Follow along for every pick of the 2021 draft, starting with Buffalo’s selection at No. 1 overall. Plus, learn more about each first-rounder with prospect breakdowns and team fits.
Detroit Tigers play the Kansas City Royals on July 23, 2021. You can watch on Bally Sports Detroit and listen on 97.1 FM (in Detroit).
The Cubs are about to trade Kris Bryant, and no single career illustrates the sea change in baseball’s treatment of star players like his iconic, then sour tenure in Chicago.
Dustin Johnson stepped to the 18th tee at TPC Twin Cities needing birdie to make the cut at the 3M Open late Friday afternoon. When he overcooked a cut with the driver and drowned his tee shot into the water that runs down the right side of the hole, so, too, went his chances to play this weekend. RELATED: Leaderboard | Dustin Johnson looks to find form at 3M Open Ranked No. 2 in the world behind Spain’s Jon Rahm, Johnson was the highest-ranked player in this week’s 3M field, and he had not missed a cut since May’s PGA Championship. He made bogey-6 and shot 1-over 72, finishing two rounds at level par, outside the cutline. “Yeah, just didn’t hit enough fairways on the back nine,” Johnson said afterward. “You know, tried to hang in there. The wind was blowing pretty hard. It played pretty tough.” But Johnson was far from alone in finding a difficult challenge awaiting at the finishing hole at TPC Twin Cities. Though his errant drive was the 24th tee shot to find the water, there many other ways to make a mess of the hole. Roger Sloan came to the 18th at 10 under par and alone in the lead early Friday afternoon, but his approach shot from 268 yards fell shy, tumbling into water fronting the green. He would make 6 and shoot 69. Chez Reavie, who got to 18 sharing the lead, made bogey after pulling his tee shot into a grassy native area down the left side, struggling to advance his second shot down the fairway. It was his lone blemish on the card as well. Usually, a closing par-5 hole represents an opportunity for the best players on the planet to don a bib and feast with eagles and birdies. Friday, the hole was just plain tricky. The 590-yard 18th had been the third easiest hole in the opening round; Friday, it was a real nuisance. It ranked 11th in difficulty. “I think the wind was just quartering a little bit, more cross when I hit,” Sloan said of his second shot on the hole. “I didn’t hit it great, but I thought it should still cover (and reach the green) … I don’t know, maybe just the wind isn’t where guys think it is. It’s a tough tee shot, too, so you’ve got to get the ball in play. It’s a great hole. What a great finishing hole – going to be a lot of drama on the weekend there.” Sloan, who will begin Saturday one shot behind leaders Adam Hadwin and Ryan Armour (both shot 65), tied with three others at 9-under 133, could use a quality weekend. He stands 147th in FedExCup points and needs to climb inside the top 125 in order to qualify for the Playoffs that start Aug. 19 with THE NORTHERN TRUST at Liberty National in New Jersey. He had reached the 18th tee having not made a single bogey through his first 35 holes of the 3M. While Sloan was disappointed with settling for bogey to finish, he actually took a small measure of relief from it, as well. “I didn’t really think about it until my caddie and I were walking off the green,” Sloan said. “He just said, ‘Well, we don’t have to worry about going bogey-free anymore,’ and it kind of loosens you up a little bit. So yeah, maybe donating a shot back there at the last could help us play a little bit more freely on the weekend.” Alas, Armour, who put together one of the day’s strongest rounds, matching the 65 that Hadwin already has posted, got to the 18th hole early Friday evening one shot out of the lead, played it as a three-shotter, and rolled in an 18-foot putt for birdie to tie for the tournament’s midway lead. Good to know at least one man at 3M walked off that final green with a smile.
The Bruins reportedly are one of several teams with interest in free agent defenseman Ryan Suter.
Reunited with his college quarterback, Chase is confident he will be an impact player for the Bengals and the early returns are promising.
Jalen Green bypassed college to get the jump on his professional career. The next step comes in Thursday’s NBA draft. The 19-year-old Green went from high school to the G League and put up strong numbers.
Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas could miss the start of the 2021 regular season after undergoing ankle surgery in June, a source told ESPN, confirming multiple reports.
