The Pittsburgh Penguins acquired forward Andreas Martinsen and a 2021 seventh-round draft pick from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for defenseman Erik Gudbranson on Friday, the teams announced.

Gudbranson, acquired in February of last season, had been a healthy scratch in recent games, with rookie John Marino getting more playing time for the Pens.

Martinsen will report to the Pens' AHL team in Scranton Wilkes-Barre. His best NHL season came during his rookie year with Colorado in 2015-16 when he played 55 games and recorded four goals and seven assists.

This week on The Brandel Chamblee Podcast with Jaime Diaz, the two discuss Tiger Woods’ performance at The Challenge: Japan Skins and the recent rash of knee injuries for PGA Tour players. 

Plus, Brandel and Jaime go in-depth on the Rory McIlroy / Brooks Koepka rivalry and discuss some of golf’s greatest rivalries from the past.

Check out the full podcast below: 

Leicester City recorded the biggest ever English top-flight away win by beating 10-man Southampton 9-0 at a rain-sodden St Mary's to move up to second place in the Premier League on Friday.

The biggest margin of victory on the road previously was eight goals, a joint record held by three clubs including an 8-1 win by Manchester United over Nottingham Forest in 1999.

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The result also equalled Manchester United's record for the largest win ever in the Premier League in a 9-0 win at home against Ipswich Town in 1995.

Jamie Vardy and Ayoze Perez both had hat tricks on the rainy night at Southampton, who saw Ryan Bertrand sent off with a straight red in the 12th minute to set the visitors on their way for the record victory.

It was the first time since 2014 that two hat tricks had been scored on a single day in the Premier League when Yaya Toure did it for Manchester City and Luis Suarez scored three for Liverpool.

The nine goals puts Brendan Rodgers' side up to 25 for the season, good for second in Europe's top-five leagues behind the 29 that Man City have scored.

Leicester also leapfrogged Man City into second place in the table pending the result of the defending champions' match against Aston Villa on Saturday.

Three nights into the 2019-20 NBA season and the league leaders in net rating are ... the Phoenix Suns. Just like we all predicted.

That's merely one sign not to overreact to 48 minutes of regular-season basketball. Still, every game matters, and a few early trends already have emerged that I'm eager to watch more closely.

Heading into Mavericks-Pelicans (8 p.m. ET, ESPN/WatchESPN), Jazz-Lakers (10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN/WatchESPN) and more Game 2s for intriguing squads, here are three developments worth tracking -- including Anthony Davis jumpers, Luka Doncic isos and the defending champs.

It's only one game, but ... the Lakers need AD to be money from outside

One big, early question in Lakerland: Can Anthony Davis shoot well enough to open up the offense? It's too soon to tell, but the eventual answer will determine a lot about just how sharp the teeth of this offense can be.

There's no question that Davis is one of the most talented players in the NBA. Right now, though, all that talent hasn't really translated to his J. When you dive into his shooting data, some troubling things emerge.

Let's start with Tuesday's loss versus the LA Clippers.

Davis had 25 points on 21 shots, but it's how he got there that raises a familiar red flag.

We can quickly see that Davis was very effective in the paint, racking up seven of his eight buckets there. Davis is a monster inside. He ranked third in the NBA in total points in the paint in 2017-18, while his new teammate LeBron James ranked No. 1.

But in a world where he is playing alongside James, it's key that Davis can get out of the way sometimes and hit some jumpers. Here's the thing, though: Davis is mostly mediocre outside of the paint.

Against the Clips, he hit just one of his seven extended 2-point tries and missed both of his 3s. That small sample size is relevant because it harkens back to a bigger, more troubling trend. Check this out:

• Of the 130 players to take at least 1,000 jumpers outside the lane dating back to 2016-17, Davis ranks 126th in effective field goal percentage (eFG%) at 42%, per Second Spectrum tracking.

Last year, Davis was very active and very inefficient in the midrange, converting just 36% of his shots. Yuck! He also was below average from downtown, where he converted 33% of his tries. The bottom line is that jump-shooting is a big part of Davis' portfolio, and his numbers are more Russell Westbrook than they are Kevin Durant.

