Christian Pulisic thinks all the talented young American players could go far in next year's Olympic men's soccer tournament -- and he could be one of them.

"I would never completely count that out because it's a huge honor to play for your country in the Olympics," the 20-year-old Chelsea midfielder said on Wednesday, two days before the U.S. senior team plays Mexico in an exhibition.

Olympic men's soccer qualifying is limited to players under 23, with three overage players allowed for the final tournament in Japan. Age-eligible Americans include Pulisic and midfielders Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams and Tim Weah.

Clubs, however, are not required to release players for the Olympics or for qualifying, scheduled for March 20 to April 1 in the CONCACAF region. The Olympic soccer tournament runs from July 23 to Aug. 8 and likely would overlap a contemplated preseason tour by Chelsea and perhaps the start of the Premier League season.

"A lot of factors come into play, I guess, but we'll see," Pulisic said.

The United States failed to qualify for the 2012 and 2016 Olympic men's soccer tournaments, a stumble that preceded the senior team's failure to reach for last year's World Cup. Pulisic thinks the U.S. could emulate Mexico, which won the 2012 Olympic men's soccer gold.

"We're a confident young group of guys and I think there's no reason why we couldn't," he said. "We set big goals for ourselves and, yeah, that would be one of them. That would be something I think we could do."

Pulisic was acquired by Chelsea in January from Borussia Dortmund for a €64 million (then $73 million) transfer fee, the most for an American player, then loaned back to the German club for the remainder of the season.

He made his Premier League debut in the opening 4-0 loss at Manchester United and has started the last three league matches under new coach Frank Lampard, who replaced Maurizio Sarri.

"It's amazing. I mean, it's everything I hoped it would be and more. It's incredible," Pulisic said. "It worked out really well, for sure. Frank's a great guy and he's helped me so much and he understands where I'm coming from and he's done a really good job and helped me, teaching us, especially a lot of the younger guys on the team."

Pulisic laughed when asked who was the better player: himself or Mexican winger Hirving Lozano,

"I'm not going to give you like an Ibra answer here," he said in a reference to egotistical LA Galaxy striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who two years ago boasted "lions do not compare themselves to humans" when asked where he ranked himself among strikers.

The oft-introverted Pulisic is reticent at times when speaking with media.

"I'll never be comfortable. I don't like being in front of cameras," he said. "I'm still getting used to it, I guess."

Pulisic will be part of a rare trio of Americans this fall in Champions League Group D, joined by 18-year-old Ajax defender Sergino Dest and Weah's Lille, who is missing the match against Mexico and Tuesday's friendly against Uruguay because of a hamstring injury.

Dest introduced himself to Pulisic this week and joked about the possibility of playing against him.

"I was asking him are you playing on the left side, right side, things like that?" Dest said with a smile.

Pulisic left Hershey, Pennsylvania, to sign with Dortmund at age 16. While living in Germany, he could meet up with McKennie, a starter for Schalke. McKennie is proud of his friend but doesn't have a chance to follow his club exploits too closely.

"I'm not a big guy to watch sports," McKennie said. "It's always a big deal whenever you have an American you know being in Europe let alone at a giant club like Chelsea. I've heard he's been doing well."

Pulisic has played primarily on the flanks with Chelsea, and falling back deep at times is part of his responsibility

"Learning to help more on the defensive side of things, which is like a good challenge for me, as well," he said.

With the U.S., he has increasingly ventured into the central portion of the field. Coach Gregg Berhalter changed Pulisic's listing from midfield to forward for this training camp.

"We want him to be able to affect games in a number of different ways," Berhalter said. "We want to be able to isolate him one vs. one at times but we also want him getting them ball between the lines."

Essex 165 for 4 (ten Doeschate 45*, Delport 44, Bopara 39* beat Lancashire 159 for 5 (Davies 80*, Bopara 2-28) by 6 wickets

This was one of the great county cricket fixture shambles of all time. Lancashire forced to play a home Vitality Blast quarter-final on a neutral ground because of a clash with the Old Trafford Test.

Not that it will overly concern Essex. They became the first county to qualify for Finals Day, driven there by Ravi Bopara, their reluctant No 6, who nevertheless fulfilled the role to perfection with an unbeaten 39 from 18 balls, leaving four balls in hand when Essex got home by six wickets.

Lancashire's 159 for 5 was the highest score made at Chester-le-Street this season. They handled the vagaries of the ground with aplomb. As so often with T20 pitches in county cricket's most northerly outpost, batting was an endurance Test. The pitch was slow and low, the boundaries were far flung and the ball bit into the surface as certainly as a chill northern wind bit into the couple of thousand hardy souls who had made the trip.

