CHICAGO -- The New York Yankees' biggest reinforcements are almost back.

Injured sluggers Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge are beginning the last phase of their respective rehab assignments this weekend, the team announced Friday.

Both outfielders will be reporting to the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders and are expected in the lineup Friday night. The Yankees minor league affiliate has a three-game series at the Durham Bulls beginning Friday.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Thursday before his team's series opener at the Chicago White Sox that Stanton likely would spend the full series with the RailRiders before getting an off day Monday and then being inserted back into the Bronx Bombers' lineup at home against Tampa Bay on Tuesday. Judge, meanwhile, will probably be looking at a slightly longer stint with the RailRiders, Boone indicated.

The Yankees have missed both power hitters since April, when they were lost along with several others as an early-season injury bug ravaged the roster. In all, 20 players have been on the Yankees' injured list since spring training, with only six having returned from it. Currently, 14 players are on the Yankees' IL, including Stanton and Judge.

Stanton has played in only three games this season, going on the IL on April 1 with a left biceps strain. He's batting .250 (2-for-8) with no homers, no RBIs and one run scored this season. Nearly a month into his rehab stint, the biceps injury improved, but Stanton was suddenly afflicted with a left shoulder injury.

He eventually got over that shoulder issue. But while he was participating in a live batting practice session last month at the Yankees' complex in Tampa, Stanton was hit by a pitch around his left knee/calf. The hit-by-pitch left him with a calf strain that he's been rehabbing for nearly the past month. Boone indicated that he has healed from that.

Judge went on the IL on April 21 after suffering a left oblique injury during a swing the day before. For most of the past four weeks, Judge has slowly worked himself into throwing again, performing defensive drills and eventually to swinging a bat in live batting practice and extended spring training simulations.

Following two live hitting sessions at the Yankees' complex in Tampa earlier this week, he has progressed to the point of participating in rehab games with the RailRiders.

Before getting injured, Judge was batting .288 with a .925 OPS. He also had five homers and 11 RBIs in 20 games.

The Yankees, meanwhile, are currently on a 16-game homer-hitting streak, despite being without both superstar power hitters.

While the big bats and long balls are garnering most of the headlines, we're seeing some special -- and surprising -- performances on the mound as well. We look at some of them and the other big storylines that will play out this weekend.

White Sox starter Lucas Giolito, who is 7-0 with a 0.88 ERA and .385 OPS allowed in his past seven starts, has a tough test in facing the Yankees on Friday night. Where does Giolito fit in your early look at the AL Cy Young contenders?

Eddie Matz: Given his massive dimensions, it's hard to fit Lucas Giolito into anything. But when I saw him last week in D.C. (when he told me he was bummed to not be facing his former team, the Nationals), he looked significantly leaner than in the past. Still towering, but leaner. As such, I suppose I can fit him into my early American League Cy Young ballot ... right near the top. If not for a couple of missed starts in April (hammy), he'd probably be at the top. As it is, he's still neck-and-neck (and neck) with Charlie Morton and Jake Odorizzi.

Sam Miller: It probably comes down to Justin Verlander and Giolito for me, with Giolito getting the edge for being slightly better and then 20 seconds later Verlander getting the edge for throwing a bunch more innings. And then 20 seconds after that, I have a vision of Chris Sale in The Freeze's suit, 85 feet behind them both but gaining eight feet with every start.

David Schoenfield: Just as expected, it's Verlander battling Giolito, Odorizzi and Morton for Cy Young honors. Verlander has 21 more innings than Morton (the No. 2 guy), 25 more than Giolito and 30 more than Odorizzi. On the other hand, he's allowed more home runs than the other three combined. Verlander has allowed 17 home runs -- but somehow only 28 runs, which is weird and crazy. I think the innings matter, and Verlander has 13 quality starts in 15 outings, five more than Morton's eight. I go Verlander-Morton-Giolito-Odorizzi at the moment.

Speaking of Cy Young contenders, Hyun-Jin Ryu enters his Sunday Night Baseball start against the Cubs (7 p.m. ET, ESPN) sporting a 9-1 record and a 1.36 ERA. What is the most impressive aspect of Ryu's most impressive season thus far?