At the exact point in his career when we would expect these numbers to escalate, they did the opposite. The Lakers are hoping that Davis' jump-shooting stats will improve now that he is playing in the LeBron ecosystem. Davis is bound to get a lot more open looks and take fewer difficult shots. It certainly didn't help Davis that he has had the fourth-toughest attempts in terms of shot quality in that group of 130, per Second Spectrum.

And that all sounds great until you consider the following stat:

• Dating back to 2017-18 season, Davis is one of 95 NBA players to attempt at least 150 uncontested shots outside of the paint. Of that group, he ranks 89th in efficiency, with an eFG% of just 46.3%. That's just a hair above Ricky Rubio.

You know who also isn't a great jump shooter? Reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. He rates even worse than Davis. But the Milwaukee Bucks are designed to take care of that with effective 3-point shooters in a well-crafted system.

If you can't shoot, you can't space. And if Davis can't effectively space the floor, the Lakers' offense will have issues. Davis often shares the court with Dwight Howard or JaVale McGee. Opposing bigs will sag every game, clogging James' driving corridors, providing interior help, grabbing boards and generally muddying things up. Danny Green's reliable stroke can only help so much on its own.

James' championship teams always have featured great stretchy bigs. In Miami, Chris Bosh could pick-and-pop as well as anyone in the league. In Cleveland, Kevin Love and Channing Frye could hit 3s reliably enough to dilute the abilities of opposing centers.

If Davis is ineffective as a shooter, that means many of the Lakers' most important lineups will feature two bigs who don't space well enough to declutter the deep paint. Dudes like Nikola Jokic, Rudy Gobert, Clint Capela and Hassan Whiteside will have a much easier time against this squad that way.

There's no question Anthony Davis can be a terrific-shooting big. But it's fair to question whether he is right now -- and it's win-now time for the Lakers.

It's only one game, but ... Luka loves him some Harden-esque isos

Luka Doncic is 20 years old and already the closest thing we have to James Harden anywhere outside of Houston. Doncic put up 34 points on 19 shots in Wednesday's win over the Washington Wizards, and half of those points came off of isolations.

Dallas isolated Doncic 13 times, with the sophomore star finishing the play on 10 of those isolations while yielding a whopping 1.7 points per possession.

This is something to watch, because as Houston and Harden already have shown us, hero ball is back in fashion -- assuming the hero you're isolating is efficient. And if Wednesday is a fair indication -- a big if ... after all, it was against the Wizards -- then it appears Dallas has an effective hero.

Like Harden's isos, Doncic's are terrifying because he combines great handles with both a terrific step-back move and the ability to drive to the bucket. If a defender overplays either move, the other option becomes instantly available. Out of his 10 iso shots on Wednesday night, four were step-back 3 attempts and the rest were drives.

Last year, Doncic averaged five isos per game. That number should double or even triple this year, even with Kristaps Porzingis around. In case you think that's crazy talk, just consider that Harden averaged more than 20 isos per game last year, per Second Spectrum. There's no reason the Mavs shouldn't lean on Doncic more and more and more as this season unfolds if he remains this reliable on his own.

It's only one game, but ... are the Raptors the new Rockets?

It was ring night in Toronto on Tuesday, when the Raps defeated the new-look New Orleans Pelicans in overtime.

Toronto amassed a whopping 130 points in that game, but it's how they got there that is noteworthy: They took only four midrange shots all game!

Of the team's 103 field goal attempts, only four of them were non-paint 2s -- all of which belonged to Serge Ibaka and none of which went in. Yes, zero of the team's 130 points came from the midrange.

If Game 1 is any indication, the post-Kawhi Leonard Raptors are adopting an extremely analytically oriented diet featuring only 3-pointers and shots in the paint.

That junk food in the midrange is great with outlier stars such as Leonard. Sometimes it's the only decent look you can get. But for this current group in Toronto, the tweaked shot selection makes plenty of sense.

