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In August 2016, the International Olympic Committee is expected to decide if baseball and softball will be re-added for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. To be more precise, the IOC will be looking at men’s baseball and women’s softball. At the ongoing Pan American Games, the U.S. baseball and softball teams are vying for medals against other North and South American nations. To be more precise, the U.S. men’s and women’s baseball teams and men’s and women’s softball teams are competing at…

I really found some of the responses I got from fans interesting after the Kentucky race Saturday night when I began tweeting congratulations to Kyle Busch on his second win of the season. I was struck by the fact that some fans took great exception to me not only congratulating Kyle, but also for my belief he might actually make the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Some of these responses were…

AP Masanori Murakami in 1964 He changed the relationship between Japan and Major League Baseball. Then what happened? More The Disappointing Reason Babe Ruth Left Baseball This Map Shows the Best and Worst Cities for Baseball Fans In baseball, not all pioneers are created equal. Some, like Jackie Robinson, are recognized immediately as formative figures whose impact reverberates forever, in the game and throughout society. Others, though, need some time…

Jake Kelzer (pictured) announced his intention to return for another season at IU on Tuesday.(Photo: Courtesy photo / IU Athletics) Tags Christian Morris New York Yankees Indiana Hoosiers Chicago Cubs If Christian Morris’ departure for the pros a week ago dealt a blow to Indiana’s pitching rotation, then that wound was at least partially healed Tuesday when Jake Kelzer announced his intention to return. Kelzer, a 6-8 redshirt sophomore who…

CINCINNATI — Before the American League and National League All-Star managers announced their starting lineups at a media conference on Monday, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred took the podium to announce a new $30 million partnership with the MLB Players Association to foster participation in youth baseball around the United States. Manfred, who has decried the growing perception of baseball as a “country club sport” reserved for those with the increasing…

It’s Monday, which means our regularly scheduled programming of This Week in (Dumb) Baseball is ready for consumption. As regular readers already know, this feature has the title, sure, but it’s mostly for fun— a fact that eludes the masses but remains the case. For example, if you tell me to “quit whining,” you are missing the point. I’m mostly chuckling to myself as I write these things (with some…

I know they both receive plenty of attention, but while looking over the All-Star rosters it struck me that we’re seeing something truly special with Angels center fielder Mike Trout and Nationals right fielder Bryce Harper being the two best players in baseball at ages 23 and 22. Trout, the reigning MVP, leads the American League in home runs, slugging percentage, runs scored, and Wins Above Replacement at age 23….

Used a Rolodex lately? Didn’t think so. For the benefit of young folks, a Rolodex is a plastic wheel loaded with alphabetized cards that store phone numbers of people you may need to contact. Watch “Mad Men.’’ Don Draper’s secretary always flips through her Rolodex after Don asks her to reach a client. Continue reading below I’m not a Rolodex guy, but I still travel with a black leather “At-A-Glance”…

Broad Run’s Emma Kerns, left heads the ball away from Godwin’s Morgan Hall during Broad Run’s defeat of Mills Godwin 2 – 1 in overtime in the Virginia 5A girls’ soccer state semifinal at Lake Braddock High School Burke Va., June 12, 2015 (Photo by John McDonnell/The Washington Post) From pee wee groups to elite high school travel teams, soccer has become one of the fastest growing youth sports in America over…

For a list of all the latest deals, check out the transfers page. Paris St-Germain’s Uruguay international striker Edinson Cavani, 28, is the “prime target” to replace Fenerbahce-bound Robin van Persie, 31, at Manchester United. (Talksport)  Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski, 26, is at the top of Manchester United’s attacking targets as manager Louis van Gaal prepares to take his summer…

Cyclist Ivan Basso’s announcement today that he has testicular cancer comes decades after Lance Armstrong famously battled the disease. Could two cases of testicular cancer in the world’s top cyclists be a coincidence, or does something about competitive cycling increase men’s risk of the disease? Basso said at a news conference today (July 13) that he is withdrawing from the Tour…

Boston’s pitch for the 2024 Summer Games assigns one role to the federal government: Pick up $1 billion or more in security costs. But recent US Olympic history shows organizers have been more creative in outsourcing a wide variety of costs to Uncle Sam, well beyond protecting the Games. Like a place to race canoes. Continue reading below Leading up to the 1996 Summer Games, the US Forest Service caught…

Two days removed from Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Kentucky Speedway and the accolades continue to pour in about the new rules package debuted during this weekend’s event. The low-downforce package put things back in the drivers’ hands, removed a good bit of the dreaded aero-push and led to more side-by-side racing in the pack throughout the event. Drivers, fans and members of the media liked what they…

CINCINNATI — When Bryce Harper was 16 years old, a Sports Illustrated cover dubbed him “Baseball’s Chosen One.” He spent the next three years becoming, almost inarguably, the sport’s most hyped prospect of all time, then graduated to the Major Leagues in 2012 and became the sport’s most hyped rookie of all time. Harper far exceeded any reasonable expectations for a 19-year-old (and for a 20-year-old, and for a 21-year-old)…

There’s a new obsession taking hold in the world of fantasy sports online: daily games played for cash. The daily twist on traditional online fantasy sports has touched off a wave of investments in startups that are reinventing the season-long…

Late last Friday, common sense finally prevailed in Formula One. It is just a small step, with the FIA World Motor Sport Council approving some of the F1 Strategy Group’s latest recommendations, but even a small step in the right direction is a good sign for the sport after a turbulent year of bankruptcies, double points and threatened boycotts. Last week, we cautioned not to get too excited yet about…

Mediarex Sports & Entertainment said it has raised $4.9 million to “sportify” poker. The London-based company is the parent of the Global Poker Index, a ranking authority for 450,000 professional poker players. Mediarex wants to aggregate the fragmented global audience for poker into a single professional league with a series of poker teams. With more than 100 million poker players around the world, it hopes to build poker into an esport. The…

Having already donned the “mittens of disapproval” and smacked around nefarious ne’er-do-wells at FIFA, the NFL and the NCAA, John Oliver is now turning his attention to the one group that, frankly, we’d all like to get our hands on: greedy owners who strong-arm cities (and taxpayers) into building opulent, oft-ridiculous stadiums for their teams. Sidebar The 15 Worst Owners in Sports » With the Miami Marlins currently playing…

Happy Monday! Netflix wanted to share a couple fun lists, in anticipation of July 15th: That one day a year that sports enthusiasts fear most…The Day Without Sports. On this day, fans will see no professional sports on television as a part of the MLB All-Star break. Men be warned: girlfriends and wives around the U.S. are going to take “no sports on TV” as an invitation to gain some…

Pretend you are in a batter’s box getting ready to face former Rockies all-star pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez. Now blink. By the time your eyes are open again, Jimenez’s 95 mph fastball would have screamed past you for strike one. It takes 0.40 of a second to complete a full blink and 0.395 of a second for that 95 mph fastball to travel from the mound to the plate, according to…