But Essex's captain Simon Harmer had jettisoned their normal preference for batting first in the hope that dew would quicken the surface later in the evening; he was rewarded not as much by dew as by several bursts of heavy drizzle which sharpened the surface slightly and hindered Lancashire's spinners. "The conditions might have changed a little bit," Harmer conceded.

With 23 needed from two overs, Lancashire's captain, Dane Vilas opted for the leg spin of Liam Livingstone, ahead both of Matty Parkinson, the joint leading wicket-taker in the tournament this season, and the pace of Saqib Mahmood, who had bowled two overs for 10.

"I didn't know which way to go," Vilas admitted. If the decision was influenced by a preference for a staunch character in a pressure situation (not that the other two aren't), it backfired. Bopara pulled the second ball for six and, next ball, cleared the ropes again. Ryan ten Doeschate was missed at long off, fifth ball, by James Faulkner, who barely laid a hand on it. A third six to finish, over long-on, and Livingstone had disappeared for 22.

Essex had earlier lost the bludgeoning Cameron Delport at long off for 44 and Adam Wheater, run out by a direct hit by Josh Bohannan from deep square leg. A brilliant diving catch by Faulkner at long off left Bopara facing 61 from 34 and, with ten Doeschate, he found his long game in the nick of time, a six over long-off against James Faulkner with 29 needed off 13 when Steven Croft overran the ball in trying to make the catch signalling the start of the charge.

Perhaps it was always destined to end this way: with Lancashire the victims. Once the fixture clash was apparent, they conceded their advantage, especially as TV coverage demanded an evening match under lights, so ruling out outgrounds such as Liverpool.

And that fixture clash was apparent many months before the start of the season. The fact that the potential for such a fixture oddity in county cricket's most popular format was not intercepted and remedied when the draft fixtures were published late last year, and was not publically rejected by Lancashire from the outset, was a betrayal of the status of county cricket.

Lancashire's provision of three free supporters' coaches was a gesture, but a hollow one. The North Group winners, and a county that this summer has enjoyed the biggest growth in T20 crowds in the country, could not deliver the match that mattered most of all: a last-eight tie on its home turf. Excuses about a particularly crowded fixture list are unacceptable. Talk about the obvious need to prioritise the Ashes is just a side issue.

Midway through the match, it appeared as if Alex Davies would appease their supporters with victory. He batted through the Lancashire innings in imperturbable fashion for 80 from 55 balls, a judicious fourth-wicket stand of 89 in 68 balls with Vilas, as calm a batting partner as you could wish to have, setting up the victory. Davies recognised immediately that this was not a night to thrash through the line, but to deflect, to run hard and gather what he could.

Of Davies' nine boundaries, eight were on the off-side, most of them wristily angled square or behind the wicket, rounded off by two little ramps on both sides of the wicketkeeper against Aaron Beard. With patience and perseverance, Davies eked out what he could when he could, a dapper cricketer cutting his cloth.

When Lancashire were 47 for 3 after 6.4 overs, they were under pressure. Livingstone's leg-side swing and miss was a reminder to Davies of the challenges to follow, as was Croft's drag to long-on off Bopara which dyed many metres in front of the boundary. Even more disturbing was the near-shooter from Bopara which had Maxwell lbw - all deterrents that Davies immediately logged away.

During a rain stoppage, the TV cameras caught Glen Chapple, Lancashire's coach, staring blank-eyed into the distance, a picture of misery. And he was born in Skipton where it has been known to rain occasionally. Nothing captured Lancashire's night so well.

The cross-your-fingers-and-hope-for-the-best approach to the staging of a big night in the county calendar defied belief. Here was the arrogance of administrators who still regard T20 cricket as an entertainment, as a money-raiser rather than a sporting competition with intrinsic importance. Here was yet another example of the ECB's shameful undermining of the county game that has underpinned professional cricket in this country for more than a century.

NEW YORK -- New York Yankees outfielder Giancarlo Stanton will head to the team's minor league complex in Tampa, Florida, this week for batting practice, among the final steps before returning for the final weeks of an injury-wrecked season.

"I feel like he's really starting to build some momentum and doing pretty well," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said before Wednesday's homestand finale against Texas. "He'll start getting regular at-bats this weekend and, hopefully, really starting to ramp him up."

The 29-year-old slugger has been limited to nine games with the Yankees this season. He strained his left biceps March 31 in his third game, strained a shoulder and calf during his rehabilitation and did not return until June 18. Just a week later, he strained the posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during an awkward headfirst slide into third base.

Stanton is hitting .290 with one home run and seven RBIs. He took batting practice Tuesday against reliever Dellin Betances, who hopes to return this month from a lat injury that has sidelined him since spring training.

Betances and right-hander Luis Severino were scheduled to pitch at Double-A Trenton on Friday rather than for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The RailRiders are at Durham, North Carolina, which could have rain related to Hurricane Dorian. Severino, also out with a lat injury, pitched one inning for Scranton on Sunday in his season debut.