The Boston Red Sox have agreed to hire Tampa Bay Rays executive Chaim Bloom as their new head of baseball operations, a source confirmed to ESPN's Jeff Passan.

Terms were not available. The New York Post was first to report the Red Sox would hire the Rays' senior vice president of baseball operations.

Bloom, 36, will succeed Dave Dombrowski, whom the Red Sox fired as president of baseball operations in September, less than a year after winning the 2018 World Series. Boston failed to make the playoffs this season, finishing 84-78, 19 games behind the American League East champion Yankees.

Bloom had spent 15 years with the Rays in capacities including minor league operations, player development, contract negotiations, salary arbitration and international scouting.

He has operated in a front office unlike Boston's in that the Rays have a low budget and remain competitive. This season, they had the lowest payroll on opening day at $49.08 million, and the Red Sox had the highest at $187.23 million.

Late in September, Red Sox owners John Henry and Tom Werner said at a news conference that they intended to make major cuts to the payroll to get under the luxury tax threshold next season, saying they fired Dombrowski because of differing opinions on how to build for the future.

It's a crucial offseason for the Red Sox, who need to decide what to do about 2018 MVP Mookie Betts, who will be a free agent after next season, and J.D. Martinez, who can opt out of his $23.75 million deal five days after the World Series, as well as other players on expiring contracts.

Bloom is a Philadelphia native and attended Yale University, graduating in 2004 with a bachelor's degree in classics.

WHEN JEFF LUHNOW took over as Houston Astros general manager in December 2011, the organization dedicated itself to building a franchise for the 21st century, even if that meant dismissing more than 125 years of baseball orthodoxy. The long-accepted practice of belief without proof no longer would suffice. Luhnow demanded more. More critical thinking, more innovation, more logic and reason. At the root of those changes was what informed them: more information.

Luhnow loved information. If the Astros were going to upend baseball, it would happen only with a meticulous faith to evidence. They would ask questions, seek answers and iterate accordingly. Bad information leads to bad decisions, so the Astros built practices to obtain only the highest-quality kind. This was their ethos. This was their culture -- the renegades who disregarded what the rest of the industry thought because they were getting it right.

They determined that baseball's trove of data rendered better information than what humans gathered and slowly gutted their scouting department. They believed high-speed cameras delivered superior knowledge to pitchers and installed them in bulk across their minor league affiliates. They stuffed their analytics department with the best minds they could find, regardless of background -- a writer, an engineer, a derivative analyst. They blinkered themselves from outside disparagement and wedded themselves to the creed that information would guide them.

On the field, it did. The Houston Astros, as a baseball team, are a rousing success story. They have won more than 100 games in three consecutive seasons. Two years ago, they captured a championship. The industry has tried to copycat their methods. A man went to prison for stealing their information. Tonight they will play in Game 3 of the World Series against the Washington Nationals, trailing 2-0 but fielding a team still well capable of erasing the deficit.

They will do so amid a controversy now entering its fourth day -- each appreciably worse than the previous. An Astros assistant general manager has been fired amid an investigation into his mistreatment of female reporters. Major League Baseball is weighing further discipline against him as well as the organization, sources tell ESPN. The Astros' reputation has suffered deep damage. All of it has sullied their attempt at another coronation.

Around the game, shots of schadenfreude have been chased by I-told-you-so's. Contempt for the Astros runs deep -- and has well before this incident. Jealousy breeds some of it. The organization's arrogance accounts for the rest. The Astros painted themselves as a disrupter and reveled in the commotion. They lived with the perception that they didn't understand people. They fed their process, followed it with fealty, doubled down. They believed in it, and they never had much of a reason not to, not until a week ago, when the assistant GM high on the feeling of winning the pennant opened his mouth, and two days later, when Luhnow and the Astros forgot to abide by that essential principle that has guided them for so long: Bad information leads to bad decisions.

