ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- The Denver Broncos have tried patience, constructive criticism and a sliver of tough love for penalty-prone left tackle Garett Bolles. And now, after another rash of yellow flags in the Broncos' first two games, the clock is ticking on the former first-round pick's place in the lineup.

Teammates have tried to help Bolles. Denver hired one of the best offensive line coaches in football, Mike Munchak, to, among everything else on his to-do list, help out the former first-round selection.

Bolles, the 20th pick of the 2017 draft, is really the only one who can fix it.

"Obviously it hurts us [Sunday] at different points in the game. ... You know a lot of times, even though we overcame a couple of them, they're a drive-stopper,'' Broncos coach Vic Fangio said. "We've got to be able to block our guy without holding.''

Even the guy who drafted Bolles and has been one of his biggest supporters -- Broncos president of football operations/general manager John Elway -- has had enough.

"Well, it's got to stop. Period,'' Elway said on his weekly appearance on KOA NewsRadio. "There are no more excuses for it. He's had 26 holding penalties in the last two years and two games, so it's got to stop. The bottom line is if he thinks he's getting singled out, he is. He's got to understand that. He's got to understand what he's doing. And that was my question [Sunday], 'Does he know what holding is?' Does he know what he can and can't do?' If he thinks he's getting targeted, he's got to realize he isn't. We'll keep working for it and he's still a talented guy. He cannot do that because it's beating us.''

Bolles has indeed been flagged for 26 holding penalties in 34 career games, including four times in the Broncos' 16-14 loss to the Chicago Bears last Sunday. And this is certainly not a new issue with Bolles, who was highly penalized player in his one year at Utah.

He was flagged 15 times overall (three were declined) as a rookie in 2017, 14 times overall in 2018 (four were declined) and five times already this season (three have been declined). That's 34 penalties and almost 450 yards walked off against the Broncos' offense.

There is some feeling in the Broncos' complex that if Elijah Wilkinson, who is Bolles' backup and who worked with the starting offense plenty in training camp, was not already filling in for the injured Ja'Wuan James at right tackle, a move would have already been made in the Broncos' lineup.

When asked Monday if Bolles could be taken out for a series or two in games at times when he was clearly struggling, Fangio said: "With our depth the way it is at this point, that's probably not an option.''

James has missed the Broncos' first two games with a knee injury and has not yet returned to practice. The Broncos initially expected his return to take four to six weeks, so that may now be the time frame Bolles has to figure out a solution before Wilkinson moves to left tackle.

Some also took notice Bolles seemed to point the finger at the officials after Sunday's game instead of at his own play.

"It was frustrating," Bolles said. "I've built a reputation for myself in this league of holding. I disagree with it, to be honest. There are some calls I disagree with, and there are some things that I understand. ... But I have the best O-line coach in the National Football League with Coach Munchak. ... I'm going to turn this around. I promise you all that. I promise Broncos Country that. I promise my teammates that. That was just unfortunate that they keep coming after me, but it is what it is."

Bolles added he thought he had done a "phenomenal job'' improving from last season and that while he could improve his technique with his hands and footwork, he is "not going to change my physicality, I'm not going to change my mindset.''

Former Broncos guard Mark Schlereth, who is a co-host on a morning radio show in Denver and worked Sunday's Broncos game as an analyst for Fox Sports, has repeatedly cited Bolles' "stubbornness'' in changing his technique and offered earlier this week on his show that Bolles "flat-out can't play.''

Many players have tried to help Bolles in the past, including Broncos linebacker Von Miller, and wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders said this week that "everybody's trying to talk to him.''

"Obviously, I'm going to keep trying to talk to Bolles and see if we can get him right and understanding what he's doing wrong, because obviously to say that he'll been all right is not OK,'' Sanders said. "He needs to understand that he is doing something wrong because they keep throwing the flags on him and he keeps holding. I'm going to talk to him and hopefully we keep breaking down the film and just see him make that jump and get that debt off his back, because it's been happening for like two or three years.''

First he lost his helmet deal. Now New England Patriots wide receiver Antonio Brown has lost his shoe deal.

The Boston Globe on Thursday reported Brown no longer represents Nike.

"Antonio Brown is not a Nike athlete," a company spokesperson told the newspaper, which also reported the spokesperson declined to comment on why, or the timing of the decision.

Brown joined the Patriots Sept. 7, after essentially forcing a trade by the Oakland Raiders. On Sept. 10, Britney Taylor, Brown's former trainer, filed a civil suit in U.S. District Court in Miami, accusing Brown of three incidents of sexual assault or rape in 2017 and 2018, in Pennsylvania and Miami.

Days after that lawsuit was filed, Xenith, a football helmet manufacturer, said it was ending its relationship with Brown, who had announced earlier in September he would wear the Xenith Shadow helmet this season. He chose the Xenith helmet after losing two appeals with the NFL to allow him to wear a helmet no longer certified by the league.

In 2018, Brown appeared in a video called "Antonio Brown Goes Sneaker Shopping with Complex" on YouTube. In the video, Brown talks about his passion for sneakers, especially Nikes, and says he's "getting a huge Nike deal."

In February 2019, before the Pittsburgh Steelers traded Brown to the Raiders, Nike sold a $100 "Nike Tech Trainer Antonio Brown" shoe, according to the newspaper. The gold-trimmed shoe featured a pattern of Brown's No. 84 and one of his phrases, "Business is Boomin," on the tongue of the shoe.

As of Thursday morning, the shoe was no longer available on Nike's website, though several Steelers and Raiders Brown jerseys were still available.

No NFL team plans to start 0-2. Every organization likes to, at the very least, fall in love with a scenario in which it ends up making it to the postseason. Falling to 0-2 is a great way to free up the calendar for January. Since the league went to its current schedule and playoff format in 2002, just 16 of the 140 teams that have started 0-2 went on to make the postseason. That's 11.4%, or roughly one out of every nine. Wouldn't you know that we have nine 0-2 teams in the NFL this season?

