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Digital Sports Desk

WNBA in Boston? Not So Fast!

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By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk 
BOSTON – There’s been quite a bit of bickering and arguing about the recent $325m bid by Steve Pagliuca (former Celtics minority owner) to bring the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun to play at TD Boston Garden in 2027. Pagliuca promised to build a $100m “State of the Art” practice facility for the WNBA team, as well.
The proposed offer was leaked to the Boston Globe and positioned as if it were a “done deal.” Wow, $325 million to relocate a team while WNBA expansion teams were going for a cool $250 million.
Boston rejoiced. The WNBA fans, some who trekked to beautiful Uncasville, Connecticut to see the Sun play at the Mohegan Sun’s wonderful arena – adjacent to a beautiful casino resort, all applauded the effort of Pagliuca. Those fans had just convened as a sellout crowd at TD Garden on July 15th for a Caitlin Clark-less Indiana Fever 85-11 win over the Sun. A year ago was much the same for a Sun vs Los Angeles Sparks game that made fans think of early Cs day Sam Jones vs. LA’s Jerry West or maybe more recent day Celtics’ Paul Pierce vs. Kobe Bryant, the late all-star of the Lakers.
Sellouts are great, especially when you only have to sell out one game of an entire season.
But, that’s not the point.
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey took the leaked bait hook, line, and sinker. The Guv’nah attended the Sun vs Fever game and was championing Boston’s loyal support of women’s sports, calling for Boston to get a WNBA team, as soon as possible.
There was a catch that Healey seemed to either ignore or not be aware of: Boston hadn’t even applied to the WNBA for an expansion franchise in the past decade. The WNBA is on an expansion quest, awarding teams to the Bay Area’s Golden State (Valkyries) playing now, in 2025, the Portland Fire and Toronto (Tempo) to begin play in 2026, and future expansion to three cities with new teams in Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia. The Cleveland team will begin play in 2028, followed by Detroit in 2029, and Philadelphia in 2030.
It’s a full-scale WNBA roll-out, carefully planned with a strategy of not seeking the relocation of a franchise as part of the deal.
That means, the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun are in a bit of a bind, since their own arena is the home venue. A sale of the franchise is one thing, but relocating it goes under a whole other set of league rules, even with a $325m offer on the table.
Another suitor, Marc Lasry, sought a similar deal but to simply move down the I-91, I-95, and I-84 New England corridor to Hartford to play home games at the vaunted XL Center. The Mohegan Tribe liked Pagliuca’s green better than Lasry’s and stood aside as the false alarm announcement was leaked.
The WNBA slapped some ears of those involved: “Relocation decisions are made by the WNBA Board of Governors and not by individual teams,” the WNBA said in a statement to the Globe’s Gary Washburn. “As part of our most recent expansion process, in which three new franchises were awarded to Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia on June 30, 2025, nine additional cities also applied for WNBA teams and remain under active consideration. No groups from Boston applied for a team at that time and those other cities remain under consideration based on the extensive work they did as part of the expansion process and currently have priority over Boston. Celtics’ prospective owner Bill Chisholm has also reached out to the league office and asked that Boston receive strong consideration for a WNBA franchise at the appropriate time.”
While Boston media and the Guv’nah hemmed and hawed about Boston being a great city for sports, about the relationship of the WNBA with the NBA, and even Governor Healey going as far as trying to broker a new deal between brand new C’s franchise owner Bill Chisolm (just closed on the $6.1 billion deal) and Pagliuca, everyone in the room seemed to miss a major elephant in that room.
The venue.
Would the WNBA want to place a franchise in a place where the arena is owned by a hockey team, via Delaware North – much like the unfortunate deal the Celtics have been operating under for decades of championships? Would the WNBA award a franchise that might be forced to play at Boston University’s Agganis Arena – light on premium hospitality, suites, parking and all the money-makers of sports property ownership? Might Boston College’s Conte Forum be an option? (See same problems).
Nope. And, pardon this slight tangent, let’s keep in mind that Boston totally punted on a 2014 bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics – a bid the USOC accepted and put forth to the IOC, only to revoke and place Los Angeles’ successful bid for the 2028 Summer Olympics in its place. A major mistake on the world sports map.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts also botched a D-League franchise. Who can forget the 2009 Springfield Armor, banished in 2014 to become the Grand Rapids Drive (and Gold). Another D-League (now G-League) team – the Maine Red Claws – crawled to Portland, Maine rather than navigate the Worcester DCU Center.
For baseball? The City of Worcester reportedly footed 55% of $159 million Polar Park as part of a $240 million redevelopment of Worcester’s Kelley Square and Canal District. (That’s $87,450,000 for those scoring at home). It’s not like Governor Healey was ready to commit cash for building a new venue for the Setting Sun, or the Celts for that matter.
If that’s not enough past history proof, how about the fact the great and powerful NFL Oz, Bob Kraft and his New England Patriots, threatened to move to Hartford before settling on building Gillette Stadium out in the middle of nowhere, Massachusetts (Foxboro). By the way, Kraft’s New England Revolution are averaging a paltry 23,978 this year, down some 5,000 fans a game in their 66,000+ stadium.
Additionally, Kraft and his mayoral candidate son, Josh, are hammering current Boston Mayor Michele Wu over squashed plans to build a 25,000 seat stadium in Everett, Mass. – not far from the Encore (Wynn) Casino campus. Wu, in turn, championed a refurbishment of rundown, rat-infested White Stadium in Boston’s Franklin Park at a reported cost of $172 million. That venue would become the home of a NWSL expansion franchise for women’s soccer as the Boston Legacy FC plans to open up shop in 2026.
With all the building, the lack of engagement by Massachusetts or Boston for a new basketball venue is notable and should not be overlooked in the WNBA discussions. Boston Garden/Shawmut Center/Fleet Center/TD Garden was built in 1993-95 and is now one of the oldest arenas in the land. It has next to no parking, and – again, is owned by the Bruins’ parent, Delaware North. Despite massive renovations in 2026-07 and again in 2021-22, the building is nowhere close to the new $1.4 billion Chase Center in San Francisco, now the model for mixed-use arenas and home of the WNBA’s Valkyries.
All that said, there’s a clear message for Boston and the Honorable WNBA fan and former Harvard point guard and enthusiastic Guv’nah; let’s not point fingers at the WNBA and NBA before looking in the very mirror of sports and aging venues and philosophies in the Commonwealth.

