Kansas City Royals owner David Glass is negotiating to sell the team to local businessman John Sherman for more than $1 billion, sources familiar with the discussions told ESPN.

The potential deal, which multiple sources believe will be finalized, would transfer ownership to a group led by Sherman, who is currently a minority owner of the Cleveland Indians. Sherman would divest himself of his share of the Indians to buy the Royals from Glass, who purchased the team in 2000 for $96 million.

In a statement, the Royals organization said it is "not in a position to make any comments on the published speculation regarding any potential sale of the ball club," adding that no further statements would be made at this time.

The valuations of baseball franchises have skyrocketed in recent years, though the price of the Royals is expected to fall short of the most recent sale, when Bruce Sherman (no relation to John) bought the Miami Marlins for $1.2 billion.

Glass, 84, is the former CEO of Wal-Mart whose son Dan serves as team president. David Glass bore the brunt of criticism locally for his lack of spending until the Royals' ascent five years ago. They reached the World Series in 2014, and won a championship in 2015, the second in franchise history.

The sale could happen around the same time the franchise locks into a new local TV deal with Fox Sports that could pay the team around $50 million a year for a decade-plus, according to a source. That would more than double its current local TV rights fee.

John Sherman, an energy entrepreneur, bought a piece of the Indians from owner Paul Dolan in August 2016. He has increased his investment since but would need to sell it were the deal for the Royals consummated.

The possibility of a sale was first reported by The Athletic.

The best teams in St. Louis Cardinals history -- a history that includes 11 World Series titles, second only to the New York Yankees -- were built around stars: Dizzy Dean, Stan Musial, Bob Gibson, Ozzie Smith, Albert Pujols. When the Cardinals missed the playoffs last season for a third year in a row, the first time that had happened since 1999, a primary reason was the team didn't have a big star. Matt Carpenter led the team with 4.9 WAR, the first season the Cardinals didn't have at least one 5.0 WAR player since 1994, and the first time in a non-strike season since 1990.

So the front office went out and got the team the star it needed: Paul Goldschmidt, who finished sixth in the 2018 MVP voting and had averaged 6.1 WAR over the previous six seasons.

Except ... the best player on the first-place Cardinals has arguably been ... not Goldschmidt, not Carpenter, not Marcell Ozuna, but second baseman Kolten Wong, who led the team with 3.9 WAR heading into Tuesday's game in Milwaukee. In other words, the 2019 Cardinals are much like the 2018 Cardinals, only this team is trending upward at the right time, as their 6-3 win over the Brewers was their sixth victory in a row, ninth in 10 games and 15th in 18 games. After a painful sweep in Los Angeles in early August when they scored two runs in three games, the Cardinals were 58-55 and 3½ games out of first. Now they're 73-58 and three games up on the Cubs in the NL Central.

Wong didn't start on Tuesday, but came off the bench and delivered two clutch hits. In the seventh inning he pinch-hit and delivered an RBI double to give the Cardinals a 4-1 lead. In the ninth, his RBI single extended the lead to 6-3. The two other biggest hits came from Yadier Molina: a home run in the fifth and then a go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh. The Brewers tried to make it interesting in the bottom of the ninth as an infield single and a walk brought the tying run to the plate against Carlos Martinez, but Dexter Fowler made a leaping grab at the fence to end the game in heart-stopping fashion:

Has Wong really been the Cardinals best player? His offensive stat line certainly doesn't pop, with a .276/.359/.401 line and 31 extra-base hits. Heck, 18 players have already hit 31 home runs. Wong does all those things that don't necessarily show up in the box score. He has that respectable .359 on-base percentage, so he's not chewing up outs the plate. He has played a terrific second base, leading all major league second basemen with plus-14 defensive runs saved (nobody else is above plus-6) and should be a lock to win his first Gold Glove. He has also been superb on the bases, swiping 17 bases in 19 attempts.

Of course, the big point here isn't that Wong is some sort of MVP candidate or something. He's not. The point is the Cardinals have surged past the Cubs because of solid depth throughout the roster. The Cubs may have Javier Baez and Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo, but they're staring up at the Cardinals right now despite their edge in star power.

