The Diamondbacks came into the game looking for a series win, and with a little bit of luck, putting some more ***** e between their competition for the final NL Wild Card spot. Having Eduardo Rodriguez on the mound was a point in their favor, but the offense still RVSP'd maybe when invited to the game.
The Diamondbacks were quiet in the top of the first, with the only baserunner being a Geraldo Perdomo hit by pitch, and that allowed the Astros to strike first. E-Rod got Jeremy Pena to ground out, but Yordan Alvarez absolutely clobbered one for a solo home run. That was the first indication that Rodriguez didn't have his best stuff today, but the next few batters hammered that home, even if there wasn't much damage done. He walked both Isaac Paredes and Christian Walker, but alternated those walks with a line out from Jose Altuve and got out of the jam with a Nelson Velasquez strike out. 0-1 Astros
This, of course, did raise some concerns amongst the faithful about the early need to score more than one run. That's been a challenge for the Diamondbacks, last night's four run outbreak aside. The offense decided to do some to ***** uage those fears, but did not manage to score multiple runs right away. Corbin Carroll started off the second inning with a double, advanced on a sac bunt from Tommy Troy, and then scored on a sac fly from James McCann. Illdemaro Vargas tried to keep things going with a two out single, but Lawler was unable to step up and ended the inning with a line out to third. Tied 1-1
Rodriguez issues with command continued right away in the bottom of the second, walking Dalton Varsho. Never a good idea to walk someone like him, as he showed when he stole second to get into scoring position two outs later. Too late for it to matter, though, as Jeremy Pena only saw three pitches and flew out to end the inning.
The third inning was… something. Perdomo singled to lead off the inning, bringing Ketel Marte to the plate. Marte got an 86 MPH changeup down and away and turned it around for what looked like an easy single. The only with that is the ball also acted as a heat seeking missel straight to Perdomo's helmet. He hit the ground immediately and quickly found himself surrounded by trainers from both teams. Eventually he left under his own power to a nice ovation from the Houston crowd, as one does.

#astros

I have a confession to make. This whole season, I have been waiting for the other proverbial shoe to drop for Eduardo Rodriguez. I had a difficult time believing the same pitcher who had posted consecutive seasons with ERAs north of five could somehow transform himself into a legitimate Cy Young candidate. There were some legitimate reasons for that doubt too between his whiff percentage, strikeout rate, and chase rate all leave something to be desired – to say nothing of expected stats that paint an even worse picture. But at some point, you have to throw out all the other pieces of evidence and recognize that however he's doing it, Rodriguez is putting together one of the best pitching seasons in franchise history. And at a time in the season where every win is crucial, he delivered once more with an absolute gem against the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday afternoon. In seven innings of scoreless work, Rodriguez racked up nine strikeouts and allowed just five baserunners all game, inducing a whopping 18 swings and misses along the way.
It was a fairly dominant performance for the veteran lefty, but it wasn't all smooth sailing. In the visiting half of the sixth, Pete Crow-Armstrong, who was mostly contained in the series, stroked a leadoff double down the line and then moved over to third on Seiya Suzuki's groundout. After a shallow flyout from Alex Bregman wasn't deep enough for PCA to score, he decided to take matters into his own hands and bluffed a straight steal of home by sprinting halfway down the third base line. That move unsettled Rodriguez enough for him to shuffle off the pitching rubber before delivering to James McCann behind the plate. The entire Cubs dugout clamored for a balk call, but after a quick umpire consultation, it was declared not a balk – much to PCA's chagrin as he charged directly at the third base umpire and had to be held back by his coaches. After a few replays of the incident, I do think (as does Bob Brenly) that it probably was a balk. E-Rod clearly takes his left foot off the rubber before coming home with the ball, which would be very deceiving to a baserunner and which has always been the intent behind the balk rule. The play also highlighted the fact that every play should be reviewable as other angles show enough that the Cubs at least had an argument and when the margin is so thin, the call should be correct. It's worth watching the whole sequence for yourself to see where you fall on the decision:
View Link
For what it's worth, Chicago starter Matthew Boyd nearly matched Rodriguez zero for zero as the veteran journeyman allowed the same number of baserunners (five) in six innings of work and continued the excellent starting pitching the Cubs had in the series. His only mistake was a hanging changeup that Jordan Lawlar just lifted over the right field fence for the only run allowed by a Cubs starting pitcher. The D-Backs added an insurance run in the eighth when consecutive leadoff singles from McCann and La

