Rafael Devers is now a member of the San Francisco Giants after the Boston Red Sox shocked Major League Baseball by trading him on Sunday. One MLB insider claims teams across the league were "appalled" at how Devers handled himself before the trade.

On the podcast, ESPN MLB insider Buster Olney pulled back the curtain on the deal, and how other front offices viewed Devers's behavior before it went down.

"Within the sport, people with other teams are appalled at how he handled that," Olney said. "I had one person say to me, 'Look the team's handling of this on a scale of one to 10, with 10 being bad, was a six.' This person said, 'Devers? It was a 10 out of 10 at how badly he handled this.'"

The Red Sox moved Devers off third base to full-time designated hitter when they signed Alex Bregman this offseason. A few weeks into the campaign, they approached him about playing first base, and he flatly refused, then publicly criticized the organization.

While things sound toxic all-around in Boston right now, it seems most people around the league think Devers was a problem with the Red Sox.

Calling home runs on Independence Day is a little bit played out, but the Chicago Cubs truly earned such a comparison this year.

By the end of the seventh inning, Chicago was leading the St. Louis Cardinals at home 11-1 on the Fourth of July off a slew of home runs from the bats in the lineup.

Two players hit multiple home runs, Michael Busch with three and Pete Crow-Armstrong with two. But the real highlight was the franchise record being set: The eighth home run from the Cubs off the bat of Busch broke the previous team record of seven home runs in a game.

Seiya Suzuki, Dansby Swanson and Carson Kelly all added dingers as well.

Just stunning stuff from the Northsiders.

Chicago leads the NL Central by several games and is in a flirtatious spot with the top seed in the National League. Coming into the day third in home runs with 131, the Cubs will launch all the way to first in MLB, pending the results of the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers games this afternoon and tonight, the two teams ahead of Chicago.

The Cubs also join the Yankees as the only other team to hit eight or more home runs this year. New York hit nine home runs in March, breaking its own franchise record in that game.

The Cardinals attempted to rally back, scoring two runs in the top of the ninth inning, but the deficit was too much. Chicago won 11-3.

The record for most home runs in an MLB game is 10, set by the Toronto Blue Jays in 1987. The only other team to hit eight or more home runs on the Fourth of July is the Boston Red Sox in 1977.

Returning for the first time since he suffered an injury in the IPL, Gaikwad scored 184 off just 206 on the opening day of the Duleep semi-final

