Category: Sport

• Tom HamiltonJul 26, 2025, 06:00 AM ET

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  • Joined ESPN in 2011
  • Covered two Olympics, a pair of Rugby World Cups and two British & Irish Lions tours
  • Previously rugby editor, and became senior writer in 2018

ZURICH — The spotlight doesn’t sit easily with England manager Sarina Wiegman. Ask her about the praise she has received for her astonishing record of having reached five major tournament finals in a row, and she deflects. “I do find that awkward,” Wiegman said. “Of course, I find it very special too.”

But there is no escaping the remarkable nature of Wiegman’s achievement. On Sunday she will lead England into the Euro 2025 final against Spain. But when you ask her about the secret behind this unparalleled achievement, there is no sense of self.

“I do believe that everyone plays his or her part in the success,” she said. “What I’m trying to do is bring people together in the best possible way. Players and staff and the people around me are really, really good. And if they perform at their highest level, then the chance of winning a game is the highest possible. And that’s what I’m trying to do.”

This quintet of finals started eight years ago when she won Euro 2017 on home soil while in charge of Netherlands. She then took them to the final of the 2019 World Cup, where they lost to the United States. Then came the call from England. She won Euro 2022, got to the final of the 2023 World Cup and, on Sunday, it’s Spain in Basel.

“She’s a winner and she likes to win,” Leah Williamson said. “She’s very competitive — even when it comes to darts. She has that edge to her. We spoke about it in 2022, and she took us to the final. She works well with the team around her, and she empowers us, especially coming from a woman. I think she sees us, gives us space to be ourselves and encourages us to be better in a positive way.”

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Wiegman’s 70% win rate with England beats every other manager of the women’s or men’s national team who has coached at least 10 games, including Fabio Capello (67%), Tommy Tranter (65%), Mark Sampson (64%), and Gareth Southgate (60%). She is the only head coach to win European Championships at the helm of two different nations. Wiegman’s stunning win rate of 84% in tournaments puts her among the greatest international coaches ever, women’s or men’s.

In Wiegman’s own words, though, there has never been a tournament run quite like this one. While the morale on the team has been good throughout, it’s on the field where her managerial skills have been tested to their max.

England have got through to the final having stared into the abyss several times en route. The Lionesses have used up all nine of their lives, and they head into Sunday’s final against Spain as underdogs. But if there’s anyone who can pull one final rabbit out of the hat, it’s that major tournament magician Wiegman.

“What she does very well is that she really lives from match to match,” Dutch player Liza van der Most told ESPN. “She doesn’t look at the end result, but she’s really in the here and now. So, she approaches each match on its own. You know that you have to win every match to ultimately reach the final, but she doesn’t look that far ahead.

“Back then, she told us, ‘Hey, we have all the tools. We’ve come this far. A lot of people came to watch. And we’ve grown bigger and bigger as a team. We’ve also become closer and closer.’ So she gives you confidence without focusing too much on the result itself.”

Sarina Wiegman will coach in her fifth straight tournament final when England face Spain in the Euro 2025 final Sunday. Photo by Molly Darlington/UEFA via Getty Images

One method she employed during that tournament to ground the players was using inanimate objects as metaphors for their forthcoming match. Before one game in the team talk, she produced a mug. For their next match, that challenge was presented via a stuffed toy. (“That was pretty funny,” Van der Most said. “She surprised us with that every time.”) They won the final against Denmark 4-2. Two years later, they reached the final of the 2019 World Cup, where they came unstuck against the USWNT.

By September 2021, when Wiegman took the England job, she laid down some ground rules. One was telling the players to take off jewelry when they were training as it affected their performance data.

“I actually hate rules, because I think if everyone is really aware, we are here to perform and be at our best,” Wiegman said, looking back on 2021 during this tournament. “And if you use your common sense then you make the right decisions. What I try to do is to get principles or agreements, and if there is not an agreement then of course I’m going to say, ‘OK, I think this is how we’re going to do it,’ but I think that works the best.”

The players say Wiegman has evolved since her introduction. “Over the years, her getting to know the team and the dynamics of each player, gaining trust with players, you can see how she’s changed a little bit,” Lucy Bronze said.

Sources told ESPN that Wiegman’s methods and expectations have remained largely the same from 2021 through to Switzerland, and though they have seen a softer side, when the tough messages need to be delivered, she does it in a concise manner.

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“Sarina has always been direct,” Georgia Stanway said. That could be seen prior to the tournament when she told various senior players of their role in advance of the competition. Midfielder Fran Kirby retired from international duty after being told she wouldn’t make the final 23, while defender Millie Bright stepped aside to prioritize her mental health, and goalkeeper Mary Earps announced her international retirement too.

“I’ve always been a person that I think connections and conversations and communications are very important, because when things are clear — or as clear as possible — it’s good to give clarity and to give context at moments,” Wiegman said. “But, of course, as a human being I have developed too, so I think I do that a little bit better than I did 15 years ago.”

From the outside, this spell was perceived as chaos, a challenge to Wiegman’s plans with England on the ropes before the tournament began. But throughout it all, Wiegman remained steadfast in her methods and the way she delivered messages, eventually finding humor in her unequivocal manner.

After the win over Netherlands, Wiegman was in the news conference and had half an eye on the France-Wales match playing on a television at the back of the room. She was asked if she was going to watch the match and responded along the lines that she would if people stopped asking questions. Someone joked, “That’s very Dutch!” She responded with a smile as she walked out: “Yes, but not blunt!”

Still, the players have seen her change, and in this tournament, they could be heard talking more about her maternal instincts than previously. “She’s fairly consistent,” Keira Walsh said. “She probably shows her excitement a little bit more after games than she used to do. Obviously when you see on the side she’s dancing and singing, probably when she first came in, we didn’t see that so much. But in terms of how she delivers tactics and how she manages, I think she is very, very similar.

“She’s probably one of the best managers I’ve played for in terms of trying to make everyone feel loved. … She definitely shows her excited emotions a little bit more.”

“She’s really people-oriented, and I think that’s why she’s so successful with the different teams,” Van der Most said. “So, you are really asked to give as much as possible and put it all on the mat, but she’s also a coach who is very sympathetic and pays attention to the individual players.”

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The players here have spoken about her caring side, too. “Most people will say when they work with Sarina, she’s like a mum to us almost,” Michelle Agyemang said. “Like, she cares about our well-being, she knows how to turn it on when we need to improve our quality, for example, in training. She’s ready to step in and tell us, ‘That’s not good enough, let’s be better.’ So I think she has that fine balance, and she’s put a lot of trust in me, which I’m really grateful for.”

Aggie Beever-Jones, who like Agyemang is in her first major tournament, said Wiegman blends maternal instincts and managerial firmness.

“She’s so aware of tournament football and the toll it can have on you and how mentally draining it can be, just being in such a tight environment for however long,” Beever-Jones said. “So she lets our family come in, spend some nice family time together.”

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The players have also been impressed by her prematch speeches. “She’s really motivating, she gets us in a huddle, you’re listening to her — you’re holding on to every word she says. She’s upped her game for the motivational speeches,” Ella Toone said, adding that the one Wiegman delivered the night before the Italy game was particularly good.

Also key to the run to the final in Switzerland has been the squad’s unity. There are players who know they’re unlikely to get a single minute, but they’ve stayed united as a 23. The team’s “positive clicks” clique has helped, but Wiegman’s management is also integral.