IN THE MIDDLE of a celebration still raging well past midnight, a reggaeton song blasting through the speakers on repeat, a 25-year-old baseball star locked eyes with a 34-year-old front-office official. Alex Bregman and Brandon Taubman leaned in and hugged each other.

"You got us here," said Bregman, the Astros' third baseman and MVP candidate.

Taubman demurred. No, he said. You -- the players -- got the Houston Astros here, through the regular season with 107 wins, over the scrappy Tampa Bay Rays in a hard-fought division series and, on this night last Friday, past the New York Yankees in the sixth game of the American League Championship Series.

Puffing a cigar, wearing a grin of satisfaction, Taubman did not realize that minutes earlier he had likely ended his career in baseball and exposed the Astros to a stress test of their principles. Amid the festivities, Taubman found himself near a group of three female reporters, one of whom wore a purple domestic violence awareness bracelet. Taubman started yelling. At first, it was unclear at whom. Once the women heard him repeat his words, half a dozen times, it was evident he was directing his words at the reporter wearing the bracelet.

"Thank God we got Osuna!" Taubman said. "I'm so f---ing glad we got Osuna!"

Roberto Osuna is the Astros' closer. They acquired him from the Blue Jays a day before the July 31 trade deadline in 2018. He was in the middle of serving a 75-game MLB suspension for alleged domestic violence against the mother of his child. Canadian prosecutors dropped charges against Osuna after the woman returned to Mexico, their home country, and refused to testify, but the length of the suspension -- it remains the third longest MLB has levied on a player for violating the domestic violence policy -- and the fact that Osuna declined to appeal it spoke to the severity of the case.

Dealing for Osuna was a classic Luhnow-era Astros move. While a significant number of front-office employees opposed the trade, sources said, Luhnow overruled them with the support of Astros owner Jim Crane. Osuna was one of the game's best closers, a difference-maker, and the incident had depressed his trade value. Luhnow saw him as a distressed asset; whatever public-relations hit the team took would be far outweighed by what he could bring to the team on the mound.

On a conference call the day of the deal, Luhnow tried to square acquiring Osuna with the so-called zero tolerance policy the Astros had regarding domestic violence. "Quite frankly," Luhnow said, "I believe that you can have a zero tolerance policy and also have an opportunity to give people second chances when they have made mistakes in the past in other organizations. That's kind of how we put those two things together."

The logic gap in his words did not deter Luhnow from trying to sell it with conviction and assuredness. In a statement announcing the deal, Luhnow had claimed: "The due diligence by our front office was unprecedented." When pressed for specifics, Luhnow said he had spoken with Osuna, his past teammates and players on the Astros.

Less than six weeks after the trade, the Astros promoted Taubman, then a senior director of baseball operations, to assistant GM. His ascent since joining the Astros in 2013 after working on Wall Street had been rapid: from low-level analyst to No. 2 in the baseball operations department in half a decade. Like Luhnow, a former consultant with McKinsey & Co., Taubman's love of fantasy baseball provided a conduit into the sport. They shared, sources said, an unsparing view of the industry that manifested itself in an air of superiority. Taubman was widely disliked outside of Astros circles, eight sources who interacted with him said; most of them referenced his lack of "feel," or people skills. But around the sport there had always been a grudging respect for Luhnow. His single-mindedness was impressive, if not admirable.

Nothing to that point illustrated it quite like the Osuna trade. The Astros had earned a reputation as an organization that lacked a conscience, though that was more because of their reliance on data, drastic personnel turnover and willingness to almost entirely forgo traditional scouting. The Osuna deal felt different -- particularly the flimsiness of Luhnow's attempts to rationalize it.

"We believe that this environment -- the Houston Astros clubhouse, the players on our team, the staff that we have, the support system that we have, the influence that we can have going forward and our community in general -- is a great environment to hopefully turn this from a negative story into a positive outcome down the road," Luhnow said on the conference call. "It won't be overnight. It won't be easy. But we do hope that down the road there will be an opportunity to reflect on this in a more positive way."