Ashish Pant04-Sep-2025It’s been close to five months since an elbow injury at the IPL 2025 kept Ruturaj Gaikwad away from top-flight cricket. He had a stint at the pre-season Buchi Babu tournament but playing a first-class game – a Duleep Trophy semi-final, no less – after a substantial gap, he would have liked to ease into the red-ball grind.Instead, Gaikwad found himself walking in at 10 for 2, only 19 balls into the semi-final. West Zone lost both openers under cloudy skies and the Central Zone bowlers Khaleel Ahmed and Deepak Chahar extracted plenty of movement. Gaikwad had seen Yashasvi Jaiswal trapped lbw to a Khaleel nip-backer and Harvik Desai caught at first slip, courtesy of a Chahar outswinger.Gaikwad knew counterattacking could be catastrophic, so he took the defensive route. He was beaten multiple times and had a couple of lbw shouts turned down. But he remained unmoved. As the weather cleared up and the sun started beating down, the surface at Ground B of BCCI’s Centre of Excellence played fewer tricks. By this time, Gaikwad had also started moving better. He was leaving the ball well, getting the long defensive strides in.Once Khaleel and Chahar finished their first spells, Gaikwad became proactive against the spinners and the third fast bowler, Yash Thakur. He guided offspinner Saransh Jain’s first ball past slip and then swept him to the left of deep square leg. In Jain’s next over, he struck him for two successive fours, and in no time caught up with his partner Aaryan Desai.Even when Aaryan fell, Gaikwad continued to shift gears, reaching his half-century before lunch, taking West Zone to safety.”I thought it was a good challenge to be part of,” Gaikwad said on countering the fast bowlers. “They were three really good fast bowlers with great skill set and to be able to face them, to be able to score runs against them would be a great challenge. That is what I thought and obviously, I stuck to it and [I am] really happy that it came off.”Ruturaj Gaikwad paced his innings well in his first first-class match of the season•PTI With the conditions for batting improving after lunch, Gaikwad opened up his shoulders even as West Zone lost Shreyas Iyer and Shams Mulani cheaply. A hallmark of Gaikwad’s knock was his foot movement against the spinners. On multiple occasions, he threw them off their lengths by going down the track and driving through covers and then going right back and guiding them late past slip.It didn’t take Gaikwad long to record his eighth first-class century, getting there with a push to mid-off off Harsh Dubey. And once he got to the landmark, he notched up a gear, particularly against the quicks. In the first over after tea, Gaikwad hit three fours off Thakur, which included two crisp straight drives. Soon after, he went after his Chennai Super Kings (CSK) team-mate, Khaleel. Taking advantage of Khaleel’s around-the-wicket angle, he first thrashed him for two consecutive fours, one through cover and the other through deep third. Then there was a delightful square cut followed by an upper-cut that went for six before he ended the over with an imperious cover drive.Gaikwad’s century was a masterclass on how to pace an innings. He took 72 balls to reach his fifty, 59 to go from 51 to 100, and just 47 balls to move from 101 to 150. By the time Gaikwad fell for 184 off 206 balls, beaten in flight by Jain and stumped, he had put West Zone in a position of strength.Despite playing first-class cricket after a gap, Gaikwad said that he didn’t have any pre-conceived goal in mind at the start of his innings: “It was just about following the process, whatever it is. Red ball needs a lot of patience, lot of process to be followed and it was just about getting into that rhythm. And I did it for almost a month and a half, and obviously, Buchi Babu as well and then it happened here as well.”

“It was a very fluke injury [in the IPL] and nothing anyone could do about it. I just had a good family time, enjoyed my time at home, and then obviously [now I am] trying to get into the rhythm, get into the routines, do the small things.”Ruturaj Gaikwad

Gaikwad fractured his elbow after being struck by a Tushar Deshpande delivery during IPL 2025. As a result, he missed a chunk of the IPL and India A’s tour to England in May-June. He later also pulled out of a County deal with Yorkshire due to a “personal issue at home”.The 28-year-old agreed that it wasn’t ideal sitting on the sidelines, but said there was a silver lining with him getting to spend more time with family and time to prepare for the domestic season.”There are some things which you cannot really control, and I think it was a very fluke injury and nothing anyone could do about it,” Gaikwad said. “I just had a good family time, enjoyed my time at home, and then obviously [now I am] trying to get into the rhythm, get into the routines, do the small things. I really loved the process throughout the time I was at home and then coming here as well [for rehab].”I got good time to prepare, especially after not playing the India A series. And then after coming back, I decided to work on red ball, give it some time and obviously still working on it. Still there is a long way to go.”

The Reds' late playoff push hit a snare on Tuesday in their rivalry matchup against the Pirates, as Pittsburgh trounced Cincinnati starter Brady Singer for four runs in the second inning.

Needing a win to ensure they don't fall behind the Mets in the NL wild card race, the Reds were desperate to respond with some early offense of their own. Star shortstop Elly De La Cruz delivered the magic they were seeking, blasting a two-run homer to chop the Pirates' lead in half in the bottom of the second inning.

Entering last week, De La Cruz hadn't hit a home run since July 31, but he snapped his drought on Friday with a round-tripper against the Cubs. When his team needed him to deliver again, he came up with a clutch two-run shot to keep the game against the Pirates competitive in the early frames.

De La Cruz is now up to 21 homers on the year, including two over the few days, and he's picked a great time to rediscover his power stroke at the plate. The Reds and Mets remain in a deadlock at 80–76 with six games left to play in the regular season, so every moment counts as the two teams try to secure their spot in the postseason.

أصبح ريال مدريد مستعدًا للتعاقد مع أربع صفقات جديدة، لتعزيز صفوفه في صيف 2026، خاصة في خط الدفاع، مع اقتراب رحيل ديفيد ألابا ومعاناة ميليتاو من إصابات متكررة وعدم توقيع رودريجر على تجديد عقده.