Gem-o-lito

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BALTIMORE – (Wire Service Report) – Boston’s Lucas Giolito pitched eight shutout innings to upstage the return of a Baltimore Orioles pitcher as the visiting Red Sox won 5-0 on Tuesday night.

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Trevor Story and David Hamilton both homered off Kyle Bradish, who pitched in the big leagues for the first time in more than a year.

The Red Sox won for the fifth time in six games, including the second night in a row in this series. Hamilton finished with three runs batted in.

Giolito (9-2) held the Orioles to four hits while striking out eight and issuing his only walk with two outs in the eighth to Jackson Holliday. Giolito’s outing ended with him needing 11 pitches to strike out Jeremiah Jackson. He finished with 104 pitches.

Justin Wilson pitched the ninth to complete the shutout despite allowing two singles.

Bradish (0-1), who had Tommy John surgery in June 2024, struck out 10 batters without a walk in six innings. Two of the four hits he allowed were solo home runs.

Bradish retired 11 of the first 13 batters he faced, with the home runs the exceptions.

The Orioles have dropped five of six games in the homestand, which has two games remaining vs. the Red Sox. Baltimore won both games in a two-game set last week at Boston.

Roman Anthony, Hamilton and Story each had two hits for Boston. Baltimore’s Alex Jackson also contributed two hits.

Story led off the second with his 21st home run of the season, marking his 200th career long ball. The third inning began with Hamilton’s fourth homer.

An RBI fielder’s choice grounder from Carlos Narvaez in the eighth pushed the score to 3-0. Yaramil Hiraldo was charged with that run.

Hiraldo also was responsible for Boston’s two ninth-inning runs when Hamilton doubled off Yennier Cano.

–Field Level Media

Sox Find Way to Beat Yankees

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BRONX, NY – (Wire Service Report) – Even when they struggle to produce the big hit, the Boston Red Sox are finding ways to beat the Yankees. Their latest win was due in large part to three players who had a combined zero hits in their early-season success vs. New York.

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The Red Sox will attempt to grab the first American League wild-card position and earn a seventh straight win over the Yankees when the rivals continue a four-game series Friday night in New York.

Boston leads the season series 6-1 after losing seven of the 13 meetings last season. The Red Sox moved within a half-game of the Yankees for the top AL wild-card position on Thursday when they opened the series with a 6-3 victory.

Boston went 3-for-19 with runners in scoring position but got big nights from rookie Roman Anthony, newcomer Nathaniel Lowe and Alex Bregman, who was on the injured list in June during the clubs’ two series in June.