Matz: I'll take "Ridiculous Strikeout-to-Walk Ratios" for $400 please, Alex. In 13 starts, the Los Angeles Dodgers lefty has 77 punchouts with just five free passes. Five! Cinco! Chamesh! That works out to a K-BB ratio of 15.4 that is the best in the majors by a landslide meets a mudslide meets a slide guitar meets an electric guitar meets an electric eel. Speaking of electric eels, here's how shocking Ryu's ratio is: The next-closest guy is Max Scherzer, whose ratio of 6.6 isn't even half of Ryu's. If Ryu keeps this up, he'll shatter the single-season record of 11.6, currently held by Phil Hughes. Where I come from, we call that impressive.

Miller: What do Yu Darvish, Luis Castillo, Robbie Ray, Julio Teheran and Trevor Bauer have in common? They all have higher walk rates this year, against all batters, than Ryu has in three-ball counts. (So do a bunch of other starters, by the way.) And with runners in scoring position, Ryu is allowing a .037/.054/.037 line. So when things have gotten a little rough -- runners on, or a bad count -- he has made the pitch he needed to make.

Schoenfield: OK, so Ryu is a strike-throwing robot. Here's a fun non-strike-throwing robot fact: Nolan Ryan had 26 separate games in 1977 when he walked at least five batters. Yet he still managed a 2.93 ERA in those games. Maybe Ryan was a robot. After all, imagine how many pitches he must have thrown in some of those games: 9 IP, 7 H, 9 BB, 13 SO; 11 IP, 9 H, 7 BB, 11 SO; 10 IP, 6 H, 5 BB, 19 SO; 9 IP, 5 H, 8 BB, 12 SO. And so on. He did this all season. I guess that's my point about Ryu: He's been the anti-Nolan Ryan. And I'll take the anti-Nolan Ryan.

The Rangers -- who are in Cincinnati this weekend (1 p.m. ET Sunday, ESPN+) -- are one of the most pleasant surprises of the season. Will they be able to stay in wild-card contention through September?

Matz: Can they stay in wild-card contention? Sure, along with half the league. Will they win the wild card? Only if they continue to play 56% of their games against the Mariners, Orioles and Royals, as they've done over the past month (they're 12-3 against that hole-y troika during that stretch). For what it's worth, Texas faces Seattimore City just 13 times over its final 94 games. They don't call 'em the dog days for nothin'.

Miller: The Rangers took an extremely risky strategy into this season, betting on recent Tommy John-ers Shelby Miller, Drew Smyly and Edinson Volquez in their rotation. It worked out even better than they planned: Those three have thrown 91 innings, allowed 91 runs and somehow caused the rest of the team to wildly outperform all expectations. The Rangers have, in the past few weeks, remade that broken rotation on the fly, and it's sort of working. I could see them winning 84 games, for sure. But the three teams they're holding off in the wild-card race -- Cleveland, Oakland and Boston, all just a couple of games back -- won 91, 97 and 108 games last season, respectively, and I can't really see all three of them collapsing to 83 or worse this year.

Schoenfield: What they said! Look, with four American League teams on pace for 100 losses and the Mariners trending in that direction, the season is set up for a surprise team. Somebody has to win some of these games. Aside from Texas' rotation concerns, I'm not sure this is a playoff-caliber offense, and that's even without assuming regression from Joey Gallo and Hunter Pence. The Rangers are second in the AL in runs (through Wednesday), but fourth in batting average, sixth in OBP and fourth in slugging. They've hit .281/.365/.508 with runners in scoring position, so they've hit well in the clutch. They need that to continue, but you don't want to have to bet on that to continue.

Writers' choice: What are you most looking forward to this weekend?

Matz: Baltimore lefty John Means has been good enough that the O's -- yes, those O's -- actually have two guys who deserve to be in the All-Star conversation (Trey Mancini being the more obvious one). A 26-year-old rookie, Means didn't crack the rotation until mid-April, so he's a teensy bit shy of qualifying for the ERA title. But if he did qualify, his 2.60 ERA would rank sixth in the AL. This weekend, he and his pet changeup draw the Red Sox again. He's already faced Boston twice and pitched well both times. I'll be looking to see if he can fool the Sox thrice and keep the Means mojo going.