“What really stands out to me is that she can keep everyone motivated, from the No. 1 to the last player,” Van der Most said. “And you can see that happening with England right now — everyone is willing to give their all. And that everyone is there to serve the team at that moment. And as a coach, you have to be able to do that. I think there are few coaches who can convey that so well.”

We’ve seen the bench save England against Sweden and Italy. Her messaging is clear, concise to the players. She told Agyemang “go and change the game” when she was brought on in the opener against France.

The tournament didn’t start as planned, with England going down 2-1 to France. But Wiegman was unflustered, having openly said that their group was as brutal as can be, and that it wouldn’t be like 2022. She admitted it had been tough after their win over Netherlands, but she stuck to her principles.

“Well, I found it hard too, of course,” Wiegman said. “I always knew ahead of this tournament that it was a very hard group. I just had to focus on my job, review well and think about how we could bring people together.”

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Euro 2022 was relatively straightforward as she kept the same XI together and, bar the Spain match and extra time against Germany, things largely went according to script. In the World Cup in 2023, England didn’t play well until the semifinal against Australia but were simply too strong. They needed the jeopardy of penalties against Nigeria in the round of 16, and a hard-fought win over Colombia in the quarters, but it never seemed as if they were going home early.

But in this tournament, things have been different. “I need to decompress,” Wiegman said after the Sweden match, where she admitted thinking England had been knocked out “four or five times.”

After the nail-biting win over Italy, Wiegman said this tournament has resembled a movie. Twice England were staring into the abyss of elimination in the knockouts, but somehow, they pulled it around.

There was the chaotic penalty shootout against Sweden, when England had come back from down 2-0 in normal time. Then there was the 96th-minute equalizer against Italy, and the 119th-minute winner. Even in times of strife like at halftime with Sweden when England were down, there was clarity over panic.

“She’s such a calming presence at halftime,” Esme Morgan said. “She just reinforced the things that we needed to tweak and do slightly differently.” And even in those frantic final moments, the players get perspective from Wiegman’s composure.

“It makes a massive difference in the 95th minute when you’re losing 1-0, and you look to the side and she’s very calm,” Walsh said. “That speaks volumes of her as a manager.”

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Through the turmoil, the players trust Wiegman’s judgement. “Weirdly, it didn’t feel chaotic,” Beth Mead said after the Sweden match. “I think if Sarina asks you to do it, you do it and as a player, you back yourself. Sarina knows what she’s doing, there’s method in the madness and I think that showed.”

That “madness” has driven England to this shot at history where they can become the first England team to win a major tournament on foreign soil Sunday. “Sarina is a great coach and one that we have a lot of respect for,” Toone said. “She knows how to get us to major finals, and I am buzzing.”

The players believe she is more relaxed around them compared to when she first took the job — like her singing “We Gaan Nog Niet Naar Huis” (the Dutch song “We’re Not Going Home Yet”) in the celebrations after the Italy win.

“My English has improved, so I understand a lot more, but also you learn more about people, you learn more about people you work with,” Wiegman said. “You learn more again about yourself and how you respond to things, and while I’m always working on developing the team and developing or trying to help development of people, I always try to keep developing myself.

“What I really wanted to do over all these years and trying to enjoy it a little bit more, trying to enjoy things a little bit more instead of always being so … you have to be focused in this job, you have to be focused, but you need to celebrate the moments that are good. It’s really nice.”

Fundamentally, her success is due in part to the players but also to her coaching nous and resolute belief in her own principles. And it’s that cocktail that has guided England to the brink of history, and to her fifth major tournament final in a row.

“I don’t know [the secret behind the success],” Wiegman said. “There’s one thing that I’m a lucky one to work with so many good people. Good players, good staff, good support from the federation with the FA this time, and before that, the Dutch FA. The only thing I think I could say is that I think I’m always myself.”

Las Vegas – In his first public comments since his turbulent transfer from Tennessee to the UCLA in April, Bruins Quarterback Nico Iamaleava said on Thursday, the decision to leave the volunteers was “one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made”.

“My driving factor to return home was my family, and I hope every Tennessee fan understands that,” said Iamaleava to Big Ten Media Day. “It was just a lot of drama, but man, I am happy to be on the UCLA.”

Iamaleava gave several indications of “false reports” about him in Tennessee, who focused on him and his presentation and wanted to have a higher zero compensation. Born in Long Beach, California, remained steadfast that the main motivation for his move was not money, but the proximity to the family. He said the reports made him “not in the position in which I was located”.

“I think only the outside world generally thinks that it was something it wasn't,” Iamaleava told ESPN. “Going home was always in the back of my head. I am just back to my family. [it] My family asked for Tennessee. It was just a lot of travel. “

In April, ESPN reported that the representation of Iamaleava had urged his NIL contract -which had previously paid him 2.4 million dollars a year and that he should pay more than $ 8 million in Tennessee -to $ 4 million for $ 2025. Sources told ESPN.

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“I'm not talking about money matters,” said Iamaleava on Thursday. “I'm only here for ball and school.”

In the middle of these zero contract negotiations, Iamaleava did not show up for a Tennessee -spring practice. Shortly afterwards, coach Josh Heupel said that the Iamaleava program “continues”.

“I would like to thank him for everything he did since he came here, as a recruit and who he was as a player and how he started in the building,” said Heupel at the time. “There is no one who is larger than the Power T. This includes me.”

On Thursday, Iamaleava called the events “crazy” this week and said the experience was “a lot” for him. After the separation, Iamaleava quickly made his decision to switch to UCLA. The quarterback Joey Aguilar, who had transferred from Appalachian State to Westwood, in the hope of becoming the starter of the program, switched to Tennessee.

“My way of thinking was in the competition with the one who was there for the starting place,” said Iamaleava about aguilar. “I only wish him the best. I know that he will bring the best fans out there. Hopefully he can experience all the positive things I have experienced.”

Iamaleava Redshirt wore in 2023 and in his first season threw 2,616 yards and 19 touchdowns in 2024, which led to Tennessee on 10 wins and a college football playoff appearance, which ended to an final national champion in Ohio. Iamaleava will be the bruins starter this season.

“The expectation is that I am going better,” said Iamaleava. “I have to get better.”

In the debut season of coach Deshaun Foster, the UCLA released a 5-7 record in the debut season of coach Deshaun Foster. Foster said on Thursday that there was no hesitation to add Iamaleava to the squad when the opportunity was offered.

“We are only happy to have a playoff quarters back,” said Foster. “I think the sky is the border.”

• John KeimJul 23, 2025, 06:00 AM ET

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  John Keim covers the Washington Commanders for ESPN. He joined ESPN in 2013 after a stint with the Washington Post. He started covering the team in 1994 for the Journal Newspapers and later for the Washington Examiner. He has authored/co-authored four books. You can also listen to him on ‘The John Keim Report’, which airs on ESPN Richmond radio.

Future Hall of Fame offensive tackle Walter Jones spotted something in a newspaper that changed everything about his monthslong holdout in 2002.

Jones was trying to secure a long-term deal from the Seattle Seahawks. After holding out of all team activities for the entirety of training camp, he extended his absence into the first two games of the regular season.

But, while leafing through a newspaper at his Huntsville, Alabama, home, Jones read something that compelled him to sign a deal that same day:

The amount of money he had forfeited.

Players receive their paychecks on a weekly basis during the season. So missing Weeks 1 and 2 meant two checks totaling $578,823 had not been deposited into Jones’ bank account. So he signed the franchise tag tender that had been awaiting him for $4.92 million.