While Adam McCann-Gibbs feels his journey from Gaelic footballer to college athlete has been like something from a film, the County Down teenager still acknowledges it is surreal to have one of the greatest American football coaches of all time play a leading role in his story.
Bill Belichick, who won six Super Bowls as head coach of the New England Patriots and two as an ******* istant with the New York Giants, swapped the NFL for the college game before last season and this weekend brings his North Carolina Tar Heels to Dublin for their season opener against Texas Christian University.
McCann-Gibbs, the team's punter who will be making his debut at this level should he feature at the Aviva Stadium, only took up the sport in recent years and is still learning its nuances. Few, of course, are more detail-orientated than Belichick with the former Down minor keen to soak up whatever he can from the 74-year-old.
"You're blown away whenever he goes up in a team meeting. Everyone shuts up really quickly and you're able to feed off his knowledge of the game," said McCann-Gibbs.
"It's just incredible. I might not understand everything yet but I'm learning from the guy that's at the top of his game."

#mccann #gibbs

LEXINGTON – It took three weeks longer than expected to complete the 93rd News Journal Tennis Tournament, but once action resumed Jake Chilcote – or should we say, Mr. Tiebreaker – simply picked up where he left off.
He beat former Lexington High School teammate and 2024 champ Ethan Remy 6-1, 1-6, 10-8 for the men's singles ***** le Saturday at Lakewood Racquet Club.
Since Nicky Wong capped his four-year reign in 2022, there have been four different champions over the last four years. There was Justin Csepe in 2023, Remy in 2024 and Dylan Catanese in 2025, paving the way for Chilcote's run to the championship this summer.
No one can say he didn't earn it.
Chilcote's last three wins in the tournament were all decided by 10-point tiebreakers. He went the distance – first to 10 points by two in a decisive mini-set – to beat former champ Alex "Bones" McCann in the quarterfinals and again in the semis against 2024 finalist Cooper Remy, Ethan's younger brother.

#lexington #former #champ

Celtic delivered a blistering performance at Rugby Park this afternoon (Sunday, August 9), putting five past Kilmarnock and taking all three points with an emphatic 5-1 victory over Neil McCann's side.
New Bhoy Kasper Høgh will rightly take the headlines for his first-half hat-trick, but across the park Celtic performed brilliantly and made it two wins from two following their opening day victory against Dundee.
With Martin O'Neill still recovering following a small procedure at hospital during the week, ***** istant Manager Shaun Maloney took charge of the team this afternoon and, speaking to CelticPlayer after the match, Maloney was keen to heap praise on the players for their performance.
"I'm delighted. Really, really happy." He said. "I thought we were excellent today.
"I'd say the most impressive thing was the mentality. We started the game at full throttle and we never came off it.

#performance #Rugby #sunday

After an edgy win against Dundee in the season opener, Celtic, the reigning Premiership champions, showed their supremacy on Sunday afternoon at Rugby Park. Kilmarnock finally changed their turf from plastic to grass after clubs voted in favour of banning artificial turf ahead of the 2026-27 season; however, it proved a catastrophe for the East Ayrshire side, who suffered a 5-1 humiliation. Second-half strikes from Benjamin Nygren and Luke McCowan followed a first-half hat-trick from the club-record signing Kasper Høgh.
Below are the Celtic players rated in their 5-1 win against Kilmarnock.
Viljami Sinisalo: 7.5
Made a couple of smart saves soon after Høgh's opening goal. Could have done little to stop Michael Schjønning-Larsen, who pulled one back and made it 4-1 for Neil McCann's men.
Alistair Johnston: 7.5

#season #turf

Kilmarnock may be yet to train on their new grass-hybrid pitch, but it's fair to say manager Neil McCann is excited about the "sensational" surface.
"I just feel that Rugby Park was always known as having a brilliant surface," said McCann.
"So, hopefully we get a big crowd coming in on the back of the home form last season. I know they'll be disappointed by the last weekend but we look to try and put that right."
Killie opened their Scottish Premiership season with a 4-3 defeat by St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park and welcome champions Celtic on Sunday.
And McCann says the new pitch will not change their game tactically at all, although he admits his side will have an advantage over the visiting teams as "it allows you to train on it".