Two big keys for the Cardinals of late have been starter Jack Flaherty, who is pitching like the Cy Young candidate I thought he might be back in spring training. He's 4-1 over his past nine starts with a 0.80 ERA -- that's five runs allowed in 56 ⅓ innings, as batters have hit just .144/.221/.222 against him. This is looking a lot like that run Jake Arrieta had in the second half of 2015 when he carried the Cubs into the playoffs. Flaherty probably got going too late to have a chance at getting into the NL Cy Young race (his season ERA is 3.32), but he's the hottest starter in baseball right now.

Then there's bullpen, really the team's secret ingredient. The Cards are second in the majors with a 3.64 bullpen ERA (only Cleveland is better) and the relief crew hasn't missed a beat since Jordan Hicks went down with Tommy John surgery. Martinez is 16 for 17 in save chances as closer (he has two other blown saves from earlier in the season as a setup guy) and while he's been bend-but-don't-break at times, he's mostly getting the job done. Manager Mike Shildt even used him like an old-fashioned fireman on Tuesday for a five-out save. Given Martinez's history as a starter, Shildt should consider doing that more often.

The guy nobody talks about is Giovanny Gallegos, acquired last year in the Luke Voit trade -- the one everyone keeps mentioning as some sort of monumental steal for the Yankees. Gallegos did give up a run on Tuesday, but he has a 2.07 ERA with 80 strikeouts in 61 innings. He owns a wipeout slider: Hitters are batting an anemic .133 against it with a 43 percent strikeouts rate.

Anyway, the playoff math has changed very quickly. Before this 15-of-18 stretch, the Cardinals' playoffs odds on FanGraphs were 29 percent overall and 10.5 percent chance to win the division. Now they're at 86 percent overall and 59.7 percent to win the division. Oh, and Flaherty starts Wednesday as the Cardinals go for the sweep of the Brewers.

In other words: Maybe the Cardinals don't need a star to win the NL Central.

Cubs take opener at Citi Field: Buster Olney and I discussed this series briefly on the Baseball Tonight podcast earlier in the day, with Buster suggesting this series has a little "do or die" feeling to it if one of the teams gets swept. I pointed out that the Mets had played really well at home all season until the Braves swept them over the weekend, while the Cubs' road woes have been well documented.

"No way the Mets will get swept in this series," I said. When Pete Alonso rocked Citi Field in the bottom of the fourth with his franchise-record 42nd home run, to give the Mets a 1-0 lead, it certainly seemed like it would be the Mets' night. Instead, Addison Russell and Baez clubbed two-run homers off Marcus Stroman in the fifth and sixth innings. Baez also added an RBI double and made a leaping grab in the field. Yu Darvish settled down after the Alonso home run and pitched eight fantastic innings. By the way, Darvish over his past nine starts: 55 ⅓ IP, 41 H, 3 BB, 72 SO, 11 HR, 2.93 ERA.

Anyway, that's four losses in a row for the Mets, with the offense scoring one, one and two runs in three of those games. The good news: Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom start the next two games. I'll stick to my comment that the Mets won't get swept.

Verlander cruises in Cy Young contender showdown ... until he gets ejected: Maybe Justin Verlander just wanted to go watch some US Open. With the Astros up 9-0 in the sixth inning after routing Charlie Morton, Verlander was cruising along with a four-hit shutout when he voiced displeasure with home-plate umpire Pat Hoberg. Verlander thought he had struck out Tommy Pham looking on a 2-2 fastball on the outsider corner and Pham doubled on the next pitch.

Verlander had just four strikeouts at the time, so his streak of seven consecutive double-digit strikeout games was likely to end anyway. Verlander also may have inched ahead of teammate Gerrit Cole in the Cy Young race, at least until Cole pitches Wednesday:

Verlander: 16-5, 2.69 ERA, 184 IP, 243 SO, 33 HR
Cole: 15-5, 2.75 ERA, 163 ⅔ IP, 238 SO, 24 HR

(This is where we point out that Mike Minor actually leads Verlander in Baseball-Reference WAR and Lance Lynn leads in FanGraphs WAR. Maybe it's more than two-pitcher race. Closer examination may be warranted.)