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“[The article] was like, ‘This is how much money Walter [is] losing,'” Jones said. “I was like, ‘Wait, I don’t want to lose any money.’ So I went in.”

It is a harsh reality of holding out — a process in which a player does not report to training camp, despite being under contract, and becomes subject to mandatory fines. The emotional twists and turns for all involved in a holdout — or hold-in (when a player attends team activities to avoid being fined but doesn’t participate ) — are many. Players must deal with uncertainty over their future and missing time with teammates. General managers know they must get an important player signed while facing pressure from fans, owners and coaches. Agents not only negotiate deals but also handle the players’ emotions. And through it all, coaches are left to twist in the wind, wondering when one of their best players will be available to the team on the field, if at all.

“Holdouts are brutal, man,” said longtime agent Vince Taylor, who has had two clients hold out on three occasions, including twice with San Francisco 49ers left tackle Trent Williams. “I’ll say this for an agent or a player who has never experienced it, I don’t think you can tell them enough how brutal it is.

“Don’t push that button unless you really [plan to] go all the way.”

As NFL training camps opened this week, there were two high-profile veteran holdouts: Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson and Washington Commanders wide receiver Terry McLaurin. Both players have one year left on their current contracts.

Holdouts come at a hefty cost. Players are fined $50,000 for each day they hold out. Previously, teams could waive those fines. But that loophole was closed under the current collective bargaining agreement ratified in March 2020. Now, only players on rookie contracts can get that relief.

“It’s a toothache,” former NFL general manager Bill Polian said. “It’s there all the time.”

Here are stories of notable NFL holdouts from the perspectives of a coach, agent, general manager and player.

The coach

Jay Gruden says coaches are often left powerless when a star player holds out. Jonathan Newton/Getty Images

Washington head coach Jay Gruden felt helpless in the summer entering the 2019 season. His job was in jeopardy and his team was coming off an injury-induced collapse that ended in a disappointing 8-9 record and a second straight campaign without a playoff berth. The starting quarterback they hoped to build around for the next several years, Alex Smith, was recovering from a horrific broken leg suffered against the Houston Texans in November — a setback that underscored the rash of injuries, particularly on defense, that Gruden & Co. were faced with entering a fraught 2019.

Making matters even more difficult: Their best offensive player, left tackle Trent Williams, was holding out.

Williams, who had been selected to his seventh straight Pro Bowl the previous year, was upset by how Washington handled things after he was diagnosed with a rare form of skin cancer. He also had no guaranteed money left on his deal.

That left Gruden and his staff to deal with what was left of the on-field product. Not least of which was replacing Williams, entering his age 31 season and squarely in the prime of a likely Hall of Fame career, with 36-year old Donald Penn, a solid NFL veteran, but one whose career wouldn’t last past that 2019 season.

“It’s difficult because you count on your best players to play,” Gruden said. “It helps you in your ability to win football games, especially when you go from maybe the best starting tackle of all time to a guy who’s on the tail end of his career. You just try to limit the damage and make sure you take care of your best guys.

“Unfortunately for the coach, it’s really out of your hands.”

The coach knows he needs the player, but the mindset becomes similar to when a player gets hurt — the coach just has to adapt to who’s available. However, there are some crucial differences.

“The holdouts are a little different than injuries,” Gruden said. “You feel like you can control the holdout, just pay the guy. S— we need him. I understand there’s a salary cap and all that, but the one thing you want to do is make sure you take care of the guys that are your best players. It’s just hard to replace guys that are top of the food chain. Receivers that put points on the board and left tackles to protect the quarterback’s blind side and quarterbacks and pass rushers, those are ones you got to try to keep.”

Adding to any coach’s dilemma in these situations, Gruden said a coach can’t interfere in the contract proceedings, unless they also serve as a general manager. Before Williams’ decision to hold out, Gruden had often let his star know how wanted and appreciated he was by him and his staff. During the holdout, the coach avoided all contact.

“That’s where you have to be careful as a coach,” Gruden said. “You can’t pit the player against the organization and take the player’s side. I’m just going to stay in my lane and coach the football team. And that’s kind of what I did. That’s why I stayed away from texting and calling, ‘Hey man, I love you. I want you to come here, man, these guys are a–holes. They won’t pay.’ Then all of a sudden that gets back to you, so now you have division.”

Williams never played for Washington again, choosing to extend his holdout for the entirety of the 2019 season. He was traded to the San Francisco 49ers the following April.

Without Williams, Smith and a healthy defense, Gruden’s team sputtered to an 0-5 start. Gruden was replaced by then-assistant head coach and offensive line chief Bill Callahan before Game No. 6. Washington finished the season 3-13.

In the end, Gruden said Williams’ holdout didn’t make or break the season. But he learned firsthand how little power coaches possess during the process. And, though he said they might have won one game had Williams reported, Williams’ absence plus injuries to other players added up.

“It’s like, ‘Holy s—,'” Gruden said. “It was pretty frustrating. You just feel like the world, the football gods were against you.”

The agent

Trent Williams has staged two separate holdouts in his career — in Washington and San Francisco. Michael Zagaris/Getty Images

When Williams held out from Washington in 2019, his longtime agent, Vince Taylor, said he allowed for his client’s emotion to be heard. Williams felt the team didn’t handle his cancer scare well and that impacted his thoughts on a new contract with the team. But Taylor said he had another job to do as well.

“I had to slowly get him to a business mindset,” Taylor said. “And if you want to continue your career, these are the things we’re going to have to consider. It’s advantageous for us to get a business mindset and get the personal [concerns] to the side. In his mind he wasn’t [going to report]. He didn’t even want to stomach the fact that he had to be there.”

But for Taylor or any agent navigating a holdout, it’s not enough to negotiate a deal. And, he said, having gone through it now twice with Williams — and once with offensive tackle Jason Peters in 2008 with Buffalo — he’s better equipped to handle it. In 2019, Williams never reached an agreement with Washington and was traded in the offseason. Five years later, during a holdout with San Francisco, Williams received a $27.6 million salary and $48 million fully guaranteed, which his agency said was a record for non-quarterbacks over 30 years old.

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“The second time around, what it helps you with is the management of family, friends, wife, kids, media and things of that nature,” Taylor said.

Taylor said he’ll talk to or meet with a handful of people in the player’s “circle of trust.” He’ll lay out the possible scenarios — if it takes all summer; if it lasts into the season. With the player, he’ll lay out what to expect — like how much the player stands to be fined — while also making sure the player is maintaining his conditioning.

“You’re an agent, you’re a counselor, you’re a therapist, you’re a police officer, sometimes security guard, trying to keep the guy from going on a rant on social media,” longtime agent Damarius Bilbo said about navigating a holdout. “I mean, you’ve got to wear all those hats. The No. 1 thing is emotion.”

Bilbo was involved in running back Melvin Gordon’s holdout from the Los Angeles Chargers in 2019 and has had other players with contract issues, such as former Miami receiver Jarvis Landry and New Orleans running back Alvin Kamara. Bilbo said the word they used often was “value.” When they don’t feel valued, it fuels their emotions.

“For a guy to put his heart, soul and everything into his business, how do you tell a guy not to be emotional?” Bilbo said. “But when people are offering their opinion by way of social media, by way of podcasts and stuff, these players listen and it takes them. You never know what that trigger is going to be.

“It’s a constant [battle]. They don’t listen. And I get it. I get it. This is hard. It’s hard.”

Landry wanted an extension from Miami in 2017 but did participate in camp. However, for those who want to hold in — report to camp to avoid fines, but not fully participate in practice — it’s not always easy.