#kilmarnock

Doncaster Rovers captain Owen Bailey has signed a new three-year deal.
The 27-year-old midfielder has scored 20 goals in 138 league appearances for Grant McCann's side since joining from Gateshead in June 2023.
"The way the gaffer has spoken to me since I've come to the club has been unbelievable," he told the club website.
"It's a big thing for me to want to repay that and commit my future here and give everything when I go out on the pitch, and I'll continue to do that."

#since #Rovers #owen #june

Baseball is a funny sport sometimes. There aren't very many sports or opportunities in life where you can get embarrassed and then come back less than 24 hours later to face the exact same team and completely flip the script and result of the two contests. Thankfully, baseball isn't most sports and that's exactly what the D-Backs were able to accomplish on Wednesday night, taking a shutout performance all the way into the top of the ninth while absolutely teeing off on San Diego pitching throughout the night. The victory not only gave the D-Backs some extra padding in their Wild Card lead, but also put them that much closer to securing the season series against the Friar's – an important tiebreak consideration as we enter the last quarter of the season and sprint towards the playoffs.
The starting rotation has been a weakness for the team throughout the season – led by disappointing results from Merrill Kelly and Zac Gallen. That disappointment and weakness has opened the opportunity for a pair of rookies to make their case for a rotation spot in Mitch Bratt and Kohl Drake, two of the three players the Rangers exchanged in the Merrill Kelly trade last season. The two rookies have had an uneven introduction to the big leagues in their first eight combined starts, but Bratt's sixth career start was a huge step forward, giving the youngster his first big league win. I don't want to overstate the performance. It's always impressive when a rookie is able to complete seven innings of scoreless baseball, regardless of the relative weakness of the opposing offense. But it's also not as if Bratt had pinpoint command of all of his pitches, throwing slightly more than half of his 92 pitches on the night for a strike.I think it's more accurate to describe the outing as effectively wild rather than wildly effective. Regardless, limiting the Padres to just three walks is an important developmental milestone for the young lefty whose walk rate has skyrocketed since making his debut and will be a closely watched development moving forward.
Of course, with the way the Arizona offense was cooking tonight, an effective position player could have likely earned a win on the mound. It was exactly the kind of balanced offensive attack that Torey Lovullo often preaches with valuable contributions coming from nearly every player in the lineup as seven out of nine of the starters got at least one hit or more. Even better, it didn't overly rely on a single method for scoring, but featured sacrifice flies, home runs, and timely hits with runners in scoring position. They got the party started in the third with a sacrifice fly from Gabriel Moreno scoring Corbin Carroll who had walked, stolen second, and moved to third already. Tim Tawa added another run on a two-out blast off a lifeless splitter, but it wasn't until the fourth that the party really started. After James McCann led off the inning with a harmless flyout, his teammates started a hit parade with five straight k

Dbacks manager Torey Lovullo started off his postgame interview stating that this game had a 'funky rhythm' to it, and I think that is a great way to summarize it.
Eduardo Rodriguez who went 8 scoreless in his last outing, got jumped in this outing. The Padres came out of the gates with a lot of hard contact scoring 3 runs in the first inning and 2 more in the second inning and before anyone could get settled in, the Dbacks were already chasing 5 runs. ERod certainly didn't have his best stuff tonight, but due to the amount of hard contact he was giving up early in this game, Im sure there are going to be people who are suspecting there was atleast some degree of pitch tipping going on.
The defense behind ERod also let him down multiple times as multiple ****** clanked off of Arenado's mitt at 3rd base, none of them errors, but still not common to see from the perennial gold glove winner. Ketel Marte also missed a critical double play on a bobble that allowed extra runs to score as of the 7 runs scored tonight while ERod was pitching, only 5 of them were earned. Certainly not the crisp defense this team typically relies on to win games. It should be noted however that despite not having his best stuff, ERod was still able to pitch into the 6th inning tonight.
The offense did nothing for 8 of the 9 innings tonight with the exception of the 7th when the Dbacks offense blasted 2 homeruns. Nolan Arenado hit the first, a 2 run shot to get the Dbacks on the board. James McCann hit the second of the inning another 2 run shot, and then all of a sudden its an 8-4 ballgame and the Padres are getting up Mason Miller in the 8th. However the Padres would then tack on another run in the 9th inning to sit Miller back down and solidify the final score of 9-4.
Of particular note in this one, Ketel Marte and Corbin Carroll combined to go 0-8 as they continue to slide as they have done the past 6 weeks or so. This team desperately needs them to step up if this team is going to maintain any kind of wild card lead and make a playoff run. Hopefully this is just the calm before the storm.