Left-hander CC Sabathia, on the injured list for the fourth time in his final season, tested his chronically painful right knee by playing catch for the second consecutive day.

Left-hander Jordan Montgomery allowed two runs and five hits over three innings for Trenton on Wednesday in his third appearance since Tommy John surgery on June 7 last year. He struck out five and walked none.

Boone said 20-year-old right-hander Deivi Garcia will remain at Scranton for the rest of the International League playoffs. Garcia is 1-3 with a 5.40 ERA in six starts and five relief appearances since his promotion to the RailRiders in July, striking out 45 and walking 20 in 40 innings.

"I think he's still kind of finding his way at that level," Boone said. "He's a very young guy and still developing in a lot of ways."

Infielder Gio Urshela, who hurt his right groin Aug. 28, ran the bases and could be activated when eligible Sunday at Boston.

Third baseman Miguel Andujar, recovering from season-ending surgery May 20 to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder, plans to start throwing next week and expects to be ready for spring training.

"It's stronger now. It definitely feels better than it did before," Andujar said through an interpreter. "I'm very happy with the work that they did. It's showing progression."

LOS ANGELES -- The first pitch Gavin Lux ever saw in the major leagues, a 93 mph fastball tailing low and away, he lined into shallow center field for a base hit. When he reached first base, the Los Angeles Dodgers broadcast panned to his mother, Heather, and his father, Tom, who had flown in from Kenosha, Wisconsin, to take in their son's debut on Labor Day. Tom, outfitted in a blue Dodgers T-shirt and cap, pumped both fists into the air, clapped his hands together a few times and turned increasingly more red through the process. His eyes began to swell. Tears started to become visible. The video made its way to Lux after the game.

"I thought he was the tough guy," Lux said behind a smile. "I thought he was gonna be the one to not do that."

Lux is here to stay now, through the month of September and potentially deep into October. He is the fifth highly rated prospect to play for the Dodgers in their dominant 2019 season, after Alex Verdugo, Will Smith, Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May. His ascent is the most unlikely, his immediate future the most enthralling.

Lux was on track to become the everyday second baseman by 2020, but the Dodgers could turn to him now, despite fielding the National League's greatest and deepest offense, to help capture the franchise's first World Series title in 31 years. It was a possibility dismissed by club officials as recently as four weeks ago.

"He earned his way here," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, "and he knocked the door down."

Lux, 21, overhauled his hitting mechanics in the summer of 2017 and overcame a mild case of the yips in the spring of 2019. He shot up the prospect rankings last year but attained mythical status after a recent promotion to Triple-A, tearing up the Pacific Coast League like few ever have. Lux batted .392/.478/.719 in the 232 plate appearances that preceded his major league call-up. He recorded 18 extra-base hits through his first 15 games and hit safely in 27 of his first 28.

Matt Beaty was drafted a year earlier and always played a level higher, but he kept hearing about Lux. When Beaty was sent back to Triple-A on July 10, he was curious to see him up close. Beaty spent three days with the team in Memphis, Tennessee, and saw Lux take 16 at-bats. He saw him line pitches all over the outfield and saw him launch a home run deep down the line on a humid night when balls weren't carrying. Seven of those at-bats ended in hits.

"He was locked in," Beaty said. "I've never seen a hitter that hot."

Lux will tell you it was all the result of "just going out there and being myself," which isn't fluff. The success of these past two years, which included a .336 batting average across four minor league levels, have been the culmination of Lux growing comfortable with new mechanics.

The Dodgers drafted Lux 20th overall out of high school in the summer of 2016 and in some ways remade him in the summer of 2017. Lux began that season in the Midwest League and didn't record his first extra-base hit until his 22nd game. Robert Van Scoyoc -- then a hitting consultant, now a hitting coach at the major league level -- flew in to help.

"It's a pretty difficult time of year to make changes," Van Scoyoc said, "but he was struggling to a degree that it was necessary."

The Dodgers reworked everything, from his hands to his swing to the way he sets up and the way he loads. They wanted Lux to have a strong foundation with his lower half and keep his bat through the strike zone as long as possible, with more loft in his finish. The changes would ideally give Lux better plate coverage and allow him to elevate pitches more easily, but implementing them became a struggle.

Lux finished that season with a .693 OPS, then spent the entire winter working to make the changes feel natural. The 2018 season began in the Cal League, and Lux recorded only nine hits through his first 43 at-bats. Most players, particularly young ones, would have reverted to their old ways.

"Luxy just kept with the process, trusted everything that he did over the offseason, and from that point on, he hasn't looked back," Dodgers assistant general manager Brandon Gomes said. "He's been one of [the best], if not the best, hitters in the minor leagues the last few years."

