July 10, 2020 3:43 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Pittsburgh Pirates right fielder Gregory Polanco is ready to stop tantalizing and start delivering. The 28-year-old has flirted with being one of the better hitters in the major leagues but has been hampered injuries. Polanco has missed most of the last 20 months while recovering from a left-shoulder injury suffered in September 2018. He says he’s healthy now and ready to become the player the Pirates envisioned when they signed him to a contract extension in 2016. Pittsburgh will need him to produce to help an offense that finished near the bottom of the majors in home runs in 2019.
July 10, 2020 3:48 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Major League Baseball will open the 2021 season on April 1 and hopes to have every team play its first game on the same day for the first time since 1968. The league released the full schedule Thursday with this year’s 60-game regular season schedule scheduled to begin July 23 as clubs set to play only division foes and regional interleague opponents – AL East vs. NL East, AL Central vs. NL Central, AL West vs. NL West – to limit travel. Clubs will resume full intraleague schedules in 2021, and interleague play will again align regionally. The New York Mets will host the cross-town Yankees at Citi Field on the 20th anniversary of 9/11, the first time the Subway Series will take place on Sept. 11. The Yankees will host the Mets during Fourth of July weekend. Atlanta will host the 91st All-Star Game on July 13 at Truist Park. It’s Atlanta’s first All-Star Game since hosting in 2000 at Turner Field.
July 10, 2020 3:46 am
Full-scale practices inside the NBA bubble at the Disney complex have started. The Orlando Magic became the first team to formally return to the floor. By the close of business, all 22 teams participating in the restart were to be checked into their hotel and beginning their isolation from the rest of the world for what will be several weeks at least. And by Saturday, all teams should have practiced at least once.
July 10, 2020 3:50 am
UNDATED (AP) – The New Jersey Devils have hired veteran coach Lindy Ruff to take over one of the NHL’s youngest teams. Ruff replaces interim coach Alain Nasreddine (ah-LAYN’ NAZ’-reh-deen), who guided the Devils to a 19-16-8 record after replacing John Hynes. The 60-year-old Ruff had been an assistant coach with the New York Rangers. He previously coached the Dallas Stars and the Buffalo Sabres, leading the Sabres to the Stanley Cup Final in 1999. New Jersey also removed the interim tag from Tom Fitzgerald’s title as general manager. Fitzgerald had served as interim general manager since January.
July 9, 2020 4:17 am
UNDATED (AP) – The Ivy League says will not play sports this fall because of the coronavirus pandemic. The league left open the possibility of moving some seasons to the spring if outbreak is better controlled by then. The move could have ripple effects throughout the big business of college sports. Football players in the Power Five conferences have already begun workouts for a season that starts on Aug. 29. The Ivy League decision affects not just football but soccer, field hockey, volleyball and cross country, as well as the fall portion of winter sports like basketball. The league said it has not yet determined whether fall sports can be moved to the spring.
July 9, 2020 4:19 am
UNDATED (AP) – With no guarantee of fans, there won’t be a Ryder Cup this year. The PGA of America says the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin has been pushed back to 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The PGA Tour still hasn’t allowed spectators at its events, and no other golf tournament is dependent on partisan cheering like the Ryder Cup. After working with the PGA Tour and its Presidents Cup, the decision was reached to move the Ryder Cup to Sept. 24-26 in 2021. That means the Presidents Cup will return to even-numbered years starting in 2022 at Quail Hollow in North Carolina. The Ryder Cup had been scheduled for Sept. 25-27 at Whistling Straits, one week after the U.S. Open.
July 9, 2020 4:18 am
KISSIMMEE, Fla. (AP) – Nearly 200 players took the field for an 8-minute, 46-second moment of silence to protest racial injustice before Major League Soccer’s return to action Wednesday night. Players wore black T-shirts, black gloves and black facemasks emblazoned with Black Lives Matter. The players walked toward midfield, raised their right arms one at a time and held the pose so long that some could be seen stretching fatigued muscles afterward. It was a poignant moment that put two of the nation’s most prominent changes over the last four months – masks and movements – at the forefront of the sport’s return. The league’s teams are sequestered in resorts for the duration of the World Cup-style tournament, which began with a Group A match that was the first meeting between two Sunshine State teams. FC Dallas withdrew Monday after 10 players and a coach tested positive for COVID-19. A day later, Nashville SC’s status was thrust into doubt with five confirmed positive tests.
July 8, 2020 2:49 am
NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. (July 7) — The Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) Presidents’ Council has unanimously approved conference-only scheduling format for all varsity sports during the fall 2020 season. All fall sports except football now have a first contest date of Sept. 7, while football will begin its nine-game league schedule on Sept. 19. “The PAC is blessed with a heritage of strong leadership collaboration coupled with a unique geographical configuration that makes athletic competition within the NCAA guidelines possible. We’re grateful for the work in establishing conference protocols that we trust will maximize opportunities to compete for our student-athletes while minimizing the risks we face together in these challenging times,” said Dr. Calvin Troup, president of Geneva College and chair of the PAC Presidents’ Council.
The structure and format of the conference-only schedule model will continue to be refined over the next month, and is subject to change as the situation and conditions evolve. Today’s announcement confirms the conference’s commitment to the responsible return of varsity intercollegiate athletics, but also demonstrates the membership’s faithfulness and trust in one another, a key component of the league’s operational culture since its founding in 1955. The Presidents’ Council also unanimously approved a recommendation to provide PAC schools with the flexibility to determine their own first practice dates this fall. Before this change, permissible start dates were based on a team’s first contest date.
July 8, 2020 3:44 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Mitch Keller is eager to prove his rocky rookie season in the big leagues was just a fluke. The highly touted Pittsburgh Pirates pitching prospect went 1-5 with a 7.13 ERA in 2019. While Keller was discouraged by the numbers, the analytics indicated Keller was a victim of bad luck at times. Keller spent the break provided by the COVID-19 shutdown diving deeper into analytics hoping to become more efficient. He says he’s trying to find a way to mesh the information available to him with the talent that helped him rise through the minors quickly.
July 8, 2020 3:45 am
The San Francisco Giants say they are “suspending workouts at Oracle Park, pending the results of tests conducted this past weekend.” On Monday, the club announced two people had tested positive for the coronavirus without providing further details on whether the two were players, coaches or staff. Prospect Hunter Bishop and pitcher Luis Madero, in the 60-player pool, already tested positive. Meanwhile, the reigning World Series champion Washington Nationals have resumed training camp after canceling workouts Monday because of COVID-19 testing delays. General manager Mike Rizzo said the team felt confident about getting back to Nationals Park for practices after receiving all player and staff test results from Friday.