Teams don't have to look too far into the recent past to grow hopeful. Last year, two 0-2 teams advanced into the postseason, and when I wrote a version of this column then, one of them was atop the list. I had the 0-2 Houston Texans as my favorite to overcome the odds and advance into the playoffs, which they did even after losing the third game of the season. The bad news is that the team I had as my second favorite was the New York Giants, who beat those Texans in Week 3 and then proceeded to lose five straight. The Seattle Seahawks were the other team to make it out of the basement and into the postseason.

I'll run through the nine winless teams and try to identify what has cost them victories over the first two weeks of the season; if I have any hope they'll turn things around, I'll also detail why. I'll even throw in each team's estimated current chances of making it to the playoffs from ESPN's Football Power Index (FPI). Let's start with the team I have as the least likely to make it to the postseason and work our way up:

Jump to a team:
CAR | CIN | DEN
JAX | MIA | NYG
NYJ | PIT | WSH

9. Miami Dolphins

FPI chance to make the playoffs: Less than 0.1%

You probably could have guessed how this list might start. The Dolphins have been outscored 102-10 so far. That minus-92 point differential is tied with the 1973 Saints for the worst by any team through two games in NFL history.

It's one thing to point out that the Dolphins are the first team since 1949 to lose consecutive games by 40 or more points. It's another to point out that they've lost those two games at home. No team had ever lost two home games by 40 or more points in a single season. The Dolphins pulled that feat off in consecutive weeks.

The Dolphins are bad, which is fine; they clearly aren't trying to win games. Is it scary to think that they might get worse as the season goes along? Injuries will hit, and after trading away cornerback Minkah Fitzpatrick, it's not difficult to imagine the Dolphins shopping players such as receiver Albert Wilson, running back Kenyan Drake and quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick in the weeks to come. I'll write about the Dolphins at length later on this season, but they're safely ensconced as the worst team in football. FPI projects the Dolphins with a 5.9% chance of finishing 0-16.

8. Washington

FPI chance to make the playoffs: 1.8%

Washington pieced together a great half to start the season, as it led the Eagles 20-7 in Philadelphia after 30 minutes of Week 1. From that point forward, Washington has been outscored 56-28, and that includes two garbage-time touchdown passes from Case Keenum. You might give Jay Gruden's team some credit for going up against a pair of 2018 playoff teams in the Cowboys and Eagles, but this defense simply isn't playing well.

Both Dak Prescott and Carson Wentz ripped apart the Washington defense throwing downfield. Through two games, Washington has allowed passers to go 7-of-12 for 230 yards with three touchdowns on deep passes, producing a QBR of a perfect 100. The incompletions include an overthrow of an open Nelson Agholor by Wentz and a pair of drops, including a would-be touchdown Michael Gallup seemed to lose in the sun. Two of the three touchdowns have come with Josh Norman as the closest defensive back in coverage, though it looked as if he was expecting help on the 51-yard Devin Smith touchdown in Week 2.

In likely related news, Washington isn't getting pressure on opposing quarterbacks. It has faced two excellent offensive lines so far, but Ryan Kerrigan & Co. rank 29th in sack rate (2.8%) and 31st in pressure rate (15.3%) through eight quarters of football. Losing Jonathan Allen has hurt, but Washington has invested too much in its front seven with Kerrigan, Matt Ioannidis, Ryan Anderson and three consecutive first-round picks. If it wants to contend for a postseason berth, the push has to come from this front seven.

Washington also needs to get back star left tackle Trent Williams. The offensive line leads the league with eight holding penalties through two weeks. Donald Penn, who is filling in for Williams, has three penalties already. Williams had only three penalties over entire seasons in 2016 and 2017. Washington's tactic during his holdout has essentially been to pretend he doesn't exist. It hasn't worked.

Its schedule is about to get easier -- three of its next four games are against the Bears, Giants and Dolphins -- but this is a team built to win by controlling the line of scrimmage. Right now, it simply isn't.

7. New York Giants

FPI chance to make the playoffs: 0.6%

The Giants finally made their move Tuesday and benched quarterback Eli Manning for first-round pick Daniel Jones, who will make his debut Sunday against the Buccaneers. It's a logical time to insert Jones into the lineup, given that the Giants face a pair of subpar defenses over the next two weekends in Tampa Bay and Washington.

At the very least, Jones should offer the Giants an added element of mobility and keep defenses from stacking the box against running back Saquon Barkley. Remember the fourth-and-1 bootleg the Giants didn't convert against the Cowboys in the red zone in Week 1? Manning simply didn't have the speed to threaten the Cowboys, and when they took away his passing options, he was drowned by a sea of Dallas defenders. One of them even ripped the ball out of his hands on the way down. Jones will make mistakes, but he would have had a viable shot of running his way into a first down there.

Honestly, though, I'm more concerned about the Giants' defense through two weeks. Janoris Jenkins blamed the pass rush after the Bills loss by saying he couldn't cover receivers for 10 seconds, but the rush isn't the only problem.

First-round pick DeAndre Baker has looked absolutely lost on the field in his first two games, and the secondary has blown too many assignments. I covered the unit's dismal performance against the Cowboys when I wrote about Dak Prescott, but it wasn't much better against the Bills. Jones isn't going to fix that, and until the Giants stop blowing coverages (or develop a ferocious pass rush overnight), they're going to be a disaster on defense.

6. Cincinnati Bengals

FPI chance to make the playoffs: 3.6%

Let's start with the good: Zac Taylor's offense has mostly looked impressive through two weeks, although penalties and subpar offensive-line play killed the Bengals against the 49ers. They scored on their second possession, but across the ensuing five drives, they kicked a field goal, threw an interception and faced three third downs with 15 or more yards to go. By that time, the 49ers were up 34-10. The Bengals finished the day with six offensive holding calls during a week in which the NFL threw more flags for holding than any point since the beginning of 2012.

It would be nice to see Taylor's offense with the offensive line the Bengals planned heading into the season, but first-round pick Jonah Williams is on injured reserve and Cordy Glenn is recovering from a concussion. Star wideout A.J. Green remains out indefinitely, and while the popular timeline suggested he would miss six to eight weeks after surgery in late July, he repudiated that estimate this week.

