Caleb Durbin hit a tiebreaking solo home run to break in the eighth inning as the Boston Red Sox extended their winning streak to 14 games by beating the visiting Baltimore Orioles, 6-5, Monday night.

The streak is the second longest in club history and one short of the franchise record set in 1946.

Durbin’s homer came against reliever Tyler Wells (2-2) and broke a 5-5 tie. It was his 10th home run of the season. Baltimore had runners on second and third with two outs in the ninth, but Tyler O’Neill lined out to shortstop to end the game. Garrett Whitlock (5-1) pitched a scoreless eighth to earn the win. Aroldis Chapman worked the ninth for his 22nd save.

Christian Encarnacion-Strand homered and Gunnar Henderson had three doubles for the Orioles, who committed four errors. The loss ended Baltimore’s seven-game winning streak.

Yankees 8, Pirates 5

Jazz Chisholm Jr. homered twice as New York played one of its best games at home of late to beat Pittsburgh.

The Yankees won for the third time in their past 12 home games and scored its most runs in a home game since a 10-5 victory over the Chicago White Sox on June 17 thanks to Chisholm, who homered in the first and third off Pittsburgh’s Braxton Ashcraft (9-4) and produced his 10th career multi-homer game.

Chisholm’s second homer occurred after rookie Esmerlyn Valdez hit a 431-foot two-run home run that gave the Pirates a 5-4 lead in the top of the third. Valdez’s drive to right gave him an RBI in eight straight games and 13 homers in the first 32 games of his career.

Guardians 13, Twins 4

Rookie Petey Halpin hit his first two home runs and Rhys Hoskins had his 14th career multi-homer game as Cleveland went deep a season-high seven times to throttle visiting Minnesota.

Travis Bazzana and Brayan Rocchio also cleared the fence against Twins starter Joe Ryan (6-6), who allowed a franchise- and ballpark-record six homers in four innings — the most in the majors this season — in his first appearance since the All-Star Game.

Patrick Bailey belted Cleveland’s seventh homer off Woo-Suk Go in the seventh, tying the club’s mark for most ever at home. Tanner Bibee (4-9) won his second consecutive start, working six innings and giving up two runs on six hits.

Rays 7, Blue Jays 1

Victor Mesa Jr., Cedric Mullins and Nick Fortes socked solo home runs as Tampa Bay won in Toronto to snap a five-game losing streak.

Junior Caminero was 3-for-4 with two doubles, a walk, and two RBIs in the opener of a four-game series to support Nick Martinez, who pitched six effective innings.

Martinez (9-2) allowed one run, six hits and one walk with no strikeouts to help Tampa Bay go to 6-1 against Toronto this season. Toronto is now 1-3 on a six-game homestand and fell 11 1/2 games behind the first-place Rays in the American League East.

Phillies 10, Dodgers 7

Trea Turner had two home runs, a double and five RBIs to fuel Philadelphia over visiting Los Angeles.

Brandon Marsh, Bryce Harper and Derek Hill also homered for the Phillies, who provided Cristopher Sanchez (12-4) with plenty of offensive support. After struggling in his first All-Star start last week, the left-hander allowed three runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings Monday, striking out seven without a walk.

Mookie Betts homered twice as part of a 4-for-5 night for the Dodgers, while Andy Pages chipped in with two hits and an RBI. Los Angeles starter Emmet Sheehan (4-7) absorbed the loss after allowing six runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings.

Braves 3, Padres 2

Michael Harris II and Ozzie Albies hit solo home runs and Bryce Elder pitched six strong innings to help Atlanta beat visiting San Diego in the opener of their four-game series. It was Atlanta’s first win in four tries against San Diego.

Harris went deep in the fifth to tie the game and Albies homered in the sixth, although their streak of nine consecutive home games with at least five runs came to an end. Elder (6-6) allowed two runs on five hits and one walk, striking out four. Victor Mederos pitched the final 2 1/3 innings and earned his first career save.

San Diego’s Ty France extended his hitting streak to a season-high eight games with a single in the fourth and homered to start the seventh.