ON MONDAY NIGHT, the eve of Game 1 of the World Series, Sports Illustrated staff writer Stephanie Apstein published a story with Taubman's comments from the ALCS celebration. She was one of the three women at whom he had directed them. When reached by Apstein, the Astros had declined to comment through a spokesman. At 9:25 p.m., she tweeted a link to the story. Almost exactly an hour later, the Astros released a statement.

"The story posted by Sports Illustrated is misleading and completely irresponsible," it said. "An Astros player was being asked questions about a difficult outing. Our executive was supporting the player during a difficult time. His comments had everything to do with the game situation that just occurred and nothing else -- they were also not directed toward any specific reporters. We are extremely disappointed in Sports Illustrated's attempt to fabricate a story where one does not exist."

In 74 words that oozed with aggression, the Astros had loosed an attack on the story's veracity and Apstein's credibility. It read with a similar belligerence to Luhnow's words on the day of the Osuna trade: defensive, stilted, nevertheless awash with certitude. They were the Astros. They were right.

Earlier in the day, Apstein had called Gene Dias, the Astros' media relations director, to inform him that she was writing a story about the incident. Dias already knew about what Taubman had said. On the night of the incident, ESPN.com reporter Bradford Doolittle had heard Taubman referencing Osuna. Though he had not observed Taubman turning toward the women, after talking with one of them, he believed Taubman had directed the words toward her. After speaking to the reporter again on Monday, Doolittle asked Dias if the team wanted to comment or make Taubman available to speak. Dias asked to call Doolittle back. When he did, he said Taubman had been speaking loudly in support of Osuna.

The context made little sense. Osuna had come on in the ninth inning of Game 6 to record a save that would have sent the Astros to the World Series and instead surrendered a game-tying home run to Yankees second baseman DJ LeMahieu. If there was any night Taubman was bound to be "so f---ing glad we got Osuna," that was not it.

On Monday, Dias repeated that explanation to Apstein. She said she planned to publish her version, and if the Astros wanted to give an official comment she would include it. Dias declined. From there, sources say, the Astros started to craft a strategy, aware of the potential impact the story would register with Game 1 of the World Series less than 24 hours away.

When asked by the Astros about his behavior, Taubman had vociferously denied targeting the women. Another Astros employee backed his version of the story, sources say. The organization found the information compelling enough to forgo any further examination of the comments and their context, even though Taubman's story contained clear logic gaps. It was, as one league source says, "the Astros being the Astros. They trust their people."

For nearly eight years, Luhnow had fomented a culture that pitted the Astros against the baseball world. This cocoon protected Taubman, even if it meant ignoring the tenet of information that stabilized the operation. They believed him, with no proof beyond his word.

Less than 10 minutes after Apstein's tweet Monday, Yahoo Sports' Hannah Keyser, one of the other women standing in the group, confirmed SI's version of the story. It did not dissuade the Astros from releasing the statement anyway. More accounts substantiating Apstein's description followed the team's statement -- first from the Houston Chronicle's Hunter Atkins, then from a Chronicle story citing three eyewitnesses.

The corroboration was damning. The statement would not stand. The Astros scrambled Tuesday morning to craft two new statements -- one from Taubman, the other from Crane. Though they struck a more apologetic and conciliatory tone, both shared the tone-deafness of the first.

Taubman said he was "deeply sorry and embarrassed" -- because he "used inappropriate language." He did not admit to targeting the women. He said his "overexuberance in support of a player has been misinterpreted." After deeming himself a "progressive and charitable member of the community" and a "loving and committed husband and father," Taubman offered one final apology: "I am sorry if anyone was offended by my actions." Crane's statement offered no contrition but highlighted the team's financial contributions to local domestic violence support groups. It ended: "We fully support MLB and baseball's stance and values regarding domestic violence."

The ham-fisted statements, sent about four and a half hours before Gerrit Cole threw the first pitch of the World Series, were distributed as MLB was scrambling too. League officials were horrified that the most important games of the season were being played under the specter of a completely preventable incident that was made actively worse twice by the Astros. Officials from baseball's Department of Investigations were on their way to Houston, and the league was trying to firm up times to interview witnesses. They wanted to know what happened. It wouldn't take long to get the truth.