Anthony, who debuted June 9, hit a two-run homer in the ninth and drove in three runs in his Yankee Stadium debut. He produced two of Boston’s hits with runners in scoring position. Anthony is hitting .373 (19-for-51) in that area and has three homers in his past nine games after hitting two in the first 50 games of his career.

“It’s probably what I imagined, and maybe even a little more,” Anthony said of playing in New York. “But it’s exciting. For me, I love playing in that atmosphere. I love getting booed, I love everything about it, so it’s fun.”

Lowe, who joined the Red Sox on Monday, drove in two runs with a sacrifice fly and tiebreaking double. He has reached four times in 11 plate appearances for Boston.

Bregman had three hits and a walk, and he is hitting .337 (28-for-83) over his past 23 games.

After tying their season high with five straight wins, the Yankees played one of their sloppiest games in weeks, committing four errors. Paul Goldschmidt and Luis Gil made fielding miscues while Ben Rice and Jazz Chisholm Jr. made errant throws.

The Yankees but issued nine walks on Thursday, their second-highest total of the season. Rice homered and Goldschmidt and Chisholm hit RBI singles, but New York stranded 10. The Yankees have scored only seven runs in their past four games against Boston.

“Just not a real clean game for us,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone, whose team is still 9-4 in the past 13 games. “Obviously a lot of free bases there.”

Max Fried (13-5, 3.26 ERA), who is 2-3 with a 7.20 ERA in his past six outings, will start for the Yankees on Friday. On Saturday in St. Louis, he earned the win despite allowing a season-high seven runs on eight hits in five-plus innings during a 12-8 victory.

“I think stuff-wise, he’s very close to who he’s been all year and who he’s been when he’s been at his very best,” Boone said Thursday afternoon. “So I do feel like it’s something that hopefully can click because he’s probably been searching for a little bit out there and fighting himself a little bit out there.”

Fried is 2-1 with a 2.84 ERA in three career starts against the Red Sox. He took the loss June 15 at Boston when he allowed two runs on six hits in seven innings.

Boston’s Friday starter, Brayan Bello (9-6, 3.23 ERA), will attempt to reach double-digit victories for the third straight season. The right-hander last pitched on Saturday, when he allowed two runs on four hits over 6 1/3 innings to beat the Miami Marlins.

Bello opposed Fried on June 15 and threw seven scoreless innings and surrendered only three hits in seven innings during a 2-0 win. He is 4-3 with a 2.21 ERA in nine career starts against the Yankees.

–Field Level Media

NFL: Pain in the Game

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FOXBORO – (Wire Service Report) – Pain is part of the game, but the emotional toll of NFL roster cuts warrants its own classification on the injury scale.

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All 32 teams face a 4 p.m. ET deadline on Tuesday to reduce their training camp rosters from 90 to the regular-season limit of 53. That’s a total of 1,184 players receiving a public rejection notice and going from the doorstep of a pro football paycheck to the enormous queue of roster fodder fighting for a chance to stick around in one of the 16 practice-squad spots available to every team.

“It’s tough when you’re in the position of having to tell a guy who worked his entire life, it’s been his dream since childhood to make an NFL roster and be an impact player,” Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans said. “But to be able to tell him no is difficult for me, still. It never gets easy.”

For players in backup roles who survive the initial roster cut to 53 on Aug. 26, the stress is far from over.

Unless a player is waived with an injury designation and reverted back to the team’s injured reserve list, non-vested veterans (less than four accrued seasons in the NFL) will be subject to waivers with no control over where they could wind up by this time next week.

If a player is claimed via waivers, he is automatically placed on that team’s 53-man roster. The claiming team must execute a corresponding move, which can involve injured lists — injured reserve, physically unable to perform, non-football injury — or necessitate cutting a player who made the initial 53-man roster only to be kicked to the curb before the start of the regular season.

For the first three weeks of the regular season, the Tennessee Titans are No. 1 in the waiver order, which follows the original draft order from the prior season with no regard to trades. That means the Jacksonville Jaguars are not No. 2 in line despite trading up for Travis Hunter. That spot still belongs to the Cleveland Browns, followed by the New York Giants.

Titans coach Brian Callahan and first-time general manager Mike Borgonzi are planning to be selective working the wire next week, but neither is hiding from the idea of finding talent capable of helping the franchise rebuild.