Tigers 8. Cubs 6 (10 innings)

Dillon Dingler hit two home runs and added the go-ahead RBI single in the 10th inning to help Detroit survive a comeback by host Chicago.

Detroit scored four times in the first inning and maintained the lead until Ian Happ’s two-run homer off Kyle Finnegan in the eighth knotted the score at 5-5. With runners on the corners and no one out in the 10th, Dingler hit a chopper deep into the hole at shortstop and beat the throw to first from Dansby Swanson. Spencer Torkelson added on with a two-run single.

Dingler was 4-for-5 with three RBIs while Riley Greene got things started with a three-run homer in the first for Detroit.

Royals 4, Giants 3

Salvador Perez clubbed a two-run shot to move within one of tying George Brett’s all-time club home run record, but Kansas City needed Nick Loftin’s walk-off squeeze bunt in the ninth inning to beat visiting San Francisco.

The Giants trailed 3-1 and were down to their final out in the top of the ninth when Kansas City’s Alex Lange (1-5) allowed a single to Jung Hoo Lee. Willy Adames then sent a low-and-away pitch the opposite way and just over the right field fence to tie the game.

However, with runners on first and third and one out against Caleb Kilian (2-6) in the bottom of the frame, Loftin, who replaced All-Star Bobby Witt Jr. after the latter exited with lingering low back tightness earlier in the contest, bounced a bunt toward charging first baseman Bryce Eldridge, who could not make a clean play to get Josh Rojas at the plate.

Brewers 8, Mets 3

Joey Ortiz had a three-run homer, and Andrew Vaughn and Cooper Pratt added solo shots to pace Milwaukee over visiting New York and former teammate Freddy Peralta.

Brewers starter Jacob Misiorowski, who skipped his last start before the All-Star break due to arm fatigue, allowed one unearned run before exiting after four innings and 65 pitches. Two of the four hits allowed by the hard-throwing right-hander were infield singles. He struck out six and walked one. Craig Yoho (2-0) followed Misiorowski with one scoreless inning.

Peralta (5-9), facing his former team for the first time, was tagged for seven runs on eight hits in 5 1/3 innings, striking out six and walking two in a 107-pitch outing.

Astros 8, Marlins 5

Yordan Alvarez produced his fifth multi-homer game of the season to help Houston snap a four-game skid with a win over visiting Miami.

Alvarez finished 3-for-4 with a pair of solo home runs, his 27th career multi-homer game. Jeremy Pena added his second career grand slam as the highlight of a six-run second inning for the Astros. Ronel Blanco allowed two homers and four runs, striking out eight in his first start since May 17, 2025 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

Joe Mack and Liam Hicks hit two-run homers for the Marlins. Miami starter Janson Junk (4-6) was tagged for six runs on five hits over four innings. The Marlins lost their seventh straight game, falling out of the final National League wild-card spot with the loss.

White Sox 10, Rangers 3

Andrew Benintendi delivered a bases-clearing double in the fifth inning and Miguel Vargas had three hits and two RBIs to boost visiting Chicago over Texas in Arlington.

Chicago scored five runs in the ninth inning and is half a game ahead of the Cleveland Guardians atop the American League Central.

White Sox starter Erick Fedde spaced two runs and four hits in four innings with six strikeouts while Texas right-hander Jacob deGrom fell to 7-6 after an uneven outing. deGrom allowed five runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out six.

Nationals 7, Rockies 3

CJ Abrams homered for the second straight game, one of three home runs for Washington in its win over Colorado in Denver.

Jacob Young also went deep and finished with three hits, Curtis Mead contributed three hits and Andres Chaparro hit his fourth home run for Washington. Riley Cornelio (1-1) tossed 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, and Tom Cosgrove got the final six outs for his first save.

Jake McCarthy led the Rockies with a pair of hits. Kyle Freeland (2-9) allowed three runs in the first inning, but settled in to allow just four runs on seven hits over six innings. Colorado, which has dropped three of their first four out of the All-Star break, has the worst record in the National League.

Mariners 8, Reds 0

Cal Raleigh hit a grand slam and George Kirby pitched six scoreless innings as Seattle defeated visiting Cincinnati in the opener of a three-game interleague series.