BY WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, Brandon Taubman's story was crumbling. Starting that morning, Bryan Seeley and Moira Weinberg, both former prosecutors who help lead MLB's investigations, had questioned witnesses -- at least four Astros employees and multiple reporters, sources say. As the interviews ended before Game 2 began, it was clear to MLB as well as the Astros, whose general counsel sat in on interviews, that Taubman's information was bad.

The Astros made the decision Wednesday night to fire Taubman. His words started the mess. He lied about his intent. Astros vs. the world could go only so far.

At 4:33 p.m. ET on Thursday, the Astros issued their fourth statement in less than 72 hours. The second paragraph began: "Our initial investigation led us to believe that Brandon Taubman's inappropriate comments were not directed toward any reporter. We were wrong. We sincerely apologize to Stephanie Apstein, Sports Illustrated and to all individuals who witnessed this incident or were offended by inappropriate conduct." In the third paragraph, they announced Taubman's firing.

What the statement never addressed was the Astros' active participation throughout. They believed Taubman without bothering to ask witnesses not affiliated with the Astros. They smeared Apstein unnecessarily. The Houston Astros put their name, and by extension their approval, on a statement in which Brandon Taubman -- who weaponized another man's domestic violence and used it to target and harass women -- denied that truth and hid behind the fact that he's a husband and father.

On Thursday evening, Luhnow held a news conference in Washington, D.C. He used the word "inappropriate" 13 times and "wrong" 10 times. He took 25 questions. He didn't answer nearly that many. He admitted that he had seen the original statement before its distribution but would not say who wrote it.

"There were a lot of people involved in reviewing it, looking at it, approving it," Luhnow said.

It was, he said, on behalf of the Astros.

"We take accountability for it," Luhnow said. "We take ownership of it. And it was wrong."

Saying the team takes accountability and taking accountability are entirely different things. Saying it involves talking. Actually taking accountability would involve action. For more than a year, Luhnow could have taken some sort of action to prevent this -- to turn Osuna's signing from a negative story into a positive outcome down the road. It wouldn't have been overnight. It wouldn't have been easy. But he hoped that down the road there was an opportunity to reflect on this in a more positive way. Instead, one of the highest-ranking officials in the organization did the opposite. "It's devastating," Luhnow said Thursday. "It's not something I'd wish on anybody in this room -- just like I don't wish any of you to be standing up here having to answer these questions either."

Astros manager AJ Hinch had already been in that same position. The day after Apstein's story broke, Hinch answered these questions at his scheduled Game 1 media availability. He was the only Astros official who spoke until Luhnow's news conference three days later. He said he was "very disappointed for a lot of reasons. It's unfortunate. It's uncalled for." He said, "We all need to be better across the board in the industry." At a moment when the organization still was backing Taubman, Hinch was trying to be accountable.

"This is not something that's endemic," Luhnow said at his own news conference. "This is not a cultural issue. We have a lot of really good people in our front office, in our coaching staff, on our team. And that's really much more representative of who we are than comments of an individual who, quite frankly, this is out of character for that individual as well."

In practically the same breath in which Luhnow said the Astros do not have a culture problem, he said that multiple people in the team's front office read the first statement before it was released. As many good people as there might be, there are multiple, himself included, willing to sacrifice others to protect a lie, he admitted without admitting it. The last question asked Thursday was simple: "Have you personally reached out to apologize to any of the women who were impacted by this?"

"I have not," Luhnow said. "I've been traveling up here. We've been -- I had to have a pretty tough conversation this morning with someone that's worked with me for a long time. But I will, as soon as I can."

Stephanie Apstein had to travel up there too. She was at the news conference.

BEYOND THE STATEMENT in which he essentially said nothing, Astros owner Jim Crane has remained silent throughout the Taubman mess. He has not addressed whether he was part of the cadre to vet the first statement. He has not attached his name to an apology. But he is the one who ultimately answers the question of whether this was an isolated incident or something that speaks more to the core of his franchise.