Don't forget Lucas Giolito in that discussion: The Twins beat Giolito and the White Sox 3-1, but the young right-hander and another superb game, allowed two runs in six innings with nine K's -- this being the Twins, both runs were via solo home runs, from Marwin Gonzalez and Jonathan Schoop, both in the second inning:

A good note here on Giolito's high volume of swing and misses of late:

Lucas Giolito last 4 starts

Aug 11 - 13 K, 20 swinging strikes
Aug 16 - 11 K, 23 swinging strikes
Aug 21 - 12 K, 24 swinging strikes
Aug 27 - 9 K, 18 swinging strikes

— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) August 28, 2019

Giolito is 14-7 with a 3.20 ERA, but began the day fourth among AL starters in Baseball-Reference WAR (behind Minor, Verlander and Lance Lynn) and fourth in FanGraphs WAR (behind Lynn, Morton and Cole). Giolito had two bad outings in July and I was worried that maybe his first half was a fluke, but he has now had a string of six straight quality starts and eight in his last nine outings. Those concerns have been put to rest.

Matchup of the day: We'll get to Bryce Harper versus Felipe Vazquez in a moment. The Pirates scored the go-ahead in the top off the ninth to take a 5-4 lead. Rather, the Phillies gave them the go-ahead run. Hector Neris walked two batters, but appeared to get out of the inning with a double play -- except Rhys Hoskins dropped the throw from Jean Segura, the ball bounded away towards home plate and Adam Frazier scored from second base. An ugly, ugly run given up by the Phillies.

Bottom of the ninth, two outs, nobody on, Harper swinging with all his ferocity to tie the game. Vazquez goes 99 (swing and miss), 101 (swing and miss), 100 (outside), slider (outside), 101 (foul), 100 (foul) ... and then drops in a curveball:

That's not fair. #RaiseIt pic.twitter.com/7qsxJjQxpY

— Pirates (@Pirates) August 28, 2019

I mean, that's just not fair. What a duel. Tough loss for the Phillies. (Oh, and Harper is hitting .179/.319/.354 with the bases empty and .341/.433/.668 with runners on.)

Euan Crumley visits a stunning Algarve location which will provide the stage for a new running festival in November

Picture a typical November day in Britain. Now picture the thought of heading out for your usual run as those dark, damp and cold conditions settle in.

It can be a drudge to train through those winter months. It’s at that very point in the year when summer feels like a distant memory and when most of us crave a little sun on our faces, to escape to warmer climes and find ourselves in an environment which is tailor made for activity and training. Quinta do Lago is just that place.

Just a short flight away from the UK and a mere 20-minute taxi ride from Faro airport, this stunningly beautiful resort in the Algarve will play host to an ambitious new premium running festival, Run Quinta, which will cater for all abilities and allow participants to challenge themselves in truly spectacular, top-class surroundings.

The festival weekend of November 8-10 will see the staging of a road half-marathon (on November 9), followed by 5km and 10km events a day later which travel along the beachside trails of the Ria Formosa Natural Park.

It promises to be a truly immersive experience and an opportunity to sample the kind of facilities to which professional athletes are accustomed.

Run Quinta event HQ will be The Campus, a state of the art multi-sports training hub which is regularly used by elite sportspeople. The Ireland rugby team will be fine-tuning their World Cup preparations there while a number of English Premier League outfits, not to mention Paris St Germain, have taken advantage of the remarkable facilities on offer.

Olympic triathletes Jonny and Alistair Brownlee are no strangers to The Campus either and, as you wander through the impressive grounds which are a hive of sporting activity, it’s not hard to see why.

All manner of sports are catered for – from tennis, to swimming to cycling, while the high performance gyms, exercise classes, sauna and ice baths add a different dimension to training.

The 650m fitness trail which surrounds The Campus will represent the finishing lap to the Run Quinta half-marathon, run on the resort’s wide and welcoming roads which are bordered by some truly breathtaking properties.

Once across the finish line the runners can relax, unwind and celebrate their achievements at Dano’s Sports Bar – a bustling, substantial venue serving excellent food which will host a post-race party that features live entertainment.

The Run Quinta weekend is about so much more than running. Entrants to the festival will have access to many of the facilities
at The Campus, thus making the exclusive feel much more inclusive and adding to the enveloping nature of the experience.

There is the option of attending a charity dinner on the Saturday evening, while the party atmosphere is intended to move on to the Sunday, too, as the running focus moves down towards the immaculate trails surrounding the Ria Formosa – you can see them spreading out beneath you from the plane window as you come in to land – for the 5km and 10km events.

These start and finish at The Shack, another lively, high-quality bar and restaurant which will provide a vibrant and spectacular backdrop to an area which is just crying out to be explored and run on.

During my visit I stayed at the Magnolia Hotel, which is just a short warm-up away from the start lines for the weekend events.

