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Lynne Sladky/AP When healthy, there is no more feared slugger in Major League Baseball than Giancarlo Stanton of the Miami Marlins and on Friday night he reminded the baseball world just how much power he has in his bat. The home run came off of Phillies reliever Hector Neris in the eighth inning with the score tied 4-4. MLB’s Statcast estimates that the ball came off of Stanton’s bat traveling…

The Forest Lake school district will cut most junior-high level sports in 2016-17, a decision that has rankled some parents and students who believe school athletics fill a vital role and didn’t feel included in the district’s decision-making process. “Basically, there was no announcement, there was no parent discussion, it was just all the sudden everything was cut,” said Liz Tarlizzo, whose seventh-grade triplets play several sports at Century Junior…

Andy Murray has won 35 career singles titles, including the Madrid Open in 2015 Defending champion Andy Murray will face world number one Novak Djokovic in the Madrid Open final on Sunday. British number one Murray beat nine-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal 7-5 6-4 in the first semi-final. Djokovic then racked up a seventh victory in a row over Japan’s Kei Nishikori, going through 6-3 7-6 (7-4). Murray is…

Media playback is not supported on this device Leicester 3-1 Everton: Foxes lift the Premier League trophy At the King Power Stadium Leicester City celebrated their coronation as Premier League champions and the first title in their 132-year history with victory over Everton on a day of elation at the King Power Stadium. This was the Foxes’ official homecoming after they won the Premier League on Monday when Tottenham failed…

x Embed x Share USA TODAY Sports’ Jeff Gluck previews the top story lines at NASCAR’s GoBowling 400. USA TODAY Sports Martin Truex Jr. will start from the pole Saturday night in the Go Bowling 400 at Kansas Speedway.(Photo: Jasen Vinlove, USA TODAY Sports) KANSAS CITY, Kan.  — It’s NASCAR race day at Kansas Speedway, and we’ve got some essential information you need to get ready for Saturday night’s Go…

Former NASCAR driver Dave Blaney, 53, was involved in a sprint car crash during qualifying for the World of Outlaws #LetsRaceTwo at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, Friday night. He has since been released from hospital with no reported injuries. His team reports that Blaney is very sore and that they are en route to the team’s headquarters in Charlotte, N.C. Blaney will not race at Eldora Saturday night. Blaney…

By Faith Karimi, CNN Updated 10:54 AM ET, Sat May 7, 2016

When Frank Molinaro attempts to qualify his weight for the Summer Olympics at a last-chance qualifier in Turkey on Sunday morning, he won’t have too many bigger supporters than the man he beat in a state final 11 years ago. Molinaro, a Southern Regional High School graduate, was the surprising winner of the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 65 kg freestyle weight class in April as the No. 9 seed,…

Breeja Larson’s Hasty Rise To The Olympic Stage Sponsored by Hasty Awards Breeja Larson first became interested in swimming when she was in eighth grade. But it wasn’t until she was 17 that she first began to take the sport seriously. Then, just three years later, she found herself at the U.S. Olympic Trials taking on world record holders Rebecca Soni and Jessica Hardy. Defying the odds,…

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CLEVELAND, Ohio — Spring has finally arrived, and baseball is back once again. Ah yes, the sport that builds nations, foments revolution, distracts from scandals and massacres, propagandizes national policy, becomes a tool of war and espionage, and may have been the reason why Gen. George Armstrong Custer made his last stand. At least that’s baseball according to Scott Rowan, author of the new book, “Weaponized Baseball: Declassified, Withheld Stories Reveal…

Stanford University freshman Greta Meyer is a talented and thoughtful lacrosse player with a voice that had to be heard. The former Germantown Friends School standout made that known last July when she wrote to ESPN to express her dismay that the boys’ Senior Under Armour All-America high school lacrosse game was televised live on the same day the…

i Neil Leifer took this photograph of sprinter Carl Lewis during the 1984 Olympics. Lewis won four gold medals that year. Photo from Relentless: The Stories behind the Photographs, by Neil Leifer with Diane K. Shah (University of Texas Press, 2016) Neil Leifer/ Courtesy of Sports Illustrated Content Management hide caption toggle caption Neil Leifer/ Courtesy of Sports Illustrated Content Management Neil Leifer took this photograph of sprinter Carl Lewis…

Oregon’s state government released a set of guidelines for schools Thursday informing educators that students must be allowed to use whatever locker rooms they want and play on opposite-sex sports teams as long as they say it reflects their chosen gender identity. Not only that, but if the student doesn’t want his or her parents to know, teachers don’t have to tell them. The 15-page document makes Oregon one of just a handful of…

Estimates vary as to how much promotion to the Premier League is worth. With the new TV deal next season, it’s conservatively worth £170m, but that’s just the broadcast cash. When you add in increased sponsorship, commercial revenue, gate receipts, marketing and the like, it’s considerably more. And when you think Floyd Mayweather took home $100m for beating Manny Pacquiao last year, the £200m-plus payday for getting out of the Championship…

i Neil Leifer took this photograph of sprinter Carl Lewis during the 1984 Olympics. Lewis won four gold medals that year. Photo from Relentless: The Stories behind the Photographs, by Neil Leifer with Diane K. Shah (University of Texas Press, 2016) Neil Leifer/ Courtesy of Sports Illustrated Content Management hide caption toggle caption Neil Leifer/ Courtesy of Sports Illustrated Content Management Neil Leifer took this photograph of sprinter Carl Lewis…

Colin Cowherd finally apologized. On air. It drew gasps, and came only after passionate hectoring by arguably the most famous person in sports media. You can see the reluctance on Cowherd’s face as he says the words: “I apologize right now to John Wall.”  And so ends the extended pillorying of Wall, an ascendent NBA superstar, by Cowherd, one of the loudest voices in sports-talk radio.  Maybe. At least for now. …

The Madison Sports Hall of Fame will induct its 54th class on June 1. The class features hockey goalie Marc Behrend, football player Tyrone Braxton, basketball player Karen O’Malley-Crowley and professional golfer Dennis Tiziani. The dinner and enshrinement ceremony is scheduled June 1 at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center. According to a release from the Madison Sports Hall of Fame: Behrend was a multi-sport athlete…