Taylor has inherited former boss Sean McVay's habit of staying in 11 personnel -- nearly 81% of Cincinnati's offensive snaps through two games have come with one running back, one tight end and three wideouts on the field -- and he has managed to unlock multiple long touchdowns for third-year receiver John Ross. Replacing undrafted free agent Damion Willis in those sets with Green could turn this into one of the league's most devastating passing attacks.

Ben Roethlisberger's season-ending injury helps Cincinnati's chances of making a run in the AFC North, but its slate over the next few weeks is difficult. With no timetable for a Green return, Cincy has road games against the Bills, Steelers and Ravens, plus a home game against the Rams before their Week 9 bye, albeit with winnable home games against the Cardinals and Jaguars. If the Bengals can win those two and snatch two victories on the road, they'll be in play for a second-half burst at 4-4, especially if one of those road wins comes against an AFC North rival.

5. Jacksonville Jaguars

FPI chance to make the playoffs: 6.9%

The Jaguars actually have the third-best odds of any team on this list, but it's tough to feel like they're heading in the right direction. While rookie quarterback Gardner Minshew was excellent in relief against the Chiefs and nearly led the Jaguars to a comeback win over the Texans last week, the Mustachioed One went 23-of-33 for just 213 yards, an average of 6.5 yards per attempt, and posted a Total QBR of 30.6. While he completed more than two-thirds of his passes, the Washington State product was running a remarkably conservative scheme. NFL Next Gen Stats predict that a typical quarterback who threw the same passes as Minshew last Sunday would expect to complete 70.9% of those throws, slightly ahead of Minshew's 69.6 mark against Houston.

With Nick Foles on injured reserve, the Jaguars have to get by with Minshew for the next two months. They also might not have Jalen Ramsey on the roster for much longer, given that the wildly talented cornerback asked for a trade from the organization this week. Ramsey, who showed up to camp in a Brinks truck with a hype man, has yet to receive the new contract he desires and got into a shouting match with coach Doug Marrone during the Texans game.

Ramsey is a curious fit for a team led by Tom Coughlin. He's also as good of a cornerback as there is in football, and there's no reason for the Jags to get desperate and accept a lowball offer in a Jadeveon Clowney-style trade. Ramsey is still two years removed from a possible franchise tag. The Florida State product can try to force his way out, but the Jags hold most of the cards here, at least for now. (Given that this is 2019, he's probably going to get traded by Sunday.) It would also be a lot easier for the team to find another person who can coach as well as Marrone than it would be for it to find another cornerback as good as Ramsey.

Every other AFC South team is 1-1, which helps Jacksonville's chances of making a run. It also has gotten its game against Kansas City out of the way, and it will face the Saints without Drew Brees in Week 6. If the Jags can start forcing takeaways against a schedule that includes Marcus Mariota, Joe Flacco, Andy Dalton and as many as three backup quarterbacks over the next six weeks, they could push their way into contention. They'll need Minshew to look more like the quarterback from Week 1, and, as much as Marrone and Coughlin won't want to hear it, they'll probably also need their wantaway cornerback to stick around.

4. Denver Broncos

FPI chance to make the playoffs: 6.6%

The Bears would be on this list if it weren't for the last-second heroics of struggling quarterback Mitchell Trubisky and new King of Chicago Eddy Pineiro. The Bears had a win expectancy of just 6% when they took the ball back trailing Denver 14-12 with 31 seconds left, but a roughing the passer call and a fourth-and-15 completion to Allen Robinson set up kicker Pineiro for a game-winning 53-yard field goal. It's hard to imagine Vic Fangio looking any more deflated than the Broncos coach did after seeing his old charges steal a victory in Denver.

Fangio's defense was more impressive in his second week at the helm than it was in Oakland in Week 1. His offense can't say the same. No unit is going to look great against the Bears, and Denver is already down free-agent addition Ja'Wuan James at right tackle, but Garett Bolles is on the verge of becoming a punchline. The 2017 first-round pick was flagged four times for holding on Sunday, which makes five on the year and 26 since entering the league. No other offensive lineman has topped 15 holding penalties over that same time frame. New offensive line coach Mike Munchak needs more than two games with his new left tackle, but the Broncos can't keep running Bolles out there while sticking Joe Flacco in third-and-long all game.

Owing in part to both his middling offensive line and his innate Flacconess, the former Super Bowl MVP has averaged just 5.9 air yards per pass this season, which ranks 30th out of 33 qualifying quarterbacks. Offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello's scheme was supposed to be an offshoot of the Mike Shanahan attack, but Flacco has just 10 play-action pass attempts over two weeks, and those passes have generated a total of 34 yards. It's unclear whether Scangarello has any faith in his line's ability to keep Flacco upright long enough to successfully execute play-action. More distressingly, it's not clear whether the new offensive coordinator should have any faith.

The Broncos are also the only team in football without a sack through their first two weeks, although they've faced two teams that went out of their way to get the ball out of their quarterbacks' hands quickly. History tells us that Bradley Chubb and Von Miller will get theirs as the season goes along. With the Jaguars, an injury-riddled Chargers team and the Titans coming up over the next three weeks, now would be a good time for the star pass-rushers to get hot.

3. New York Jets

FPI chance to make the playoffs: 3.2%

The Jets? The team that looked abysmal on Monday Night Football and is a 23-point underdog against the Patriots this weekend? This line would make the Jets just the ninth team since 1978 to enter a game as an underdog of 20 points or more. Given that the Patriots have looked virtually unbeatable and the Jets will start third-stringer Luke Falk at quarterback, it's almost a sure thing that they will start 0-3. Even if they get Sam Darnold back during the bye week, New York has a trip to Philadelphia before home games against the Cowboys and Patriots. FPI projects that the Jets have close to a 38% chance of starting 0-6. No team has ever started 0-6 and made the playoffs.

Two teams have made it into the postseason after starting 1-5, though, and that list includes the 2018 Colts. You can also infer that FPI believes the Jets are going to pull one upset over that four-week span, with the home game against the Cowboys as the most likely culprit. If they can get Darnold back at close to 100% after their Monday night game against the Patriots in Week 7, they're going to be more competitive than their record suggests.