Victor Robles went 4-for-4 and scored twice and Raleigh provided five RBIs for the Mariners. Kirby (8-8) allowed three hits, walked one batter and struck out six. Julio Rodriguez exited after the fifth inning, when he was hit by an Elly De La Cruz throw while legging out a run-scoring infield single.

Andrew Abbott (5-6) took the loss despite allowing just one unearned run on four hits over six innings. The top six hitters in the Reds’ lineup were a combined 0-for-20, with Cincinnati’s three hits coming from each of the bottom three hitters in the order.

Angels 3, Cardinals 2

Jo Adell was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth to give Los Angeles a walk-off victory over St. Louis in the opener of a three-game series in Anaheim, Calif.

The Angels, who were 0-48 when trailing after eight innings this season and had lost their last 106 such games, entered the bottom of the ninth behind 2-1.

Cardinals’ All-Star closer Riley O’Brien (3-4) struck out Mike Trout to begin the frame, but was touched for a single and a double, hit a batter and intentionally walked another before plunking Adell with a 3-0 sinker to drive in the game-winning run. Adell also hit a home run among two hits.

Athletics 5, Diamondbacks 2

Jeff McNeil delivered a tiebreaking pinch-hit, two-run single during a three-run seventh inning and the Athletics’ bullpen made it stand up in a victory over Arizona in Phoenix.

Tommy White went 4-for-5 with a run scored in his third major league game. Jacob Wilson and Joshua Kuroda-Grauer both had a homer among their two hits. A’s starter Jeffrey Springs gave up two runs on six hits over five innings but still saw his winless streak extended to 16.

Ketel Marte smacked a two-run homer for the Diamondbacks. Nolan Arenado became the sixth active player with 2,000 hits with his fifth-inning double. Arizona starter Mitch Bratt gave up two runs and eight hits over 4 2/3 innings in his third major league start. Kevin Ginkel (3-3) surrendered all three Athletics runs in the seventh.

–Field Level Media

NEW YORK (AP) — Pittsburgh Pirates reliever Dennis Santana said he yelled at José Caballero for taking too long to get ready in the batter’s box, triggering a heated altercation in Monday night’s 8-5 loss to the New York Yankees.

Both benches and bullpens emptied after Caballero bounced into an inning-ending double play in the eighth. Santana got angry following the play, gesturing and shouting a few times at Caballero on the field.

“Just don’t (take) that long (at) home plate and that’s it,” Santana said when asked what he said to Caballero.

The right-hander was restrained by teammates Rafael Flores and Bryan Reynolds before order was restored after a few minutes without any punches or ejections.

“Dennis just got frustrated by something,” Pittsburgh manager Don Kelly said. “Thankfully it didn’t end up being a big deal.”

Since the pitch clock was implemented in 2023, hitters are required to be in the batter’s box and facing the pitcher with eight seconds remaining on the clock. Caballero was trying to wait until the last second available during his at-bat, which lasted three pitches.

“I just grounded into a double play, turning my back to the coach at first base to give my guards to him, and he was chirping at me,” Caballero said. “I was a little bit surprised about it.”

Caballero had two hits, including a two-run double, before his at-bat against Santana, who has a 6.05 ERA in 44 appearances and gave up a game-ending two-run homer to Cleveland rookie Travis Bazzana on Saturday.

“At this point, he’s lucky he doesn’t get a ball right away because at this point, it’s been four years with the same rules, which we all should know about the rules,” Caballero said. “The whole league should know who I am, what I do (in) the box, and they should be aware of it. For you to get mad at something that the league’s implementing — you shouldn’t be mad at me, you should be mad at someone else.”

During New York’s 8-3 win in Toronto on June 14, Caballero was issued a warning for intentionally delaying an at-bat. He was warned by plate umpire Stephen Jaschinski that he would get an automatic strike called if it happened again, and Yankees manager Aaron Boone spoke to Major League Baseball officials about it the following day.

“I know he does it every pitch. It’s his thing,” Reynolds said.

