The Atlanta Braves have placed catcher Brian McCann on the 10-day injured list with a right knee sprain, the team announced Wednesday.

McCann, 35, left Tuesday's 5-1 win over the Miami Marlins in the third inning with the injury.

He is hitting .264 with 10 home runs and 39 RBIs in 74 games this season. He also was on the IL in April due to a right hamstring strain.

The Braves recalled catcher Alex Jackson from Triple-A Gwinnett to fill the open roster spot. Jackson, 23, is hitless in three games and 10 at-bats for Atlanta this season.

The Houston Astros are poised to be one of the largest favorites in an MLB game ever when they send Justin Verlander to the mound against the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday night.

The Astros are listed as -500 home favorites at Caesars Sportsbook and as high as -550 at other sportsbooks. If the price holds, Houston will be the heaviest favorite in a game in at least the past 15 seasons, according to sports betting database BetLabsSports.com, and likely longer.

"This is the highest price I've ever seen," said Kenny White, a 30-plus-year oddsmaker in Las Vegas, who consults with U.S. and international sportsbooks. "I think it could get to 6 dollars (-600)."

Roxy Roxborough, a longtime oddsmaker and bettor, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal last week that he remembered a few -500 favorites in years past involving pitchers such as Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez, but not many.

Clayton Kershaw and the Los Angeles Dodgers were -485 favorites over the Atlanta Braves in 2016, and earlier this month, the Astros were -460 road favorites over the Baltimore Orioles. Houston lost that game 8-7 in the largest upset since the Washington Nationals beat the Minnesota Twins at +395 underdogs in 2007.

The Tigers, who will send left-hander Daniel Norris to the mound Wednesday, are +400 underdogs at Caesars Sportsbook, but the price on the game has been on the move.

Last night, Caesars Sportsbook opened the Astros at -420. The odds began to grow across the betting market Wednesday morning and were up to -550 at the SuperBook at Westgate Las Vegas.

A representative for Caesars Sportsbook told ESPN on Wednesday morning that the betting interest on the game was light, with most customers choosing to add the Astros to parlay wagers with multiple other teams to reduce the price.

The Astros are the World Series favorites at +200. The Tigers (37-86) are no longer listed on the odds to win the World Series.

A lot changed in the NHL standings during the past decade.

There was an expansion team added, another that relocated and another that was renamed. There were six divisions when the decade began, with the top eight teams in each conference advancing to the playoffs; by 2014, we were down to four divisions, with two wild cards in each conference filling in the blanks behind the top three finishers in each division.

What hasn't changed from previous decades: There have been dominating Stanley Cup winners, worthy runners-up, stunning surprises ... and, of course, teams that couldn't hack it under pressure or were just abjectly terrible.

Here is where the best and worst of the decade currently stand, with the understanding that we've got one more season to go before they're etched in stone.

Best of the best

4. Los Angeles Kings (2013-14)

The Kings' first Stanley Cup champions from the 2011-12 season were a bit of an anomaly, what with winning the championship out of the No. 8 seed. But these Cup winners from the 2013-14 campaign were legit: dominant in possession (56.82 Corsi for percentage), the best defensive team in the NHL and with a roster that added Marian Gaborik and Jake Muzzin to the core of the previous Cup victors. Ask the Sharks how good this team could be when it got going (say, after three straight losses to start a series).

3. Boston Bruins (2010-11)

The balance between veterans (Zdeno Chara, Mark Recchi, Tim Thomas) and burgeoning young stars (Brad Marchand, Tyler Seguin) was outstanding on this team. They were defensively brilliant, brutally antagonistic and could outwork anyone. Having Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci up the middle didn't hurt, either.