#team #ketel

Maria O'Neill's point with just 15 seconds remaining won the All-Ireland Junior Football Championship for Antrim in a dramatic final against Carlow at Croke Park.
After had got on Carlow on level-terms in the closing stages through Megan Townsend's goal, McCann struck the decisive blow late on for secure a 1-13 to 2-9 win for the Saffrons.
Antrim made a perfect start in Dublin when Theresa Mallon capitalised on a poor pass from goalkeeper Nicole Hanley to net inside two minutes.
The Saffrons extended their advantage thanks to Orlaith Prenter, O'Neill and Aine Tubridy, but Carlow, in their first All-Ireland decider, fought back and trailed by 1-5 to 0-6 at the break.
Cliodhna Ni She's sixth point of the day further reduced Antrim's lead, but the Ulster county responded through Prenter and Bronagh Devlin.

#point #Football

CLEVELAND (AP) — Geraldo Perdomo and Corbin Carroll homered during a seven-run seventh inning, and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Cleveland Guardians 12-8 on Saturday night for their fourth straight victory.
Perdomo also had the fourth four-hit game of his six-year career and drove in three runs for the Diamondbacks, who hold the second wild-card spot in the National League. The shortstop is 6 for 10 with four RBIs in the first two games of the series.
Brian McCann had three hits while Nolan Arenado also went deep with a solo shot in the eighth inning.
Rhys Hoskins and Chase DeLauter homered for Cleveland, which is 5-10 since the All-Star break. Steven Kwan added three hits as the Guardians (56-56) fell to .500 for the first time since May 10.
Gerardo Carrillo (2-0), the second of six Arizona pitchers, got the win after throwing two scoreless innings.

#perdomo #Guardians #inning #fourth

You guys have probably heard the line 'its hard not to be romantic about baseball' before, and tonight was a perfect encapsulation of that very phrase. It had all the highs of the big blowout win, the heartbreak of the blown save, and then the triumph of the unsung hero coming out of nowhere in the extra innings to save the team. Nights like tonight either drive you crazy, or make you fall in love with the game that much more. No other sport can play with our emotions quite like baseball can.
The Diamondbacks offense got off to such an amazing start. Scoring consistently with team baseball throughout each of the first 4 innings. It really felt like this offense was clicking. Overall they recorded 16 hits in the 12 innings highlighted by James McCann with 4 and Nolan Arenado with 3. On the flip side, this offense also set a franchise record recording 24 outs with runners in scoring position tonight. What started out so good, quickly turned into a start reminder of the problems that have been plaguing this offense most of the season with its struggles with RISP.
Then in the 7th inning, the offense suddenly came to a screeching halt. And the Pirates offense came jolting to life. The Pirates would erase the 6-0 lead the Dbacks had going into the 8th inning with 3 runs in the 8th and 3 runs in the 9th. Unfortunately what had been a strength much of the season in the backend of the bullpen in Thompson and Sewald was a weakness tonight. Thompson simply could not get away with anything tonight giving up 4 hits and a walk in just .2 of an inning. And the leader of this bullpen, Sewald came into the game with a 3 run lead in the 9th and proceeded to give up a base hit and back to back home runs to immediately erase the 3 run lead and tie the game. This was such a low moment for this team in such a big game. Especially with how lock down Sewald has been in save situations this season coming into the game having blown only 2 saves in 24 chances.
However fortunately for the Dbacks there was Gerardo Carillo who tonight put this team on his back and carried them back into the 3rd wildcard spot. Carrillo, who came into today working primarily as the low leverage long man, was thrust straight into some of the most high leverage innings of the season thus far, and boy did he deliver. Carillo was able to give the team 2 innings tonight in which he allowed 0 hits and 0 runs while striking out 3 while getting his first career major league win. He threw a 6 pitch scoreless 11th and then put up another 0 in the 12th to keep this team alive. Carillo has always been an intriguing relief option in the upper minors given his upper 90's fastball velocity combined with his pitch mix including a cutter, a splitter, and sinker. However tonight he also showed that he has what could arguably be the most important trait for a late inning reliever and that is he has that dog in him.
It is also worth discussing Brandon Pfaadt who tonight was dominant over 7 innings and definite