“You don’t just claim a player to claim one,” Callahan said. “You’ve got to feel like it’s a real talent upgrade for an opportunity to help your team. And you don’t just dismiss guys because we’ve also poured a lot of work into these players that have been here for the better part of six months.

“… So that’s the fine line you walk at this time of year. And again, having the No. 1 waiver claim allows us to be aggressive if we choose to be.”

Established veterans aren’t immune to being cut. They’re typically more expensive and contracts become fully guaranteed for vested veterans on the roster Week 1.

The Kansas City Chiefs have never been afraid to part with a vested veteran. They cut wide receiver Kadarius Toney last August and the Minnesota Vikings cut another former first-round pick, safety Lewis Cine, without an injury designation. Quarterback Desmond Ridder was cut by the Cardinals in the late-August roster culling in 2024 after being acquired in a trade from the Falcons.

Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster has seen almost everything in his NFL career. Only a year ago, about two weeks separated Smith-Schuster being released by the Patriots (Aug. 9) and signed by the Chiefs (Aug. 26) as Toney was sent packing. This summer, coaches are applauding his approach to mentoring younger receivers and helping players who might wind up with his paycheck on the finer points of being a pro.

“Make the most of your opportunities,” Smith-Schuster said of what advice he shared with younger players. “For a lot of them, what they put on tape, they’re all getting evaluated (by 31 other teams).”

Smith-Schuster, 28, said being released by the Patriots turned out to be a blessing because he feels at home in Kansas City. The long view is part of the reason he spent an hour after training camp practices working with backup receivers, and the end result was a message he wants younger players to hear.

“I think naturally I’m a people person. I like helping out the guys. For me, I remember when I was a rookie. Some of the veteran guys took time out of their day, guys with families,” he said. “This is their livelihood. They’ve been playing football since they were kids. For them the more they can get out of a veteran — I know it goes a long way not only for them but the future.”

Ryans doesn’t necessarily have time for the long view.

He and Texans personnel boss Nick Caserio have already begun shaping what the final 53 will look like entering the preseason finale at Detroit on Saturday. From there he’ll be facing what he said is the worst time of the year as a head coach, collecting playbooks and erasing roster numbers.

“But the players do a great job of handling that by wanting to know, ‘Hey, what can I do to get better? What are the steps for me to make a team? Where do you see I need to improve?’ I have a lot of guys who ask that question. And I’m happy to give them the advice that I think can help them out,” Ryans said. “In my role, my biggest aim for all of our guys is: How do I help and assist players to make the NFL? It may not be our 53-man roster here with the Texans, but there are 31 other teams. Can I help those guys in any way make their dreams a reality?”

–Field Level Media

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Sox Squander Then Get Swept

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BOSTON – (Wire Service Report) – Samuel Basallo hit a go-ahead groundout in the 11th inning as the visiting Baltimore Orioles beat the Boston Red Sox 4-3 to sweep a two-game series on Tuesday night.

The Orioles earned their sixth win in seven games despite being out-hit 8-6. Baltimore’s Ryan Mountcastle and Colton Cowser had a hit and an RBI.

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Seven Baltimore pitchers held Boston hitless in 13 at-bats with runners in scoring position.

Yennier Cano (2-6) tossed a scoreless 10th inning, and Corbin Martin who posted his second save, stranding Nate Eaton on third base in the 11th. Eaton did not try to score on Roman Anthony’s potential sacrifice fly to center for the second out, and Alex Bregman popped out to end the game.

In his first Red Sox start, Nathaniel Lowe hit a game-tying, two-run home run to right in the ninth to force extra innings. However, it was one of three straight frames in which the Red Sox loaded the bases without scoring.

With Boston down 3-1 in the eighth, Connor Wong and Anthony hit back-to-back singles and Bregman walked to fill the bases. Orioles reliever Rico Garcia then entered and struck out the next three batters — Jarren Duran, Trevor Story and Masataka Yoshida — to get out of the jam unscathed.

An inning later, after Lowe’s homer, Boston drew three consecutive walks with two outs, but Yaramil Hiraldo got Story to ground into an inning-ending fielder’s choice.

In the 10th, Cano induced an inning-ending double play from Abraham Toro.

Anthony, Wong and Romy Gonzalez all had two hits for Boston, which has lost three in a row. Garrett Whitlock (5-3) yielded an unearned run in the 11th.

The Red Sox took a 1-0 lead in unique fashion in the third. After hitting a leadoff single and advancing on an error and Anthony’s fielder’s-choice grounder, Wong baited Orioles starter Tomoyuki Sugano into a balk by breaking down the third base line toward home plate.