Why? Consider that the Jets have the second-easiest schedule in football over the final 14 games of the season, and that includes what looks to be a hellish upcoming four games. What does that tell you about the last 10? They will have two games against the Dolphins, a rematch with the Bills, home matchups against the Giants, Raiders and Steelers, and road trips to face the Jags, Bengals, Ravens and Washington. Three of those teams have already made quarterback changes, and it wouldn't be shocking to see three more of those games come against backups by the time New York faces Miami and Washington.

It would be foolish to project the Jets to win all of those games, but crazier things have happened than a team going 8-2 or 9-1 against bad opposition. There are one or two teams that make the playoffs with that sort of run every year, with the Colts and Cowboys as the closest examples from a year ago. It would be easier to make this sort of run in a division in which the Jets had a plausible path to a division title, and it really would have helped if Adam Gase's team had held onto its lead against the Bills in Week 1, but as ugly as the Jets are about to look, their season will come down to what starts happening a month from now.

2. Carolina Panthers

FPI chance to make the playoffs: 4.3%

I wrote about Cam Newton after Week 1 and thought the quarterback was still struggling with his preseason foot injury and battling new mechanics. In Week 2, we saw a quarterback who was injured struggle his way through a loss to the Buccaneers. Newton aggravated his foot injury during the game and couldn't complete simple throws. As The Athletic's Joe Person noted, Newton was 7-of-8 against the Bucs before seemingly reinjuring his foot. The former league MVP went just 18-of-42 afterward.

It's difficult to imagine the Panthers making it to the postseason without a healthy Newton, and we've yet to see the old Cam this season. The good news, I suppose, is that the offense should be working. There are open receivers here. When you look at the expected completion percentage figures from NFL Next Gen Stats, Newton has completed just 56.2% of his passes against an expected completion percentage of 65.5%. The 9.3% difference between those two marks is the largest in football through two games.

Enter backup Kyle Allen, and while I doubt that the quarterback who once fended off Kyler Murray at Texas A&M has Newton's upside, the Panthers would benefit from having a healthy quarterback who can hit open receivers right now. We saw Newton's floor in the Bucs game, and that guy was barely playable. Allen's floor is likely to be higher sheerly through his health.

The Panthers' defense is playing pretty well when you consider that they've faced 26 drives so far, second only to the Packers. Carolina's pass defense has allowed just 6.2 yards per attempt through two games, which is impressive considering that it has faced the Rams and Bucs. It is probably going to force more than one takeaway every two weeks, too. Opposing teams have recovered five of the seven fumbles in Panthers games this season.

The Drew Brees injury and the slow start each of the NFC South teams has gone through also help the Panthers, although they've now lost two home games to start the season and don't get to play the Saints until late November, when Brees will likely be back in the lineup. Four of Carolina's next five games are on the road, but its upcoming slate includes the Cardinals, Texans, Jaguars, Buccaneers, 49ers and Titans. It should be able to come out of that run with a few wins.

If the Panthers can get a healthy Newton back into the fold, they should still be in the NFC South race come the second half of the campaign.

1. Pittsburgh Steelers

FPI chance to make the playoffs: 7.1%

This has not been a fun week to be a Steelers fan, but I'm not trying to throw them a bone by putting them at the top of these rankings. Nobody could have anticipated that Pittsburgh would start 0-2 and lose Ben Roethlisberger for the rest of the season, but I still think the Steelers have a viable shot at pursuing a postseason berth in the AFC. As horrifically as these first two weeks have gone, this team is too talented to give up on with so much of the season left to go.

My decision here has little to do with Mason Rudolph, who I'm valuing as a below-average starter, given his draft status and height. (As I mentioned in my Roethlisberger piece on Tuesday, if a 6-foot-5 quarterback has NFL-caliber talent, he doesn't fall into the third round.) My hope is that the Steelers have surrounded Rudolph with enough talent on offense to get by, likely with a heavier dose of their running game. It helps that tailback James Conner's Week 2 injury has turned out to be relatively minor. And if the team moves on from wide receiver Donte Moncrief, the move could turn out to be addition by subtraction.

I also simply find it tough to believe that a defense that ranked 13th in DVOA in 2018 and addressed its two biggest weaknesses (cornerback and inside linebacker) this offseason is going to be the league's fourth-worst defense by DVOA moving forward. I don't love the trade for cornerback Minkah Fitzpatrick as a use of a first-round pick, but he's going to be a valuable addition as the Steelers replace Sean Davis, who hit injured reserve this week. Don't give up on this defense just yet.

Five of Pittsburgh's next seven games are at home, which should give Rudolph time to develop in front of a friendlier crowd. One of those games comes in Week 5 against the Ravens, who lead the Steelers by two games in the North. Losing that game would be deleterious to the Steelers' chances of winning the division. Given that the Ravens are 6.5-point underdogs at the Chiefs this week and then play Cleveland in Week 4, the Steelers could pick up a vital tiebreaker if they beat their archrivals.

Baltimore's defense looked great against Miami in Week 1, but it shed five starters during the offseason and has already lost starting cornerbacks Jimmy Smith and Tavon Young to injuries. Kyler Murray averaged 8.7 yards per attempt against the Ravens in Week 2, and better passing teams are going to test Baltimore in the weeks to come. If Rudolph can exceed expectations quickly, the Steelers could be back on track quicker than it seems now.

USA Basketball has kept its No. 1 spot in the FIBA world men's rankings, even after a disappointing seventh-place showing in the World Cup that ended earlier this week.

It's now nine years and counting in the top spot for the U.S., which has held the No. 1 ranking since winning the 2010 world championship. World Cup champion Spain stayed No. 2, Australia leaped eight spots to No. 3, World Cup finalist Argentina rose one spot to No. 4 and World Cup bronze medalist France fell two slots to No. 5.

The FIBA rankings take results from the most recent eight years into account -- which means the U.S. is still reaping point benefits from the 2012 and 2016 Olympic gold medals and the 2014 World Cup title.

"In this day and age, basketball in other countries is not a secret," U.S. coach Gregg Popovich said after the Americans completed their run in the World Cup. "So it's not like there's an epiphany or a revelation to be made. There are wonderful teams and wonderful coaches all over the world. You go compete and the best teams win."

