It's never a good sign for any baseball team -- let alone a defending World Series champion with a mostly returning roster -- to be treating games in mid-August like it's the middle of October.

The Boston Red Sox were forced to show their hand in a three-game set against the Cleveland Indians last week. The team started the series 7½ games out of the second wild-card slot, trailing the Rays and A's. After telling Nathan Eovaldi he was rejoining the starting rotation, Boston pivoted with the urgency of a Game 7, bringing in the righty for six outs across two games, underlying the team's need to win now.

Manager Alex Cora has been stretched so thin for quality outs from his bullpen, his Aug. 16 lineup card -- for the first of three games against the last-place Orioles -- listed ace Chris Sale as a left-handed option out of the pen.

Chris Sale listed on the lineup card as being available out of the bullpen tonight. pic.twitter.com/UeysU3C6uD

— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) August 16, 2019

Now the Red Sox's ace, and their impromptu bullpen arm, is finished for 2019. Although Sale is expected to avoid Tommy John surgery, sources tell ESPN's Jeff Passan, he likely will miss the rest of the season with left elbow inflammation. Sale met with Dr. James Andrews on Monday and received a platelet-rich plasma injection, Red Sox general manager Dave Dombrowski said in a statement. Following a recommended shutdown from throwing, Sale will be reevaluated by Andrews in six weeks.

As news of Sale's shutdown broke Monday night, the Red Sox, in the midst of a five-game winning streak, still had just a 5% chance of making the playoffs, according to FiveThirtyEight's model. Put aside all the math, stats and spin, though: Even if Sale were healthy, everything that hadn't gone Boston's way so far this season would have had to go perfectly right for the Red Sox to sniff the postseason.

In other words: The 2019 Red Sox are done, and their World Series title defense is over.

The Sale conundrum

Sale's injury puts a spotlight on the five-year, $145 million extension he signed this past winter, as Boston is left to cross its fingers that Sale will be at full strength next season. As noted by Buster Olney, rival evaluators expressed surprise that Dombrowski and the Red Sox did not wait longer to finish the extension, given the 30-year-old Sale's shoulder injury during the second half of 2018.

The uncertainty surrounding Sale further spotlights the financial commitment to the Red Sox's rotation. There will be even more pressure on David Price, who has started 30 games twice in four seasons in Boston, and Eovaldi, who inked a four-year, $68 million deal after hitting free agency, then spent three months on the injured list after undergoing arthroscopic surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow.

With the Red Sox unlikely to re-sign Rick Porcello, Boston will find itself in 2020 with significant questions in an area that has been fundamental to the team's success in recent years.

Boston's lack of organizational pitching depth manifested itself this year with Eovaldi's injury, and the performance of top pitching prospects Bryan Mata, who has a 6.25 ERA in more than 40 innings in Double-A Portland, and former first-round pick Tanner Houck, who has mostly pitched out of relief in Triple-A Pawtucket.

The Red Sox could turn to the free-agent market, which is highlighted by 29-year-old Gerrit Cole, who will likely net the biggest pitching contract in free agency, and Madison Bumgarner, who has a 3.72 ERA in 27 starts in his age-29 season. In addition to having Porcello's $21 million come off the books, the Red Sox also will shed Pablo Sandoval's $18.445 million salary this offseason, creating some financial flexibility.

Given the prospect haul Dombrowski sent out for Sale, Boston would need to get creative in order to land a top-of-the-rotation starter via trade.

What went right for the 2019 Red Sox

There have been plenty of bright spots, as you'd expect on a team with MLB's highest Opening Day payroll. Rafael Devers keeps finding ways to top himself. The 22-year-old has become one of the best third basemen in the sport, hitting .332/.380/.596 while making significant strides in the field. He has put up eye-opening performances like his six-hit, four-double outing in 10 innings against the Indians, and is now tied with Alex Bregman of the Astros in FanGraphs WAR among all third basemen in baseball at 5.5.

Xander Bogaerts has not only thrust himself into the conversation about the best shortstop in baseball, he has emerged in the team's clubhouse as a leader, especially in his hands-on mentorship of Devers. The 26-year-old is hitting .309/.384/.562, already has a career-high 27 homers, and ranks first among qualified shortstops in FanGraphs WAR at 5.6. Signing Bogaerts to a six-year, $120 million extension has quickly become one of the best moves the Boston front office has made in recent years.

Other Red Sox have had good seasons. Right fielder Mookie Betts isn't going to win another MVP award this year, but he has put together a strong second half so far, hitting .313/.386/.592 with eight homers and 15 doubles. Andrew Benintendi, J.D. Martinez and Christian Vazquez have all contributed to a juggernaut offense that ranks second in runs scored in MLB, trailing only the Yankees.