Other consequences are coming. Taubman is likely to receive a suspension from MLB, sources say, which would go into effect if he ever gets another job in baseball. The organization could be handed a fine too, according to sources -- for Taubman's behavior, for the first statement, or both.

Controversies with the Astros are nothing new. They were victims of a hacking scandal that saw former Cardinals scouting director Chris Correa, a co-worker of Luhnow's during his years in St. Louis, go to federal prison for stealing information from Houston's proprietary database. Correa maintained he entered their systems only after the Astros stole information from the Cardinals' database two weeks after Luhnow was hired in Houston.

As has been the case with other allegations against the Astros, nothing has stuck. Last year, when a low-level Astros employee was caught using a cellphone to take pictures of the Cleveland Indians' dugout during a postseason game, Houston avoided discipline. Same with this October, when the Yankees believed the Astros were relaying signs -- a frequent charge of opposing teams -- through a system of whistles. Such incidents only serve to feed the baseball industry's derision toward the organization.

Since well before this story broke, there is no more polarizing franchise in baseball than the Houston Astros. And up to this point, that has been how the Astros like it.

Will they change? If Luhnow's news conference is any indication, no. An incident like this warrants transparency; the Astros traffic in opacity. For days, the Astros spun and hid, spun and hid, not because of some flawed public-relations strategy. Bad as it was, their tack was simply an extension of what has found such great success on the field: We can do this our way.

For all the other questions -- Will they ever reveal who crafted the first statement? Who backed up Taubman's initial lie? And is that person, someone willing to smear an innocent, really the sort who contributes to a healthy culture? It always does go back to the field. Astros players know the story. They've known it since Osuna showed up. Building a great baseball team never has been their problem.

"Forget about the a--holes in the front office," one player said this week. "This is about us."

The World Series restarts tonight at 8:07 ET. Anibal Sanchez will pitch for the Nationals and Zack Greinke for the Astros. Everyone from the Astros will be there except Brandon Taubman, who weathered the outside disparagement and wedded himself to the creed that information would guide him, only to find out that even with the Houston Astros, it's not always true.

WILMETTE, Ill. — In this month’s edition of the Business of Speed, we will examine employment in the motorsports industry.

Racing is typically looked at from the competition perspective. How fast can they go and what does it take to get there? — all with the ultimate goal of taking the checkered flag.

It takes many people to get there. Most of the discussion centers on the team — those preparing the cars at the shop and at the race track.

It starts at the shop with engineers, fabricators, mechanics and painters, all working on specific tasks.  Pre- and post-race duties are extensive during the season.

At the track, the pit crew will take care of refueling, tire changes and mechanical repairs. Strategy is critical to ensure peak per­­­form­ance and certain individuals are dedicated to that aspect of team operations.

There are also numerous service providers such as marketing and public relations personnel who support the entire organization.

Specific data on occupations in racing is not readily available. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics does gather info on the spectator sports industry. This segment has multiple subsets that includes operation of auto races, race teams and other industries that support motorsports.

The most recent data for the spectator sports industry indicates there are more than 500 million people working, at an hourly wage of $34.60 and a mean wage of $58,000.

Specific data has been assembled by various entities on motorsports and racing.

The North Carolina Motorsports Ass’n indicated motorsports has a $6 billion economic impact on the state. There are more than 25,000 direct and indirect jobs related to the industry. There are more than 1,000 teams, tracks, businesses and educational institutions related to racing in the Tar Heel state.

The state of Indiana, along with Purdue University and Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, looked studied motorsports in their region. The motorsports cluster directly employed more than 23,000 with an average wage of $63,000, exceeding most others.

The breadth of the industry moves along and extended supply chain. This includes defense and aerospace, passenger vehicles manufacturing and those who directly supply or buy from the sector.

The intellectual and technical know-how is transferred to other businesses and helps solve problems.  Innovation is critical to success in racing and this is a valuable asset to the sport.