2. Pittsburgh Penguins (2015-16)

The 2008-09 Penguins were the best of Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby-era Stanley Cup champions. But between the 2015-16 and 2016-17 incarnations, we'll give this one the nod. The 2016-17 champs had more points in the standings, but this 2015-16 team was first in the NHL in expected goals percentage (55.68), the second-best possession team in the league (52.72 Corsi for percentage) and better defensively (sixth in the NHL, as compared to 17th the next season). Oh, and it enjoyed a healthy Kris Letang and the "HBK Line" too.

1. Chicago Blackhawks (2009-10)

The eventual decimation of this assemblage of talent is one of the true tragedies of the salary-cap era. Seriously, look at this roster: Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, Patrick Sharp, Kris Versteeg, Troy Brouwer, Andrew Ladd, Dustin Byfuglien, Brent Seabrook, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Dave Bolland -- all of them under 28 years of age. Brian Campbell was 30. Marian Hossa was 31. Sure, Antti Niemi is a bit of a weak link in goal, but the team in front of him made that an afterthought in winning the Stanley Cup.

Best of the runners-up

4. Boston Bruins (2018-19)

The B's couldn't overcome the "Gloria"-playing St. Louis Blues and their rookie goalie, but Boston amassed 107 points in the regular season and was a defensive machine in front of Tuukka Rask in the playoffs.

3. Tampa Bay Lightning (2014-15)

Under coach Jon Cooper, the Lightning had 108 regular-season points and the most potent offense (262 goals) in the NHL. They won two Games 7 en route to the Final but ended up giving the Blackhawks the second Stanley Cup of their cap-era dynasty in a six-game loss.

2. San Jose Sharks (2015-16)

The Sharks have had better teams, but none advanced to the Stanley Cup Final. This one did, fueled by a point-per-game season from Joe Thornton, 38 goals from Joe Pavelski and the second-best expected goals percentage (55.21 at 5-on-5) in the league. The best percentage that season? It was posted by the Penguins, who defeated the Sharks in six games.

1. Vancouver Canucks (2010-11)

The 2011 Stanley Cup Final will be remembered for many reasons (did we mention the riots?). But at its core, this was a series that featured a seemingly overmatched Boston team finding a way to take down a 117-point Presidents' Trophy winner that led the league in goals scored and fewest goals against. It could be argued that this Canucks team was one of the best runners-up in modern NHL history, it was so stacked.

Biggest surprises

3. Montreal Canadiens (2009-10)

The Canadiens had an upset for the ages in 2010: Taking out the Presidents' Trophy-winning Washington Capitals as a No. 8 seed, who at one point held a 3-1 lead in their series. (It would be the first of three seasons in which the Caps won the Presidents' Trophy and then lost in the playoffs.) The Canadiens weren't done, eliminating the defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins in the second round, before falling to the Philadelphia Flyers in the conference final. Thus began the intense (but brief) Carey Price vs. Jaroslav Halak fan wars.

2. Los Angeles Kings (2011-12)

The Kings barely qualified for the playoffs in 2012, finishing in the No. 8 seed, five points ahead of the Calgary Flames. What happened next made NHL history: conference playoff wins over the Canucks, Blues and Phoenix Coyotes, then the first Stanley Cup championship in franchise history against the New Jersey Devils. The Kings were the lowest seed to win the Cup in the modern era.

1. Vegas Golden Knights (2017-18)

It was less plausible than anything that happened in "The Hangover": An expansion team cobbled together over the previous summer finished with 109 points to win the Pacific Division, advanced through the Western Conference and played for the Stanley Cup in its inaugural season. It was a run sparked by the instant bond between the players and their city following the October 2017 mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip; by the "us against the world" attitude of the expansion draft castoffs (and their coach); and, of course, by their secret weapon -- The Vegas Flu draining their opponents.

Biggest busts

3. Edmonton Oilers (2017-18)

The trajectory seemed familiar for Connor McDavid. Like Sidney Crosby before him, McDavid made the playoffs for the first time in his second season, as the Oilers advanced to Game 7 of the second round. In Year 3, Crosby went to the Stanley Cup Final. In Year 3, McDavid ... watched his team drop 25 points in the standings, from 103 down to 78 points (36-40-6). Edmonton would miss the playoffs again the following season, and McDavid will play for his third coach in the 2019-20 season.