Miller: Byron Buxton has climbed to sixth in the American League in WAR, and certainly in the top three for sharable defensive highlights. The Twins are hosting the Royals this weekend, looking to pad their 95% chance of winning the AL Central, and I'll be looking for Buxton to punish a terrible Royals pitching staff and play himself into the MVP conversation. There are few things I'd enjoy more than Buxton, with so much beauty in his game, putting everything together and finishing second to Mike Trout.

Schoenfield: Well, Cubs-Dodgers should be fun, including that Ryu game Sunday. But the matchup I want to check out is Kyle Hendricks versus Rich Hill on Friday, a meeting of two of my favorite pitchers in the game. In this era of power pitchers followed by power relievers, I love watching these two finesse guys outwit batters. Hendricks is unique as a finesse right-hander, Hill with that big looping curveball. They remind us that you don't have to throw 95 mph to succeed.

PICK 'EM TIME

The top two teams in the NL East meet with the Phillies facing the Braves in Atlanta. Who will win the series?

Matz: Pretty much everyone in the Braves lineup is mashing right now. Meanwhile, pretty much everyone in the Phillies bullpen is M*A*S*H-ing right now. Advantage Atlanta.

Miller: It's simple: The Phillies just need Jay Bruce to stay the hottest hitter in the world. I'll take the Braves.

Schoenfield: The Phillies swept the Braves in Philly to begin the season (their only meeting so far), when two of the Atlanta starters were Bryse Wilson and Kyle Wright. This time it's Sean Newcomb, Max Fried and Mike Foltynewicz. I'll go with the Braves taking two of three at home, with Newcomb having a nice return to the rotation after his excellent relief outing the other night (4.2 IP, 1 H, 0 BB, 6 SO).

As we all know, home runs are flying everywhere. Choosing from three of the top homer-hitting teams of June, which team will hit the most long balls this weekend: Mariners, Braves or Twins?

Matz: Seattle plays at Oakland, where dingers go to die. Minnesota plays at home, where Twins taters don't happen nearly as much as they do on the road. That leaves the Braves, who will leave the yard early and often this weekend. Eight times, to be exact.

Miller: I'm not ashamed to admit: I did not expect that question to end with those three teams. The Braves get to face the Phillies, who have been the National League's most homer-prone pitching staff. And unlike the Mariners, they're at home. I'll take them.

Schoenfield: The Twins laugh at Eddie's prediction of eight home runs for a weekend. They've hit eight in a game twice already. They do face Brad Keller on Friday, and he's been stingy with the big flies (four in 86 IP), but since I'm picking the Twins to win every game the rest of the season, I'll go with them.

Anyone willing to boldly pick the Cubs to beat Ryu and the Dodgers on Sunday night?

Matz: Um, no. But I am willing to boldly pick my nose. Inside the privacy of my own car. When nobody's looking. And I'm on the highway, where I can roll down the window and use the wind as a disintegration agent.

Miller: I'd like to be the brave one -- the Dodgers have slugged 50 points lower against lefties than righties this year, and the Cubs will start Jose Quintana, soooooo maybe? -- but the actual better team is at home and starting a pitcher with a 1.66 ERA since the start of 2018. I'm not that brave.

Schoenfield: Ryu has allowed two runs or fewer in all 13 starts. Only one starter (not including Rays opener Ryne Stanek last season) has begun a season with more consecutive starts of two runs or fewer (at least since 1908). It was not Nolan Ryan. It was a guy named Al Benton for the 1945 Tigers, who had 15 in a row. Not bad for a guy who served in the military the previous two seasons. I think it's time for Benton's mark to fall. Ryu does it again with seven scoreless innings to go to 14 in a row.

TWO TRUE OUTCOMES

Each week, we ask our panelists to choose one hitter they think will hit the most home runs and one pitcher they think will record the most strikeouts in the coming weekend. Panelists can pick a player only once for the season. We'll keep a running tally -- and invite you to play along at home.

Home run hitters

Matz: Mookie Betts

Miller: Freddie Freeman

Schoenfield: Wow, I see I'm getting crushed in this race. Plus, I've used my Bellinger and Yelich cards and neither homered. Let's go Ronald Acuna Jr.

