It's the Fourth of July, and that means you are probably getting ready for a full day of parades, grilling out and fireworks. But before you head outdoors, it's time for another annual holiday tradition -- checking the baseball standings, of course!
With the season just past the halfway mark and not quite at the All-Star break, it's a perfect time to check in and see where things stand, so we asked ESPN's Bradford Doolittle, Buster Olney, Jeff Passan and David Schoenfield to break down the state of the standings.
What's the first thing that jumps out at you when you look at the standings right now?
David Schoenfield: The Red Sox sitting 11 games behind the Yankees -- especially knowing all the injuries the Yankees have played through while the Red Sox have been relatively healthy. Heck, Marcus Walden and Brandon Workman are a combined 13-2 ... which means the rest of the team is well under .500.
Bradford Doolittle: The Orioles. I mean, my gosh, that's a bad team. We knew they'd be bad, perhaps unusually bad. But they are 1898 Cleveland Spiders bad. Well, almost. They are on pace to give up more than 1,000 runs even though they have a Rookie of the Year candidate in starter John Means, who has kind of been like Dickie Kerr in the 1919 World Series except all of Means' teammates are actually trying. And the O's are also on pace to record the worst run differential of all time. How is it possible that a team that lost 115 games last season has not yet bottomed out?
Jeff Passan: The festering cauldron of mediocrity that is the National League. There are the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Atlanta Braves, the Miami Marlins and a dozen other teams doing their best imitations of someone who has been overserved trying to walk the line. Just when you're going in one direction, suddenly you happen to go in the other. The fourth- and fifth-best run differentials belong to the teams with the 10th- and 12th-best records. That dirty dozen are within seven games of one another, which is bound to lead to an opaque trade market until the last 10 days of July, by which time teams will have made their buy-or-sell decisions.
Buster Olney: Half of the schedule is off the board, and the National League Central has almost no definition to it. All five teams are in play; all five teams seem to be in this perpetual search for an identity. The Cardinals are waiting for Paul Goldschmidt, the Brewers need more rotation consistency, and the Cubs might not even be sure what they need, at this point. Strange, and kind of fun.
Of the American League teams currently holding playoff spots, how many will make the postseason?
Passan: Four. New York, Minnesota, Houston, Tampa Bay.
Doolittle: Four. Mostly the standings are reflecting our preseason expectations, and even though Tampa Bay has hit a rough stretch, I still see three AL East teams getting into October. This also means that I've bought in on the Twins. Minnesota is going to win the Central even if the Indians continue to play better.
Olney: Now that the Indians lead the race for the second wild card, I think it's 5-for-5. Cleveland has 10 games against the Tigers and 10 games against Kansas City in the second half, and that's a scheduling advantage that Oakland and other wild-card contenders won't enjoy.
Schoenfield: It's going to be a mad scramble for the wild-card spots, but it still feels like the Red Sox have too much talent to miss the playoffs. I'll say four of the five make it, with the Rays and Red Sox winning the wild cards and the A's and Indians falling just short.
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Of the National League teams currently holding playoff spots, how many will make the postseason?
Passan: Three. Dodgers, Braves, Cubs.
Doolittle: Four. The Dodgers are a lock and the Braves are pretty close to it. Even though the Cubs haven't gotten any separation and have some rotation injuries, there's no obvious reason to think they won't win the Central. And I still like the Brewers as a wild card along with the Phillies. For the last spot, it's a potential quagmire. This could be a season in which a true upstart, like the Padres or Reds, squeezes into October.
Schoenfield: This feels impossible to predict with any certainty as only the Dodgers are a lock. I'm not even willing to hand the NL East to the Braves just yet -- although they should at least make it as a wild card. Let's go three of the five, with the Cubs and Rockies making it instead of the Brewers and Phillies.
Olney: What, are you kidding? It might be easier to learn three new languages than figure out the NL playoff field. I'll say the Dodgers (brave, eh?) and Atlanta win in the West and East, and I'll guess the Nationals will be a wild-card team because they're playing well and have the most rotation talent. But beyond that, it's absurdly wide-open.
Which team is the biggest disappointment of the first half (and will it turn things around)?
Doolittle: The Mets and no. I love pulling out the old Micheal Ray Richardson quote: The ship be sinking.
Olney: The Mets, based on their own standard. They viewed themselves as serious contenders, and now logic screams for them to execute a sell-off and prepare for 2020 and -- more importantly -- 2021.
Schoenfield: The Red Sox and Nationals fit here, but at least they're still close. The Mets not only have been a disappointment, but they continue to do LOL Mets things, especially with the bullpen blues and the Robinson Cano trade that looks like it could haunt the franchise for years. Where would they be without Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil -- two guys whom the new front office clearly didn't even completely believe in given the offseason moves to bring in Cano and Jed Lowrie.
