think our fans have been tremendously loyal. And we have sucked some games. In certain situations, they wanted to get behind us and we have laid an egg," said Tortorella.

If Baker's being honest about it, he doubted if he'd ever see playoff success in Columbus.

"It has been a tough road. The excitement of having a NHL team lasted for the first five to seven years but it wore off quickly after that. To see the team not getting any better was hard. I did lose faith in the organization and thought at times they would never make the playoffs or be good. Then we make the playoffs and there is a glimmer of hope until the rug is pulled out from under us again," he said.

But not this time. This time, the Blue Jackets swept the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round, shocking a team that tied the NHL record for most regular-season victories. The Jackets had never won three playoff games, let alone a series. They now return home for Game 3 of their series against the Boston Bruins, tied 1-1.

"It seems a little unreal doesn't it? Uncharted territory," said Sara Chapman, also a Jackets season-ticket holder since day one.

"When Game 4 [of the Lightning series] ended, the noise was deafening in Nationwide Arena. People were crying around me. It was a very emotional moment that seemed to last for days," said Baker.

To finally achieve the postseason victories that had eluded the franchise since the moment those first fans put their deposits down, honesty was the only policy. At least in the Columbus Blue Jackets dressing room.

"If you want to say those meetings helped, I think they did," said defenseman Seth Jones.

Someone's going to earn their doctorate in psychology one day for a case study on the 2018-19 Blue Jackets.

The season began with modest expectations. The Jackets had made the playoffs in two straight seasons, falling to Pittsburgh in five games and then Washington in six games, after taking a 2-0 series lead on the road last year. Both of those opponents would go on to win the Stanley Cup.

But everything about this Blue Jackets team was overshadowed by the fate of two players: Bobrovsky, the 30-year-old franchise goalie with an apparent allergy toward postseason success; and forward Artemi Panarin, 27, the dynamic scoring winger acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks in June 2017. The worst kept secret in the NHL was that both were likely to leave the Jackets as unrestricted free agents in the summer of 2019. The season, then, was a countdown clock to the trade deadline to see what Columbus GM Jarmo Kekalainen decided to do with them.

So the Jackets decided to talk about that.

"Earlier in the year, it was something in our locker room that wasn't positive. It was kind of in the way of things. During camp there were a lot of media questions and everything. So we sat down as a team and had a meeting about it -- coaches and players. These guys ... it's their right to do what they want to do. I think it was an issue at the start of the season, but I don't think it is anymore," said Jones.

Behind locker room doors, the Jackets would joke about the players' next destinations. They'd laugh about the latest rumors. Comedy, with a pinch of nihilism, was the right formula.

"We had some truthful talks. Ever since training camp, it seems like," said Jones. "It's been an interesting year for all of us. We've all grown through a lot of it, because a lot of us have never been in this situation before. I'm not even talking about the playoffs. I'm talking about what happened throughout this season. I think it's great for how young we are."

What happened later in the season was that the countdown clock hit zero. Kekalainen had to decide whether to keep Panarin and Bobrovsky or deal them. On Feb. 25, the day of the NHL trade deadline, the Jackets were barely in playoff position, with their 73 points just two points away from being on the outside of the bubble.

"You discuss every scenario. We just came to the conclusion that we've got a Panarin. We've got a Bobrovsky. These are really good players. Why don't we just go for it here?" said John Davidson, the Blue Jackets' president of hockey operations.

And went for it they did, not only keeping their stars but acquiring four more players: forwards Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel, as well as defenseman Adam McQuaid and goalie Keith Kinkaid. None of these players is signed past this season.

"The reason we were able to do it was because we gave up picks for players. Some of these players might stay, some of them might not. We don't know yet. However, our young players we drafted and signed ... we have a good group. A really good group," said Davidson.

That's the managerial approach to "all-in." For the players in the dressing room, the reaction was different.

"I think our team felt a little pressure ... I don't know if it was pressure, but at the trade deadline there was so much attention on us being all-in. I think sometimes when players aren't used to being put into a position where you're supposed to win, it's a different kind of pressure," said Tortorella.

They didn't respond well to that pressure, going 5-7-1 in the 13 games after the trade deadline, culminating in a humbling 4-1 loss at the lowly Edmonton Oilers on March 21 during a Western Canadian swing. "We went into Edmonton, and we laid an egg. We lost again, and we were brutal. I mean, brutal," said Davidson.

Something had to change.

It was time for more honesty.

The Jackets had two days between their game at Edmonton and their next game at Vancouver. Management held meetings. Coaches held meetings. Players chatted with each other about how to change course.

The day before the game, at the University of British Columbia, the players and coaches held a closed-doors meeting. Whatever was said there, it's now become the stuff of legend.

"The players and the coaches had a meeting that was an all-out meeting. As raw as it can be. As honest as it can be. John Tortorella ... I don't care what people think of him, he's the most honest guy with everything. You want honest? He's your coach. This was a cleansing-type meeting," said Davidson.