Runners who opt to book one of the inclusive three-day packages on offer (starting from the great value price of £299 per person) will also stay at what is an immaculate, welcoming venue which houses a restaurant, heated outdoor swimming pool, gym, spa and even a cinema which can be booked for groups on request.

As well as the 74 rooms there are also seven cottages available to book on the property.

Every base has been covered for Run Quinta participants and it looks set to be the ideal opportunity for athletics club groups to get away, provide members with an autumn target to aim for and to celebrate all that is great about running.

Temperatures are still expected to hit around 20 degrees centigrade for race weekend and there really can be few better places for some warm weather training. Virgin Radio’s Chris Evans, who recently interviewed AW publisher and event ambassador Wendy Sly, is intending to take part and there are plenty of reasons to join in. This is a festival which really could run and run.

Welsh Rugby Union chief executive Martyn Phillips has defended Wales' schedule of four World Cup warm-up internationals.

Wales have already faced England home and away and have another double-header against Ireland on 31 August and 7 September.

Phillips insists the decision to play four World Cup games was not financially motivated.

"To my knowledge all other teams are playing four games," said Phillips.

"The choice was made to play four and even when I look at it today it feels like the right decision."

'No substitute for playing'

Legendary full-back JPR Williams and fly-half James Hook were among those who have voiced concerns that players could suffer injuries before the tournament.

Gareth Anscombe was ruled out of the World Cup in the opening warm-up games against England but Taulupe Faletau suffered his tournament-ending injury in training.

"The analogy I would use is that it is a bit like the British and Irish Lions in that how many games you have before the first Test is critical," said Phillips.

"If you talk to the players after the Twickenham game against England, they had not played for 10 or 12 weeks and really felt it after the game.

"There is no substitute for playing and injuries can be picked up in training."

Phillips said that the plan was always to have two home warm-up matches - and that as long as they did that, they made no further money by playing four games in total, rather than three.

Warren Gatland says it was "fair" to criticise Wales' decision to play four matches, but Phillips said the Wales head coach was involved in the planning process.

"Those decisions are made in conjunction with the coaches," said Phillips.

"We looked at the review after the 2015 World Cup and you are always going to play three or four warm-up games.

"It would not matter if we played three or four financially because if we played three, we would still play two home games. We are not making any more money with four matches.

"I was very relaxed about it with Warren to ask if he wanted to play three or four because I knew I was going to be playing two of those at home.

"That agreement has been made a while ago. What has brought it into focus in Wales is the way the World Cup draw panned out was that we were able to play Ireland and England home and away which are four tough games.

"If we'd had England in the same pool as us, we wouldn't have been playing them at all. We might have been playing Ireland home and away, along with Scotland and Italy."

Wales begin their World Cup campaign in Japan against Georgia on Monday, 23 September before further pool matches against Australia, Fiji and Uruguay.

South Africa international Eben Etzebeth has been named in the Springboks World Cup squad after denying allegations of assault.

Reports on social media claimed the lock pointed a gun at a homeless man in Langebaan, a town north of Cape Town.

"It is completely untrue and unfounded to claim that I physically or racially abused anyone in Langebaan as has been reported on social media," he said.

"Multiple witnesses can corroborate that."

He added: "I am and will always strive to be a true ambassador to this beautiful rainbow nation and the sport that I love."

Etzebeth was part of the South Africa squad who reached the semi-finals of the 2015 World Cup and is now set to travel to Japan with the side, who begin their campaign against defending champions New Zealand on 21 September.

The South African Rugby Union released a statement saying it would "co-operate with the authorities in any way necessary".

"SARU is a law-abiding member of South African society and has no tolerance of acts of violence or racial abuse," the statement added.

"Our Rugby World Cup squad will have no place for anyone who transgresses those principles."

South Africa World Cup squad

Forwards: Steven Kitshoff, Tendai Mtawarira, Schalk Brits, Malcolm Marx, Bongi Mbonambi, Vincent Koch, Frans Malherbe, Trevor Nyakane, Eben Etzebeth, Lood de Jager, Franco Mostert, RG Snyman, Siya Kolisi (c), Francois Louw, Kwagga Smith, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Duane Vermeulen.

Backs: Warrick Gelant, Willie le Roux, Cheslin Kolbe, Sibusiso Nkosi, Lukhanyo Am, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Francois Steyn, Makazole Mapimpi, Elton Jantjies, Handre Pollard, Herschel Jantjies, Faf de Klerk, Cobus Reinach.