BASEBALL
CHICAGO (AP) The Chicago Cubs found the pitching help they were looking for just a few miles from Wrigley Field. They hope it will give the scuffling team the kick it needs.
The defending World Series champions acquired left-handed ace Jose Quintana from the White Sox in a major trade between crosstown rivals that could shake up the NL Central race.
By landing the 2016 All-Star, the Cubs made it clear they’re not giving up on a difficult season after arriving at the break two games under .500. They also added a pitcher who figures to be a key piece in the rotation for at least the next few years.
The Cubs trail Milwaukee by 5 1/2 games in the division at 43-45 after ending a 108-year championship drought last fall. They believe they are set up to contend for years to come with stars such as Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo.
By trading for Quintana, they brought in an elite starter who is under club control through 2020. They had to give up two top prospects in outfielder Eloy Jimenez and right-handed pitcher Dylan Cease along with minor league infielders Matt Rose and Bryant Flete.
PRO FOOTBALL
LAS VEGAS (AP) – Police were called after hundreds of job seekers flooded a board meeting for the new Oakland Raiders stadium in Las Vegas and turned irate when they discovered they’d been had by a hoax.
A flyer promoting ”pre-job recruitment sign-ups” attracted more than 700 people to a regularly scheduled meeting of the Las Vegas Stadium Authority board.
Tensions flared among some attendees after officials explained there were no jobs as of yet on the $1.9 billion project, which has many steps that must be completed before construction can begin.
Las Vegas police closed off access to the county building’s parking lots after the size of the crowd ballooned.
BOXING
NEW YORK (AP) – Floyd Mayweather Jr. tossed $1 bills in Conor McGregor’s face. McGregor waved Jay Z’s new CD in Mayweather’s direction and quoted a Biggie Smalls lyric as some sort of warning shot.
The rest?
The fashionably late fighters treated fans that waited hours for the latest stop in a promotional tour to about 30 minutes of profanities, crude cracks about body parts, and, well, a steady stream of even more f-bombs.
If Mayweather and McGregor turned their latest showdown into a true PPV – pay-per-vulgarity – they’d collect a few million bucks before they even hit the ring for their Aug. 26 fight.
All this commotion – a DJ and rapper Doug E. Fresh warmed up the crowd of 13,165 – for a press conference.
”If it even is a press conference,” McGregor cracked. ”It’s a bit of a roasting.”
DAILY FANTASY SPORTS
BOSTON (AP) – The two leading daily fantasy sports companies DraftKings and FanDuel scrapped their proposed merger about a month after federal regulators sued to block it.
The Federal Trade Commission – along with the attorneys general of California and the District of Columbia – had opposed the merger because, they said, it would create a company controlling more than 90 percent of the U.S. market for paid daily fantasy sports.
A federal judge late last month temporarily halted the merger, pending an administrative trial scheduled for Nov. 21.
Markus Meier, acting director at the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, said the decision was a ”clear win” for consumers.
SOCCER
SAO PAULO (AP) – A fan of Brazilian club Palmeiras has died of stab wounds after a fight with Corinthians supporters following a match between the two Sao Paulo teams.
It’s the second violent death of a Brazilian football fan in less than a week.
The dead man was identified by Sao Paulo hospital officials as Leandro de Paula. He died early Thursday, shortly after Corinthians had defeated Palmeiras 2-0.
Police said the victim had been stabbed twice in the abdomen, and that two Corinthians supporters had been detained.
A fan of Rio de Janeiro club Vasco de Gama died of gunshot wounds last weekend following a match against city rival Flamengo.
VIENNA (AP) – Ajax midfielder Abdelhak Nouri has been diagnosed with severe and permanent brain damage, five days after he collapsed due to an irregular heartbeat during a friendly game in Austria.
Dutch club Ajax said on Twitter that it ”received very bad news” regarding Nouri’s condition, after doctors at a hospital in Innsbruck, Austria woke the player from an induced coma.
The club added that ”recovery chances of these crucial brain functions are nil.”
Nouri is expected to return soon to the Netherlands for further treatment at a hospital in Amsterdam.
The diagnosis came two days after tests indicated that Nouri’s heart was undamaged while a CT scan of his brain and initial neurological tests showed no irregularities either. Doctors were ”cautiously optimistic about his recovery,” Ajax said at that time.
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