"It was nice to hit the reset button as a team. We had some talks about what we thought we were. Put it all out there. And we came a little bit closer together in that road trip," said Jones, who said the meeting was uncomfortable in the best of ways. "That's a big part of leadership. A big part of the room taking over for itself. It's everyone holding each other accountable and to a certain standard."

Davidson and the other members of the management team weren't in that meeting, but they were in the stands watching the practice after that meeting.

"That was by far the best practice they had all year. Whatever was discussed in that room was weighing on these guys. How that got cleared is their business. Their department. They took care of it. In my opinion, at that moment, we were either going to go north or we were going to go south. We've gone north ever since. That was the turning point for us," he said.

The Jackets would beat Vancouver, and win seven of their next eight games to make the playoffs. They'd sweep the Lightning out of the postseason. They earned the split they needed in Boston.

Tortorella watched the team galvanize in front of him. It was during the Tampa series that he realized how locked in they were.

"I'm standing behind the bench, and I'm listening to the bench and I don't have to say a word, because it's coming from them. Hearing guys screaming at each other about back-checking. For a coach to see that is really cool," he said.

Jones said the "chemistry off the ice is the best I've been a part of" in the NHL, and credited his coach with the semi-annual airing of grievances that helped lead the Jackets to their best postseason in franchise history.

"I think Torts helps that. He's never going to bulls--- you. He's never going to tell you what you want to hear. And he encourages you to do the same. We should be able to do that with any other teammate, and not just with Torts," he said.

Nick Foligno, the Jackets' captain and a Columbus mainstay since 2012, said it was all a matter of separating the "real issues" from the noise.

"We've addressed things that need to be addressed in this room, but all the other stuff is just noise. We've dealt with it. Throughout my time here, we've made deals throughout the season where we 'should have' won the Stanley Cup. And then you have years where no one's expecting anything out of you and you have a 100-something-point season. You go through things. And as the core group has gone on here, you realize that it's all just noise," he said. "You just have to have a belief in the room. That has to be manifested by everybody and bought into by everybody. It's a big part of our success."

Not just success, but an unprecedented amount of it for the franchise.

Honestly, who among us thought the "all-in" trade-deadline thing would work? Not could, but would?

Honestly, who among us thought that goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, previously a playoff pariah, would have a .930 save percentage and 2.01 goals-against average in six postseason games, five of them wins?

Honestly, who thought they'd get past Tampa Bay? Or claim a legitimate shot at winning the Stanley Cup this season if they advance past Boston?

"That's a burden that's been here. Not winning a round. I'm thrilled for the people that grinded through this," said Tortorella.

"I'm not a big touchy-feely guy, who starts talking about 'all the people.' The people have been fantastic. Since I've been here, they've just been fantastic. I'm thrilled that they get to taste this. We're hoping to keep on progressing here to make this into a full-fledged hockey town. I'm not going to look back to the past of the organization, but for us to gain respect in the league, we have to keep getting into the playoffs and find a way to be successful."

Isn't that the truth?

Mexico head coach Gerardo Martino is not surprised that Carlos Vela has hit some scintillating form with LAFC this season and admits that a decision is still pending on the 30-year-old's inclusion for El Tri at the Gold Cup.

Vela has netted 11 goals in 10 MLS games so far this season as LAFC has soared to lead the Western Conference, but Martino says he knew all about the Cancun native well before he took the Mexico job.

"Of course [Vela is under consideration], it's not for what he's doing now, but for what he's being doing for a long time," said Martino in a news conference in Atlanta.

- Guardado: Mexico's golden generation fell short

The Argentine went on to explain that he'd faced Vela's Real Sociedad as Barcelona coach and knew all about his quality, although Vela was left out of the March friendly wins by Martino.

"He's evidently having an extraordinary start to the season and we'll have to make a decision in the short term [on his Gold Cup inclusion]," added Martino.

The former Argentina manager also said that Jesus "Tecatito" Corona would be considered, following a fall out in March with Porto about the player's availability, while Hirving Lozano should be recovered following an injury scare.

"Lozano [has] got a knee injury," said Martino. "It wasn't as bad as it seemed ... I'm getting ahead of myself because the doctors are meeting, [but] I believe that [Lozano] shouldn't have any problem to play at the Gold Cup."

West Ham striker Javier Hernandez's inclusion depends on a pending conversation with Martino, with the player's wife expected to give birth around the time of the tournament.

Martino returned to Atlanta to promote El Tri's game on June 4 against Venezuela and the former Newell's Old Boys player said he only had good memories about his time at Atlanta United, where he won the 2018 MLS Cup.

"I always say that if Atlanta had taken me 10 years earlier, I'd have never left here," said Martino. "Saying that is saying that I liked everything that I experienced during two years in this city."

Martino also gave his backing to current Atlanta United manager Frank de Boer, who has started his spell in charge with just two wins from the team's first seven games of the season.

The president of the Tulsa Roughnecks cited the USL's "zero-tolerance policy" against hate speech as the reason for terminating the contract of midfielder Fabian Bastidas on Sunday, and added he wanted to send a message to the city and beyond that such behavior would not be tolerated.