Boston’s Walker Buehler labored through the first four innings, working around six combined baserunners to hold Baltimore scoreless.

In the fifth, Jackson Holliday’s Green Monster-banging double and a Luis Vazquez walk ended the Boston starter’s day. Justin Wilson recorded the first out in relief, but consecutive RBI hits by Mountcastle and Cowser made it 2-1. A wild pitch by Greg Weissert allowed Mountcastle to score a third run.

Buehler wound up charged with two runs in four-plus innings. Sugano permitted just an unearned run in five innings.

–Field Level Media

O’s, Sugano Prove to be Tough for Sox

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BOSTON – (Wire Service Report) – In the first series between the Orioles and Red Sox since late May, Baltimore will look to sweep a two-game set in Boston on Tuesday night.

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After Trevor Rogers pitched seven innings of one-run ball in a series-opening 6-3 win on Monday, the Orioles will hand the ball to 35-year-old rookie Tomoyuki Sugano, who is set to face Boston for the first time in his career.

Sugano (10-5, 4.13 ERA) has not lost since July 2. The right-hander allowed just one run in each of his past two starts, the most recent being a Thursday outing against the Seattle Mariners, when he exited after 5 1/3 innings due to a 2-hour, 18-minute rain delay.

“Throwing strikes, good velocity, good split, good command,” Orioles interim manager Tony Mansolino said.

Sugano is the 10th Japanese-born pitcher to win 10 games during his rookie season in the U.S. major leagues.

The Orioles have turned things around following a 3-8 skid, earning five wins in their past six games. Pitching has been a key for Baltimore even longer than that, as the club’s 3.89 ERA is the American League’s fourth-best since the All-Star break. Before the break, the Orioles’ 4.92 ERA ranked next-to-last in the league.

In the series opener, the Orioles supported Rogers and two relievers by producing 12 hits. Gunnar Henderson recorded a triple, a homer, two RBIs and three runs to help lead the way.

The 24-year-old shortstop, who is 24-for-46 with runners in scoring position since the start of June, is being counted on more than ever after the likes of Cedric Mullins and Ryan O’Hearn were traded at the deadline.

“It’s hard to just go out there and play good baseball after some of your longtime teammates leave, but … we’re really starting to put it together,” Henderson said. “You try to lean on guys, but we don’t really have that long-tenured veteran. We’re just kind of leaning on each other.”

Meanwhile, the Boston lineup got a pre-series boost with the arrival of first baseman Nathaniel Lowe, who was signed on Monday after being released by the Washington Nationals.

The left-handed batter was not in the starting lineup against Rogers, a lefty, but he drew a ninth-inning walk as a pinch hitter and scored a run. In that frame, the Red Sox produced four of their six hits for the night and two of their three runs, but they still ended up with their second straight loss.

“Getting plugged into a lineup that’s having great success and being part of making a great postseason push is what it’s all about,” Lowe said.

Boston manager Alex Cora said he expects to platoon the 30-year-old newcomer with switch-hitting Abraham Toro.

“He’s excited to be here,” Cora said of Lowe. “We’ll use him against righties, certain lefties, pinch-hit him late and use him to maximize the roster.”

Boston’s scheduled Tuesday starting pitcher, Walker Buehler (7-7, 5.43 ERA), has had a mixed bag of recent outings. The right-hander served up two homers and four runs in his six-inning outing on Wednesday in a 4-1 loss to Houston after shutting out the San Diego Padres across six frames five days earlier.

“Tough one,” Buehler said of the contest at Houston. “There was a lot of 92 (mph) in there and kinda moving the ball around, but pitching a little bit and making a lot of pitches when I felt like I needed to — and you kinda lose it there in the sixth at the end.”

Buehler is 1-1 with a 2.16 ERA in three career starts against Baltimore, including a May 25 loss in which he gave up two runs on four hits in five innings.

–Field Level Media

TGL II Back on Schedule

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PALM BEACH GARDENS – (Wire Service Report) – The second season of TGL will begin Sunday, Dec. 28, with a rematch of the inaugural championship series.

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The simulator golf league co-founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy announced Monday that the defending champions Atlanta Drive GC and the New York Golf Club will face off in the season-opening match. It will be played at 3 p.m. ET and be broadcast on ABC while competitors CBS and Fox carry Week 17 NFL games.

Atlanta Drive GC feature Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Billy Horschel and Lucas Glover. New York’s team is made up of Xander Schauffele, Rickie Fowler, Cameron Young and Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick.