With the sands to the 2020-21 PGA TOUR season quickly tumbling downward in the hourglass, this is crunch time for those on the bubble in the FedExCup standings. At the 3M Open this week outside Minneapolis, the race to finish in the top 125 to qualify for next month’s FedExCup Playoffs opener at Liberty National (THE NORTHERN TRUST) is very much front and center. RELATED: Leaderboard | Dustin Johnson looks to find form at 3M Open A handful of players on both sides the bubble have arrived at 3M and responded with some of their best golf of the season. With only three weeks remaining in the regular season – which includes next week’s break for The Olympics – count Chez Reavie (119th in the FedExCup standings) among those shining when he most needs to shine. Despite a sloppy bogey-6 at the par-5 18th – a hole he had eagled in the opening round – Reavie followed his opening 66 with a second-round, 4-under 67 to move into contention for the weekend at 3M. He is at 9-under 133. At one point this season, Reavie, who turns 40 in November, missed 10 cuts in 12 starts. In fact, you have to travel back to 2009 to find a season in which he has had as many weekends off as this one (14). Luckily for him, Reavie, eighth in the FedExCup final standings only two years ago, is experienced enough to know that if he kept his head down and kept working hard, eventually his game would turn for the better. It has. He arrived at 3M having missed only one cut in his last six starts, with top-20 finishes at Congaree and John Deere. “It was just more annoying than anything else,” Reavie said of his poor play to start the year. “Wasn’t playing bad, missed a lot of cuts by a shot and golf seemed really tough at the time. You know, I just kind of fought through it, and here we are playing well. I’ve played well the last few weeks, and that’s what I’m going to focus on.” Reavie was flawless through 17 holes on Friday, making five birdies and no bogeys. At the par-5 18th, he drove the ball into the native area down the left side and was only able to advance his second shot about 70 yards. He reached the green with his fourth shot and barely missed his 13-footer for par. Through two rounds, Reavie has been very encouraged by his quality of putting, which bodes well for a solid weekend. “Even like on the last hole, didn’t go in but I hit a great putt and it had every opportunity to go in, so that’s just what I want to focus on for the weekend,” Reavie said. Every player from Nos. 114 through 127 in the FedExCup standings ventured to Minneapolis to try to improve his positioning for the stretch run, trying to find some late-season magic. On a day with temperatures in the 90s and the heat index soaring near 100, the early scoring was proving just as sizzling. Bo Hoag (125th) came through with a 66 Friday, and names on the bubble such as Scott Stallings (117th), Brice Garnett (121st) and Rickie Fowler (124th) were responding well to the pressure of their situations as the second wave of players teed off on Friday afternoon. Fowler, 32, never has missed the Playoffs in his 11 seasons on the PGA TOUR. Hoag, 32 and in his third PGA TOUR season, shot 67 on Thursday and said it was important to keep the pedal down on Friday. He made six birdies, and like Reavie, encountered his lone bogey on his final hole, with Hoag settling for 5 at the challenging 511-yard ninth, where he drove his ball into left-side native area and had to chop out to get back into play. As for the torrid pace of scoring at TPC Twin Cities, which was softened by rains on Thursday? Hoag said he embraces it. “You only have one option,” said Hoag, who has been lifted by recent solid showings at the Memorial (his hometown event in Ohio), where he was T13, and last week’s Barbasol Championship (T11). “You know you’re going to have to shoot a good round or else you’re going to get left behind. There’s no real guessing game. Just got to be pretty aggressive with the scoring clubs in your hands and try to make some birdies out there.” With Friday’s afternoon wave still on the golf course, four players shared the lead at 9-under 133: Roger Sloan (69); Reavie; Hoag; and Jhonnattan Vegas (69). Others on the bubble who finished in the early wave on Friday and made needed moves: No. 118 Camilo Villegas, who played his last seven holes in 4 under (including an eagle at 18) to shoot 69; No. 123 Chesson Hadley (at 3-under 139 after shooting 72); No. 126 Chase Seiffert, who rallied with a bogey-free 67 after shooting 73 Thursday; and No. 131 Michael Thompson, the tournament’s defending champion, who shot 67 to move inside the cutline at 3 under. “There’s a lot to play for this week,” Thompson said.
These are the top waiver-wire pickups to add ahead of next week’s MLB Trade Deadline.