It's now expected that the U.S. will retain the No. 1 ranking going into the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Several top NBA players, including Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Damian Lillard, have said in recent days that they intend to play for the U.S. in Tokyo, where the Americans will try to win a fourth consecutive gold medal.

Most top U.S. players declined to be part of the World Cup team.

"I'm expecting them to be so strong next year,'' Spain coach Sergio Scariolo said.

The new rankings confirmed that European champion Slovenia -- which didn't earn a spot in the World Cup field after many of its top players couldn't take part in qualifying, since those games conflicted with the NBA and EuroLeague schedules -- will still have a chance to compete in the Olympics. So will seven other teams that found out they're headed to playoffs next year.

Angola, Senegal, Mexico, Uruguay, China, Korea and Croatia also still have Olympic hopes. Those last eight playoff spots awarded Thursday went to the top two teams from Africa, Europe, Asia-Oceania and the Americas regions who hadn't either already clinched Olympic berths or spots in the last-chance playoffs.

Japan is automatically qualified for the 12-team Olympic tournament as the host country. The U.S., Argentina, Nigeria, Spain, France, Iran and Australia clinched Olympic spots at the World Cup by finishing as the best teams in their respective FIBA regions -- the Americas, Africa, Europe, Asia and Oceania.

That leaves four unclaimed Olympic berths, and 24 teams to compete for them in playoffs next year. There will be four six-team tournaments held from June 23-28, 2020 -- winner-take-all, all in this case meaning an Olympic berth. Bidding for sites is expected to begin shortly, FIBA said.

The other 16 playoff spots were awarded based on World Cup placing. They went to Serbia, Lithuania, Greece, Russia, Brazil, Italy, Puerto Rico, Turkey, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Germany, Canada, the Czech Republic, Poland, New Zealand and Tunisia.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is investigating where Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs obtained the drugs that were in his system at the time of his July 1 death in Southlake, Texas, two sources with knowledge of the investigation told Outside the Lines on Wednesday.

An autopsy released Aug. 30 found evidence of fentanyl, oxycodone and ethanol in Skaggs' system. The fentanyl drew the attention of federal investigators, the sources said. One senior DEA official said the agency typically gets involved in fentanyl cases in an effort to track down the source of the drug.

Fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, has been linked to a number of high-profile drug-related deaths, including musicians Prince, Tom Petty and Mac Miller.

Skaggs was found dead in his hotel room July 1 during a road trip against the Texas Rangers, having choked on his own vomit.

One federal law enforcement agent, speaking on condition of anonymity, said fentanyl has been showing up "everywhere, even in marijuana."

"We continue to cooperate with law enforcement on this important matter," Angels team spokesperson Marie Garvey said.

MLB deputy commissioner Dan Halem declined comment. Attorney Rusty Hardin, who represents Skaggs' family, did not return messages seeking comment.

When the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's office released its autopsy report, Skaggs' family issued a statement saying, "We were shocked to learn that it may involve an employee of the Los Angeles Angels. We will not rest until we learn the truth about how Tyler came into possession of these narcotics, including who supplied them."

No team employee has been publicly identified as having been connected to Skaggs' death, or as a target in the investigation.

BOSTON -- The San Francisco Giants helped manager Bruce Bochy reach yet another milestone before his retirement at the end of the season.

San Francisco's 11-3 rout of the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night was Bochy's 2,000th career victory as a manager in the majors.

"I've been lucky. I've been blessed to have been doing this this long. That's what it means," Bochy said.

Fans who stuck around Fenway Park were chanting Bochy's name at the end and Boston manager Alex Cora saluted from the opposite dugout, knowing the significance of what Bochy has achieved in 25 years of managing.

"That number just represents so many people, more than anybody are those players. Hopefully when they hear that number, they realize what a big part they had to do with it. It doesn't happen without them.''

The Giants broke out champagne in the clubhouse for a postgame celebration, which included a few understated remarks from their beloved skipper.

"It was actually pretty relaxed and very Boch-esque. Just gave a little speech and said what he always says -- how much he appreciates the guys. And we know that, so that's why we play so hard for him,'' said Jeff Samardzija, who took a no-hitter into the sixth on Bochy's big night. "You don't want to let him down. When you have that respect for a manager, the team shows up every night and is always competing.''

Bochy won 951 games while managing the San Diego Padres over 12 seasons and is 1,049-1,047 in 13 years with San Francisco, which won three World Series titles with Bochy at the helm.

Cora opened his postgame remarks by congratulating Bochy.

"At this level that's kind of like unreal. I think everybody that gets to do this job wish they could last that long and be able to do what he has done throughout his career,'' Cora, who is wrapping up just his second season as a manager in the majors. "The way he's gone about the business. I mean, he's been amazing, so congratulations.''

The Giants helped Bochy reach 2,000 with just 10 games remaining in the season. The 10 other managers to win 2,000 are all Hall of Famers, and Bochy is sure to follow.

"He's just a players' coach, which I think is the ultimate compliment,'' Samardzija said. "He understands the sacrifices we make. He understands the grind we go through. He hasn't forgotten that.''

Samardzija didn't allow a hit until the sixth inning and the Giants gave him plenty of offense, tagging eight Boston pitchers for 15 hits while winning for the second consecutive night at Fenway Park. San Francisco blew the game open with two runs in the eighth and five more in the ninth and will try and complete a three-game sweep of the interleague series Thursday afternoon.

Rafael Devers hit his 30th home run and Jackie Bradley Jr. homered for the second straight night for the Red Sox.

Stephen Vogt hit a two-run homer in the first and finished with four RBIs for the Giants. Samardzija (11-12) pitched six innings, holding Boston to one run on two hits and four walks. He struck out two.

WILD NIGHT

The Giants capitalized quickly on control issues by Boston starter Jhoulys Chacin, who was tagged for three runs in the first inning and didn't make it through the third despite striking out six.

Chacin (3-11) was in trouble from the start with a walk to leadoff batter Mike Yastrzemski, followed by a Brandon Belt's double to left-center. Kevin Pillar drove in Yastrzemski on a fielder's choice and Vogt lined a two-out homer off the Pesky Pole to give the Giants a 3-0 lead.