Passan: Clearly the Boston Red Sox. It's the Fourth of July. They're 45-41. On this day last year, they were 59-29. They didn't lose their 41st game until Aug. 25. There's time to get right. There's also a lot of righting to do.
Which division race will be the most interesting the rest of the way?
Passan: There's a reasonable amount of intrigue in both leagues' East and Central divisions. The AL East has three extreme haves and two tailor-made have-nots. The AL Central comes down to: Does Cleveland sell or take another crack? The NL East is juicy, with the Braves and Phillies and Nats and whatever comes of the Mets. But the NL Central, with the Cubs' inconsistency and the Brewers needing another Christian Yelich MVP grab and the Reds' upside-down run differential, is intriguing enough for a realistic shot at another Game 163.
Olney: NL Central. Five teams enter, one team prevails, and the rest will be left to wonder what the heck went wrong.
Schoenfield: The NL Central. Every team is going to end up 82-80, giving us a five-way tie. How do you break that tie? I don't know! MLB's tiebreaker scenarios don't yet include that one. Better put somebody on it.
Doolittle: Like Buster and Dave said, the NL Central is a true five-team race that could be tilted in any direction by key injuries or trade acquisitions. The Pirates have to be considered the long shots because of their antipathy toward aggressive acquisitions, but they've also hung in there with a largely underachieving starting staff. If that group gets going, and the Bucs don't trade Felipe Vazquez at the deadline, anything could happen. The Cardinals are another team with a lot of positive regression lying ahead of them.
Which contender most needs to do something big before the trade deadline?
Olney: The Dodgers, which might seem counterintuitive, because they're completely dominating their division and will coast to another NL West title. But the standard for that seething clubhouse is World Series or bust. The players doubled down on their individual efforts this season, and presumably the front office will as well and get at least one and perhaps two high-end relievers before July 31.
Doolittle: The Dodgers need to lock in an October-worthy bullpen. This is yet another powerhouse L.A. team, but it doesn't have the kind of starting pitchers who can become viable October bullpen solutions. They need at least two or three more arms for the relief staff. If that happens, it's almost a perfect roster.
Passan: In June, the Phillies went 11-16 with a 5.63 ERA. They don't have the lineup to counteract such a miserable pitching month -- which was nearly equaled by the Yankees' pitching staff, only they went 17-9 because they've apparently got nine Babe Ruths. In the close NL, the Phillies need to do something -- preferably with pitching, probably in the bullpen, where the Phillies' 6.62 ERA in June was better than just one team: the Mets, of course.
Schoenfield: The Nationals have one of the worst bullpens of all time and that's even with a good closer. They need to add a reliever or four to have a chance at chasing down the Braves. (To be fair, just about every contender will be looking for bullpen help. The busiest man in July might be Giants general manager Farhan Zaidi, who has several relievers to deal, plus Madison Bumgarner).
How many teams will win 100 games this season?
Doolittle: Four. Astros, Yankees, Twins and Dodgers. The Twins are the toughest call there, but given their AL Central-heavy schedule and strong run differential, I think they'll do it.
Olney: Four. Dodgers, Yankees, Astros, Twins. The top-heavy (and bottom-heavy) nature of Major League Baseball continues.
Passan: Three. Dodgers, Yankees, Astros.
Schoenfield: I agree with Jeff here, three. Dodgers, Yankees, Astros.
How many teams will lose 100 games this season?
Passan: Five. Orioles, Royals, Tigers, Marlins, Blue Jays.
Schoenfield: Four. Blue Jays, Orioles, Tigers, Royals.
Olney: Five -- and all in the American League, remarkably. Somehow, the Orioles are on pace to win fewer games this year (45) than last year (47).
Doolittle: Two. The Orioles might lose 200. And while the Royals and Tigers are both on pace to fly past 100, I think Kansas City will move toward its 95-loss run differential and avoid triple digits.
Arizona-based Brit Alice Wright has not raced on home soil for years and hopes to make it count this weekend by qualifying for Doha
When Alice Wright steps on to the track at the Highgate Harriers Night of the 10,000m PBs in north London on Saturday night it will not only be her first experience of the event but her first race in Britain for seven years.
“I couldn’t even tell you when I last raced here,” she told AW this week after travelling from her base in Flagstaff, Arizona, to London for a 25-lap race that incorporates the European Cup and British world trial.
“All of my races in recent years have been in America, which is kind of crazy. Of course I’ve raced for Great Britain (European Championships on the track and country) but not in Britain itself for a long time.”
