7:50 AM ET HOUSTON — Imagine it from Kevin Cash’s perspective. You spend the entirety of the Tampa Bay Rays‘ quick turnaround from Wednesday’s wild-card win at the Oakland Athletics preparing for a 36-year-old ace who somehow seems to keep getting better. The Rays have beaten Justin Verlander before, but not on this stage —
7:54 AM ET The Portland Trail Blazers aren’t planning to follow the NBA trend of load management this season, with guard CJ McCollum saying the team can’t afford to take nights off in pursuit of the postseason. “The race in the Western Conference is extremely tight. I don’t know if we can afford to Kawhi
6:00 AM ET EAGAN, Minn. — After dealing with a frustrating 2-2 start and struggles on offense, the Minnesota Vikings reached a boiling point six days ago. Following the loss at the Chicago Bears and another anemic offensive performance that produced six points, players and coaches were left grappling with what has gone wrong through
3:35 PM ET Nigeria’s Super Eagles crashed out of the 2019 WAFU Cup of Nations after a disastrous penalty shoot-out saw them lose 3-2 to Cape Verde after regulation time ended 1-1 at the Stade Lat Dior in Thies, Senegal, on Saturday. The Super Eagles controlled the possession stakes in the first half but for
3:35 PM ET Ivory Coast progressed into the semifinals of the 2019 WAFU Cup of Nations after beating Togo 4-2 in a penalty shoot-out after the match ended 0-0 at the Stade Lat Dior in Thies, Senegal, on Saturday. The Elephants started strong and came close to scoring in the 11th minute when Laurent Magbi
6:00 AM ET Twelve catches for 82 yards with no touchdowns is an OK day for a No. 1 receiver. What’s not OK? Those were the combined totals last week for DeAndre Hopkins, Odell Beckham Jr., JuJu Smith-Schuster and Adam Thielen. So what better time for a status check on some of the top fantasy
7:21 AM ET Associated Press BEIJING — Top seeds Dominic Thiem and Ashleigh Barty are through to the finals of the China Open in Beijing. Austrian Thiem will face Germany’s second-seeded Alexander Zverev or Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas in Sunday’s final, while Australian Barty meets two-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka of Japan, who downed defending
7:21 AM ET Associated Press Facebook Twitter Facebook Messenger Pinterest Email print BEIJING — Top-seeded Ashleigh Barty went through to the final of the China Open with a three-set victory over Kiki Bertens on Saturday. The French Open champion traded breaks of serve in the final set before scraping past her Dutch opponent 6-3, 3-6,
7:16 AM ET Associated Press TOKYO — Novak Djokovic has been in dominant form at the Japan Open. That bodes well for the top-ranked Serb’s chances of winning the gold medal at next year’s Olympics. Playing on the same court that will host the tennis tournament at the Tokyo Olympics, Djokovic beat third-seeded David Goffin
4:54 AM ET ESPNcricinfo staff Hardik Pandya has undergone a surgery, most likely on his back, this week. The surgery is understood to have taken place in the United Kingdom, with Hardik putting out an Instagram post on Saturday calling it a “successful” one. Incidentally, the BCCI has not made public information about the nature