Gomes, who previously served as the team's director of player development, considers Lux an "ultimate professional." He raved about his mental toughness, his attention to detail, his desire to become great and his openness to new instruction. He said his makeup is "as good as it possibly can get."

For those reasons, Gomes said, he hardly worried when Lux seemingly forgot how to throw a baseball during spring training in Arizona.

Beaty, who spent a lot of that time as Lux's first baseman, knew there was a problem when Lux six-hopped a throw off a routine grounder at Camelback Ranch. Beaty exuded optimism. "Hey," he told Lux, "we got the out." But Lux wasn't easy to console. It was his first big league camp, before the most important season of his professional career, and he had the yips. It seeped into his mind and wouldn't leave.

The Dodgers encouraged Lux to set his feet before throwing and let the baseball go without fear. One day, in the back fields of the Dodgers' spring training complex, Jose Vizcaino, a major league infielder for 18 seasons, asked about his grip. Lux grabbed a baseball from his glove and placed his index finger and middle finger on the outer edges of it. Vizcaino, now a special assistant with the Dodgers, couldn't believe it. He advised him to keep his fingers close, the way most pitchers would throw a fastball, and saw the yips go away shortly thereafter.

"And look at the season that he's had," Vizcaino said. "If he was somebody else, who's not mentally strong, he wouldn't have the season that he's had."

Lux is still relatively new to second base, but evaluators believe it's his best position in part because the throw is shorter. Scouts now see Lux as an average-to-slightly-above-average defender. His bat, however, is elite at any level.

Lux's second-inning hit Monday was followed by a third-inning double in the right-center-field gap, which capped a six-pitch at-bat. His next three plate appearances ended in a fly ball to the warning track, a grounder to the right side and a popup to the infield, but they all lasted six pitches.

"That's who he is," May said. "If he's not hitting the first pitch, he's definitely going to take his time in the AB."

Lux jumped from eighth to first in the batting order Tuesday, a 1-for-4 showing in a 5-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies. He batted there only because Joc Pederson took the night off, and he is consistently in the lineup largely because Max Muncy is nursing a wrist injury.

The Dodgers have won 91 of their 141 games and can clinch a division title as early as Saturday, 22 days before the final day of the regular season -- but they still have a lot of loose ends.

Cody Bellinger is suddenly playing center field and A.J. Pollock is transitioning to left. Julio Urias is back from suspension and getting stretched out, joining May, Gonsolin and the recovering Rich Hill as options for the fourth spot in the rotation. Kenley Jansen is and isn't the closer, with Kenta Maeda suddenly an option to pitch in high-leverage situations, including the ninth inning. Verdugo will be back next week, but suddenly he has to earn his place in the lineup again.

And then there's Lux, who might blow this whole thing up.

"You're trying to find the best 12 to 13 position players to formulate your roster," Roberts said when asked about the possibility of Lux earning his way onto the roster, and perhaps becoming the starting second baseman, in the postseason. "To say that's impossible, that's not the case."

BATAVIA, Ohio — Promoter Carl Short recently announced that the 39th edition of the Dirt Track World Championship Oct. 18-19  at Portsmouth Raceway Park will return to a time trial format for super late models.

Since 2015, a double-heat race format, with a passing-points system, has transferred drivers into the main event.

This year, Friday night will include time trials and a single set of 15-lap heat races with a six-car inversion. Competitors will earn points based on time trials and heat race finishing results. The points accumulated by a specific driver will be added together to create Saturday’s B Main and feature lineups.

Saturday’s on-track action for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will include B Mains, followed by a non-qualifier race, where the winner has the choice of keeping their $3,000 winnings, or forfeit their earnings to start tail of the main event.

The 100-lap Dirt Track World Championship finale will cap off the weekend.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Forward Adrian Kempe has agreed to a three-year, $6 million deal to stay with the Los Angeles Kings.

The Kings announced the deal Wednesday with Kempe, a restricted free agent who turns 23 next week.

Kempe had 12 goals and 16 assists in 81 games last season for the Kings, the NHL's second-lowest-scoring team with just 199 goals.

The Swedish two-way center scored 37 points during the 2017-18 season, his first full NHL campaign. The Kings expect Kempe to increase his offensive productivity under new coach Todd McLellan, team President Luc Robitaille said.

"He's played a certain role with our organization, and I think this year he sensed that he's got probably a little more of an offensive role he's going to have to fulfill," Robitaille said. "That's going to really give him a chance to create and get more chances. Usually goals come with chances. He's been doing really good at checking and so forth, and we're looking for him to help on the other side, too."

Kempe has been playing center for most of his short NHL career, but has the versatility to move to a wing in the future. He has won just 41% of his career faceoffs.

Kempe was the Kings' final unsigned free agent. Los Angeles opens training camp next week.