Strikeout pitchers

Matz: Jake Odorizzi

Miller: Gerrit Cole

Schoenfield: Trevor Bauer

Olympic 800m champion can compete “without restriction” during appeal process after governing body’s attempt to reverse the suspension of new rules on female classification fails

The Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland has rejected the IAAF’s request to reimpose its eligibility regulations on Caster Semenya, the two-time Olympic 800m champion’s legal team has said.

Earlier this month, the global governing body said it would be seeking “a swift reversion” of the Swiss court order which allows Semenya to race “without restriction” while her appeal against the IAAF’s new rules on female classification is pending.

“In an order issued on June 12, the Swiss Supreme Court upheld its prior order issued by the Court on May 31 in favour of Caster Semenya,” reads a statement from Semenya’s legal team.

“The Supreme Court’s prior order requires the IAAF to immediately suspend the implementation of its eligibility regulations against Caster Semenya in light of the athlete’s pending appeal. After considering the IAAF’s arguments, the Court has now determined in a second order that the IAAF’s request failed to set out any reason or change in circumstance that would justify a reconsideration of the prior order.

“This means that Caster remains permitted to compete without restriction in the female category at this time. The IAAF and Athletics South Africa have until June 25 to make submissions to the Supreme Court on Caster’s request that the IAAF regulations be suspended throughout the entire appeal proceedings. Until the Supreme Court decides on this request, the IAAF regulations remain suspended against Caster.”

According to the statement, Semenya said: “No woman should be subjected to these rules.

“I thought hard about not running the 800m in solidarity unless all women can run free. But I will run now to show the IAAF that they cannot drug us.”

Semenya had submitted an appeal after she lost her landmark case at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the IAAF’s new rules, which relate to restricting testosterone levels in female runners in certain events.

The ‘IAAF Eligibility Regulations for Female Classification (Athletes with Differences of Sex Development (DSD))’ had originally been due to come into effect on November 1, 2018, but were suspended. Following the CAS ruling, the regulations started on May 8.

Under the new rules Semenya – and other female athletes with DSD – would need to reduce their natural testosterone level in order to take part in women’s events from 400m to the mile in international competition.

According to a quote from Semenya in the statement from her legal team, the hormonal drugs she was required to take in order to comply with previous IAAF rules left her feeling “constantly sick”.

“I am a woman, but the IAAF has again tried to stop me from running the way I was born,” reads the quote.

“The IAAF questions my sex, causes me great pain and required me to take hormonal drugs that made me feel constantly sick and unable to focus for many years. No other woman should be forced to go through this in order to have the same right that all women have – to do what we love and run the way we were born.”

Semenya has been named in South Africa’s preliminary team for the IAAF World Championships in Doha later this year but her participation in the 800m there depends on the outcome of her appeal.

Heptathlete is to contest the 200m and long jump at the London Stadium

Commonwealth heptathlon champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson is to compete on both days of the Müller Anniversary Games as she takes on the 200m and long jump in the London Stadium on July 20-21.

The 200m takes place on day one of the Diamond League meeting, followed by the long jump on day two, exactly 10 weeks before the start of the IAAF World Championships in Doha.

“I’m really looking forward to competing on both days at the Müller Anniversary Games this year. I love this meet and the London Stadium is such an amazing venue, there’s no place like it in the world,” said Johnson-Thompson, who won Commonwealth and world indoor gold medals in 2018 and then regained the European indoor pentathlon title in Glasgow in March.

“With just 10 weeks to go until the world championships, all the best athletes will be competing with an eye on being in the best shape for Doha.

“I’ll be doing the same, trying to put together what I’d be working on in training to produce good performances on both days.

“I’m really settled now, in France, and the improvement in my performances have reflected that. My coach and training group are great and working with them has definitely given me more confidence.”

Last month the 26-year-old set a heptathlon world lead of 6813 points, a PB by 54 points, as she claimed victory at the Hypomeeting in Götzis.

Tickets for the Müller Anniversary Games are on sale at www.theticketfactory.com/british-athletics

Australian World Cup-winner Stephen Larkham has agreed to join Munster as their new senior coach until 2022.

The 45-year-old is the latest high-profile addition to Johann van Graan's backroom team following the appointment of ex-England coach Graham Rowntree.