2. Vancouver Canucks (2011-12)

One year after losing in the Stanley Cup Final, the Canucks returned as a juggernaut: 111 points to win the Presidents' Trophy and a team that looked every bit like one that could finally bring the franchise its first championship. Instead, they dropped two home games in the first round and lost to the No. 8-seeded Kings 4-1. We suppose the Canucks can take some solace in the fact that, for the third straight season, they lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champion.

1. Tampa Bay Lightning (2018-19)

With 62 wins, the Lightning tied the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings for the most by a team in the regular season in NHL history. The Lightning's points percentage of .780 was the second-highest rate in NHL history for an 82-game season behind those Wings (.799). The Lightning were only the second team in NHL history to post four different winning streaks of seven games or more in a single season, and their 3.96 goals per game was the highest in the NHL since 1996. Simply put, they were one of the greatest regular-season teams in the history of hockey.

But then they tied another record in the playoffs: fewest postseason wins. The Columbus Blue Jackets shocked the Lightning in a first-round sweep and in the process reminded everyone that even the surest of things are rendered uncertain in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Worst of the worst

3. Arizona Coyotes (2014-15)

The NHL tried. It changed the draft lottery rules ahead of Connor McDavid's eligibility to go first overall in 2016, reducing the probability for tanking teams to secure the No. 1 pick. But that didn't discourage a few teams in the 2014-15 campaign from clearing the decks and hitting the canvas in an effort to land McDavid. That included the Coyotes, who finished with a 24-50-8 record for a .341 points percentage. They had a goal differential of minus-102, traded away players such as Keith Yandle and Antoine Vermette, and were generally terrible. Alas, all this earned them was the No. 3 overall pick and center Dylan Strome ... because some other team was just a bit worse.

2. Buffalo Sabres (2014-15)

No team in the salary-cap era had a more pathetic goal differential than these Sabres, at minus-113. At the time, no team had a lower points percentage (.329) or fewer wins (23). Their expected goals percentage was 39.26, and they managed only 37.5% of the shot attempts a 5-on-5. But the numbers show just a part of the story. You had to hear the rest: In the cheers of Sabres fans for goals scored against their team, most notably in a March 20, 2015, contest against the Coyotes in which Buffalo fans celebrated an overtime loss for the home team that helped cement its place in the basement. The Sabres players weren't happy. Neither were the Hockey Gods: Edmonton won the lottery and Connor McDavid, while the Sabres drafted Jack Eichel second overall.

1. Colorado Avalanche (2016-17)

It began with the resignation of coach Patrick Roy just weeks before the season. It continued with a stretch in which the Avalanche won seven of 40 games. At the end of the season, the Avs had a minus-112 goal differential, a new cap-era low 22 wins and a humbling points percentage of .293, the ninth lowest in NHL history for an 82-game season. The bad news? They lost the draft lottery and picked fourth overall. The silver lining? That's where they selected defenseman Cale Makar.

Cristiano Ronaldo has said transfer fees in football have got out of hand and that a player of his calibre in the market would now sell for €300 million.

His transfer to Real Madrid from Manchester United in the summer of 2009 was a then world record £80m, but eight years later, Neymar left Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain for €222m.

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Asked what he would likely be sold for now, he told Portuguese TVI: "Based on how football is nowadays? It's difficult to calculate.

"Today there is a lot of emphasis placed on potential and the football industry is different. I'm going to put aside [Portugal international Joao] Felix's [€120m transfer to Atletico Madrid from Benfica] case. Nowadays, any player is worth €100m having proved nothing, there is more money in football.

"A goalkeeper, a centre-back is worth €70m, €80m -- I don't agree. But this is the world which we live in, the market is like that and you have to respect it. Is there a football player that has more records than me? I don't think there is a player that has more records than me."