Brandon Crawford's RBI double in the third put San Francisco up 4-0, which was plenty of cushion for Samardzija, who didn't allow a hit until Devers' homer with two out in the sixth.

Enderson Franco made his major league debut when he started the ninth for San Francisco. He allowed Bradley's homer, which bounced off the top of the Green Monster and was initially ruled a triple before being overturned after a video review.

MORE YAZ

Yastrzemski hit an RBI single in the ninth, one night after homering in his first game at Fenway, where his Hall of Fame grandfather, Carl, played 23 seasons with the Red Sox. Carl Yastrzemski, Boston's beloved "Yaz,'' threw out the ceremonial first pitch Wednesday night.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Giants: C Buster Posey (back, hip) could return to the lineup Thursday, Bochy said. Red Sox: Cora said LHP David Price (cyst left wrist), who hasn't pitched since Sept. 1, will have surgery on his left wrist and is done for the season. "We're going to shut him down,'' Cora said. "It's a head start to next year and a smart thing to do.'' ... OF Mookie Betts missed his fourth straight game with inflammation in his left foot. Cora said Betts could return as designated hitter this weekend when the Red Sox visit Tampa Bay. ... IF Sam Travis was under the concussion protocol after getting hit in the head by a throw while sliding into third Tuesday night.

UP NEXT

LHP Madison Bumgarner (9-8, 3.73 ERA) starts for the Giants in the series finale Thursday afternoon against Red Sox LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (17-6, 3.64).

Houston Astros right-hander Gerrit Cole became the 18th major league pitcher since 1900 to strike out at least 300 batters in a season Wednesday night.

Cole reached the milestone by getting Shin-Soo Choo of the visiting Texas Rangers to whiff on an 89 mph changeup to end the sixth inning. It was Cole's eighth strikeout of the game.

Cole (18-5) allowed two runs on six hits while striking out 10 to earn his 14th straight win as the 3-2 victory clinched at least a wild-card spot for Houston. He hasn't lost since May 22 against the White Sox, a span of 20 starts.

Cole struck out 10 or more for the seventh straight start, tying the club record set earlier this season by Justin Verlander.

"He's incredible," Houston manager AJ Hinch said. "He's a special player; he's a special person. It was a big night for him. That's a big accomplishment. He did it in a win. ... He's been a workhorse for us the entire year. These performances that he just rattles off [are] not easy. He makes it look a lot easier than it is."

Cole, the major league leader in strikeouts, became the third Astros pitcher to reach 300 strikeouts in a season, joining J.R. Richard, who had 313 in 1979 and 303 in '78, and Mike Scott, who struck out 306 in '86.

Cole reached the mark in 198 1/3 innings. According to Elias Sports Bureau data, that's the second-fewest innings pitched in major league history in a season at the time of a player's 300th strikeout, trailing only Randy Johnson (197 2/3 innings in 2001).

After striking out Choo to end the sixth, Cole leaped off the mound and was given a standing ovation as he walked to the dugout. Cole waved to the crowd with his glove hand and touched his chest with his throwing hand.

"At first, I didn't know that was the one," Cole said. "Then, it became pretty obvious, and I just wanted to spend a minute with the fans and thank them for the ovation and all the support."

Houston won its fifth straight and 100th game of the season, becoming one of six teams in major league history to win at least 100 games in three straight seasons. The Astros lost at least 100 games in three straight seasons from 2011 to '13.

"If you like winning, 100 three years in a row is a lot," Hinch said. "I love it for this team and for this organization. It's a big accomplishment. It's one step along the way for us and what we're trying to accomplish this season. I don't want that to be the high note by any means."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Here's the thing about picking some of the most notable surprises and disappointments of 2019: You have to adjust for the baseball. Is it a surprise that Jorge Soler has 45 home runs? Yes. Did he always have power potential? Yes. Did anybody predict 45 home runs from him? No, of course not; he hit nine last year. So, he could be No. 1 on this list if you want. I won't throw up a block on that one.

Is it a surprise that Eugenio Suarez has 48 home runs? Well, he hit 34 last year in 143 games, so reaching 50 with the rocket ball isn't that ridiculous. I mean, it is; nobody would have predicted Suarez would hit 50 home runs, and he might do it.

But you get the point. I don't want this list to just be a list of surprising sluggers -- although we'll include a few.

To the list!

Surprise: Yankees power hitters

The Yankees are neck and neck with the Twins for the all-time home run record, which isn't the big surprise since the Yankees just set the mark in 2018. The surprise, of course, is the source for so many of those home runs: Not Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton combining for 90 to 100 of them, but guys such as Gio Urshela and DJ LeMahieu and Brett Gardner and Mike Tauchman and Mike Ford. We knew Gleyber Torres was good, but I don't think anybody believed 40 home runs was in his 2019 equation.

Put it this way: The Steamer preseason projections had a combined 41 home runs for those six guys. Instead, they've combined for 131, with LeMahieu and Gardner both shattering their previous highs. (They were projected for nine home runs each, and they have combined for 49.) The biggest surprise, however, has been Urshela, filling in at third base for the injured Miguel Andujar and hitting .325/.364/.550 with 20 home runs. It's almost as if Brian Cashman did indeed make a pact with a certain Mr. Applegate.

Surprise: Mitch Garver

Speaking of those power-hitting Twins, they just became the first team with five 30-homer players in one season. In 335 plate appearances as a rookie in 2018, Garver hit seven home runs. In 338 plate appearances in 2019, he has bashed 30. He is slugging .636 with a 1.000 OPS. Only 12 catchers have batted at least 300 times and produced a 1.000 OPS. Garver's power outburst has helped Twins catchers hit a combined 42 home runs -- one shy of the single-season mark of 43 shared by the 1953 Dodgers (led by Roy Campanella), 1997 Dodgers and 1999 Mets (both led by Mike Piazza) and 2003 Braves (led by Javy Lopez).

Here's the unpredictable nature of baseball: Garver was a teammate at the University of New Mexico of D.J. Peterson, the Mariners' first-round pick in 2013. The Twins drafted Garver in the ninth round that year. Peterson hit .185 at Triple-A for the White Sox this season, before getting released and ending the season with Sugar Land of the Atlantic League; and his less-heralded college teammate is having one of the great part-time seasons for a catcher in MLB history.