The decision came in the wake of statements by Oklahoma City Energy FC defender/midfielder Atiba Harris that a Tulsa player, later identified as Bastidas, had racially abused him in Saturday's match between the two teams.

Harris later took to Twitter to report what he had experienced in the match. The Roughnecks conducted an investigation, and after Bastidas admitted to using a racial slur, the decision was made by president and part-owner Barry Williams, general manager Wayne Farmer, and head coach Michael Nsien to terminate the player's contract.

Williams, speaking exclusively to ESPN FC, added that the organization wanted to make a statement to the city of Tulsa and beyond, especially with the 100-year anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot -- one of the worst incidents of racial violence in American history -- approaching. The Roughnecks have also aimed to build a diverse coaching staff and roster. Nsien is one of the few minority managers in the second-tier USL Championship, and the roster is comprised of players from 13 different countries.

"We still have a fairly segregated city," Williams said about Tulsa. "And with the way that the news has attached itself to this story, and to the sensitivity to the sport and our core values, our core beliefs, not only for me as part-owner and president of the organization, but within our team, we feel zero tolerance is zero tolerance."

Bastidas later posted his version of events on Instagram and Facebook, insisting that his use of the term was meant as a term of endearment.

"Nothing malicious or racist was or will ever be intended by it," Bastidas wrote.

For that reason, it has been suggested on social media and elsewhere that the Roughnecks could have used the incident as a teachable moment, but Williams said the club opted not to take that approach.

"The educational moment can come with some other team, but with this club, we wanted to make sure it was well known in this city that racial comments, racial slurs, and racism in any form is not welcomed, appreciated, or accepted," Williams said.

Williams confirmed that an 11th-minute encounter between Bastidas and Harris was the catalyst for what took place during Saturday's match. Video of the incident shows OKC Energy goalkeeper Cody Laurendi claiming a through ball near the top of the box, with Bastidas running around Harris and making light contact with Laurendi. Harris is then seen pulling away Bastidas, who responds by pushing back. Harris is then later seen pointing his finger in Bastidas' direction.

Williams confirmed that Harris then informed referee Eric Tattersall of what Bastidas had said, and while Tattersall can be seen speaking with Bastidas, no card was given. Williams also added that Harris informed Tulsa captain and former teammate Cyprian Hedrick of what had happened, and that Hedrick later told Bastidas to stop using such language.

Nsien said he received a phone call from OKC manager Steve Cooke after the match, informing him of what happened between Harris and Bastidas. He vowed to investigate, though Harris soon made the allegations public. Williams and Farmer soon were consulting with their counterparts at OKC, Bob Funk and Jason Hawkins. Nsien, Williams and Farmer confronted Bastidas the next day.

After consulting with the league, Tulsa made the decision to terminate Bastidas' contract and informed the player later on Sunday afternoon.

"[Bastidas] understood. I think he was disappointed," said Williams. "I think he was still not grasping the overall gravity of the situation outside of what happened in his individual game with that individual player. But he was certainly sincere in his apology and sincere in that he wished he had made some better decisions."

Nsien said he supported the Roughnecks' decision.

"I think what we're trying to build here [is] there's an ownership group here who has been supportive of me as one of the few African-American coaches in the sport, and the diversity of the players that we brought here are intentional about trying to build something that shows diversity," he said.

"In context or out of context, we think it's important that we set the precedent in the USL and maybe in the world of the actions that we think should be taken if these things continue. We felt like termination of the contract is something that we would support because we feel like that's what [the situation] deserves."

Jozy Altidore and Sloane Stephens announced some exciting news on social media on Monday after the Toronto FC striker proposed to his professional tennis player girlfriend.

Altidore posted a picture of him and Stephens with a message saying "forever starts now"; Stephens posted a message right around the same time saying "forever yes."

Forever starts now. pic.twitter.com/cI8uumEScq

— Jozy Altidore (@JozyAltidore) April 29, 2019

Forever yes ♥️ @JozyAltidore pic.twitter.com/VVvUlrohtY

— Sloane Stephens (@SloaneStephens) April 29, 2019

Altidore has been a bit of a fixture at Stephens' tennis matches in recent years, with the two Florida natives reportedly having dated since 2016. The U.S. international soccer star was in the stands to watch Stephens in the semifinal of the 2017 US Open, but couldn't be there for the final because he was playing a game himself.

Altidore's mother informed him that Stephens had indeed won the US Open at halftime of his game in which he scored twice in a 4-0 win against San Jose.

In addition to winning a Grand Slam title in 2017, Stephens was the 2018 French Open runner-up and a member of the 2017 champion U.S. Fed Cup team.

The 26-year-old American currently is ranked No. 8 in the world.

The 29-year-old Altidore has scored 41 goals in 110 international appearances since his U.S. national team debut in 2007. Altidore has been with Toronto FC in Major League Soccer since 2015.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this story.