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From baseball’s humble beginnings when they were rare, home runs have exploded. There were 5,610 hit in 2016, the second most in one season to the 5,693 hit in 2000 and an astonishing 1,424 more than were hit in 2014. In fact, the home run accounted for a higher percentage of runs than ever before, in part because there were fewer runs scored in 2016 than in 2000. Which means…

9:00 AM ET Facebook Twitter Facebook Messenger Pinterest Email print comment SINCE ROBERTO CLEMENTE emerged as the first Latino superstar in the 1960s, Latino players have been bringing their bat flips, broad smiles and exciting play to a pastime that feels ever more international. Last season 207 Latino players appeared on Opening Day rosters, comprising a full 24 percent of the league. And while these players come from different countries,…

BT Sport have beaten Sky Sports to exclusive Champions League coverage until 2021 in a £1.2bn deal, and have also secured the highlights package that will mean the European competition will no longer be shown on terrestrial television, with ITV losing its current late-night programme. The record payment for the exclusive rights is a sizable increase on what BT Sport, owned by Britain’s biggest mobile and broadband operator BT, paid…

CLOSE x Embed x Share USA TODAY Sports’ Nicole Auerbach says you shouldn’t be surprised if these small school teams make a magical run in the NCAA tournament. USA TODAY Sports Lonzo Ball, Dillon Brooks, Josh Hart, Frank Mason III and Caleb Swanigan have been named USA TODAY’s first team All-Americans.(Photo: USA TODAY Sports) Thirteen schools, four classes and seven conferences are represented on the 2017 USA TODAY Sports men’s…

Go fast. Turn left. Win. For decades, you could boil NASCAR down to this simple set of rules. The ethos is so concise that it’s often the main source of derision for the sport. (“All they do is turn left,” you might cry.) But that simplicity is also the backbone that made NASCAR popular in the first place. That’s why it felt cataclysmic when, this past January, NASCAR changed how…

RELATED: Race recap | Results | Standings   HAMPTON, Ga. — A peach of a day was within the grasp of home-state favorite Chase Elliott at Atlanta Motor Speedway. A fast car, combined with a crucial late-race error by race dominator Kevin Harvick, had left the door open. Elliott rallied for a fifth-place finish in Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, overcoming a mid-race, pit-road speeding penalty to work his way back…

Nice swimming pool. How much do you want to bet that there’s pee in there? Photographer: Rafael Fabres/Bloomberg Stop peeing in pools. You may claim you are not doing it. But as indicated in my previous FORBES piece about how dirty many swimming pools and hot tubs are, one in five people admit to peeing in a pool…with the emphasis on the word admit. And now researchers at University of Alberta have…

Please, let us keep the tar snakes. Photo credit: Matt Sullivan/Stringer/Getty Images Since virtually every human the planet doesn’t want Atlanta Motor Speedway to repave its racing surface after the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday, the track may actually reconsider its plans to destroy everything that’s good and holy in the world of cookie-cutter race tracks. This is a beautiful day. Advertisement While the potential for an…

Israel has reached the World Baseball Classic tournament for the first time.(Photo: Sebastian Scheiner, AP) The written history of Israeli baseball would be a pretty small book, but as the World Baseball Classic gets ready to begin on Monday the tournament’s biggest underdog is motivated to provide one of its best story lines. Team Israel will take part in the 16-team field for the first time and is not expected…

Lars Nootbaar made a change by staying the same. It led to an extra-innings RBI double to push USC to a 4-3 win over UCLA in the Dodger Stadium College Baseball Classic on Sunday evening. Normally when a pitcher gets two strikes against Nootbaar, the USC cleanup hitter will spread out his stance, cut down the intensity of his swing and all but eliminate his leg kick. But after UCLA…

Go fast. Turn left. Win. For decades, you could boil NASCAR down to this simple set of rules. The ethos is so concise that it’s often the main source of derision for the sport. (“All they do is turn left,” you might cry.) But that simplicity is also the backbone that made NASCAR popular in the first place. That’s why it felt cataclysmic when, this past January, NASCAR changed how…

MORE: Atlanta starting lineup HAMPTON, Ga. — Goodyear and driver Kyle Busch seem to be inextricably linked in the news fodder of the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, and that continued to be the case Sunday morning at Atlanta Motor Speedway. An errant step by a fan in the garage sent oil spilling onto two tires of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, necessitating a trip to…

Following protests from a women’s national team member last year, U.S. Soccer has ordered all players to “stand respectfully” during the playing of the national anthem. Adopted by the U.S. Soccer Board of Directors last month and originally reported by Fox Soccer TV analyst Stuart Holden, the policy reads: “All persons representing a Federation national team shall stand respectfully during the playing of national anthems at any event in which…

Please, let us keep the tar snakes. Photo credit: Matt Sullivan/Stringer/Getty Images Since virtually every human the planet doesn’t want Atlanta Motor Speedway to repave its racing surface after the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday, the track may actually reconsider its plans to destroy everything that’s good and holy in the world of cookie-cutter race tracks. This is a beautiful day. Advertisement While the potential for an…

Kevin Harvick dominated the first two segments of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series at Atlanta Motor Speedway Sunday, but a late speeding penalty against the No. 4 team allowed Brad Keselowski to swoop in for the checkered flag. Keselowski passed Kyle Larson for the lead with six laps to go for his first win of 2017. Harvick’s critical error came when the field pitted on Lap 311 of 325. The…

The 2017 World Baseball Classic is upon us. The tournament begins early Monday with Game 1 of Pool A at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea. Pool B will be played at Tokyo Dome, Pool C will be played at Marlins Park in Miami, and Pool D will be played at Estadio Charros de Jalisco in Guadalajara, Mexico. Here’s how you can watch the tournament’s opening game: How to…

Station Camp senior Dylan Pottorff (25)(Photo: File / Chris Brooks / Gallatin News Examiner) Fifteen high school baseball players to watch in Sumner County this season: Ben Brooks, Pope John Paul II, Sr., shortstop: Memphis signee is reigning All-Sumner County Player of the Year, hit .386 with .493 on-base percentage, 34 runs, 12 stolen bases. Brett Coker, Hendersonville, Jr., infielder/outfielder: All-District 9-AAA in 2016, hit .302 with seven stolen bases….

Here’s this week’s first top 25 prep baseball rankings by The Times after the opening week of games. Ranking, team, record, comment and last week’s ranking. 1. CHATSWORTH (4-0); Face Harvard-Westlake on Tuesday in Easton final at 7 p.m. at Birmingahm; 1 
2. SOUTH HILLS (4-0); Play in Bonita tournament semifinals; 2
 3. HUNTINGTON BEACH (4-0); Hagen Danner hit two home runs in win over Orange Lutheran; 3
 4. HARVARD-WESTLAKE…

The University of Miami baseball team has at least two serious problems: hitting and fielding – or more accurately, a lack thereof. The Hurricanes were shut out at home to Dartmouth 5-0 Sunday in the third and final game of their weekend series. They are 4-6 overall in a 56-game regular season, with two mid-week games coming up against FIU and opening Atlantic Coast Conference opponent Georgia Tech traveling to…

Go fast. Turn left. Win. For decades, you could boil NASCAR down to this simple set of rules. The ethos is so concise that it’s often the main source of derision for the sport. (“All they do is turn left,” you might cry.) But that simplicity is also the backbone that made NASCAR popular in the first place. That’s why it felt cataclysmic when, this past January, NASCAR changed how…