Caballero’s deliberate style in the batter’s box has periodically irked opponents, including the Yankees, who acquired him from Tampa Bay on July 31 last year.

As a rookie with the Seattle Mariners in June 2023, Caballero annoyed Yankees ace Gerrit Cole so much the right-hander threw a 97 mph fastball to him that landed high up on the backstop.

Cole’s pitch was in response to Caballero stepping out repeatedly during his first two plate appearances until the pitch clock was down to the eight-second requirement to be in the batter’s box and alert.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy says the Brewers want to monitor Jacob Misiorowski’s workload coming out of the All-Star break.

The first example of that came Monday night.

Misiorowski worked just four innings in an 8-3 victory over the New York Mets that marked his first appearance since pitching seven innings in a July 7 victory at St. Louis. The Brewers scratched Misiorowski from a scheduled July 12 start in Pittsburgh due to arm fatigue, and he didn’t pitch in the All-Star Game last week despite getting selected to the team for a second straight year.

“I think we take that as kind of a reset,” Murphy said before the game. “Now I think we have to build him back up and make sure that we are mindful of it.”

Misiorowski struck out six Monday while allowing one unearned run, four hits and a walk. Twenty-six of his 65 pitches went at least 100 mph, and he topped out at 104 mph on a first-inning fastball to Juan Soto. He reached 102 mph on 12 pitches, though all but one of them came in the first inning.

Murphy noted after the game that limiting Misiorowski to four innings wasn’t simply a matter of being careful with the flamethrowing right-hander. He said it was more a matter of “just being mindful of when a guy’s not right.”

“We would have probably let him go further if his delivery and his legs felt great,” Murphy said. “I think he was a little bit out of it. The long layoff kind of affected his delivery and everything else. I think it was important to notice that and get him out of there then. The velo dropped. He couldn’t find the rhythm on his heater and went to off-speed stuff.”

Misiorowski acknowledged that it felt a little more difficult than usual pitching Monday after such a long layoff.

“Of course,” Misiorowski said. “I felt like I wasn’t in my legs as well as I should have been, but I felt halfway decent. Good enough.”

The Brewers have reason to be careful with their star as he makes his way through his first full season in the big leagues.

Misiorowski already has pitched 115 innings this season. He worked 141 1/3 innings last year, including his regular-season totals in the majors and minors plus his 12 postseason innings during Milwaukee’s run to the NL Championship Series.

The Brewers (63-37) have the best record in the major leagues and lead the Chicago Cubs by seven games in the NL Central. Misiorowski has been baseball’s best pitcher, and the Brewers’ chances of making a deep postseason run likely depend on him staying healthy and effective.

Misiorowski hasn’t allowed an earned run in eight of his last 13 starts, and he owns a 9-2 record and 0.87 ERA during that stretch. He has a 1.57 ERA and 173 strikeouts this season to lead the majors in both categories.

The 24-year-old said after Monday’s game that he’s hopeful he can go longer in his next start and can ramp his way back up quickly after this recent time off. Misiorowski had spent the offseason preparing for the greater workload he expected to encounter this year.

“The offseason last year, we focused on legs and doing all that stuff to get myself ready for this track of the year,” Misiorowski said. “I feel good where I’m at. Ready to go.”

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

BOSTON (AP) — Eighty years ago, a Boston Red Sox team led by future Hall of Famer Ted Williams went on a 15-game winning streak early in the season that still stands as the longest in team history.

On Tuesday night, the Red Sox can match that mark set by the 1946 club.

Caleb Durbin hit a tiebreaking homer over the Green Monster with two outs in the eighth inning, and the Red Sox extended the second-longest winning streak in club history to 14 games, beating Baltimore 6-5 on Monday night to snap the Orioles’ season-best win streak at seven.

“I’m trying not to, but I want it,” Durbin said about the possibility of tying the club record. “I can’t speak for anyone else. We really haven’t talked about it, but I want to make history here.”

Durbin, who had a miserable start to the season after being picked up in an offseason trade with Milwaukee, connected on a 1-0 cutter from Tyler Wells, setting off a celebration by his teammates in front of Boston’s dugout.