“There have been instances where coaches are pulling guys to the side and saying, ‘Hey, your agent, your representation is being difficult. We’re trying to get this done,'” Bilbo said. “They’re trying to talk him into believing that this is his market. Sometimes being in a building could be more of a distraction because obviously the media wants to talk to the guy. He’s not practicing, he’s on the sideline. I dealt with this last year with Matt Judon that led to him getting traded to the Falcons.”

Taylor said holdouts also can lead to other situations.

“That’s a prime time for agents to poach, too,” Taylor said. “Agents and friends of agents. There was one agent in Trent’s DMs, but luckily [our] relationship is strong.”

Ultimately, in a league where careers are typically shorter than other major sports, and where most players can be replaced, there’s something Bilbo doesn’t forget.

“The balance of power,” Bilbo said, “is always in favor of the organization.”

The GM

Former general manager Bill Polian served in the role for Buffalo, Carolina and Indianapolis. AP Photo/Paul Spinelli

Bill Polian recalled a nickname former GM Ernie Accorsi had for general managers enduring a holdout situation:

The fellow sufferers club.

In some ways, when one general manager goes through it they all do.

“You took so many slings and arrows publicly,” said Polian, who served in the role for Buffalo, Carolina and Indianapolis and was later an NFL analyst for ESPN. “Guys will call up and say, ‘Hey, I really empathize with you. This is terrible.’ Other people will offer advice: ‘Hey, don’t cave on this one. This is really important.’ On occasion, [NFL] management council will step in.

“I made those calls to guys that were in predicaments, too, to try and just provide a little positive reinforcement.”

The general manager becomes a lightning rod during these situations — fans upset that the team hasn’t signed a player; an agent whose client wants the deal done now; an owner that might not fully grasp the situation.

“If ownership is inexperienced or new, has been outside football,” Polian said, “then it’s a little more difficult because you have to explain the dynamics. And the agent is certainly playing a waiting game and using a public relations campaign against you, and you have to explain that if they’re new to it.”

ESPN analyst and former general manager Mike Tannenbaum, who dealt with holdouts as a general manager in Miami (Landry) and the New York Jets (cornerback Darrelle Revis), said he tried to remove the emotion from the negotiations. He also said a GM should not talk to the player, adding that he viewed himself as the agent for the team, and as such, he dealt only with the player’s agent.

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“It’s keeping alignment and knowing that there’s going to be tension points throughout the process until you get to where you want to go,” he said. “Just stick to the facts, look at the market, let the data drive us to where we want to go.”

Polian dealt with two holdouts as the GM in Carolina from 1995 to 1997: rookie running back Tim Biakabutuka and veteran edge rusher Kevin Greene. Both were difficult.

Polian said he never understood why Biakabutuka was holding out and that there wasn’t much dialogue with his agents. At then-owner Jerry Richardson’s urging, Polian “wrote them two rather strong letters, which I would almost never do in a holdout situation.”

They didn’t respond to that either.

Ultimately, the former Michigan star, whom the Panthers selected No. 8 in 1996, signed when various base salary escalators were agreed upon, after missing the first 27 days of training camp.

“They just capitulated on the eve of the season,” Polian said. “I don’t know what it was all about in the first place. To this day I don’t know what their aim was.”

In 1996, Greene signed a two-year deal with Carolina and, that season, was named first-team All-Pro after leading the league with 14.5 sacks. But he and his agents felt he had outplayed his two-year, $2 million contract. So, he held out.

Given Greene’s importance to a team that, in Year 2 of its existence, came one win from reaching the Super Bowl, Polian said his job was to keep coach Dom Capers informed of the proceedings on a weekly basis. When it became clear the matter was far from being resolved, he held a meeting with the personnel department and Capers.

“Start looking for a replacement,” he told the group. “This could go south.”

Which it eventually did. After the two sides failed to reach an agreement, Carolina cut Greene, who then signed with San Francisco.

Looking back, Polian said that parting ways with Greene was the cost of doing business as an NFL GM.

“You hope for the best, but you always have to prepare for the worst,” Polian said. “That’s what we did and that’s the GM’s job.”

The player

Walter Jones made a habit of holding out from 2002 to 2004. He finally got his long-term deal in February 2005. Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images

For three years, Walter Jones heard the same jokes from his Seattle teammates.

“Guys would make fun of me, like, ‘Hey, Walt, you remember when that happened in training camp? Oh, you wasn’t there!'” Jones said.

Technically, Jones said, he was never a holdout. He just never signed his franchise tag tender until finally reporting. But he certainly knew how to play the holdout game once he stopped costing himself game checks, and his game on the field never suffered.

Jones skipped training camp from 2002 to 2004 because of his contract; he made the Pro Bowl after each of those seasons. He credits that to workouts in Alabama with his high school coach. He’d run sprints, lift weights and push his Escalade back and forth in 20-yard intervals.

“My first year [holding out] was kind of hectic because you just didn’t know whether I was going to be ready because you’re doing all the workouts by yourself,” Jones said, adding he knew the importance of staying in shape.

“If I would’ve came in there out of shape, they would’ve said, ‘See this is why he needs to get to training camp,'” Jones, who maintained in lockstep with agents Roosevelt Barnes and Eugene Parker over what he wanted, said. “I always wanted to prove to them that even though I’m not here, I’m ready to play. … I don’t know if it made me a better player. I think I played longer by missing training camp.”

In 2014, tight end Vernon Davis skipped San Francisco’s mandatory minicamp while seeking an extension with two years left on his deal. That experience taught him a lesson: Missing time stinks. He received daily updates from his agent Todd France but didn’t want to hold out.

“It was frustrating. I was antsy,” Davis said. “I felt like I needed to smoke a cigarette sometimes. I didn’t do that, but I felt like I wanted to. … And it was just one of those things that just because you feel like you’re missing something, you feel like you’re behind.”

But for Jones, who rode his string of holdouts to eventually sign a seven-year, $52.5 million deal in February 2005, what he really missed were those first two game checks. He came from a small rural town and said the money he forfeited had staggered him. So he told his agents from that point on: No matter what, when payroll starts, he’s signing — jokes from teammates be damned.

“It was never something where guys resent you because you held out to try to get the money that you deserve,” he said. “Listen, man, you know this rising tide lifts all boats, right? So if you get more, someone else is going to get more.”

• Eric WoodyardChristmas 22, 2025, 12:15 p.m.

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  Eric Woodyard covers Detroit Lions for ESPN. In September 2019, he came to the Midwest region as an NBA reporter to ESPN before switching to his current role in April 2021. The native flint, me. Is a graduate of the Western Michigan University and has also copied three books: “Wasted”, “Ethans Talent Search” and “All in: The Krvin Torbert Torbert Story”. He is a proud parent of a son, Ethan.

Alen Park, Michigan – Lions linacker Alex Anzalone wants to end his career in Detroit, but admits that he was “disappointed” how his contract negotiations went as far as this post.

Anzalone, who deals with a thigh injury, has not yet practiced, but was discovered in the Meijer Performance Center, in which he roams the sidelines on the third day of the training camp in team equipment.

“I'm disappointed, I will just say that. I'm disappointed,” said Anzalone on Tuesday about his contract negotiation.

Although the 30-year-old has expressed his wish to achieve a new contract a long time ago when he did not expect to divided any games in the regular season in the last year of his current three-year contract of $ 18.75 million, which was signed in 2023.