Ronaldo left Real Madrid to join Juventus for €100m last summer and, pressed on what his worth would now be, he added: "If I were 25, if a goalkeeper is worth €75m, a player that does and has done what I have done in recent years has to have a value of three or four times that, easily, but I no longer have that desire."

The 34-year-old also said "the challenge" of winning individual and collective trophies at the top level keeps him motivated to continue playing football. The Juve forward said he could retire next year if he wanted as he has amassed a fortune in wages, endorsements and investments yet the temptation is there to play until he's 41 as he craves more silverware.

"My motivation is my obsession for success, I admit it," he said. "But it is a good obsession.

"I know I'm already in the history of football. I know that I'm one of the best in my field but that is not by chance. I could end my career next year but I could also play until I'm 40 or 41.

"It's about the challenge. I still feel motivated to win individual and collective trophies, and if I wasn't, I would end it [career]. I have everything I want, I have an excellent family, I have spectacular businesses. From a financial standpoint, I'm very well. I don't need football to live well. I will live well all of my life.

"What I always say to myself is to enjoy the moment. My present is excellent and I have to continue to enjoy myself. I look at it as projects and the enthusiasm [they bring.]"

Ronaldo helped Juve win Serie A last season, becoming the first player in history to win league titles in England, Spain and in Italy.

"The Juventus project attracted me," Ronaldo said. "It was exciting.

"It was a team that I liked, not only because it's the best team in Italy but it's a combative team that always tried to win the Champions League. I also wanted to win here, like I had done in England and in Spain. I achieved that, something that no player had done."

Ronaldo was recently shortlisted for UEFA Men's Player of the Year award, after also winning the inaugural Nations League with Portugal in the summer.

Dimuth Karunaratne, Sri Lanka's relatively new captain, doesn't ride players hard, doesn't tear them down for taking aggressive options, and when criticism is required, he ensures it's constructive. Perhaps this is all a bit sappy, but it is the feedback from several members of this Sri Lanka dressing room.

Thisara Perera spoke of Karunaratne being "like a brother" during the World Cup campaign. Acting coach Rumesh Ratnayake spoke of the calmness Karunaratne spreads through the dressing room. And now, ahead of the second Test against New Zealand, Niroshan Dickwella has given Sri Lanka's fifth Test captain in three years an endorsement of his own.

Dickwella had been Karunaratne's deputy during the Test series victory in South Africa. And although no vice-captain has been officially named for this series, with Dickwella's own place in the XI not assured ahead of the first Test, he spoke about the unique qualities Karunaratne has brought to the role.

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"Dimuth is a very different kind of captain," he said. "His way of managing players is different, and every captain has their own style. I've played a lot with Dimuth and what he does is give the player the freedom to go and express themselves 100% in the match.

"What Dimuth says is go and do what you want to do, and what you feel you can do. If we make a mistake, he'll pull us aside and say this happened, why don't we fix that mistake for next time? He talks a lot about being confident about your abilities. And he gives you that confidence."

Sri Lanka have so far won each of the three Tests they have played under Karunaratne, but they arrive now at a venue at which they have struggled. Sri Lanka have lost five of their seven most recent Tests at the P Sara Oval, including their last match to New Zealand here, in 2012. The pitch, Dickwella said, should favour fast bowlers and batsmen more than the Galle surface, on which neither team crossed 300. Sri Lanka's victory in Galle was ultimately comfortable, but the team remains wary of a New Zealand resurgence, particularly at a venue that often provides good bounce for seam bowlers.

"It's a big challenge. Having won one game, we have a big responsibility to win the series. We have the confidence, but we need to keep making good decisions at crunch moments," Dickwella said. "Close-in fielders, including me, have missed some chances in Galle, but those were difficult chances - you don't have even seconds to react. But still, we spoke about that. We're happy to improve on those areas.