“It would mean a lot, for sure,” first baseman Willson Contreras said. “We are trying to play the same way every day. … If it happens, that would be great for us. We can celebrate that. If it doesn’t happen, you have to keep going.”

Boston was 37-48 when the streak began and is now in position for a wild-card playoff berth.

The Red Sox overcame three deficits on Monday.

“I can’t imagine it being more electric than tonight,” Durbin said. “It might be. Tonight was awesome, though.”

What was he thinking as he rounded the bases, heading toward a handful of players who were jumping up and down in front of the dugout?

“There’s not a lot of times that you black out — as they say,’’ he said. “I think that was one of the moments where I didn’t know what was happening. I couldn’t tell you what I looked like running around the bases.”

Contreras was one of the first players to jump over the railing onto the field after Durbin’s shot.

“I felt like (the) playoffs, going to the World Series, to be honest,” he said. “Hopefully it happens. We’re on the way, but there’s a lot of season left, a lot of games to be played.”

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

CLEVELAND (AP) — Manager Stephen Vogt and the Cleveland Guardians have been searching for a breakout game on offense for most of the season.

They finally got it Monday night.

The Guardians hit seven home runs in a 13-4 victory over Minnesota Twins, one short of the franchise record and matching the record for a home game.

It was an unlikely power surge for the Guardians, who came into the game tied with Tampa Bay for the third-fewest homers in the majors with 94.

“A really fun night,” Vogt said. “The coolest feeling in the world is hitting a home run in the big leagues. So to see our guys keep doing it, obviously we’re getting good pitches to hit and we’re not missing them. I think that’s more telling than anything.”

Five of the longballs were by players who came into the game batting under .200. Petey Halpin and Rhys Hoskins each went deep twice and Patrick Bailey’s shot in the seventh made it the sixth game in the franchise’s 125 seasons with at least seven homers. Cleveland hit eight home runs at Milwaukee on April 25, 1997, and at Seattle on July 16, 2004.

“We’ve been talking a lot about how both good and bad things are so contagious in this game and we feed off that as a team,” said Hoskins, who came into the game batting .177.

It was the first time two Cleveland players homered at least twice in a game since José Ramírez and Carlos Santana did it in 2019 against the Yankees.

Brayan Rocchio and Travis Bazzana also went deep for Cleveland, which also homered seven times at home on April 30, 2013 against the Philadelphia Phillies.

It’s the fourth time this season a major league team has hit at least seven homers. The Chicago Cubs had eight in their 23-3 win over the San Diego Padres on July 1.

Twins starter Joe Ryan became the 11th starting pitcher in major league history to give up six homers in a game. It was also a franchise record for homers allowed. Ryan, who pitched in his second All-Star Game last week, left too many of his 78 pitches over the middle of the plate as the Guardians took advantage of an off night by the right-hander.

“It’s a tough one, right, because I’m the one that’s wearing it. It’s definitely all on me,” said Ryan, who allowed eight runs and a career-high 10 hits in four innings, raising his ERA from 2.85 to 3.38. “It’s definitely frustrating and not the way you want to start a series against this team. They beat me to the spot more times than I got them.”

Vogt was happiest for Halpin, who hit his first two major league homers with drives to right-center in the second and fourth innings.

“It feels incredible. I think that my role and what I try to do is get on base for the guys that do hit home runs. And today I was able to connect on a couple of them,” Halpin said.

Halpin’s homer in the fourth extended Cleveland’s lead to 8-2. According to Sportradar, it was the first time since 1974 — when innings data started to be tracked — that Cleveland had six homers in the first four innings. It had five on July 22, 1994, against the Chicago White Sox and on Aug. 15, 2019, at the New York Yankees.

It was the 24th time that has happened in the majors during that span. The last was by the New York Yankees on Aug. 27, 2025, against the Washington Nationals.

Rocchio hit a two-run homer to right in the first. Two pitches later, Hoskins followed with a drive down the line in left to make it 3-0. It was the second time this season that Rocchio and Hoskins have gone back to back. They also did it against the Twins on July 8.

