Major League Baseball plans to unilaterally issue a 60-game schedule for its shortest season since 1878 after the players' association rejected a negotiated deal of the same length, putting the sport on track for a combative and possibly unhappy return to the field amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Six days after baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred and union head Tony Clark negotiated to expand the playoffs from 10 teams to 16, widen use of the designated hitter to National League games and introduce an experiment to start extra innings with a runner on second base, the deal was rejected by the union. MLB asked the union to respond by 5 p.m. EDT Tuesday as to whether players can report to training by July 1 and whether the players' association will agree on the operating manual of health and safety protocols. The schedule would be the shortest since the National League's third season. Given the need for three days of virus testing and 21 days of workouts, opening day would likely be during the final week of July. MLB already has started to investigate charter flights that could bring players back from Latin America, another person told the AP, also on condition of anonymity because no announcements were made.
In other MLB news:
The Chicago White Sox have signed first-round draft pick Garrett Crochet to a minor league contract that includes a signing bonus worth $4,547,500. Crochet went No. 11 overall in the June 10 amateur draft. The 20-year-old left-hander made one start before his junior season at Tennessee was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, striking out six in 3 2/3 scoreless innings. The 6-foot-6 Crochet is known for his blazing fastball. He went 5-3 with a 4.02 ERA in 18 appearances with the Volunteers during his sophomore season, averaging 11.2 strikeouts per nine innings.
The Chicago Cubs have signed first-round draft pick Ed Howard to a minor league contract that includes a $3,745,500 bonus. The 18-year-old shortstop was a prep star at Mount Carmel High School on Chicago's South Side. He also started for the 2014 Jackie Robinson West Little League team that advanced to the finals of the Little League World Series. Howard had committed to the University of Oklahoma. He received a signing bonus equal to his assigned slot value.
NASCAR
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. edged Ryan Blaney to win the second stage of a rain-delayed race at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. The day began with a show of support for driver Bubba Wallace. Fellow drivers lined up and pushed his car to the front of pit road in a show of solidarity. The entire 40-driver field and all their crew members followed. After the car came to a stop, Wallace climbed out, sat on the window ledge and sobbed. Richard Petty, his Hall of Fame team owner, gently placed a hand on Wallace's shoulder. The move came one day after a crew member found a noose in his garage stall. Wallace is the only fulltime Black driver in the top NASCAR series. Two weeks ago, he successfully pushed NASCAR to ban the Confederate flag at its facilities. The FBI is investigating the discovery of a noose found in the Talladega Superspeedway garage stall of Bubba Wallace. President Steve Phelps says security has been stepped up for Wallace since the noose was found on Sunday.
In other NASCAR news, a makeshift noose was found hanging from a tree at the Sonoma Raceway in California and officials say they're investigating the incident. Raceway President Steve Page says "piece of twine tied in what appeared to be a noose" was found hanging from a tree Saturday behind a former administrative office. Page says the incident is under investigation by the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department. Sonoma Raceway was closed over the weekend due the coronavirus pandemic.
NBA
The Toronto Raptors arrived in southwest Florida on Monday, set to begin their preparations for next month's restart of the NBA season. If the Raptors return to the NBA Finals, they could be in Florida for nearly four full months. The reigning NBA champions will start training for the season restart later this week at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, making that school their home base until they head north to the Disney complex near Orlando, Florida, around July 7. What awaits the Raptors is a different setup than what will be the case for the other 21 NBA teams that will be participating in the restart at Disney. Other teams will be working out at their home facilities, but as the NBA's lone team from outside the U.S., the Raptors would have had some logistical difficulties in having players gather in Toronto to prepare for the trip to Disney.
Elsewhere in the NBA:
Washington Wizards forward Davis Bertans will skip the Florida-based resumption of the NBA season. He is the first known example of a healthy, eligible player sitting out. Bertans can become an unrestricted free agent this offseason and is expected to command a big contract as one of the league's top 3-point shooters. The Wizards are allowed to sign a replacement player for Bertans as early as Tuesday.
The Dallas Mavericks will be without veteran guard Courtney Lee when organized workouts resume. The Mavericks say Lee injured his left calf during the NBA hiatus and won't be available when workouts are scheduled to start up again July 1. Lee had become a part-time starter after Jalen Brunson injured his right shoulder. After playing in only 10 of the first 50 games for the Mavericks this season, Lee appeared in 14 of their last 17. That included March 11 against Denver in the final NBA game completed before the season was put on hold because of the coronavirus.