Disappointment: Phillies' offense

The Phillies signed Bryce Harper and Andrew McCutchen and traded for J.T. Realmuto and Jean Segura, turning a mediocre offense into a ... mediocre offense:

2018: Averaged 4.18 runs per game (National League average of 4.37)

2019: Averaging 4.86 runs per game (NL average of 4.80)

OK, they've gone from slightly below average to slightly above average. That hasn't been enough to push the Phillies into the postseason for the first time since 2011, as the rotation has been inconsistent and the bullpen faced an unending string of injuries. There are 55 qualified regulars with a .500 slugging percentage in 2019 -- none of them plays for the Phillies.

Disappointment: Red Sox

The defending champs began the season with an 11-game road trip to Seattle, Oakland and Arizona and went 3-8 -- a stretch in which the rotation posted an 8.57 ERA. In a sense, the Red Sox never recovered from that opening trip, never found their 2018 mojo. In fact, when they lost their home opener to fall to 3-9, it put them six games out of first place. The closest they got to first after that was three games for one day on May 12.

The major culprit was the starting rotation. Rick Porcello (5.77 ERA) never got it going. Chris Sale, signed to a big extension in spring training, racked up big strikeouts but had a 4.40 ERA before his season ended with a an elbow injury. David Price (wrist, elbow) has pitched just 107 innings, and Nathan Eovaldi, re-signed as a free agent, has pitched just 56 with an elbow issue. It all cost Dave Dombrowski, head of baseball operations, his job.

Surprise: Most improved White Sox

You can make the case that the most improved position player in the league is White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson and the most improved pitcher is White Sox starter Lucas Giolito. Anderson entered the season with a .258 career average in more than 1,500 career plate appearances, and now he is hitting .335 to lead the American League. If he does win the batting crown, it would be the lowest career average entering the season for a batting title winner (from Elias Sports Bureau):

Tim Anderson, 2019: .2576
Gary Sheffield, 1992: .2585
Terry Pendleton, 1991: .2586

Giolito, meanwhile, was so bad in 2018 -- 6.13 ERA and an AL-worst 90 walks in 173⅓ innings -- that you wondered if he had the stuff to pitch in a big league rotation. He got stronger, ditched his two-seamer, started throwing harder and pounding the strike zone, and in just three more innings than in 2018 struck out 103 more batters and lowered his ERA to 3.41. (His season is over with a mild lat strain.)

Which player is more likely to hold his gains in 2020? I'd bet on Giolito. Anderson still has one of the worst strikeout-to-walk ratios in the league at 102 to 12. His average exit velocity, while up from last season, is still below average, and Anderson's Statcast metrics suggest a predicted average of .291. That's still a big improvement from .258, however, so along with Yoan Moncada and Eloy Jimenez, the White Sox are building a young foundation.

Surprise: Sonny Gray, back from the dead

OK, Gray wasn't exactly dead, but after posting a 6.98 ERA at Yankee Stadium in 2018 (admittedly, he was much better on the road), he was run out of the Big Apple for the gentler pastures of Cincinnati. All he has done is go 11-7 with a 2.80 ERA and 199 strikeouts in 170⅓ innings. Check out his NL rankings:

ERA: 4th
Innings: 16th
Strikeout rate: 8th
BA allowed: 1st
wOBA allowed: 3rd
bWAR: 4th
fWAR: 7th

He could finish in the top five of the Cy Young voting. No doubt being reunited with Reds pitching coach Derek Johnson -- his pitching coach at Vanderbilt -- helped Gray rediscover his form. In March, he blamed his stint in New York on the Yankees wanting him to throw more sliders, a pitch he said he had poor control over. The only trouble with that assessment is Gray has thrown a higher percentage of sliders in 2019 than he did in 2018. Whatever the fix, it has worked, and the four-year extension he signed after the trade looks like a bargain for the Reds.

Disappointment: Edwin Diaz and Robinson Cano

Speaking of New York ... maybe Diaz would prefer the gentler pastures of Seattle again after his nightmare 2019. After recording 57 saves and averaging 15.2 K's per nine innings with the Mariners, Diaz has averaged 15.2 K's per nine with Mets. Which only goes to prove there is a lot more to successful pitching than strikeouts. Out of 309 relievers with at least 20 innings, Diaz ranks 306th in win probability added.

Cano has played better in the second half, but his .262/.309/.436 line is the worst of his career -- and that's without adjusting for the increased offense across the league. His WAR: 0.3. He has barely been a replacement-level second baseman. This trade will sting even more down the road when Jarred Kelenic wins the 2024 MVP award for the Mariners.

Surprise: Ketel Marte

Man, this guy has won a lot of fantasy leagues for folks this year. His transformation from a slap-hitting, speedy shortstop to a power-hitting center fielder/second baseman went to a new level, as he has hit .329/.389/.592 with 32 home runs. Here's a question: Who's better over the next five years: Marte or Manny Machado?

Disappointment: Kyle Freeland

I don't know if there's a way to study which type of pitchers have been most harmed by the juiced ball, but I would suggest a left-hander without a big strikeout rate who pitches at Coors Field might be the answer. Regression would have been expected after Freeland's stellar 2018 campaign, but I was buying him heading into the season. Instead, he went 3-11 with a 6.98 ERA and 25 home runs allowed in 99⅓ innings. Freeland, German Marquez and Tyler Anderson combined for 16.1 bWAR in 2018. This year, just 2.0 WAR.

Surprise: Yordan Alvarez

Among this year's rookie sluggers, I might classify Alvarez as a bigger surprise than Pete Alonso. Put it this way: Alonso hit 36 home runs in 132 games in the minors last year. Factor in the major league rabbit ball and it's not outrageous (in retrospect) to think he could hit 40 home runs. He has done better than that -- he is up to 49 -- but the big power numbers aren't a big surprise. In Alvarez's case, we knew about the raw power, but it's his all-around hitting ability that has been off-the-charts impressive. He is hitting .318/.419/.671 with 26 homers in 79 games. Alvarez is insanely talented, doesn't strike out as much as Alonso and has best-hitter-in-the-game potential.