وبحسب “ديفنسا سنترال” الإسبانية، فقد أرسل ريال مدريد كشافين إلى لندن لمتابعة مارك جويهي مدافع كريستال بالاس عن قرب.

وكان اللاعب الدولي الإنجليزي قد قرر مغادرة ملعب سيلهرست بارك هذا الصيف، عند انتهاء عقده، ما يجعله خيارًا جذابًا للغاية.

ويعتبر جويهي الخيار الأمثل في حال قرر أوباميكانو تجديد عقده مع بايرن ميونخ، ويبدو أن ريال مدريد مصممًا على تجنب سيناريو ألفونسو ديفيز.

وعلى الرغم من وجود اتفاق شفهي بين ريال مدريد وأوباميكانو على الشروط الشخصية، لكنه مطلوب من باريس سان جيرمان أيضًا.

اقرأ أيضاً.. بعد تحديد سعره.. ريال مدريد ينافس ثلاثي إنجلترا على التعاقد مع آدم وارتون

وأبدى ريال مدريد اهتمامه بالتوقيع مع ديوجو دالوت ظهير مانشستر يونايتد في يناير، وينظر النادي الإسباني للاعب البرتغالي بأنه يمتلك مهارات متعددة وخبرة كبيرة حيث خاض أكثر من 150 مباراة في الدوري الإنجليزي.

وقد تبدأ المفاوضات بين ريال مدريد ومانشستر يونايتد من مبلغ 20 مليون يورو، ويعد هذا السعر معقولًا للنادي الإسباني الذي يسعى لتعزيز مركز الظهير الذي عانى من الإصابات هذا الموسم.

ويراقب ريال مدريد سعيد الملا نجم نادي كولن صاحب الـ19 عامًا، الذي يعد أحد أهم النجوم الواعدة في أوروبا ويتميز بسرعته ومراوغته وقدراته التهديفية، وقد يحتاج النادي الإسباني لدفع مبلغ يتراوح بين 50 و60 مليون يورو لضمه.

وبدأ ريال مدريد بمراقبة جيريمي جاكيه لاعب رين الفرنسي أحد أبرز المدافعين الشباب في اوروبا، وقد لفت صاحب الـ20 عامًا أنظار جميع الأندية الأوروبية.

Josh Naylor and the Mariners agreed to a five-year contract in what is the first major splash of this year’s MLB free agency, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

Seattle made it a top priority to keep Naylor in the organization after acquiring him at the trade deadline in a deal with the Diamondbacks. He played a key part in the team’s run to the ALCS, their longest stay in the postseason in franchise history, and now he’ll be sticking around for at least another five seasons.

Naylor played in 54 games for the Mariners after the mid-season trade. He slashed .299/.341/.490 with nine home runs, 33 RBIs and 19 stolen bases, racking up an impressive 2.2 bWAR in that span. He was also a key postseason contributor. In October, Naylor had 16 hits in 12 games and recorded three home runs and five RBIs.

The financial terms of Naylor’s new contract with the Mariners have not yet been reported.

Naylor likely had plenty of suitors in free agency, but Seattle moved quickly to ensure they were able to keep him in town. He immediately emerged as a fan-favorite at T-Mobile Park, and he’ll now be part of a formidable lineup alongside Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez for the foreseeable future.

Tottenham Hotspur sporting director Fabio Paratici is now planning to spearhead a move for a “world-class” £100m forward, having recently returned to N17 after a FIFA ban.

Spurs looking to strengthen attacking options

Thomas Frank is off to a solid start as Tottenham manager, despite being left a little light on attacking options at times, with Dominic Solanke, James Maddison, Randal Kolo Muani and Dejan Kulusevski all spending time on the sidelines.

In the week, Frank stressed just how important Kulusevski is to his side, and appeared to hint that the Sweden international may be back sooner rather than later, saying: “He’s a key, key player for us. Instead of putting an exact month on [his return]. I just want him back as quick as possible. I know the medical team and Dejan are working very hard on that. It’s not tomorrow, hopefully not too far away.”