PITTSBURGH (AP) — James McCann singled in the winning run in the 12th inning with his fourth hit of the game and the Arizona Diamondbacks held on for an 8-7 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night despite blowing a six-run lead.
Brandon Lowe and Bryan Reynolds hit back-to-back home runs for the Pirates to spark a three-run rally against closer Paul Sewald in the ninth to tie the game at 6-all and force extra innings. Lowe's two-run shot was his team-leading 22nd of the season.
It was Sewald's third blown save in 27 opportunities.
The Pirates also had a three-run eighth to make it 6-3 on RBI singles by Ryan O'Hearn, Endy Rodríguez and Marcell Ozuna.
Both teams scored runs in the 10th on errors.

#runs

Madeleine McCann’s younger brother Sean has earned a spot in the finals of the Commonwealth Games 400-metre freestyle.
McCann, 21, was cheered on by his parents Gerry and Kate and his twin sister Amelie as he finished fourth in the third of four qualifying heats in Glasgow.
His time of 3:52.64 was just fast enough to make the final on Saturday evening, in eighth position overall.
McCann and Amelie were just two years old when Madeleine, aged three, disappeared during a family holiday in Portugal in 2007.
Despite extensive searches and countless media appeals, she has never been found.

#amelie #sean

It's been over 19 years since Madeleine McCann, the eldest daughter of Kate and Gerry McCann, went missing from their holiday apartment in Praia de Luz, Portugal, while the couple were dining nearby with friends.
It wasn't just Madeleine who was thrown into the spotlight, however, as there was plenty of attention on her twin siblings, Sean and Amelie, as the international search for her whereabouts captured the public's attention for years. The family has since been at the centre of several documentaries about the missing girl.
As Madeleine's brother Sean McCann is set to enter the spotlight by making his Commonwealth Games 2026 debut in the Scotland swim team, here's everything you need to know about the family since her disappearance...
Sean and Amelie are now aged 21, but the family has made it clear that they wish to remain private. After Amelie was photographed at a vigil for Madeleine in May 2023, the couple issued a rare statement requesting that the press leave the twins alone.
It read: "I am writing this message to the media in general. I expect it may not appear in print or on-line but hope that it will spark a conscience in some. As we do every year, we gathered in our village yesterday evening to mark the anniversary of our daughter Madeleine's abduction. It was a special event and lovely to sense the hope and warmth of those who were there.