A key question is how do we expand and grow opportunities within the motorsports industry.

Developing talent is an ongoing process. Specific education and training programs exist. They provide a familiarity with engines, bodywork and mechanical technology in a specialized environment.

The goal is a well-rounded individual with a communication, management and technical skillset.  Opportunities for advancement are frequently tied to experience and networking.

There are many initiatives that support a career in motorsports. These programs include vehicle builds, scholarships, mentoring, volunteers and internships. Specific events at races, companies and trade schools offer places for like-minded individuals to connect.

Motorsports stakeholders should work together to develop the assets and resources necessary to secure a bright future for the sport’s next generation of leaders.

AUSTIN, Texas – Officials from the SRO Motorsports Group have confirmed the schedule for the GT World Challenge America series.

The season will see the sports car series compete across a six-race weekend schedule at North America’s top road courses.

The GT season opener shifts to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park during Victoria Day weekend on May 16-17. From Canada the series heads south to historic Virginia Int’l Raceway on June 6-7.

California’s wine country is the next stop on the calendar with a visit to Sonoma Raceway on Aug. 8-9. Aug. 29-30 marks the return of the series to another challenging and historic American road course, Road America.

The penultimate round of the championship will take place at historic Watkins Glen Int’l on Sept. 19-20. The season will end at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Oct. 3-4, with the event also featuring the Intercontinental GT Challenge Powered by Pirelli.

The Indianapolis 8 Hours event will combine the two series for the first time. The best International GT teams will battle GT World Challenge America teams as part of the International GT Challenge schedule that also features the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour, Total 24 Hours of Spa, Suzuka 10 Hours, and Kyalami 9 Hour.

This will be the series’ first long-distance endurance race that will count toward the championship in recent decades.

ST. LOUIS -- Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko will not travel with the team for weekend games at Boston and Detroit after suffering an unspecified upper-body injury in a win over Los Angeles.

General manager Doug Armstrong said Friday that Tarasenko will be reevaluated when the team returns following Sunday's game against the Red Wings.

Tarasenko left Thursday night's 5-2 win over the Kings after getting tangled up with Kings defenseman Sean Walker on a partial break with about 6 minutes left in the first. Tarasenko, who had eight points in his previous five games, had two shots in 4:37 of ice time before leaving.

"He's an important leader for us, and it's tough to see him go down," goalie Jordan Binnington said after the game. "I think our group did a good job of responding and picking each other up. "

Juventus coach Maurizio Sarri will not intervene to stop Cristiano Ronaldo taking free kicks within scoring range, he said Friday, despite the Portuguese forward's dismal record for the Turin side.

According to TruMedia, Ronaldo has taken 29 free kicks for Juventus since he joined the club before the start of last season and failed to score with any of them. Seven were saved, two missed the target and a remarkable 18 went straight into the wall, with two making it past the wall after deflecting off it.

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He wasted two more attempts during Tuesday's Champions League match against Lokomotiv Moscow, prompting a wave of criticism on social media and in Juventus blogs, especially as the team has two other expert free kick specialists -- Miralem Pjanic and Paulo Dybala.

Sarri gave little attention to the problem when asked about it at a news conference on Friday.

"The free kicks? We have two right-footed options on the pitch: him [Pjanic] and Ronaldo. So they will have to decide among themselves who takes them, as happens in just about any other side," he said.

The 34-year-old had a similarly poor record with Portugal, failing with his first 44 attempts at European Championship and World Cup tournaments before finally breaking his duck in the 3-3 draw with Spain at the World Cup last year.

Juventus, who lead Serie A with 22 points out of a possible 24 and are still unbeaten since Sarri took over in the close season, visit promoted Lecce on Saturday.

Sarri said that Ronaldo would have to rest at some point, but could not say when.

"Even he will have to take a break, but I don't know when," said the coach. "I speak to him every day, about how he feels on the pitch and [about] the numbers that come from the doctors and fitness coaches at the end of the match. We will make the decision based on how he feels."