The Detroit Pistons introduced Troy Weaver as their new general manager. The former Oklahoma City Thunder executive joins a Detroit team that was interested in him previously — and he takes over a GM spot that was vacant for a couple years. Pistons owner Tom Gores said the team tried to talk to Weaver a couple years ago, but the Thunder weren't ready to let him go. Detroit has not had an official GM since shaking up its front office in 2018. Ed Stefanski, a senior advisor to Gores, has been running the front office. Gores says Weaver will work with Stefanski and coach Dwane Casey.
Kobe Bryant's time in high school will be showcased when about 22 hours of footage of the late basketball star playing games and giving interviews will be sold on July 23 by the auction house Profiles in History. The footage is from the media library of Stu Ross, who produced "High School Sports Show," a syndicated weekly television series seen in 35 cities. About 60% of the Bryant footage is of games involving the Lower Merion Aces from the Philadelphia suburbs. Ross' library includes 130 hours and more than 700 athletes, including LeBron James, Tom Brady, Michael Phelps, Ryan Braun, Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O'Neal.
WNBA
Washington Mystics players Natasha Cloud and LaToya Sanders are opting out of participating in the 2020 WNBA season for the league's reigning champions. Cloud says she wants to "fight on the front lines for social reform." Sanders says taking the season off "is what's best for my health and family." Their announcements follow those of other WNBA players who have said they won't be a part of plans for a 22-game schedule that would begin in late July. Connecticut's Jonquel Jones is going to sit out because of concerns about COVID-19. Atlanta's Renee Montgomery is missing the season to focus on social justice issues.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Cade Cunningham, one of the nation's top basketball recruits, has chosen to remain at Oklahoma State despite the program being banned from the 2021 postseason. Cunningham won the Naismith High School Trophy given to the nation's best player. The 6-foot-7 point guard was a key piece of Oklahoma State's highly ranked recruiting class. Many wondered what the one-and-done prospect would do. Cunningham announced in a video he posted to social media that he would stay. Earlier this month, an NCAA infractions committee panel handed down numerous penalties related to findings that former assistant coach Lamont Evans accepted up to $22,000 in bribes intended to help steer athletes to certain financial advisers. Oklahoma State is appealing.
NHL
Veteran forward Chris Thorburn has announced his retirement after playing more than 800 NHL games since 2005. Thorburn spent his last time on the ice celebrating the St. Louis Blues winning the Stanley Cup last season. Despite playing just one game for the Blues in 2018-19, he was the fourth player handed the Cup. Thorburn played 801 regular-season games for the Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins, Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets and Blues. He skated in four playoff games with Winnipeg in 2015. The 37-year-old from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, finishes his NHL career with 53 goals, 81 assists and 968 penalty minutes.
CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
Two tennis players have now tested positive for the coronavirus after participating in Novak Djokovic's charity tennis exhibition in Croatia. Borna Coric, ranked 33rd in the world, tweeted that he feels well and has no symptoms, but is urging anyone who has had close contact with him to be tested for COVID-19. Three-time Grand Slam semifinalist Grigor Dimitrov also has said that he tested positive for the coronavirus. Djokovic will now be tested as well. His media team says he has no symptoms but "he needs to do the test and then we will see what's going on."
Elsewhere in sports news affected by COVID-19:
When Brooks Koepka goes for a historic three-peat in the PGA Championship, there won't be anyone at Harding Park to cheer him on. The PGA of America confirms the first major of this unusual year won't have spectators. The PGA Championship is scheduled for Aug. 6-9 in San Francisco. It's the first major of a golf calendar reconfigured because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. Open is scheduled for September and the Masters is in November. The British Open was canceled. No one has ever won the PGA Championship three straight times in stroke play.
Atlanta United president Darren Eales says the team remains on pace to begin full team training on Tuesday, assuming there are no more positive tests for COVID-19. Eales says the two players who have tested positive are in isolation but are expected to be with the team for the MLS Is Back Tournament in July at Walt Disney World. He says the tests of asymptomatic players are evidence the protocols set up by MLS "are working." The players who tested positive last week have not been identified.
Iowa's athletic department says nine athletes, coaches or staff have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last week. That accounts for nearly one-quarter of the 40 tests conducted in that time frame. Since the beginning of the return-to-campus protocol May 29, there have been 12 positives among 386 tests.
Wisconsin officials say that two Badgers' athletes have tested positive for COVID-19 and are self-isolating. Those positive results came from the 117 athletes who participated in the school's initial campus screening.
Two Rutgers football players have tested positive. Coach Greg Schiano discussed the test results Monday during a conference call. It was his first media availability since the team was allowed to return to campus last week for voluntary workouts.
The National Hockey League has begun winnowing its possible locations to resume the season amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The Blue Jackets were informed Monday that Columbus will not be one of the NHL's hub cities. Columbus was one of 10 finalists, including seven in the U.S.
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