Bailey led off the seventh with a solo shot to center off Woo-Suk Go. The Guardians also had three other balls that went off the wall for doubles.

“I think it was just a great commitment on our part to really not be sold out, but be really confident about what we’re trying to do with the fastball,” Hoskins said. “I also think it gives you some conviction on which ones are balls. And I think we just did a really good job of that today. Ready to hit on the ones that weren’t up. And I think a lot of those are the ones that we did damage on, those are the pitches that you can’t miss against a guy like that and we just didn’t do that tonight.”

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

The Women’s Tennis Association has changed its eligibility policy and will require athletes to submit to a one-time genetic gender test to establish eligibility, the organization revealed early this week.

In a Reuters report detailing the specifics of the new requirements, players will be required to be tested for the SRY gene, which helps determine biological sex. The test can be administered via cheek swab or blood test.

“Player screening will begin in 2026, following all appropriate confidentiality and data privacy safeguards and concurrent with a comprehensive player engagement program,” a WTA spokesperson told Reuters. “The WTA recognizes that this is a sensitive and complex issue and is committed to treating all players with dignity and implementing the policy in a respectful and thoughtful way.”

Previous policy allowed transgender women the ability to compete if their testosterone level was lowered past a specific threshold for more than two years prior to participation, though no known transgender women are currently active in professional tennis.

The International Olympic Committee adopted a similar policy involving a one-time test earlier this spring. Other sports organizations to adopt the testing have included the World Athletics federation and World Boxing federation.

Current and former pros have voiced their support and opposition to such testing, with critics arguing that it is discriminatory.

Martina Navratilova, an 18-time Grand Slam champion and gay rights proponent, has spoken in opposition to the inclusion of transgender athletes, as has current world No. 1 player Aryna Sabalenka.

Yet Billie Jean King, famous for once winning the “battle of the sexes” in 1973, has described exclusion of transgender athletes as discrimination.

–Field Level Media

After what may have been his final World Cup match, Lionel Messi was in tears on the field Sunday in East Rutherford, N.J., ruing a missed chance to win a second consecutive title for Argentina.

Messi, without hinting whether his World Cup career was officially through, congratulated Spain and said the memories will last in an Instagram post Monday.

“The pain is immense, and this wound will take time to heal,” Messi wrote in his native Spanish alongside a photo of him bearing a silver medal. “But I also hold onto all the good things… The matches we turned around by giving it our all–moments that will remain in our memories forever–and the support of an entire country which, combined with this group’s hard work and effort, brought us back among the world’s elite once again. It is hard to fully appreciate our achievement right now, but this group reached two consecutive World Cup finals.”

Argentina defeated France on penalty kicks following a 3-3 draw in the 2022 final in Qatar, earning the last piece of major hardware Messi had yet to win in his illustrious career.

Argentina were once again one of the best teams in the 2026 tournament in North America. They rallied past England in the semifinals before coming up against a Spanish defense that held them without a shot on goal.

Messi turned 39 during the tournament and will turn 43 during the 2030 World Cup to be held in Spain, Portugal and Morocco.

“Thank you from the bottom of my heart for every greeting and message,” Messi wrote. “Once again, we managed to unite as a country and stand together, sharing the immense pride of being Argentine.

“I also want to congratulate Spain on winning the championship.”

Messi broke Miroslav Klose’s record of 16 all-time World Cup goals early in the tournament, and he finished with 21, though he was caught and surpassed by Kylian Mbappe (22). The French star also denied Messi a Golden Boot, finishing with 10 goals to the Argentine’s eight.

ESPN reported Monday that Messi and his national team and club teammate Rodrigo De Paul will not play the next two regular-season matches for Inter Miami, nor participate in the MLS All-Star Game, as they rest and recover from the World Cup.

–Field Level Media

Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Jets safety Jordan Whitehead, whose career has been put on hold since he was injured in a two-vehicle car crash in early 2025, has been cleared to resume football activities, per a Monday report from NFL Network.

A member of Tampa Bay’s 2020 Super Bowl-winning squad, Whitehead was cleared to restart his career following neck surgery by his surgeon and the Philadelphia Eagles’ spine specialist Alex Vaccaro.