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However, he finds the situation strange because of his story with the Lions in the last four seasons in which he was a key piece of the team of the team for relevance.

“Sure. This is a strange situation and was not at my end or end of my agent,” said Anzalone when he spoke to reporters for the first time.

Anzalone would not go into detail about ongoing discussions, but he has the feeling that he is underpaid in relation to other line backers in the NFL. In 2024 he began in all 10 appearances, while he described the fourth most frequent duels in the team (63) seventies for the loss.

“I want to withdraw a lion. I want this opportunity,” said Anzalone, “I feel like that.”

On Sunday, Lions head coach Dan Campbell said that he had refused to believe that Anzalone was not practically a part of a “hold-in” station due to contractual problems. And there is the possibility that Anzalone may be able to return to the exercise field without a New Deal, but his intentions are clear because he wants to help Detroit win a great bowl.

“I built so much here in my time, a four -time captain and my teammates and the city and just live here,” said Anzalone. “You could list all the reasons, but it's just important to me. I have the feeling that I love this place and I want this opportunity.”

Lions All-Pro Safety Kerby Joseph is a big fan of Anzalone and his role in defense and says that he supports “whatever he believes that he has to do it is best and that's just him.”

• Tim McManusJuly 19, 2025, 9:03 am

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  Tim McManus covers the Philadelphia Eagles for ESPN. He came to ESPN in 2016 after reporting the birds of Philadelphia Magazine around the clock, a website that he has created since 2010.

The Philadelphia Eagles went on the red carpet on Friday evening and received Super Bowl rings from a championship team with stars.

The Super Bowl Lix rings have a hidden button that extends the wings on both sides when pressing and the saying of coach Nick Sirianni reveals: “You cannot be great without the size of others.”

A ring for Champions@Jasonofbh | is suitable #flyeaglesfly pic.twitter.com/mtvkury6rb

– Philadelphia Eagles (@agles) July 19, 2025

Good details can be found everywhere, including:

• 40 diamond points in “world champions” for the 40 points that were achieved against the Kansas City Chiefs in the title game.

• 5 diamonds on the Special Feature button that represented the 5 players who scored in the Super Bowl: Jalen Hurts, AJ Brown, Devonta Smith, Cooper Dejean and Jake Elliott.

• 1 carat of Marquise-shaped diamonds in the trophies for defense No. 1 in 2024.

• 0.9 carat in the wings for the six sacks and three sales against Kansas City.

The scores from every playoff game can be found in the ring and number 145, which mark the most points of a team in the post -season history.

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Above is another Sirianni -Mantra: hard. Detailed. Together.

“Our Super Bowl Lix Championship Ring represents the commitment, determination and victim of each member of our organization, which has contributed everywhere to deliver another world championship for Eagles fans,” said Jeffrey Lurie, chairman and CEO of Eagles. “From the beginning of the training camp to our celebration in Broad Street, this team was deeply connected at all levels. Our players, coaches and front office employees worked so tirelessly throughout the season to increase another Lombard trophy.”

July 19, 2025, 1:05 p.m.

The third round of the 153rd Open Championship takes place on the Royal Portrush Golf Course in Northern Ireland. Scottie Scheffler came to the weekend with a 10-little brand, with Matt Fitzpatrick One Back and Brian Harman and Haotong Li finished two. So far, Rory McIlroy had a bizarre ignorant trick shot and John Parry got the first ace of the event.

Here are the best moments from the third round of the Open Championship 2025.

A second ball comes out of the ground on Rory's approach in a mysterious way

Look at it. Take a look at it again. pic.twitter.com/i48kvck80b

– The Open (@theopen) July 19, 2025

Tyrell Hatton sinks from far out

Listen to this sound.

Tyrell Hatt Hatters from 139 meters. pic.twitter.com/y8or0kggVt

– The Open (@theopen) July 19, 2025

Fitzpatrick connects it to Scheffler

Matt Fitzpatrick Magic on 2.

Matt makes an eagle to bind the tour with Scottie. pic.twitter.com/iut8fhkgdl

– The Open (@theopen) July 19, 2025

John Parry sinks off the championship's first hole-in one

Magic on 13

It is a hole-in-one for John Parry. pic.twitter.com/unw5j9jmyp

– The Open (@theopen) July 19, 2025

Jesper Svensson drains the long putt for Birdie

The longest putt of the championship so far.

Svensson Birdies of 6 .. pic.twitter.com/zt60ty2v9y

– The Open (@theopen) July 19, 2025

Corey Conners makes his third birdie of the day

Make early movements.

Corey Conners has his third birdie of the day. pic.twitter.com/tlmq5r87fg

– The Open (@theopen) July 19, 2025

Francesco Molinari hardly missed the slam dunk

The champion golfer Francesco Molinari approaches the tab and strikes the PIN on 1.Twitter.com/sleuya5skw.

– The Open (@theopen) July 19, 2025

Golfers arrive for the third round

Arrived outdoors. Time to shine.@Mercedesbenz | #Playerrivals pic.twitter.com/domlrfxmgm

– The Open (@theopen) July 19, 2025

• Jeff BorzelloChristmas 18, 2025, 6:10 p.m.

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  Jeff Borzello is an insider with basketball. He came to ESPN in 2014.

There are 18 five-star rankings for the ESPN 100 players for the men's college basketball class 2026. In the July live period, only one player (Jashawn “JJ” Andrews) had committed, but now there is another one who connected the mix: ESPN 100 No. 4 Jason Crowe, he announced on Friday.

Jeff Borzello from ESPN will follow every announcement of five-star obligations this season and how it happened, the fit and more.

Here you will find the full player rankings:
2026 ESPN 100 | 2027 ESPN 60 | 2028 ESPN 25

2026 ESPN 100 ranking: 4
Obligated: Missouri Tigers

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Background: Crowe did not wait until the end of the July Live period to commit and set an appointment for mid-July in advance. He has never announced an official school list either. For a large part of his recruitment, Kentucky and USC were considered the most important competitors: Crowe's father played with Kentucky Assistant Jason Hart and the two friends, while the Trojans made him a priority throughout the process. But in the past few weeks, Missouri performed as a favorite and was able to land the top five-goal scorer.

How it fits: Crowe is one of the elite scorers in high school basketball and achieves average better than 23 points per game in the Nike Eybl Circuit. He is explosive with the ball in his hands and is an experienced playmaker who can include the other. In Missouri, Crowe will probably be the best offensive player in the team early, even though the Point Guard Anthony Robinson and Ucla broadcast Sebastian Mack 2026-27 could return to Columbia and take pressure. It is also worth mentioning that Dennis Gates and Co. have made real progress with the five-star colleague Toni Bryant (No. 13).

What's next for Kentucky and USC? Crowe would have been the ideal start of the 2026-27 roster for Kentucky or USC, but both programs have talented views at the top of their boards. The wildcats follow, among other things, according to Tyran Stokes No. 1, Tyran Stokes, No. 5 Caleb Holt, five-star point guards Taylen Kinney (No. 17) and Deron Ricky Jr. (No. 18). USC watches Christian Collins (No. 2), Brandon McCoy (No. 6) and Tajh Ariza (No. 20) at the top.

2026 ESPN 100 ranking: 12
Obligated: Arkansa's razibacks

Background: While high-ranking prospects from the state of Arkansas usually stayed at home for college-Ironically, Malik Monk was the choice of John Calipari's Kentucky about Arkansas one of the top-class exceptions to do some work to land Andrews. He had LSU and Missouri among his last three, with Dennis Gates' tiger being in a strong position in the track. But Calipari has proven that he still has juice with five stars.