The ex-Australia attack coach succeeds former Ireland full-back Felix Jones.

Munster are rebuilding their backroom team after Jones and forwards coach Jerry Flannery both declined offers to extend their contracts last season.

Larkham, who won 102 caps for Australia, has signed a three-year contract and will join the province in August, subject to gaining a work permit, where he will work alongside Van Graan, Rowntree and defence coach JP Ferreira.

"I have had a number of conversations with Johann and I'm very excited to be working with him, as our views on rugby are very similar," said Larkham, who won the 1999 World Cup with the Wallabies.

"I'm also looking forward to meeting and working with not only the other coaches in Graham and JP but also the very talented group of players that Munster have."

Acting Munster Rugby chief executive Philip Quinn added: "Stephen is a very successful coach who had offers from other clubs so we are delighted that he has decided to join Munster.

"It has been our intention to recruit one more member for our coaching ticket and we will evaluate our needs prior to progressing with that process."

Larkham's coaching career began at the Brumbies in 2011.

The former Australia fly-half became head coach at the Super Rugby side after three years before departing in 2017 to work full-time for governing body Rugby Australia.

He was sacked as Australia attack coach in February, saying at the time that he and head coach Michael Cheika fundamentally disagreed on the "overall game philosophy".

He remained with Rugby Australia, focusing on coach mentoring, coaching and skills development across the Australian sevens program, Junior Wallabies, State Under-20s academies and the Australian women's team the Wallaroos.

DODGE CITY, Kan. — The opening leg of the third annual Lubbock Wrecker Service DCRP 305 Sprint Car Nationals picked up right where the 2018 edition left off with a pair of Jakes slugging it out for the Thursday night feature at Dodge City Raceway Park.

This time, Jake Bubak turned the tables on defending event champion Jake Martens, battling into the lead on the 17th round and racing on to the stripe aboard the Dubose/Well-powered Coyote Candle Company No. 74b Maxim ahead of Nebraska resident Jason Martin and Martens.

“I feel like we got one taken away from us last year, we’re here to win the whole thing this time,” Bubak said after putting himself atop the point charts and in prime position to secure a lock-in position to Saturday’s $3,000-to-win finale.

With Bubak pulling the eight in the redraw to start the 25-lap feature outside the fourth row, Martens and Oklahoma City’s Tanner Conn led the way to the green flag.

Martens gunned into the early lead ahead of Conn with defending track champion Steven Richardson working past Jed Werner for third in the opening handful of laps.  Richardson moved in to challenge Conn for second, only to have the right rear wheel come off getting into turn three on the 11th round.  Richardson took a tumble that drew the night’s lone red flag but was able to walk away.

Conn went to work on Martens for the lead on the restart and used the high side to take command exiting turn two on the 13th circuit, only to have the move negated by Andy Shouse’s turn four caution.

Conn stumbled on the ensuing restart, losing several positions with Bubak taking over second. Bubak went to work on Martens in short order with the duo swapping the point on the 16th round before Bubak took over for keeps one lap later.

“I was able to find the top early and got going,” Bubak said. “Jake (Martens) was working the bottom really well, I couldn’t make it stick down there so I just used the top.”

After starting 13th, Jason Martin battled past Martens for second on the 21st round with Martens surviving a tap with the turn two wall to hold off Steven Shebester for third. Shebester was fourth with Jed Werner rounding out the top five.

While Bubak snared sprint car honors over a field of 42 entries, Bucklin’s Reagan Sellard held off Tathan Burkhart to capture his second IMCA Hobby Stock feature win in a row.

The finish:

Feature (25 laps):  1. 74b-Jake Bubak (8), 2. 5x-Jason Martin (13), 3. 48-Jake Martens (1), 4. 16s-Steven Shebester (5), 5. 50-Jed Werner (4), 6. 21x-Taylor Velasquez (12), 7. 49x-Luke Cranston (11), 8. 2J-Zach Blurton (6), 9. 11x-Tony Bruce, Jr. (21), 10. 78-Tanner Conn (2), 11. 45d-David Luckie (17), 12. 97-Brian Herbert (7), 13. 911-Ty Williams (10), 14. 55b-Brandon Anderson (19), 15. 33-Koby Walters (15), 16. 72-Ray Seemann (9), 17. 28-Tracey Hill (20), 18. 45x-Kyler Johnson (22), 19. 224-Aric Sooter (18), 20. 12-Bob Schaeffer (14), 21. 27-Andy Shouse (16), 22. 0-Steven Richardson (3).