The 25-year-old was a shining light in a Spurs side that underperformed in the Premier League last season, while also playing his part in the Europa League triumph, chipping in with four goal contributions during the run to the final.

As such, the winger’s return will be a welcome boost for Frank, but Tottenham have set their sights on bringing in a new forward, according to a report from TEAMtalk, which states they are among the clubs chasing AFC Bournemouth star Antoine Semenyo.

Having enjoyed a fantastic start to the season, Semenyo is being chased by a number of top Premier League clubs, but a deal could be very expensive, with the Cherries planning to hold out for a fee of around £80m – £100m.

Paratici has given the green light to lead the pursuit of the 25-year-old, with the Lilywhites expressing a strong interest in getting a deal done, which pre-dates the Italian’s return to north London.

Tottenham open agent talks to sign £35m Brazilian who's "deadly in the box"

Spurs have entered discussions over a deal for a new forward, who is being targeted by a number of top clubs.

By
Dominic Lund

Oct 19, 2025

"World-class" Semenyo would be statement signing for Tottenham

In his fourth season as a Premier League player, the Ghanaian appears to be entering his prime, having chipped in with six goals and three assists in eight matches, winning Bournemouth’s Goal of the Month award courtesy of a stunning strike against Liverpool in August.

Journalist Liam Canning was left particularly impressed by the forward’s performance in the Cherries’ 3-1 victory over Fulham earlier this month, singling him out for high praise on X after the match.

Even at £80m, the Bournemouth star would be by far Tottenham’s most expensive signing of all-time, but if the board want to make a real statement of intent in the post-Daniel Levy era, signing Semenyo would show they truly mean business.

Newcastle United had midfield star Bruno Guimaraes to thank yet again on Saturday as the dependable Brazilian bailed his inconsistent Premier League team out once more.

Without the South American popping up with a last-ditch effort, the Magpies would have likely had to make do with a disappointing share of the points versus Fulham.

In the right place, at the right time, to sneak an effort home after a William Osula shot nearly caught Bernd Leno out, Guimaraes has only further cemented his reputation as a Newcastle “talisman” with his heroic moment, as Match of the Day pundit Michael Carrick glowingly labelled him when assessing the dramatic 2-1 win.

Away from the beloved Toon captain, though, it isn’t entirely rosy in the Newcastle midfield ranks at the moment, with Joelinton showing visible signs of rust.

Joelinton's decline at Newcastle

When looking over some of Newcastle’s recent, modern greats, Guimaraes’ fellow compatriot is surely right at the top of the list as one of the Toon’s most loved talents.

Indeed, the £40m battler has now tallied up a mammoth 232 games for Howe’s men, with 31 goals and 21 assists also coming his way, per Transfermarkt. Still, Newcastle won’t want to be bogged down by living in the past too much, with the number seven looking to be “nowhere near his best” so far this campaign, according to Magpies-based reporter Mark Douglas.

It has been a sad decline for the 29-year-old so far this campaign, with both Sandro Tonali and the aforementioned Guimaraes remaining at the very peak of their powers. In stark contrast, Joelinton doesn’t even have a single goal or assist next to his name so far this season in the Premier League, after collecting a weighty seven goal contributions last campaign.

Eddie Howe is clearly frustrated with his stalwart’s drop-off in form, having hooked Joelinton off at the half-time mark against Brighton and Hove Albion in the middle of October. Moreover, while Guimaraes stole the limelight versus Marco Silva’s men, his waning counterpart only managed to muster up one weak effort on Leno’s net.

He did win ten duels, in all fairness, but with Joelinton edging towards being 30 years of age next year, it could soon be an apt time for Newcastle to be on the hunt for some more midfield reinforcements, with the likes of Joe Willock, too, in reserve no longer cut out for the bright lights of the top-flight.

Rumours are circulating that Howe and Co. have their eye on one particular EFL star to boost their midfield options, as a dream Joelinton heir is potentially in the works.

Newcastle plot move for special star

Ross Wilson will view January as the perfect time to try and tie down some of the Toon’s best assets, as well, with talk now centring on the new Newcastle sporting director attempting to iron out an extended contract for Guimaraes.