JJ Andrews is a beast 🔥 24 points and 10 boards for the Arkansas commit, as Brad Beal Elite Oaklanders 94-78 @Nikeyb pic.twitter.com/hf6yXCTCER beats

– Sportscenter Next (@Scnext) July 17, 2025

How it fits: The No. 1 player in the state of Arkansas, Andrews, has been on the radar of the top programs for several years. He has enormous physical tools and is aggressive in the basket that goes into the basket at the offensive end. Although he is not a productive perimeter shooter, he shot 40% from the 3-point range during the Eybl season with almost one game. It is always unclear who will return to a Calipari coach squad, but Andrews should play an early role if he arrives in autumn 2026. It is not surprising that the 2026 razibacks track a number of other five stars.

• David SchoenfieldJul 17, 2025, 07:00 AM ET

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  • Covers MLB for ESPN.com
  • Former deputy editor of Page 2
  • Been with ESPN.com since 1995

The first half of the MLB season is in the books. Well actually, we’ve played nearly 60% of the schedule, but everyone still denotes the first and second halves of the season around the All-Star break.

So, now that the All-Star festivities are behind us, let’s look back at the storylines that dominated the first half and how they might play out the rest of the season.

Before we begin, let’s hand out some honorable mentions that didn’t make our list of the top 10 storylines: the Baltimore Orioles and Atlanta Braves’ disappointing seasons; the Houston Astros rolling to a lead in the AL West despite Yordan Alvarez’s injury, losing Alex Bregman and trading Kyle Tucker; Jacob Wilson’s .332 average as a rookie; Matthew Boyd’s incredible year for the Chicago Cubs; Jacob deGrom’s comeback; Eugenio Suarez’s four-homer game; and Denzel Clarke’s dazzling catches in center field for the Athletics.

OK, now let’s dig into the top 10 storylines of the 2025 season so far.

1. Chaos in the American League East

The AL East has gone through enough plot twists this season to fill a whole series of David Baldacci novels — and we haven’t even reached August.

The New York Yankees looked as if they would run away with the division early, building a seven-game lead in late May, but they’ve gone 11-18 since June 13 and have dropped to second place, creating a panic among their fans. The Toronto Blue Jays, on the other hand, won 10 in a row in late June and early July to surge into first. The Tampa Bay Rays, playing in a spring training facility, went 33-22 in May and June — a period in which they were second in the majors in runs scored — but have gone 3-9 in July to fall into fourth place. The Baltimore Orioles? They fired their manager and might trade half the team at the trade deadline.

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But the Boston Red Sox have been the biggest melodrama of all. The Rafael Devers saga, which began in spring training, included complaints about his DH role, a terrible start at the plate, some hot hitting, a refusal to play first base and then concluded with the shocking trade to the San Francisco Giants, which came hours after Boston had just completed a three-game sweep of the Yankees. A six-game losing streak soon followed as the Red Sox organization was dripping with bad karma.

But this is baseball, where the narrative can flip in a hurry: The Red Sox won their final 10 games heading into the All-Star break, have climbed into a wild-card position, are only three games out of first place and just got Bregman back from the injured list.

“I do think there’s a real chance that at the end of the season, we’re looking back and we’ve won more games than we otherwise would’ve,” chief baseball officer Craig Breslow told reporters after the Devers trade. He might be right — at least if the pitching can deliver the way it did in that 10-game winning streak, when the staff had a 1.90 ERA.

Will it remain a storyline? Absolutely. Sure, the expanded wild-card race makes division races less important than they once were, but teams still want to win the division and avoid that best-of-three wild-card round. Plus, the potential of a four-team race makes the AL East the most exciting race to follow in the second half. Though all four teams could still make the playoffs, that’s no guarantee as the Seattle Mariners currently hold one of the wild-card spots ahead of the Rays.

2. The suddenly very interesting NL Central

The Cubs have a powerhouse lineup with MVP candidate Pete Crow-Armstrong, fellow All-Star starter Tucker, the scorching-hot Michael Busch, who is fifth in the majors in OPS, and Seiya Suzuki, who has 25 home runs and 77 RBIs. They have an All-Star pitcher in Boyd, Shota Imanaga has a 2.65 ERA and the bullpen has been very good. And that’s not even mentioning their catchers, who have 20 home runs, 65 RBIs and the second-highest OPS in the majors.

Despite all of that, the Milwaukee Brewers are only one game back.

How is that possible? They find ways to score runs without relying on the long ball; they’re 23rd in the majors in home runs but seventh in runs scored, with their speed and aggressiveness on the bases helping there. As always, they somehow find enough pitching, and the anonymous-but-hard-throwing bullpen threesome of Trevor Megill, Abner Uribe and Jared Koenig has turned into one of the most imposing late-game trios.

Will it remain a storyline? Yes, the Brewers are absolutely the real deal, running off seven wins in a row before the All-Star break. They do begin the second half with a tough trip against the Los Angeles Dodgers and Mariners, with a home series against the Cubs after that to close out July, but there’s a reason the Brewers have made the playoffs in six of the past seven seasons: This team knows how to win.

They’ve also recently added two key players in Brandon Woodruff, finally back from shoulder surgery, and rookie flamethrower Jacob Misiorowski, who is 4-1 with a 2.65 ERA in five starts, dominating with his fastball that averages 99.3 mph. Indeed, Misiorowski looms as one of the most important players the rest of the way: If he keeps this going and with Woodruff looking like his pre-injury form — 18 strikeouts and no walks in his two starts — the trio of Freddy Peralta, Woodruff and Misiorowski will be a scary rotation to face in October.

We all know the details of this one:

• Behind curtain No. 1: Cal Raleigh, on pace for an AL-record 64 home runs (he currently has 38) and putting together perhaps the greatest offensive season ever for a catcher.

• Behind curtain No. 2: Aaron Judge, on pace for 11.8 WAR and putting together one of the greatest offensive seasons in the sport’s history.

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It’s hard to believe a catcher might hit 50-something home runs — or more — and not win the MVP award, but that’s what might happen. Voters are WAR-focused these days, and Judge has a chance for only the sixth 12-WAR season by a position player (three of the previous five are by Babe Ruth). That probably makes Judge the favorite, especially since he’s not far behind Raleigh with 35 home runs and is probably one of his patented hot streaks away from getting back on pace for another 60-homer season.

Will it remain a storyline? Let’s hope so. Remember, we were in a similar situation a year ago with an epic three-player race between Judge, Bobby Witt Jr. and Gunnar Henderson, only to see Judge pull away to an eventual unanimous selection over Witt. It’s hard to imagine Raleigh keeping it going at this rate, especially given his heavy workload behind the plate (he’s third in the majors in innings caught), and he has been a little one dimensional in July (he has only five hits, all of them home runs). Judge is the heavy betting favorite at -600 to +325 for Raleigh, according to ESPN BET.

4. Pete Crow-Armstrong leads the National League MVP race

Jordan Johnson-Imagn Images

As a rookie in 2024, Crow-Armstrong hit .237/.286/.384 with 10 home runs in 123 games — not exactly numbers that would have projected him as an MVP candidate the following year. But he has emerged as not only one of the most exciting players in the majors, but one of the most valuable as well. With 25 home runs and 27 stolen bases, he’s on pace for a 40/40 season, and with help from some superlative defensive metrics, he leads the NL in both Baseball-Reference WAR (5.2) and FanGraphs WAR. (4.9), beating James Wood (4.4) in the former and Shohei Ohtani (4.3) in the latter.

