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Buy Photo Ozark’s freshly renovated U.S. Baseball Park will host the inaugural championship series of the Show-Me Collegiate Baseball League this weekend.(Photo: News-Leader File Photo)Buy Photo Ozark’s U.S. Baseball Park got a $1.5 million makeover in February, and will host its first championship series less than six months later. The Show-Me Collegiate Baseball League enters the postseason Wednesday and is set to crown its first ever champion this weekend. The…

Ask Thea Hanscom why she plays baseball and you get a simple answer: “Baseball’s what I grew up doing,” she said. “So I enjoy doing it.” Since the rising ninth-grader started playing T-ball at age 6, she’s been a minority in a game traditionally played by boys. There have been other girls on her teams, but she’s the only one who has continued to play. “Mostly the girls quit (playing),”…

CHICAGO (AP) — Jeurys Familia escaped a bases-loaded jam with a game-ending double play after Rene Rivera drove in the tiebreaking run with two outs in the top of the ninth, lifting the New York Mets over the Chicago Cubs 2-1 on Tuesday night. Familia walked Addison Russell and Miguel Montero to start the ninth, then Javier Baez reached on a bunt single when third baseman Jose Reyes threw wide…

The second half of baseball’s season has opened and we’re set for a heck of a stretch run. A total of 18 teams sit at or above the .500 mark heading into Tuesday night’s action, which means a ton of teams have a shot at reaching the postseason and making a run at a World Series title. With that in mind, here is a look at those contenders and the…

LONDON — With just over two weeks until the opening ceremony, Russia still doesn’t know whether its athletes — all or even some — will be competing in the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. It may all come down to the lawyers. While the International Olympic Committee decided Tuesday to ban from the Rio Games all Russian Sports Ministry officials and other administrators implicated in…

Photo credit: Michael Steele/Getty Images The hubris and planet-sized egos of lunatic sports owners is a core Deadspin beat, from Joe Lacob’s horniness for the Larry O’Brien trophy, to Stan Kroenke’s dead raccoon hair, to Dan Gilbert’s simpering evil. When the Panthers’ owner gets a dang statue of himself with two actual panthers built out front of his stadium, you should expect us to make fun of him. However, Tinkoff…

Chip Kelly’s vision in Philadelphia is officially dead, from the players — like DeMarco Murray, Byron Maxwell, and Kiko Alonso, all of whom were traded this offseason — to the sports science. The player purge happened earlier this offseason, but the Eagles‘ decision to move away from sports science is a recent development. Until now, it looked as if it would be the only surviving remnant from the Kelly era,…

It’s hard work for a country to get turfed out of the Olympics. You must seriously dedicate yourself to the task. It’s not enough to have a brutal, devious autocracy that flagrantly intimidates its domestic critics and is author of miseries all over the world. It’s not even enough to dope your athletes until they virtually glow in the dark. You really need to get caught in the act so…

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LA’s Kershaw suffers setback Clayton Kershaw has experienced a recurrence of soreness in his back since throwing a four-inning simulated game on Saturday. The outing was intended to be his last tune-up before he rejoined the big league roster. Instead, Kershaw will be shut down until his pain goes away. He has not pitched since June 26 because of a herniated disk. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts indicated…

Ask Thea Hanscom why she plays baseball and you get a simple answer: “Baseball’s what I grew up doing,” she said. “So I enjoy doing it.” Since the rising ninth-grader started playing T-ball at age 6, she’s been a minority in a game traditionally played by boys. There have been other girls on her teams, but she’s the only one who has continued to play. “Mostly the girls quit (playing),”…

LONDON (AP) — Summer Olympic sports federations said on Tuesday they are ready to deal with “individual cases” of Russian doping, rather than endorse a total ban on the Russian team for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. The Association of Summer Olympic International Federations, which represents the 28 sports in the games, said it recognized the “gravity and extent of the doping activities in Russia” as detailed in Monday’s report…

It’s hard work for a country to get turfed out of the Olympics. You must seriously dedicate yourself to the task. It’s not enough to have a brutal, devious autocracy that flagrantly intimidates its domestic critics and is author of miseries all over the world. It’s not even enough to dope your athletes until they virtually glow in the dark. You really need to get caught in the act so…

Photo credit: Michael Steele/Getty Images The hubris and planet-sized egos of lunatic sports owners is a core Deadspin beat, from Joe Lacob’s horniness for the Larry O’Brien trophy, to Stan Kroenke’s dead raccoon hair, to Dan Gilbert’s simpering evil. When the Panthers’ owner gets a dang statue of himself with two actual panthers built out front of his stadium, you should expect us to make fun of him. However, Tinkoff…

Sports Authority is scrambling to close the doors on most or all of its stores by the end of the month, according to multiple store employees and managers, an abrupt move that comes amid a fight over cash between lenders and suppliers. Managers have been instructed on procedures for wiping the computers, locking up and walking away, as the dying athletic gear seller prepares for the final stage of its…

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On 4 July 2007, Vladimir Putin arrived by private jet in Guatemala City ready for the 119th session of the International Olympic Committee. Russia was one of three nations bidding to host the 2014 Winter Olympics, along with Austria and South Korea. The bookmakers had Sochi down a distant second in the betting, way behind Pyeongchang. Russia had failed to even make the IOC’s shortlist to host the 2002 Games…