Atlanta swept New York in the best-of-three championship series last March to wrap up the first season of the league, which plays 15-hole matches in a purpose-built arena in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

TGL announced that the full schedule will be published in September. The TGL season will run through March.

–Field Level Media

Shutdown Street

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BOSTON – (Wire Service Report) – Trevor Rogers pitched shutout ball for his first 6 1/3 innings and Gunnar Henderson ripped a pair of RBI extra-base hits to help the visiting Baltimore Orioles beat the Boston Red Sox 6-1 in the opener of a two-game series on Monday night.

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Rogers (6-2) struck out seven and allowed just one run on four hits across seven innings. The righty never worked with more than one baserunner aboard until his final frame.

The Orioles banged out 12 hits, including three from Ryan Mountcastle. Henderson was 2-for-4 with two RBI and three runs scored, while rookies Samuel Basallo, Jeremiah Jackson and Dylan Beavers each had multiple hits as well.

Trevor Story (2-for-4) and Jarren Duran (double, three RBI) led the Red Sox, who have taken back-to-back home losses for the first time since June.

After Rogers and Boston counterpart Dustin May (7-9) pitched two scoreless innings apiece, the Orioles broke the deadlock with single runs in back-to-back frames. Henderson’s solo shot to center field made it a 1-0 game with two outs in the third.

Basallo’s leadoff double opened a stretch of three straight Baltimore hits to extend the lead in the fourth. The rookie backstop came across after Jackson and Beavers recorded back-to-back singles thereafter, with the latter being lined to center to double the score.

May took the tough-luck loss despite finishing his six-inning quality start with back-to-back scoreless frames, striking out five through six innings. However, the visitors made it a 4-0 game with two quick runs off Boston reliever Jovani Moran in the seventh.

After Jackson Holliday drew a leadoff walk, Henderson laced an RBI triple into the right-field corner two batters later. Ryan Mountcastle then came up and drove home the fourth Baltimore run on a single up the middle.

The four-run cushion was more than enough for Rogers, who did not allow more than one baserunner until the Red Sox cracked the scoreboard in the seventh. Alex Bregman’s leadoff walk and a Trevor Story one-out double preceded Duran’s first RBI.

In the ninth, Basallo’s line-drive, two-run single to center plated Luis Vazquez (leadoff double) and Henderson to provide insurance for Baltimore, though Duran hit a two-out, two-run double off the left-field wall to bring the home team its lone run.

Orioles third baseman Jordan Westburg took an awkward stumble coming around second base in the first inning and exited the game with what the team later described as right ankle discomfort. Vazquez replaced him.

–Field Level Media

Something’s Fishy at Fenway

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By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – There’s something fishy at Fenway and it’s not the old story about a ballpark under sea level, three rainy days and fish floating upstream and into the outfield drains and the visitor’s dugout. (It really happened, according to former Boston Globe baseball writer, Peter Gammons).

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Today’s fish story really happened, too.

The Boston Red Sox were winning 3-1, after scoring an Arbella in the 7th inning when corner infielder Abraham Toro hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score Wilyer Abreu from third base after Abreu and Romy Gonzalez hit consecutive singles.

After pitching seven innings of one run, three hit baseball, Sox starter Garrett Crochet gave way to reliever Garrett Whitlock in the 8th. It was one too many Garretts for the day, as the latter gave up a pair of singles and hit a batter to allow the Florida Marlins … aka, the fish … to swim upstream and make it 3-2, Boston.

Boston Manager Alex Cora was navigating around the fact his club gave up late innings runs just yesterday and the Sox skipper was forced to play closer Aroldis Chapman to secure a 7-5 victory. Cora had to improvise or risk burning his elite closer out before the home stretch for contenders comes in September.

Cora tapped reliever Greg Weissert for the top of the 9th and – TIE GAME – as Marlins CF Dane Myers blasted a solo home run 385 feet to right center, prompting Cora to change gears and pitchers after Miami first baseman Eric Wagaman singled to put the go-ahead run on base.

Lefty Steven Matz entered the game mid-inning and pinch hitter Jacob Marsee laced a 394-foot, two-run homer to provide the Marlins with a 5-3, come-from-behind victory – at the cost of a shakey bullpen, sans Chapman.

Boston had two runners on with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but backstop Carlos Narvaez flied out to right against Miami reliever Anthony Bender to end the game.

Tyler Phillips (2-1) collected the win for pitching a scoreless eighth. Bender picked up his fourth save.