What went wrong

Offense can get you only so far. The difference between the 2018 and 2019 Red Sox jumps right off the stats page: the 5.04 starters ERA, a number that gets even more dizzying when thinking about the $88 million commitment to the rotation. Sale had, by far, the worst season of his career (6-11 with a 4.40 ERA) following his blockbuster offseason extension. Porcello has posted a 5.49 ERA, the highest mark of his career. Eduardo Rodriguez, who came into the season as the fifth starter, leads the rotation with a 4.10 ERA.

Eovaldi's prolonged absence forced Dombrowski to turn to internal options Hector Velazquez (5.81 ERA in 26 games, eight starts) and Ryan Weber (4.35 ERA in 11 games, three starts) and, later, in a pre-deadline deal, Andrew Cashner (7.29 ERA in nine games, six starts). Eovaldi's replacements averaged three innings per start.

So many times this season, Eovaldi has been cited as a stopgap answer. As the trade deadline approached, Dombrowski touted the flame-thrower as the team's solution to a slowly crumbling bullpen. Even when the team demoted Cashner to the pen, Cora could not commit to using Eovaldi as just a starter or a reliever, underlying the team's lack of in-house solutions and organizational depth, something the division rival Yankees have shown a seemingly endless supply of in 2019.

Who's to blame

Blaming deadline inaction for the demise of the Red Sox's season assumes one small move could have fixed this team. Owner John Henry told WEEI.com before the deadline that the team was already over budget and couldn't add payroll during the season.

Cracks in the team's roster construction and payroll started to show back in the offseason. Dombrowski made a huge commitment to Eovaldi, who had undergone two Tommy John surgeries and has started more than 30 games just once in his eight-year career. When he chose not to bring back Craig Kimbrel or Joe Kelly, who have been lackluster with the Cubs and Dodgers, respectively, Dombrowski cited internal bullpen solutions like Tyler Thornburg and Steven Wright, neither of whom contributed. After posting a 3.72 ERA and leaving 77 percent of runners on base (fourth in baseball) in 2018, the Red Sox's bullpen this year has a 4.28 ERA and is leaving 72 percent of runners on base (16th in baseball).

The lack of organizational starting pitching depth highlighted the team's struggle to develop young starting pitching prospects, a problem a team with a huge payroll should be able to fix. Boston not only failed to find enough rotation solutions, the starting pitching problems compounded the bullpen issues by wearing down the relievers. Moving Eovaldi to the pen upon his return felt more like using tape to patch holes in a flooding luxury cruise ship. That falls on Dombrowski.

What's next

Dombrowski was brought in to spend money and trade prospects to acquire Sale, Kimbrel, Price and Eovaldi and push for a World Series. Dombrowski was tasked with a similar mission in the later years of his tenure in Detroit, making the playoffs every year from 2011 through 2014, where he fell short of a World Series title before being released from his contract in August 2015. The Tigers' current ground-up rebuild and the $124 million due over the next four years to 36-year-old Miguel Cabrera, who has nine homers and has hit .278 in 400 at-bats this season, remain as the rubble from Dombrowski's tenure.

Betts becomes a free agent after the 2020 season, as does Jackie Bradley Jr., which complicates any plans to add payroll this winter. Boston has $237 million committed to just Sale, Price and Eovaldi for the next three years, with Porcello hitting free agency this offseason and a farm system without much premium pitching talent. The 66-year-old Dombrowski has one year left on his contract, but ownership might have to decide even sooner if the man who built maybe the greatest team in franchise history is the right person to lead the Red Sox into their increasingly murky future.

MOORESVILLE, N.C. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. has released his first statement after he and his family were involved in a plane crash last Thursday in Tennessee.

In his statement, Earnhardt thanked his pilots, law enforcement, medical personnel and hospital staff for their quick response in the wake of the accident.

pic.twitter.com/lHVxWSdQAq

— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) August 19, 2019

The plane crash took place Thursday afternoon at Elizabethton (Tenn.) Municipal Airport. The plane was carrying Earnhardt, his wife Amy, daughter Isla, the family dog and two pilots. All aboard the plane escaped without serious injury.

Senior NTSB Investigator Ralph Hicks said during a press conference last week that the plane bounced twice upon landing, with the right-front landing gear failing shortly thereafter.

“We were able to obtain surveillance footage from buildings around the area that include footage of the accident happening. It shows quite a bit,” noted Hicks. “The airplane basically bounced at least twice before coming down hard on the right (side) main landing gear. You can actually see the right-main landing gear collapsing on the video.

“The airplane continued down the runway, off the end through a fence and came to a stop on Highway 91.”

Earnhardt was scheduled to be a part of the NASCAR on NBC broadcast of Saturday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, but he was given the weekend off by NBC officials following the crash.