#mccann #family #years

After a somewhat surprising (and surprisingly emphatic) win against the Doyers last night in their house thanks in large measure to Tim Tawa busting out, it seemed honestly pretty unlikely to me that we’d knock them off again, especially with Yoshinobu Yamamoto taking the mound for them and Brandon Pfaadt going for us. Don’t get me wrong, it has seemed like Pfaadt definitely worked some things out during his brief time in Reno, but his two very good starts since he’s been back have been against the Giants and the Padres, neither of whom are exactly poster children for “fierce and difficult competition” at this point in the season. The Dodgers, on the other hand, sport the best record in baseball, and Yamamoto has definitely earned his spot on the All-Star Game roster for the National League this year. So. My expectations were not high, is what I’m saying.
But you know what? I was completely wrong! Hooray! It didn’t look great to start, as Yamamoto made very short work of the top of our lineup in the first, sitting down Ketel Marte, Geraldo Perdomo, and Corbin Carroll, with only ten pitches thrown. But Pfaadt came out for the bottom of the first, and only needed five pitches to retire Shohei Ohtani, Andy Pages, and Freddie Freeman. Not too shabby.
And it pretty much continued that way through five innings—Brandon Pfaadt outpitching and outperforming the 2025 World Series MVP. Our hitters started hanging longer and more patient at bats on Yamamoto, the Dodgers hitters failed to do so with Pfaadt. Tim Tawa got the Diamondbacks’ first hit with two outs in the second with a fly ball single to center. Sadly, however, he was immediately picked off first base before Yamamoto had to throw another pitch, which was embarrassing. It broke the seal, though, at least, and we started driving Yamamoto’s pitch count up from there, with James McCann reaching on the Max Muncy throwing error with one out in the top of the third and Tommy Troy drawing a six-pitch walk. Nothing more came of that, sadly, as Marte popped out to third, and Perdomo flew out to left after a long at bat, but we made Yamamoto throw 25 pitches in the inning. Pfaadt, on the other hand, cruised through the second and third innings, retiring the Dodgers in order as he completed his first run through their lineup with only 27 pitched needed to record his first nine outs.
The Diamondbacks drew first blood as well in the top of the fourth, after Gabriel Moreno drew a six-pitch walk with one out and then got to third on a Max Kepler grounder that snuck through the right side of the infield and into right field for a single. Tim Tawa then hit a grounder to third that Max Muncy frankly made an amazing play on, but Moreno was running on contact and Muncy’s only play was to throw to first, where he just nabbed Tawa while Gabi crossed the plate for the first run of the game. 1-0 DBACKS
Pfaadt got himself into some trouble in the bottom half of the inning, as Ohtani lined a single to left and Andy Pag

LOS ANGELES (AP) — James McCann hit his first two home runs of the season and had four RBIs, Brandon Pfaadt made it three wins in three starts since returning to the rotation, and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 9-2 on Saturday night.
McCann hit a three-run shot in a five-run sixth inning as the Diamondbacks won for the fourth time in nine games against the Dodgers.
Pfaadt (3-1) allowed two runs on six hits with no walks over 5 1/3 innings.
Andy Pages and Mookie Betts had RBI singles for the Dodgers, who lost consecutive games at home for the second time since May 13. Yoshinobu Yamamoto (9-6) matched a career high by allowing six runs on five hits and four walks in six innings.
Manager Dave Roberts announced Saturday that Yamamoto will not pitch in Tuesday’s All-Star Game at Philadelphia. Shohei Ohtani also not will appear in Tuesday’s game.

The All-Star break all of a sudden looks more and more like something the Dodgers need, as they suffered a second blowout loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks in as many nights, 9-2 on Saturday night at Dodger Stadium.
Simply losing consecutive games has been rare for the Dodgers, as this marked just their second two-game losing streak in the last two months. But to lose consecutively in blowout fashion is even more rare, as they followed up Friday’s 9-3 loss with a defeat by seven runs on Saturday.
The Dodgers have lost by six or more runs only eight times this season — they’ve won 22 such games, for comparison — and never consecutively before now. The only other similar streak came from May 9-12, when the Dodgers lost four straight games by five, five, six, and four runs.
For a while, this looked more like a typical game, especially for Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who entered the sixth inning having allowed only one run, with the Dodgers trailing 1-0. But Arizona tacked on five runs in the frame, punctuated by a three-run home run by catcher James McCann.
Six runs allowed is a season high for Yamamoto, who will head to Philadelphia for All-Star festivities but will not pitch in the game. His four walks matched a season high.

The Diamondbacks reinstated catcher James McCann from the injured list on Monday, July 6, making room on the roster by optioning catcher Adrian Del Castillo to Triple-A Reno.
McCann has been on the 10-day injured list since May 19 with a strained right quad. He played three games in Triple-A Reno on a rehab **** ignment, going 0 for 12 with two strikeouts.
McCann was hitting .203/.217/.254 in 59 at-bats at the time of his injury. He was coming off a productive 2025 season in which he hit .260/.324/.431 with five homers in 41 games.
Del Castillo delivered a key, three-run homer in the Diamondbacks’ 4-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday, July 4, but has struggled mightily to get going at the plate this year. He missed all of spring training with a calf injury, then played only sparingly at Triple-A Reno before being summoned to the majors in early April.
In 151 at-bats, Del Castillo hit just .185/.244/.311 with five homers.