Crow-Armstrong would certainly be one of the most surprising MVP winners ever, and one of the most distinctive. His .302 OBP would be the lowest for an MVP position player, beating Zoilo Versalles’ .319 mark from 1965. Only 10 MVP winners have had an OBP below .350. He’d also be the first center fielder to win NL MVP since Andrew McCutchen in 2013.

Will it remain a storyline? Yes. With Crow-Armstrong’s ultra-aggressive approach at the plate (he has the highest chase rate in the majors among qualified batters), it figured pitchers would eventually figure out how to exploit that. But they haven’t so far and PCA, while not possessing huge raw power, continues to barrel up baseballs. Looming in his rearview mirror in the MVP race: Ohtani, who has now added pitching to his repertoire and is slowly working up to a starter’s workload. He leads the NL in home runs, slugging, runs scored, OPS and total bases. ESPN BET has made him the favorite at -700, with Crow-Armstrong at +750. Keep your eye on Juan Soto and Kyle Tucker as well.

5. The Dodgers are unbeatable … no, they’re just very good … actually, they’re mediocre

That 8-0 start, following the offseason additions of Blake Snell, Roki Sasaki and Tanner Scott, created talk that the Dodgers might be one of the greatest teams of all time. Well, they aren’t.

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Despite an inconsistent first half, one full of more pitching injuries and some subpar performances from the likes of Mookie Betts and Michael Conforto, the Dodgers are still on pace for 97 wins. A 2-7 slump heading into the break highlighted some of their issues: Betts has a sub-.700 OPS, Freddie Freeman is hitting .197 with one home run over his past 32 games, Scott has seven blown saves, the rotation ranks just 20th in the majors in ERA (and last in innings pitched) and the bullpen ranks 24th in ERA. Oh, and the Dodgers have churned through 35 pitchers this season.

Will it remain a storyline? Check back in October, when the Dodgers will try to become the first team since the 2000 Yankees to repeat as World Series champs.

6. The Detroit Tigers have the best record in baseball

As good as the Tigers have looked, having the best record (59-38) in the majors at the All-Star break was still unexpected: They were 18th in our preseason Power Rankings, with a projected record of 83-79, and only 11 of our 28 voters picked Detroit to win the division. Tarik Skubal has been great, as expected, but nobody had Javier Baez and Zach McKinstry making the All-Star team on their bingo card. Gleyber Torres, with a .387 OBP, has been one of the best offseason signings, and former No. 1 picks Spencer Torkelson and Casey Mize are having their best seasons.

Will it remain a storyline? The Tigers should remain in the race for best record the rest of the way. But their final series before the break exposed a potential weakness. The Mariners swept the three-game series in Detroit, scoring 35 runs — 23 of which came against the bullpen. Tommy Kahnle, part of the late-game duo with Will Vest, gave up four runs Saturday and three Sunday. Vest blew a 4-3 lead in the eighth Sunday, before Kahnle gave up back-to-back homers in the ninth. The Tigers will no doubt be looking for some relief help at the trade deadline.

7. Tarik Skubal, Paul Skenes and an incredible season for pitchers

Skubal and Skenes started the All-Star Game — and that pair has been leading the way in what has been a stellar season for starting pitchers. At the break, we had 19 qualified pitchers with an ERA under 3.00, which would match 2022 as the most since 2014 (when there were 21). There are another five pitchers, who aren’t currently qualified, with at least 80 innings and an ERA under 3.00, so the total could climb by the end of the season. Four of those pitchers also had an imposing strikeout rate above 30%: Skubal (33.4%), Zack Wheeler (33.0%), Garrett Crochet (31.2%) and Hunter Brown (31.1%). MacKenzie Gore, with a 3.02 ERA, is also above the 30% mark.

Skenes has been the bad-luck pitcher of the season, maybe of the century: He is 4-8 despite an MLB-best 2.01 ERA, but he might still be the Cy Young favorite. He could become the first Cy Young winner with a losing record (Jacob deGrom went 10-9 with the Mets in 2018 and Felix Hernandez went 13-12 with the Mariners in 2010).

Will it remain a storyline? Sure. With so many pitchers having great seasons, Skubal and Skenes hardly have the Cy Young Awards wrapped up, with Crochet and Wheeler essentially in a statistical deadlock with them. Brown was in the AL mix before giving up 10 runs in his final two starts before the break. Keep an eye on DeGrom, who is 9-2 with a 2.32 ERA and has already pitched his most innings since 2019.

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In his first month with the Mets, Soto hit .241/.368/.384 with only three home runs. Then he hit .219 in May. But the Mets were winning, and the statistical evidence showed that Soto was hitting the ball hard and taking his walks — meaning, it was really the same old Soto, except the hits just weren’t falling. Since June 1, he has hit .311/.455/.659 with 14 home runs and now ranks among the league leaders in many categories. Despite the slow start, he’s on pace for 6.5 WAR, which isn’t quite what he did with the Yankees last season (7.9) but is right in line with his career average per 162 games (6.3). In other words, he’s the same Juan Soto, except his best hitting has come as the Mets have scuffled after their hot start.

Will it remain a storyline? With the Mets battling for the NL East title with the Philadelphia Phillies, you bet. One thing to watch: While the overall offensive numbers are creeping back into typical Soto territory, he has hit only .183/.330/.390 with runners in scoring position and .176/.337/.340 with men on base. According to Baseball-Reference, he has a .783 OPS in high-leverage situations, .773 in medium leverage and 1.053 in low leverage. The Mets are paying Soto a lot of money to produce in those high-leverage moments, so if they are to beat out the Phillies, he will need to pick it up in those situations.

9. Young sluggers burst onto the scene

Nic Antaya/Getty Images

We saw James Wood and Junior Caminero in the Home Run Derby, and both are having outstanding first full seasons in the majors. Wood has 24 home runs and ranks eighth in the majors in OPS. Caminero has 23 home runs, but not the overall offensive numbers that Wood has. A year ago, Nick Kurtz had just been drafted in the first round by the Athletics out of Wake Forest and now he has mashed 17 home runs in 58 games after beginning the season in Triple-A. Over his past 26 games, he has hit .295/.385/.737 with 12 home runs and looks as if he’s developing into one of the best power hitters in the game.

Still looking to get on track is Jac Caglianone, also in his first year out of college. He reached the majors with more hype than Kurtz but has struggled with a .140 average and four home runs through 35 games, although he flashed his light-tower power with one blast of 466 feet. These players are all 22 years old. The game is in good hands.

Will it remain a storyline? Yes and no. Caminero’s Rays are the only team in the playoff hunt right now, though Caglianone’s Kansas City Royals are close enough to potentially get back into the wild-card chase. Wood’s season has sort of flown under the radar playing for the Washington Nationals, but he has an OPS+ of 160. In the wild-card era since 1995, only five players in their age-22 season have reached that mark: Mike Trout (2014), Bryce Harper (2015), and Juan Soto, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Fernando Tatis Jr. all in 2021. That’s not bad company to be part of.

10. How many games will the Colorado Rockies lose?

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After a 9-50 start left them on pace to lose 137 games, it looked as if the Rockies might shatter the Chicago White Sox’s modern record of 121 losses from last season. The Rockies won three in a row at that point and had another four-game winning streak later in June, but then went 4-14 in their final 18 games before the break. That left them with a 22-74 record, still on pace to finish 37-125. They have played a little better: They had a minus-77 run differential in March/April and minus-106 in May but were minus-38 in June. They’re back to minus-32 in July, with losses of 10-2, 10-2, 10-3 and 9-3 this month. It’s impossible to know which direction this will go the rest of the way.