Disappointment: Nationals' bullpen

What's with the NL East? No wonder the Braves are running away with the division. Not that we expected the Nationals to have a lights-out bullpen, but one of the worst of all time? The Nationals' 5.84 bullpen ERA ranks last in the majors (even worse than the Orioles'), their relievers are last in win probability added (easily the worst figure in the past decade) and they had to turn to 42-year-old Fernando Rodney at the trade deadline.

Here is what's weird: In May, the Nationals traded Austin Adams to the Mariners. Adams had fanned 169 batters in 105⅓ innings with just three home runs allowed over the past two seasons in Triple-A. They couldn't use a guy like that? Adams has been pretty solid with Seattle, registering 50 K's in 29 innings.

Surprise: Mike Soroka

Soroka was a top prospect and pitched well in five starts last season, but the baby-faced 21-year-old entered spring training (A) having to prove he was healthy after throwing just 55 innings last year between the minors and majors, and (B) having to win a job in the rotation. He actually began the season with two starts in Triple-A, but Soroka has put together a remarkable rookie season with a 2.57 ERA. In the year of the home run, he has done a superb job of limiting home runs (and hard contact, which helps him succeed without an elite strikeout rate). I love the consistency and efficiency, and he is one of the big keys to the Braves making a World Series run.

Surprise: Oakland Athletics

Is there a surprise team in 2019? Not really. And since the A's won 97 games last year, you can't classify them as a shock. But who thought they would win 97 games again? They're at 92 after Wednesday's 1-0 win over the Royals. Of the 31 people polled in ESPN's preseason picks, only nine predicted the A's would make the playoffs (although two picked them to win the World Series). Among readers, more of you picked the Angels to win the AL West than the A's. The A's are 22½ games up on the Angels. So, the A's are your underdog story of 2019.

Britain’s 200m No.1 has worked at building his self-belief

His performances might not show it, but Miguel Francis says he has struggled with self-belief and a lack of confidence in the past.

When he stands on the start line at the IAAF World Championships in Doha later this month, the sprinter knows that all of his nerves will disappear but managing those emotions in the lead-up is something which the 24-year-old has focused on.

“It has been really rough. At the beginning of my season, in my first two races, I struggled a lot. I didn’t know how I would compete coming back from injury. I was really nervous going into those races,” says Francis, who has returned to near top form this summer after undergoing surgeries on his right ankle and knee in the past couple of years.

“I struggled a lot with confidence and believing in myself,” adds the British 200m No.1, who works with Glen Mills, coach of sprints great Usain Bolt, in Jamaica as part of the Racers Track Club. “It is something I am still working on right now, my coach is trying to get me to work on it – trying to believe in myself more and be more confident.”

But the Montserrat-born sprinter, who transferred his allegiance to Britain in 2017, adds that his performances so far this year have given him a boost, with a UK-leading 19.97 clocked at the Müller Anniversary Games in London and a third-place finish at the British Championships, which helped to secure his spot on the GB team for Doha.

“The races I have done have really boosted my confidence a lot,” he says.

“I was coming back from surgery in September last year. To come back and finally run 19 (seconds) again and have the season I’m having, I feel the best I’ve ever felt. I’m training really well and things are going smoothly.

“The beginning of the season was kind of rough, I had some small pains and stuff. I started back basically learning to run again, learning to sprint again. I had to make sure that I got my body – my hamstrings, quads – stronger so I can stay healthy.

“The times that I do in training, I run them so easily, to be honest. I train so well. But it is so hard for me to be confident heading into races. But when I get on the start line, it all disappears – my nerves and everything disappear. I just get really nervous before my races.

“It definitely isn’t because of who is in the race, it is just me not believing in myself and believing that I can run fast.”

But Francis has already proven that he can. With some swift times this summer, and some solid training behind him, the best could still be yet to come.

The 19.97 he ran in London in July ranks him equal third on the British 200m all-time list alongside Adam Gemili, behind only John Regis and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, though Francis does have a faster PB of 19.88 – just 0.01 off Regis’ best – which he ran in 2016.

That came after he represented Antigua & Barbuda at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and 2015 world championships, with Francis having moved there with his family when he was a few months old after a volcanic eruption on his home Caribbean island.

But the Wolverhampton & Bilston athlete, who has family in the West Midlands of England, was eligible for a transfer to GB with his birthplace being a British overseas territory and his mind is now on medals as he races for GB in the 200m and forms part of the 4x100m squad in Doha.

“I know myself. I know when I get to Doha I won’t have any problems confidence wise,” he says. “Anything is possible. I feel like I can definitely be in the mix.

“This is something I want. I don’t want to go my whole career and never win a major medal. It’s something that I want to achieve.”

The United Kingdom's biggest women-only grass-court event is to be downgraded from next summer, with Wimbledon supporting a new tournament in Berlin.

The Nature Valley Classic in Birmingham, a Premier status competition on the WTA Tour since 2014, is to return to being categorised as an International event.

The change means lower prize money and ranking points for players.

Ashleigh Barty become world number one after winning the tournament in June.

The French Open champion was in a field that included Naomi Osaka, Karolina Pliskova and Venus Williams.

The tournament - held two weeks before Wimbledon, putting it up against the men's event at Queen's Club - is one that makes significant losses.

Prize money in recent years has not been matched by a similar increases in ticket sales or sponsorship.

The reduction in prize funds for the 38-year-old event represents a drop of about £600,000 from around £800,000 to approximately £200,000 - a significant sum for the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), which reported a loss of £8.8m in May.

LTA chief executive Scott Lloyd said the event will still "provide opportunities for tennis fans to get closer to the sport".

"We have worked closely with the All England Lawn Tennis Club on the plans for next year's grass-court season," he said.

"The Nature Valley Classic in Birmingham will continue to be one of the LTA's major events next season."

Birmingham will now have to compete with Berlin to try to attract players.

Other changes the grass-court season will include a new men's event in Majorca and a proposed women's tournament in Bad Homburg, Germany, backed by former Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber.

The other British tournaments in Nottingham and Eastbourne are unaffected by the changes.