ELDON, Iowa — Dominic Scelzi had no peer in his first trip to the Eldon Raceway.  

The Fresno, Calif., driver was able to sweep his heat the dash and the feature to take home the $1,500 prize in claiming his third career Sprint Invaders win.  

A strange night saw two former series champions eliminated in preliminary action.  Both defending champion, Cody Wehrle, and three-time titlist, Jon Agan, flipped hard in a heat race and the dash, respectively.  

Chris Martin led early in the 25-lap main event over Scelzi and Jake Blackhurst.  Austin McCarl shot around Blackhurst on lap two for third.  A red flew on lap three, with an incident involving Dustin Selvage, Harold Pohren and John Schulz. Pohren would be done.

The red proved to be the only stoppage.  When the green flew, Scelzi dogged the leader, until passing him on lap five. Mason Daniel was working his way forward, and claimed fourth from Blackhurst on lap nine.  While Scelzi took off from the field, a dogfight between Martin, McCarl and Daniel ensued for second, third and fourth.  

Daniel traded third twice with McCarl.  McCarl moved up to second with five to go.  Daniel went from fourth to third on lap 21, and then took second from McCarl a lap later.  The “Super Half-mile” was fast, and yielded multiple grooves.

Scelzi’s win came ahead of Daniel, McCarl, Chris Martin and Jamie Ball.  Blackhurst, Dustin Clark, Selvage, Josh Higday and Daniel Bergquist.  

“Some of the lapped cars…it was tough to judge where they were going,” said Scelzi. “First and foremost, this racetrack was amazing. The track prep was absolutely perfect. We were about touching the wall on top and you could still run the bottom. Hat’s off to the track prep. This place was a blast to race on. This car was perfect.  I knew from the first lap that I felt really strong.  We got our wing back, and got better as the race went on.  I think we’re three for three now on Sprint Invaders wins, so that’s pretty cool. The Sprint Invaders are fun to race with, and I’ve become friends with some of them. I always enjoy racing with them.”

“Starting seventh, it took me a while to get to fourth,” said Daniel. “I saw McCarl and (Blackhurst) battling it out.  I got to watch it all and make my moves on the top and bottom. We were able to get to third and I clipped the tire down in one and two.  I think I bent the axle a bit…something felt different. That’s when McCarl got back by me for second.  The last couple laps, we were able to go on the bottom and use lapped traffic to get back by him. Danny (Lasoski) had the car set up well.  We were able to go anywhere on the track we wanted.”

The finish:

Feature (25 laps): 1. 41s, Dominic Scelzi, Fresno, CA (4) 2. 33m, Mason Daniel, Springfield, CA (7) 3. 17A, Austin McCarl, Altoona, IA (6) 4. 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (1) 5. 5J, Jamie Ball, Knoxville, IA (10) 6. 50, Jake Blackhurst, Hanna City, IL (2) 7. 16, Dustin Clark, Agency, IA (5) 8. 88, Dustin Selvage, Indianola, IA (9) 9. 35, Josh Higday, Des Moines, IA (13) 10. 9, Daniel Bergquist, Burlington, IA (12) 11. 69, Justin Buchholz, Davenport, IA (15) 12. 11, Colton Fisher, Mediapolis, IA (8) 13. 81, Tanner Gebhardt, Burlington, IA (16) 14. 13, Brayden Gaylord, Wever, IA (14) 15. 11c, Mason Campbell, New Berlin, IL (17) 16. 99, John Schulz, West Burlington, IA (18) 17. 50P, Harold Pohren, Lowell, IA (11) 18. 01, Travis Pence, Stronghurst, IL (19) 19. 27, Carson McCarl, Altoona, IA (20) 20. 14, Randy Martin, California, MO (3) DNS – 4 Jon Agan, Knoxville, IA, 40c, Cody Wehrle, Burlington, IA, 11B, Ben Woods, Newton, IA.