On Saturday the 24-year-old is part of the GB team and will be aiming to be one of the top two Britons inside the World Championships qualifying time of 31:50.00. She clocked 31:56.52 at the Payton Jordan meeting in California in May and is hoping to slice at least six seconds off that mark this weekend.
“I was pretty happy to break 32 minutes finally as it had been a big goal of mine,” she says. “But it was annoying to be six seconds outside the world standard.
“If I had run inside 31:50 I would just have had one goal this weekend – to finish top two. But now the goal this Saturday is to get the standard and qualify for the World Championships. But then again I don’t know whose goal that isn’t for this race. Everyone’s going to be going after it and it should make for an exciting race.”
Wright is from Worcestershire and during her teenage years won plenty of minor medals in national events but was often overshadowed by Jess Judd, who was in the same age group.
In cross-country, for example, Wright took English Schools bronze in 2009 and was runner-up in the English Schools and Inter-Counties in 2011, whereas in the English Schools on the track she was fourth in the 1500m in 2009, third in the 3000m in 2010 and runner-up at 3000m in 2011.
As her junior career in the UK drew to an end, she went to New Mexico University in 2013 and was coached by Joe Franklin, who has coached other Brits like Josh Kerr and Charlotte Arter – the latter of whom also races this weekend over 10,000m.
The move to the United States helped her sort out a calf problem that was troubling her at the time and also saw her get involved in the American collegiate system of racing, which is largely why she has barely raced in the UK lately.
“Because I was on a scholarship I couldn’t say I was training for the British trials and instead had to do the NCAA system but now I’m out of that all my focus is now on trial races and getting on to British teams,” she explains. “So I’ll be coming back more regularly.”
Since leaving university she has joined the HOKA-sponsored Northern Arizona Elite team based in Flagstaff where she trains with several sub-2:30 female marathoners and is coached by Ben Rosario. Wright is keen to move up to 26.2 miles quite soon too and she has already posted a half-marathon best of 73:17.
“I’m not ready to put the 10km behind me yet though,” she says. “And I’m certainly not going to be stepping down to the 5km – or 1500m, god forbid – any time soon.
“I feel stronger in training in longer sessions and that points toward doing the marathon. I don’t want to delay it until my early 30s. I’d like to do one in the next year or so and as long as I can stay healthy – and I’m in the right group and place for that – I feel I’d be stupid not to do a marathon soon.”
Despite her time in the United States, she has not lost her strong English accent and she adds: “I’m hoping the marathon will be my sweet spot when it comes to pace.”
First comes the 10,000m on Saturday, though. “I’ve heard great things about this race so I’m hoping we can all run fast,” she says. “There are limited opportunities for athletes to run fast track 10,000m races anymore. It’s not in the Diamond League and it’s hard to find a fast 10,000m race. It’s really cool to see that Highgate has achieved this and I hope the fast times can be replicated on Saturday and that I can be one of the athletes who runs one.”
It is a rare chance for her family and UK-based friends to see her run too. “I’m excited that they will get to see me race. I just hope I can put on a good race for them and do them proud after all the support they’ve given me over the years.”
World number one Ashleigh Barty cruised into the third round at Wimbledon on Thursday with a 6-1 6-3 win over Belgium's Alison Van Uytvanck.
The 23-year-old Australian, who won the French Open last month, was on court for just 55 minutes.
Barty could next face British number three Harriet Dart, who is currently in action against Beatriz Haddad Maia.
American ninth seed Sloane Stephens also eased through with a 6-0 6-2 victory against China's Wang Yafan.
Barty had the chance to serve for the match at 5-2 but Van Uytvanck broke back, only for the top seed to break again in the following game as she sealed match point with a smart volleyed winner.
"I started particularly well and not too many errors, a bit of a blemish trying to serve out the match, but very happy with today," she said.
Australia's Bernard Tomic has been fined his full Wimbledon prize money of £45,000 for not meeting the "required professional standard" during his 58-minute first-round defeat by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Tomic lost 6-2 6-1 6-4 in the shortest men's match at SW19 since 2004.
Asked afterwards if he thought he might be fined, Tomic said: "What for?"
The 26-year-old was also fined two years ago for his conduct during a first-round loss to Mischa Zverev.
Former Wimbledon semi-finalist Tsonga, 34, served 21 aces as Tomic's performance was described in commentary as "embarrassing" and "distasteful".
Wimbledon officials said that it in the the opinion of the match referee "the player did not perform to the required professional standard".
A total of 12 tables with 26 umpires on duty, a major tournament in its own right, the event may also be regarded as a test for next year’s global gathering when the BEXCO (Busan Exhibition and Convention Center) will be the host, as opposed to the Sajik Indoor Gymnasium, the current venue.