DENVER -- The Colorado Avalanche agreed to a one-year deal with forward Valeri Nichushkin.

The 24-year-old had 10 assists and no goals in 57 games last season with the Dallas Stars. He has 23 goals and 51 assists in 223 career games, all with Dallas.

Nichushkin was brought in by the Avalanche to add "experience to our team," general manager Joe Sakic said Monday.

Nichushkin was the 10th overall pick by the Stars in 2013.

A native of Chelyabinsk, Russia, the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Nichushkin also suited up for 104 KHL games with Traktor Chelyabinsk and CSKA Moscow, where he accumulated 31 goals and 26 assists.

WOLVERHAMPTON, England -- Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has defended Paul Pogba after his penalty miss denied Manchester United victory over Wolves at Molineux, as the two teams settled for a 1-1 draw.

Pogba saw his second-half spot kick saved by Rui Patricio after a debate with Marcus Rashford, who scored a penalty against Chelsea.

Sky pundit Gary Neville said the incident was "not right" after the match, but Solskjaer refused to blame the Frenchman, who has now missed four penalties in the last year.

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"The two of them are confident and good penalty takers," said Solskjaer. "When there are two names there it's the one who's the most confident and Paul has scored so many before so absolutely no problem.

"Sometimes in a game you do grow in confidence. Sometimes; 'I don't want to take it today because I had a bad day.' I've got absolutely no problem with players walking up and saying, 'this is mine'."

Rashford is yet to miss a penalty for United and scored from the spot in the 4-0 win over Chelsea on the opening weekend of the season.

After a conversation with Pogba, he appeared to be led away by Daniel James but Rashford insisted afterwards there was no problem between the pair despite the miss.

"Paul wanted to take it, so he took it," said Rashford. "Everyone can miss a penalty. He's scored countless of penalties for us. It's normal to miss one.

"We decide who wants to take it. The confidence you are going to score the goal is always the same. We practice all the time. There is no reason why we shouldn't score. It's not on Pogba, it's on the team."

Speaking on Sky during the game, Neville said the penalty taker should have been decided before the game.

"This is not right," said the former United defender. "This is a Manchester United penalty. This is not tombola [bingo]. This is not five a side. Rashford throws the ball to Pogba. Something is not right."

Speaking after the game, Solskjaer also addressed Alexis Sanchez's future after the Chilean was omitted from squad which travelled to Wolverhampton.

Sanchez is wanted by Inter Milan while sources have told ESPN FC that Juventus and Napoli are also interested.

Solskjaer said in the build up to the trip to Wolves that he expected the 30-year-old to stay at Old Trafford, but at Molineux he left the door open for him to leave the club before the European deadline on Sept. 2.

"There's still a couple of weeks left and there is a chance some clubs have shown interest in Alexis and we'll see what happens," said the United manager.

WOLVERHAMPTON, England -- Manchester United are making progress under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. They are fitter, younger and seemingly hungrier than in recent seasons, but it only took a missed penalty by Paul Pogba -- another missed penalty by Paul Pogba -- to highlight just how far this team must go before being anywhere close to being ready to challenge for honours again.

On the face of it, a 1-1 draw against Wolves at Molineux after losing 2-1 here in the Premier League and FA Cup last season is a sign of progress for United. But there is a distinct lack of experience and leadership in Solskjaer's young team -- at an average age of 24 years and 173 days, this United side was the youngest of any to play in the league this season -- and that led to Pogba taking his fourth unsuccessful penalty since the start of last season, with Wolves keeper Rui Patricio diving to his right to push away the Frenchman's 67th-minute spot kick. The save was a desertion of the sort of luck that United benefitted from last season.

Eight days ago, Marcus Rashford scored from the spot during United's 4-0 opening-weekend victory against Chelsea at Old Trafford. The penalty maintained Rashford's 100 percent record from the spot for United and England, and he has taken some pressure kicks in that time for club and country. Yet at Molineux, Pogba brushed him aside and decided to take the glory shot himself, perhaps because he had won the spot kick after being fouled by Conor Coady.

In a team stocked full of experienced players and characters strong enough to intervene, Pogba would surely have been told to walk away and leave the penalty to Rashford, considering his record has been so patchy in recent months. But there are no Roy Keanes, Eric Cantonas, Gary Nevilles or Rio Ferdinands in this United team, and nobody felt strong enough to step up and take the ball from Pogba.

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And Solskjaer's post-match explanation of the incident only added to a sense of United being rudderless at times on the pitch. According to the Norwegian, both Pogba and Rashford are the club's penalty takers, so even he can't bring himself to make an executive decision about which is No. 1 and which is No. 2.

"The two of them are designated penalty shooters," Solskjaer said. "It's up to them to choose that this is their time.

"Sometimes players are confident enough to score. Paul has scored some for us, but today Patricio has made a good save.