"In the batting, we were 142 for 2 and then collapsed to 168 for 7 in the first-innings, so we have to improve on that as well. When it comes to bowling, when one bowler is bowling well, from one end, we need to build a partnership from the other end as well."

David Warner shapes to defend Mitchell Starc, misses, and the plastic stumps in the Headingley nets go flying. All manner of dismissals take place in the nets, real or imagined depending on the fields "set" by the bowler or throw-downer, but few quite so dramatic.

The moment rather summed up Warner's Ashes tour thus far, in which he is yet to reach double figures across four knocks. Married up with his closing three innings in South Africa prior to the Newlands scandal ban, Warner is in the second longest streak without a half century of his career - his worst run was eight innings in New Zealand and Sri Lanka in 2016.

At Edgbaston and Lord's, Warner's rapid exits were somewhat less of an issue for Australia, bolstered as they were by the genius of Steven Smith. But with Smith out of action in Leeds due to concussion, the tourists' batting stocks have been made to look exceedingly thin. More than ever, Australia need Warner to find something. The captain Tim Paine is hopeful that Warner will do so this week, referring to Smith's absence as the "poke and prod" the opener needs.

"David, I've spoken a lot about the fact he averages close to 50 in Test cricket and he's done that over a long period of time," Paine said. "I think with Steve missing this game I think it might be the little poke and prod Davey needs. He likes that responsibility and my experience with Davey is when people doubt him and his back is against the wall he comes out swinging. I'm expecting the very best David Warner this week."

How Warner finds his best is somewhat complicated by the way he has approached this tour. For so long a combative, aggressive batsman, his stated goal in England this time around was to calm himself, slow his tempo, and find a balanced rhythm at the crease more sustainable over long innings. During the World Cup, the method worked to a reasonable extent, as he peeled off centuries against Pakistan, Bangladesh and South Africa.

But in the semi-final against England he was swiftly beaten by a sharply rising delivery from Chris Woakes, and so far during the Ashes has been found wanting in terms of defensive tightness and decisiveness at the hands of Stuart Broad and Jofra Archer, both pursuing a rigorous line at him from around the wicket. It is a method seldom seen against Warner - Broad has admitted he had previously thought primarily about finding Warner's edge rather than constraining him by targeting the stumps - but it is proving fiendishly effective.

One close observer of Warner has been England's captain Joe Root, who has marshalled the plans against the left-hander while also mired in his own poor run of batting form. How does Root think a player struggling for runs can find rhythm and confidence again? It starts with honest self-assessment.

"You need to be realistic about how you are getting out. And be fair," Root said. "Sometimes as hard as it might be you have to give credit to the opposition when they've bowled some good balls. You don't want to be over-critical when you don't need to be. But there are times as well when you got to understand when you got it wrong. And then work it back from there. You don't become a bad player overnight.

"You don't lose the runs you've scored already. And you know you've got it in the bank and you've proven it before. From my point of view, I have got Ashes hundreds in there in the bank and I know and I know what it takes to win games of cricket. Of course from Dave's point of view, we'll be trying to keep him to single figures for as long as possible because he's a proven performer for Australian cricket."

An intriguing returning presence around the Australian side will be Ricky Ponting, who commented during the Lord's Test that Warner need to be showing more positive intent to score. Certainly, this is the view of Warner's longtime batting coach and sounding board Trent Woodhill, who has always focused on the 32-year-old's ability to put bowlers under pressure, leading to fewer deliveries challenging his defence, rather than trying to make him "tighter" or able to bat for longer periods.

Most of Warner's most memorable and impactful innings have been extraordinarily bold in their strokeplay, and it is difficult to see how, given his current struggles in defence, how he will be able to score runs without at least reverting to a more aggressive posture, eyeing off the smallest errors in line or length to pick off. Another window into Warner's state of mind has been the fact that, at slip, he has struggled to hold catches so far - being a primary offender among the five chances put down at Lord's. In a vote of faith, Paine reckoned Warner would be staying in the cordon.