Despite the loss, Boston is 16-3 in their last 19 home games and 57-2 when leading after eight innings, but they’ve dropped six of their last 10 games, since August 6. That was following a seven-game winning streak.

Crochet, the Boston ace, is 13-5 on the season and lost the chance for his 14th victory.

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Aug 17

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By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – HBO’s “HARD KNOCKS” is the best sports television show in history. It’s not even close. While Ernie (Johnson, Jr.), Charles (Barkley), Kenny (Smith) and Shaq (O’Neal) of Turner Sports fame can make you laugh out loud every time, not one of the “Inside the NBA” shows has ever made me feel like running through a wall after watching the show. Hard Knocks does that. Every episode.

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Just hearing the Hard Knocks theme song gets me revved-up and there’s been no highlight show or team documentary that has ever come close to unearthing such emotion. Hard Knocks often features a team I couldn’t care less about in the fixtures of the NFL, yet each summer I, along with legions of sports fans, come away from a few episodes of a weekly TV show rooting like hell for the team that’s been featured.

That is happening this year as the Buffalo Bills are featured and Tuesday night marked just the second episode of the 2025 version of the show which debuted in the “Way Back Machine” with the Baltimore Ravens in 2001.

The NFL and HBO have called Hard Knocks “the first sports-based reality series” in television history. That’s B.S. because long before 2001, anyone and everyone in the sports industry realized we had the best reality programming in history, and it was our games themselves.

CBS reality series – Survivor – premiered on May 31, 2000. Executive Producer Mark Burnett hatched an idea that – somehow – has lasted 25 years, with the property gaining and keeping its loyal audience while also spinning out other reality shows on everything from cooking/chefs to swamp people.

Facing facts, reality shows can easily be taped and watched at a later date, although office water cooler talk might spoil a surprise ending. Sports, on the other hand, has to be watched live. Every sports fan knows it and it’s impossible to steer clear of the score of a game unless you’re asleep and watch the game before leaving your bed or touching your phone device.

Hard Knocks married the two and has become must see TV, especially as avid NFL fans countdown the days to the opening weekend of football. The Hard Knocks theme song prompts the visceral reaction of the human mind and body.

The theme was written for NFL Films by David Robidoux, a music composer who hails from the tough town of Reading, Pennsylvania. Robidoux is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music with degrees in audio engineering and film scoring. He began working for NFL Films in 1991 and is a 40-time EMMY nominee and 15-time EMMY Award winner. He’s created nearly 3,000 compositions for the NFL alone but has done everything from a Dressage routine for US Olympian Laura Graves in the Rio 2016 Olympics, featuring “Man Of War” to a “40 Years of NFL Films Music” 10 CD Box Set.

If the theme doesn’t cement you in your armchair for an hour, then the voice of narrator Liev Schreiber will provide you with chills throughout every episode. Schreiber, best known for his acting role as Marty Baron – editor-in-chief of the Boston Globe in the Academy Award winning movie, Spotlight, was so perfectly cast to be the voice of Hard Knocks. Back in 2023, when Hard Knocks was featuring the New York Jets, then-Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers referred to Schreiber as “the voice of God” for his efforts in the series, and rightfully so, as the actor has been with the docuseries each and every episode – all but one season. In 2007, he didn’t narrate and turned the duties to Kansas City Chiefs fan Paul Rudd.

Schreiber’s only on screen performance came in that J-E-T-S season when he choppered over to NYJ training camp for a look-see and meet & greet with the Jets players and coaches. This year, with the Bills, Schreiber is back in the familiar place of narration – Thank God.

That brings us to the content (and buzzword 🚨 alert) storytelling. Hard Knocks covers training camp of NFL teams, but its secret sauce is the character development created on each and every episode. Sure, a fixed camera in the GM’s office secretly filming a player being cut from the team has been the type of behind the scenes access NFL fans dreamt they watch, but the more compelling storylines are the deep dives into the off field lives of the players. Often depicted with their families or pictured in everyday life, shopping or mixing up a breakfast smoothie for a roommate/teammate, the bond created by Hard Knocks with the rank and file players of each team, create that magical fan to player love affair that is the very root of all sports.

Yes, sometimes, that player/character who became the unexpected star of an episode is later cut from the team and it draws on a fans raw emotions, fully understanding what a player and his wife/family have gone through during camp.