The current collective bargaining agreement between Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players **** ociation is set to expire at 11:59 p.m. ET on Dec. 1. It is expected that MLB will institute a lockout following the CBA’s expiration, and the lockout could threaten the 2027 season. Sportico’s Michael McCann, who is an attorney and a law professor, breaks down the potential legal fallout of a lockout in two parts. Below is Part I, which **** yzes the outlines of the labor dispute and the legal questions confronting MLB and management. Part II, which will run on Monday, will look more closely at the player and labor side of the legal question.
1. What’s the Dispute About?
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Diamondbacks right-handed pitcher Michael Soroka has been on the 15-day injured list with a strained left glute for 10 days, as of Tuesday, June 30. It appears he's moving toward a return that could happen before the All-Star break.
Soroka threw a bullpen session on Tuesday, and results are expected Wednesday. Manager Torey Lovullo said the club feels it could be a fast turnaround for Soroka to be able to rejoin the starting rotation.
"As long as he keeps progressing the way that he has been, and the glute situation has been minimized," Lovullo said. "That's a very, very encouraging sign."
Soroka's next bullpen session could be Friday or Saturday. He has had a good 2026 season for the Diamondbacks, with an 8-3 record and a 3.07 earned run average while leading the team in strikeouts with 79.
Catcher James McCann took some live at-bats in a game situation on Tuesday, and could report to a Diamondbacks minor league affiliate soon to play games, Lovullo said. That location could be Triple-A Reno, where McCann is set to play at the end of this week.

Jun. 30—Devotion to a legendary youth basketball coach brought four of his distinguished alumni together last weekend, and they proved they had not forgotten what he taught them.
Reuniting with Northwest Blazers club teammates from close to two decades ago, Kellie (McCann-Smith) Kromrei of Clarkston helped the Blazers Alumni team claim a 30-and-over women's competitive elite championship at Spokane Hoopfest on Saturday and Sunday. The group remained undefeated in their lifetimes at the large regional event.
"We probably played the most competitive ball that we've ever played in a really long time," Kromrei said. "We were happy with the way we played, and we were grateful for the opportunity to play together for probably the last time."
Kromrei, Jamie (Weisner) Scott, Daisy (Burke) Shustoff and Danielle Walter were there to celebrate the 75th birthday weekend of their former coach, Steve Klees, who founded and still oversees the Blazers program.
"He provides this huge platform for women in sports," Kromrei said of Klees, who was named to the 100 Most Impactful People in Women's College Basketball list by Silver Waves Media in 2022 after helping numerous youth players advance to the Division I college and professional levels. "We got together and played for him."

Roker Report is saddened to learn of the passing of former Sunderland midfielder Eric Roy following a battle with pancreatic cancer.
News of Roy’s death will be met with sadness by many Sunderland supporters who remember him as part of one of the club’s most successful sides of the modern era, a team that not only secured its place in the Premier League but did so with a swagger and confidence that remains fondly remembered on Wearside.
Signed by Peter Reid in the summer of 1999 from Olympique Marseille for a fee of £275,000, Roy arrived at the Stadium of Light ahead of Sunderland’s first season back in the top flight following promotion from the First Division. In a somewhat unusual introduction to English football, the Frenchman actually appeared for the club during Kevin Ball’s testimonial against Sampdoria before putting pen to paper, giving supporters an early glimpse of the tenacious midfielder who would soon become a familiar face in red and white.
The 1999-2000 campaign would go down as one of the finest seasons Sunderland fans have witnessed in recent decades. Defying expectations, Reid’s side stormed to a remarkable seventh-place finish in the Premier League, playing exciting, attacking football and earning admiration throughout the country. Roy was an important member of a fiercely competitive midfield unit that also featured the likes of Alex Rae, Stefan Schwarz and Gavin McCann, providing steel, discipline and work ethic whenever called upon.
Although he was never the most glamorous player in the squad, Roy embodied many of the qualities Sunderland supporters have always appreciated. Tough in the tackle, committed in the challenge and willing to do the dirty work for the benefit of the team, he quickly earned a reputation as a wholehearted competitor who never shirked responsibility.