Will it remain a storyline? It appears so. It might come down to the wire, and the Rockies finish the season with trips to Seattle and San Francisco.

July 15, 2025, 11:55 p.m.

What a night in Atlanta! For the first time in the all-star game story, a swing-off of Homerun derby style determined the winning and it was the National League, which turned out to be 4: 3 in swing-off, thanks to Philadelphia Phillies DH Kyle Schwarber, three Homeruns scored to achieve the Senior Circuit in 12 years.

The Tiebreaker format was that three players from each team would get three fluctuations and the team with most Homeruns would ultimately win the All-Star game. Well, the NL only needed two players to get there.

The AL first climbed onto the board with two homes of athletics dh Brent Roker. Miami Marlins added the field player Kyle Stowers for the NL before Seattle Mariner's Field Randy Arozarena let the AL lead the lead with a Homerun. Schwarber took 3-1 down with the NL and met three explosions to give the NL the lead and later victory when the last striker of the Junior Circuit, Tampa Bay Rays First Baseman Jonathan Aranda, was unable to meet one.

Pittsburgh Pirates Star Pitcher Paul Slenes started the NL with a first inning of 1-2-3, including two rashes. The second Baseman of Arizona Diamondbacks, Ketel Marte, then started with a two-RBI double from Detroit Tigers Ace Tarik Skubal, before the AL could even send out his first-and the junior racing track could never dig completely from this early hole.

Nobody would score a goal again until the sixth inning when New York met the first Baseman Pete Alonso a three-run explosion and Arizona Diamondbacks Right Field Field Corbin Carroll and later another Homerun a few batteries later. The AL replied with four of its own runs in the seventh, including another three-run home of rooker. The game seemed to be over, but then in the ninth inning Kansas City Royals, Bobby Witt Jr. The NL was unable to score in the end of the ninth place, which led to the Tiebreaker event.

The midsummer classic ran out of the in-game analysis to our favorite moments from the most beaten night of baseball.

Snack bars and favorite moments

Jesse Rogers: Chicago Cubs Right Field Kyle Tucker was nervous. Not because he was on the stage of MLB, but because he played the left field for the first time in four years and did not want to leave his pitcher down. This is the respect that Los Angeles Dodger's Veteran Clayton Kershaw brings with him when he steps on the hill as he did on Tuesday – maybe for the last time in a midsummer classic. Kershaw took the ball into the top of the second inning and earned two outs before manager Dave Roberts pulled him into an appreciative crowd. His last pitch was a strike three on Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who suited the latest member of the 3,000 k club.

Oh, and of course a ball came to Al Catcher Cal Raleigh on Tucker in the left field. Raleigh cut you towards the left field line, where Tucker found a slide. It was a sigh of relief for him and the first of two outs for Kershaw, one of the big jugs of his time. It is almost certain that we will see Kershaw the last time in an all-star game.

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David Schoenfield: A younger version of me when I was a child who defeated the Evil National League for the American League would have loved this game absolutely. What a comeback for the AL, even if you lost in the end. After 6: 0, the AL showed the whole Grit and the intestines of Pete Rose in his heyday and gathered to bind the score. Is it important? Did it be fun? Sure, even if it does not delete my memory of the late, great Dave Parker, Jim Rice and Brian in the all-star game of 1979 in Seattle on the bases from 1979. But somewhere there is a child who remembers Rooker's three-run Homer or Witt-Double in the right field line or Steven Kwan, who held down the first base line to beat a dribbler infield that achieved the score in the ninth inning. Somewhere a child fell in love with baseball tonight.

Jorge Castillo: The homage to the late Hank Aaron by Major League Baseball alone was worth the admission price. The lighting, the film material, the story, the fireworks, the Aarons 715. Homerun represented the left field … Everything was incredibly well done and touching, and Aaron's wife Billye watched. A great praise to MLB to put it together and withdraw it.

Jeff Passan: Jacob Misiorowski threw a 98.1 miles per hour slider on Tuesday evening. Both sub limits fulfilled with the cancellation. Misiorowski's teammate with the Milwaukee Brewers, Trevor Megill, took the pitch with three simple words: “Oh my god.” He should have understood from all people that the new director of the rookie was capable of such things, but then Misiorowski's ability to surprise and entertain, is limitless.

The 23-year-old rookie was the unexpected history of the all-star week, the focus of a game with Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Richter. He started five games and thrown 25.2 innings in the big leagues. No player had ever been given an all-star with so little experience. And yet Misiorowski's eighth inning – 18 parking spaces, nine fastballs over 100 miles per hour with the toughest with 102.3, a hit, the Aranda, without runs, – in comparison that made ski stuff to look tame. Misiorowski not only looked good. He looked just like an all-star.

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Predictions before the All-Star game

Who will win the All-Star game and with which score?

Jorge Castillo: The National League 5-2. The NL has the better line -up and will only win the game for the second time since 2012 when Melky Cabrera won in Kansas City MVP honors.

Jeff Passan: The National League will win 3-1. The NL has a far superior line-up for the AL, and in an all-star game, in which Pitcher is probably not more than throwing more than one in each other, the ability to see Baserunner for the first time is of the greatest importance for the first time. The NL is more equipped for this than the al.

Who is your all-star game MVP selection?

Jesse Rogers: Cal Raleigh. I mean, he goes to Homer … this is a matter of course. He could even meet two. The “Big Dumper” will throw in an explosion into the right field stand and put another exclamation mark in an incredible season. He won the HR derby and will win all-star game MVP.

Alden Gonzalez: Pete Crow Armstrong. He will have the most productive offensive night among the NL starters and eventually make an incredible catch in midfield. Crow-Armstrong is 95 games in his season at the age of 23 and has already accumulated 4.9 fangraphs about the replacement. He has become a star shortly before our eyes – and he seems to love the lights more than most others.

What is the matchup that you are most excited about?

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Rogers: Let's start the bottom of the first inn with a bang, as Tarik Skubal, the starting jug for the AL, against Shohei Ohtani, who is only 1: 9 from the left -hander. Does the reigning Al Cy Young winner get an early strike from the reigning NL -MVP or does Ohtani finally get to Skubal? Not many matchups are guaranteed in the all-star game, but this is it and it is about as good as possible.

Castillo: Jacob Misiorowski against everyone. The involvement of the rookie right-hander after only five career opened the majors, and all eyes are aimed at him as soon as he takes the hill. If he does it, his 103 miles per hour should certainly play almost in an inn. It is as hard as a matchup like any other pitcher in this game.

Who is the only all-star fans who will know much better after the game on Tuesday evening?

Gonzalez: The San Diego Padres finally sent three helpers to the All-Star game, but from the start there was a clear Bullpen representative: Adrian Morejon. The 26-year-old left-hander doesn't get much awareness, but he was absolutely dominant and achieved a 1.85 ERA and an expected slugging percentage of 0.263. He does not strike the absurd rates of some of the most dominant pitchers of today, but it comes from. And he will probably get three big ones towards the end of the night.

You pass: Perhaps you already know Misiorowski because his fastball sits at 100 miles per hour and his slider is in the mid -1990s, but this is the type of presentation that was built for him. An inning, let it eat and show that although his career is only five starts deep, this will be the first of many all-star appearances for the 23-year-old.