One such player was John Connor, aka “The Terminator.” Then-New York Jets coach Rex Ryan tagged the nickname on Connor (not to be confused with Arizona Cardinals running back, James Conner). Fans of the J-E-T-S fell head over heels for Connor when, as a fullback, he was assigned to be a lead blocker and clear a hole for his running backs. Connor didn’t make a block, he often hit defenders so hard, they’d drop to their knees and be carted off the field, dazed and confused by the alien that just ran them over – thus, the nickname, “The Terminator.”

Of course, the reality of NFL camp took over when Connor was sidelined with an MCL sprain and hamstring injury and was released by the Jets a month into the 2012 season. He bounced from New York to Cincinnati, back to New York for a short stint with the Giants and Jets (again), before playing his final NFL camp with the Buffalo Bills where he was among the final cuts on September 4, 2015.

Connor’s career stat line in the NFL consists of 108 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns, along with 12 receptions and a pass receiving TD. His game did not stand out for NFL teams, but, through Hard Knocks, his name will live on forever.

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HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Boston University is facing a lawsuit from Baylor University over a logo battle. The complaint was filed this week in Waco, Texas – where Baylor is located – and it seeks to prevent Boston University from using an “a specific interlocking BU design that is identical or strikingly similar to Baylor’s federally registered marks.” Baylor University noted it’s been using the interlocking BU letters since, at least, 1912 and the school registered for a trademark in 1987. The lawsuit says Boston University initially opposed the application, but the schools reached an agreement and Boston University has been using the letters side-by-side in its logo.

But the settlement went South, the lawsuit alleges, as Baylor found out – back in 2018 – that Boston University was using the interlocking BU on different hat styles in its campus store. Baylor asked Boston University to cease and desist in 2021, but the request was ignored. “Rather, its use has continued to expand, and a very large number of such goods now appears on the Defendant’s website,” Baylor said in the complaint.

A spokesperson for Boston University told WBZ-TV in Boston that the school does not comment on pending litigation. Meanwhile, Baylor is asking a judge to permanently stop Boston University from using the interlocking BU, and to destroy any products or signs with that specific logo.

WWYI wonders if Baylor would settle the case by playing an ice hockey game, with the winner getting rights to the BU. Surely, Baylor would rather play football.

TIDBITS & NUGGETS: Close to the old homestead, and alma mater is fact St. John’s President, Reverend Brian J. Shanley, OP, has been named Chair of the Big East Conference Board of Directors. This prestigious role is a testament to his leadership, vision, and unwavering commitment to both academics and athletics. … In other words, St. John’s better get all the close calls on the court this coming season. … Former PGA Tour TV guru and WNBA Commissioner (2005-11) Donna Orender is trying hoops again. Orender is Commissioner of The UpShot League, a development league for women’s basketball (a la WNBA). The league is scheduled to play in May 2026. The UPSHOT League’s regular-season schedule will consist of 40 games, including 20 at home and 20 on the road for only four teams. Currently, the clubs are:

  • UpShot Charlotte
  • UpShot Greensboro
  • UpShot Jacksonville
  • UpShot Savannah – (Might they be named the Savannah Roseannadannas)?

The new league is being organized by Zawyer Sports & Entertainment, a firm that owns, manages, and operates the Jacksonville Icemen, Savannah Ghost Pirates, Greensboro Gargoyles, 32 Degrees Marketing, Community First Igloo, Charlotte Checkers, and Gastonia Ghost Peppers. Zawyer Sports is in the business of hosting family based entertainment. Investors include, Cheryl Miller and Anne Meyers Drysdale, among others.

SOX STUFF: Aside from the hot, hot, hot Milwaukee Brewers (NL), the Boston Red Sox are second-best in the majors and an AL-best 26-12 since July 1. … At Fenway Park, the Sox are a scorching 16-2 in their last 18 games, 18-3 in their last 21 home games, and 25-6 in their last 31. … Not surprisingly, the Red Sox have sold out for their last 13 games, with Saturday’s crowd of 36,192 the most recent crowd. … The Red Sox starting pitchers lead the American League with 57 quality starts. … Boston ace Garrett Crochet will take to the mound vs the Marlins on Sunday (1:35pm).

JIMMY FUND: Monday, Aug 18 and Tuesday, Aug 19, 2025 mark the annual WEEI-Radio/NESN Radio Telethon to benefit The Jimmy Fund (Dana Farber Cancer Institute). Since 2002, the generous support of Sox fans and WEEI listeners/NESN viewers has raised more than $74 million to support pediatric and adult cancer care and research at Dana Farber. Tune-in and contribute, if you can: Visit HERE