Reports also suggest that Middlesbrough star Hayden Hackney is on the agenda, with TBR Football recently revealing that the Premier League outfit is monitoring the tenacious Boro ace ahead of a potential January move, alongside top-flight rivals Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, and Crystal Palace.

If Newcastle are searching for fresh blood to eventually replace Joelinton, they would strike gold in landing Hackney, with the “special” 23-year-old – as he was once labelled by analyst Ben Mattinson – very much capable of a fierce strike like the relentless Brazilian, as seen in this superb effort being rifled home last season.

With 111 Championship appearances now under his belt, and with two goals and two assists heading his way this season for Rob Edwards’ men, it really does feel as if Hackney might be the revamp Howe and Co. need centrally, so they don’t have to depend on a diminishing Joelinton as much.

Games played

12

Goals scored

2

Assists

2

Touches*

80.4

Accurate passes*

52.0 (87%)

Key passes*

1.7

Ball recoveries*

5.3

Total duels won*

4.1

Staring at the above table in great detail further shows off Hackney’s obvious similarities to those of Joelinton, with 5.3 ball recoveries averaged per Championship clash definitely backing up Edwards’ claims that his number seven is a talent with “loads of energy”.

At his Toon prime, that was what Joelinton was very much known for. Yet, he pales in comparison here right now, with only 3.9 ball recoveries averaged on his end in the league above.

Of course, it’s a risk to assume that Hackney will immediately be as forceful in the Premier League. But, it could be a gamble worth exploring, rather than holding out hope on Joelinton returning to his intimidating peak.

Newcastle star who's in “form of his life” is as undroppable as Guimaraes

This Newcastle United star has now made himself as undroppable as Bruno Guimaraes after another fine display on Saturday.

ByKelan Sarson Oct 26, 2025

Shea Langeliers just joined an exclusive group.

On Monday night, the Athletics catcher led off his team's game against the Washington Nationals with a 402-foot home run to center field. It was the 27-year-old's 20th home run of the season, and helped him hit a major milestone.

According to MLB Stats, Langeliers is only the fifth catcher in major league history to hit 20 or more home runs in three of his first four seasons in the big leagues. A caveat is the player has to have played a minimum of 50% of games at catcher to qualify for the list.

The other players to do it are Cal Raleigh, Mike Piazza, Earl Williams, and Rudy York. That's it. To give you an idea of how rare it is, York made his MLB debut in 1937, Williams broke through in 1970, and Piazza won NL Rookie of the Year in 1993. In an odd twist, all of those players except for Raleigh played on the Athletics at some point during their careers.

Langeliers is having a career year in 2025. He entered Tuesday's game slashing .261/.313/.507, which are all career highs. In 2023 he hit 22 home runs, last season, he hit 29, and this year he's at 20. Meanwhile, his OPS has climbed from .681 in 2023 to .793 in 2024 and now to .820 in 2025.

A month ago, it appeared almost a foregone conclusion that Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal would run away with the American League Cy Young award. As the final month of the regular season nears, however, the race has opened up, thanks to a brilliant summer from Boston Red Sox star Garrett Crochet.

Crochet wasn’t charged with a loss throughout June and July, going 8–0 with 86 strikeouts and 18 earned runs in a 10-start span over those two months. He’s been no slouch in August, either, going 2–1 with 32 strikeouts and just four walks with nine earned runs in four starts.

At this point, there appears to be just two true contenders for the award, as Skubal and Crochet have effectively separated themselves from the pack. While Paul Skenes has virtually locked up the NL Cy Young, something many thought Skubal had done by the end of June, Crochet's dominance has him making a late push to prevent the Tigers lefty from becoming the first pitcher since Jacob deGrom in 2018–19 to win consecutive Cy Youngs.

Skubal's latest start only furthered Crochet's case for the Cy Young, too. Despite striking out 12, Skubal was tagged for six runs against the Athletics after surrendering a grand slam to Shea Langeliers. Though only one of those runs went down in the scorebook as an earned run due to an error earlier in the inning, it was the most runs Skubal has allowed in an outing all season, and the fourth time this month he's surrendered three or more runs.