At the helm of proceedings is Zena Zim, the Competition Manager, the Referee being Young-sam Ma, the Chair of the ITTF Umpires and Referees Committee. They are supported by experienced Deputy Referees, Malaysia’s Cyril Sen and the host nation’s Park Insook; all are combining to enable the tournament to progress in a most efficient and enjoyable manner. There are smiling faces, most importantly everyone is pulling in the same direction, there is concord in Korea.
Notably many tables tennis fans have been present, despite the fact that so far play has taken place only on working days.
Furthermore, the warm welcome, the respectful greetings, true to the country’s best traditions, are very much in evidence; another fact which augurs well for next year’s global gathering, as Busan opens its arms to the world. All present have praised the hospitality and high standard accommodation provided; moreover, the delicious spicy food has been well received.
It seems in Busan, especially for the male umpires they have it right, as they say, a way to an umpire’s heart is through his stomach!
England forward Maro Itoje speaks about the jovial atmosphere in the squad in the build-up to October's Rugby World Cup, saying it is mostly down to head coach Eddie Jones.
Itoje told the Today programme: "He sets high standards but also has an incredible sense of humour. He is one of the biggest jokers in our whole squad."
Jones announces his World Cup training squad on Thursday.
Christian Lealiifano has been named in Australia's squad for the first time since being diagnosed with blood cancer leukaemia in August 2016.
The Brumbies fly-half, who is now in remission having been clear of any signs of the disease for two years, last played for Australia in June 2016.
The 31-year-old is in the 34-man squad for the Wallabies' Rugby Championship opener against South Africa on 20 July.
"He deserves to be there," said Australia coach Michael Cheika.
"If you take out the other things that he's achieved, he's been playing good rugby.
"I'm not the expert to speak on what Christian has been through, only he knows that and his family. What you can't deny is his form in Super Rugby."
Lealiifano, who captains Canberra-based team Brumbies, has made 19 appearances for Australia. His inclusion means there is no room for Melbourne Rebels fly-half Quade Cooper, who made the last of his 70 international appearances two years ago.
Scrum-half Nick Phipps, who has 71 international caps and flanker Ned Hanigan have also missed out.
Joe Powell and Nic White have been chosen as understudies to regular scrum-half Will Genia, with Toomua and Lealiifano, who has also had a successful stint with Ulster, the likely backups for regular fly-half Foley.
Australia host Argentina on 27 July and New Zealand on 10 August in the annual four-team Rugby Championship, which is being halved from six to three games this year because the World Cup starts in September.
Australia open their World Cup account against Fiji on 21 September.
There is more racism in football than rugby because of a lack of education, according to England rugby union international Maro Itoje.
Football has seen a number of high-profile incidents of alleged racist abuse in recent months involving the likes of Manchester City's Raheem Sterling.
When asked why rugby seems to suffer less overtly from racism than football does, Itoje said: "I think rugby fans - and people in rugby - are a little bit more educated than those in football."
He added: "That's not to say rugby's perfect. There are subtle things in rugby that we need to try and stamp out and get rid."
Speaking to the BBC Radio Four's Today programme, Itoje, who plays his club rugby for Saracens, also says the intense rivalry and tribalism between fans of different football clubs brings their "unconscious bias" to the surface in the form of racist abuse.
"Football fans are as passionate to their club as they are towards their religion, or in some sense their country," he said.
"When an opposition player, who is a person of colour, does damage to their team, they then bring out something as they want to hurt them. Often the way they do that is throw abuse at them, and that abuse is perceived to hurt them.
"With that it goes to the subconscious/unconscious bias that a lot of people have innately in them. So when they then spout out that abuse and they say a racist slur towards them, it goes back to their unconscious bias that they already had in them.
"I think in rugby, it's nowhere near as tribal. The fans are passionate but they're passionate in a different way. The values of rugby are so important, not only to the players but to the staff and the fans."
Satisfaction when you 'smoke' somebody
Itoje has also defended the level of physical aggression in rugby, saying it is key to the sport's appeal for players and fans - provided it is within the rules.
"If you go back to decades, centuries, millenniums ago, people were fighting. And not only fighting as a way to survive but as a spectacle, as a sport," he said.
"There's always been an appeal to people fighting one another. It's always something that's got people excited and the physical aspect to rugby is no different.
"A lot of players get a great deal of satisfaction after they 'smoke' somebody, after they hit them hard. I do, I completely put myself in that bracket. On the flip side, when you're on the receiving end of it and you get hit, you're like 'OK now it's my turn to try and dish out some of the damage.' Obviously all within the letter of the law.
"It's just a part of the game that people love and it's a part of the game that has to keep going."
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