"The two have been very confident before, last week Marcus scored. I'm sure he would have loved it this time, but Paul thought he could score and I like that confidence. I've no problem with players saying, 'This is mine.'"

Former United captain Neville, speaking on Sky Sports, described the situation as "embarrassing," however.

"They should decide in the dressing room who is the penalty taker," Neville said. "It's embarrassing. This is a Manchester United penalty, this is not a tombola, this is not under-fives on the school field."

But while it isn't "under-fives," the youthful nature of United's team will be a pertinent factor in their performances and results this season.

Molineux is a tough place to visit, and Nuno Espirito Santo's team will once again challenge for a European spot this season, but the naivety of Solskjaer's players should have alarmed the United manager during this game. They were unable, through a lack of seasoned experience, to control the tempo of the game and looked to be shipping water long before Ruben Neves cancelled out Anthony Martial's first-half opener on 54 minutes.

The increased energy that Solskjaer's preseason training regime has instilled shone through late in the game, when United finished strongly, but they were too hot and cold during the 90 minutes. They registered just two shots on target throughout the contest: Martial's goal, and Pogba's missed penalty. Solskjaer admitted after the game that this was a night when his players learned some important lessons.

"We are a young side and we learned on the pitch today," he said. "You have to learn on the job, you can't discuss it afterwards."

Yet for players to learn and become the kind of resilient team capable of challenging for major honours, they also need decisiveness from their manager, and the penalty situation suggests Solskjaer lacks the assertiveness to take this team to the level that the club demands. Under Sir Alex Ferguson, doubt was nonexistent in the minds of the United players. They only knew certainty. But by allowing his players to decide who takes penalties, Solskjaer has opened the door for his players to storm through and do whatever else they want, whenever they want to do it.

Giving players autonomy to do that works when you have a team full of experience and leaders, but not when they are so young that they look to the bench for guidance. This United team still needs plenty of that leadership, which is why Solskjaer needs to make the big decisions and not the leave them to the likes of Rashford and Pogba.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman, who missed the first three-and-a-half weeks of training camp with a thumb injury, was removed from the non-football injury list, a source told ESPN's Field Yates.

Edelman participated in his first practice Monday, and immediately shoots to the top of the receiver depth chart. The Super Bowl LIII Most Valuable Player is quarterback Tom Brady's go-to target, especially in critical situations. In three playoff games last year, Edelman totaled 26 catches for 388 yards (14.9 average). Edelman's 115 career postseason catches is second in NFL history, behind Jerry Rice (151).

The Patriots had been thin at receiver in recent practices due to a string of injuries, but Edelman's return -- coupled with Josh Gordon's conditional reinstatement -- has altered the outlook. Gordon remains on the non-football injury list for now.

Before practice Monday, coach Bill Belichick was asked about the competition that has unfolded at receiver, and noted a group of receivers who had yet to practice -- a reference to Edelman, Gordon, Cameron Meredith (non-football injury list) and Demaryius Thomas (physically unable to perform list).

"There's still a lot of people we haven't seen actively on the field, so 'to be determined,' " he said.

Edelman is no longer part of that list for the Patriots, who host the Carolina Panthers on Thursday night in preseason action.

Los Angeles Chargers running back Melvin Gordon, who is nearly five weeks into a holdout over his contract, told ESPN on Monday he is training rigorously in California and is staying ready to play football.

Gordon wants to play but continues to wait for a resolution.

"Just waiting on the call," said the Pro Bowl back, who also has spent time preparing in Florida.

Gordon declined to discuss his contract situation and his holdout.

Both sides have remained millions apart in negotiations, according to a source. The top of the running back market begins at around $13 million per year, and the Chargers have been well short of that number, despite discussions about bridging the gap with incentives.

Gordon has told the Chargers through his representation that if he does not receive a new deal, he will sit out.

The Chargers held their first training camp practice on July 25, and Gordon has subjected himself to fines during his absence. Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers said he is "pulling for" Gordon but has to progress with the team's current offense.

Gordon's agent, Damarius Bilbo, told ESPN's Josina Anderson earlier this month that he requested the Chargers trade his client after the team remained at its initial offer of approximately $10 million per season. Gordon's fifth-year option is set to pay $5.605 million in 2019, and short of a new deal, Gordon has considered all options, including holding out until around midseason, in time to accrue an NFL season toward free agency, according to a source.

Gordon has made two Pro Bowls since the Chargers drafted him 15th overall in 2015, and his 28 rushing touchdowns over the past three years ties Dallas Cowboys back Ezekiel Elliott, who also is holding out. In 12 games last year, Gordon recorded 885 rushing yards on 175 carries (an average of 5.1 yards per carry) along with 14 total touchdowns (10 rushing) and 50 receptions for 490 yards.