The veteran safety has already received some interest from teams, working out for the Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans.

Whitehead, 29, has been out of football since he was seriously injured in the automobile crash on Jan. 4, 2025. A former fourth-round pick of the Bucs in 2018, Whitehead spent two years with the Jets in 2022-23 before returning to Tampa Bay in 2024.

He has career numbers of 11 interceptions, 557 tackles and 45 passes defensed in 105 games (101 starts).

–Field Level Media

Connor Bedard doesn’t know exactly what he’ll be able to do physically when the Chicago Blackhawks open training camp in the fall.

The young star forward is sure of one thing, though. Chicago is interested in nothing other than getting back to the playoffs for the first time since the turn of the decade.

“We want to take a big step this year. We want to be a playoff team and that’s our only goal,” Bedard said Monday in his first meeting with reporters since signing a five-year, $75 million contract extension Saturday.

Bedard, who turned just 21 on Friday, was the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2023 and the Calder Memorial Trophy winner the ensuing season as the NHL’s rookie of the year.

Hailed as the top prospect to enter the league since Connor McDavid, Bedard has played three solid seasons for the Blackhawks, collecting career highs in goals (30), assists (45) and points (75) in just 69 games in 2025-26.

One thing the Blackhawks have yet to produce in the Bedard era is a winning season. But they have climbed from 52 points in Bedard’s rookie season to 61 in 2024-25 to 72 last year.

The playoff drought reached six years, dating back to the end of Patrick Kane’s tenure in town. Bedard, though, likes what his franchise did to improve this offseason, starting with the acquisition of Colorado Avalanche defenseman Bowen Byram.

“We’ve had a great, great summer,” Bedard said. “Obviously getting Bo, he’s someone who’s going to be one of the best D-men in the league. He’s always shown that, but when you play behind Cale (Makar) and (Rasmus) Dahlin (with the Sabres), it’s not easy to take their spots, so just for him to have that opportunity to be that one and prove himself in that way and he’s going to do it. He’s one of the most skilled players in the league.”

He also pointed to the additions of veteran forward Jordan Greenway and defenseman Ian Cole, among others.

But one more potential signing would be the biggest splash of all in Chicago: a reunion with Kane.

After the Blackhawks traded Kane to the New York Rangers late in the 2022-23 campaign, the highest-scoring U.S.-born player in NHL history went on to play three seasons with the rival Detroit Red Wings. Kane, still producing goals at 37, is one of the top free agents still available.

“I don’t know what I can say to persuade his decision, but we’d all be so excited to have a player like that but also a guy like that.

“I can’t imagine his first game back at (Chicago), just the reaction he’d get and how much juice that would bring not only to our team but our fans as well. That would be incredible to get to play with him and learn from him.”

Kane underwent surgery for a left shoulder injury on July 8 and was given a four-month timetable for his return. That would place him back on the ice in early November; the regular season begins in late September rather than the usual October start due to the expansion to an 84-game schedule.

Kane didn’t rule out beating the four-month timeline.

“We’ll see,” he said. .”.. I’m just going to do everything I can day-to-day to try to get back as quick as possible.”

–Field Level Media

In the first of another round of layoffs at ESPN, the network parted ways with NFL analyst and former NFL standout Ryan Clark on Monday.

The move occurred as Clark, who has been with ESPN for 11 years, was on the air during “NFL Live.” Sources told The Athletic that Clark was told of the decision during the broadcast and the outspoken 13-year former NFL safety did not finish the program.

Clark’s departure had been rumored since February and those rumors ramped up last week, according to The Athletic.

The Emmy-Award winning Clark was earning about $2 million per year.

ESPN sources told Sports Business Journal the move was planned for Tuesday, but the network was receiving media inquiries and feared the news would leak out before they could inform Clark.

Disney, the parent company of ESPN and the NFL Network, is expected to cut ties with additional on-air ESPN personnel, and a larger number of NFL Network employees, as soon as Tuesday.

ESPN acquired NFL Network in February, giving the NFL a 10% stake in ESPN. The deal was valued at approximately $3 billion.

–Field Level Media