"I think Davey will probably stay in there, and Marnus - for people who haven't seen him - he's probably as good a slipper as there is going around," he said. "And everywhere else in the field, so he'll cover Steve with the fast bowling I think at second slip, and then we have Usman Khawaja who did pretty well in Australia last year for Lyno [Nathan Lyon].

"So we've got a few options there, we've got Matthew Wade who's a wicketkeeper and he can field anywhere. So we've got a number of options to go through that spot if we need to. But I expect Davey to go back there, he's allowed to have a bad day."

That, as much as anything, will be key to Warner finding the runs Australia so dearly need from him at Headingley. Just as he responded to Starc's stump rattler by calmly picking up the broken wicket and resetting for the next ball, Warner needs to put the Edgbaston and Birmingham dismissals out of his mind and strike a blow when battle is rejoined in Leeds. The incentive, to be a key player in the Test match that sees the Ashes retained by Australia, is enormous.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has stepped down from the NFL's social justice committee, the team announced Tuesday.

"Stephen made the decision last week and informed the NFL and members of the working committee that he was going to step aside from the group and continue to focus his efforts on RISE," a Dolphins spokesman said. "He believes in and is still fully committed to the work that has been done by the group and will always be a passionate supporter and tireless advocate for social justice causes, the fight for equal rights and education."

The committee includes players and team owners and is intended to address social justice issues. Last season, members of the committee included Arizona Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill, Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank and Washington Redskins cornerback Josh Norman.

Ross, who was a founding member of the social justice committee, has drawn criticism for hosting a fundraiser for President Donald Trump earlier this month.

Former NFL defensive end Chris Long initially addressed Ross' departure from the group in an interview with Sports Illustrated. He then expanded on the reasoning in a pair of tweets Tuesday evening.

Just read every mention here and they're all pretty shortsighted. We've worked w a number of owners who lean conservative and have even supported trump in the past. However (and I have no idea why I'm explaining this because you'll never concede the point).....

— Chris Long (@JOEL9ONE) August 20, 2019

He held a fundraiser for a guy who called protesting players "sons of bitches" + campaigned for them to lose jobs. The working group is directly involved. You can see how that's a conflict of interest that transcends politics. I respect SR's work w RISE. Don't get it? Can't help.

— Chris Long (@JOEL9ONE) August 20, 2019

Dolphins wide receiver Kenny Stills initially called out Ross in a tweet Aug. 7, saying "Someone has to have enough courage to let [Ross] know he can't play both sides of this." He said last week that he had spoken with Ross and that they have "agreed to disagree."

Following Stills' tweet, Ross issued a statement saying he has been friends with Trump for 40 years and that while they agree on some things, "we strongly disagree on many others" and that he has never been "bashful" about expressing his opinions to the president.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Larry Bird likes the mural, just not the tattoos.

A lawyer for the former NBA star has asked an artist to remove certain tattoos from a large painting of Bird on an Indianapolis multifamily residence. The tattoos include two rabbits mating on his right arm, a cardinal on his cheek and a spiderweb on a shoulder.

Artist Jules Muck painted Bird in a blue basketball uniform. It's a replica of a 1977 Sports Illustrated cover when he played for Indiana State.

Attorney Gary Sallee says Bird "needs to protect" his brand and "doesn't want to be seen as a tattooed guy."

Sallee told the Indianapolis Star that he expects a compromise in which all the tattoos will be removed except one of the word "Indiana" on his left arm.

Muck said she adds things like tattoos to her art to avoid creating a complete copy of a photo and is trying to reach an agreement with Bird's representatives.

"They said the tattoos are the problem," she told the Star. "I can't just do an exact replica of a photograph. Plus, I don't want to. We'll see. It's going to be a matter of how much we have to do to change it."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.