Sports
Blue Jackets enter matchup vs. last-place Blackhawks on hot streak
Nov 23, 2024; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets center Adam Fantilli (19) awaits the face-off against the Carolina Hurricanes in the third period at Nationwide Arena. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-Imagn Images The second half of November was much better than the first for the Columbus Blue Jackets, who will look to ride their newfound momentum when they visit the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday afternoon.
The Blue Jackets went 5-1-1 over the final two weeks of November after a six-game losing streak from Nov. 1-12. They are 4-0-1 in their past five outings, most recently earning a 5-2 victory over the Calgary Flames on Friday.
“Last year, we went on that bit of a losing skid,” Columbus center Adam Fantilli said of the Blue Jackets’ nine-game rut (0-7-2) from Nov. 4-19, 2023. “You never want to get used to losing and having a bit of a winning culture in here, and how much fun we have with each other and how tight of a group we have, it makes it way more enjoyable to come to the rink every day.”
Columbus is tied for 10th in the NHL with 77 goals scored, averaging 3.50 per game. After scoring 11 goals over the course of the recent slide during the first two weeks of November, the offense has rebounded, producing 25 markers in the past five games.
Everyone has been getting in on the action to help the Blue Jackets find their way offensively. Though no one has a double-digit goal total — Kirill Marchenko is one score away with a team-leading nine — Columbus has eight players with at least five markers.
Fantilli became the eighth member of that group with a pair of goals against Calgary, his first tallies since Oct. 28.
“He’s been committed to doing the right things in the right areas,” Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said of Fantilli. “If he continues to play like he has played literally all year — he’s had some learning curves — but if he plays the right way defensively and sound in all areas, the scoring will come.”
The Blackhawks, meanwhile, are trying to climb out of the NHL’s basement. Chicago is in dead last in the entire league, just one point behind the Montreal Canadiens and two behind the Nashville Predators.
Chicago has alternated wins and losses over its past five games, unable to build off big wins against the Florida Panthers and Dallas Stars. On Friday, the Blackhawks held a 2-0 lead against the Wild before Minnesota scored three times in a span of just over seven minutes to steal a 3-2 win.
“We’ve been playing well the last couple of games, and sometimes the other teams are going to get bounces, too,” Chicago forward Ryan Donato said. “It’s infuriating and hard to lose games and have it be that way, especially when you get off to a good start.”
Chicago has led in the second period in each of its past six games but is 2-3-1 in those contests.
“We’re past the first 10 games, the first 20 games,” Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said. “We got to make sure we’re getting into a mode where we can hold that and sustain it and play the way we played to get to that point and even better.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
'Relentless' Royals picking up steam entering rematch vs. Giants
Jul 20, 2026; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Royals third baseman Nick Loftin (12) is doused with water after hitting a walk off bunt during the ninth inning against the San Francisco Giants at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images The Kansas City Royals have built some momentum since returning from the All-Star break, while the San Francisco Giants continue to struggle.
After opening their three-game series against the Giants with a dramatic victory on Monday, the Royals can secure their third straight winning home series by handing the Giants a fourth straight loss on Tuesday night.
American League Central cellar-dwelling Kansas City improved to 3-1 on its post-All-Star break homestand despite squandering a 3-1 lead with two outs in the ninth inning on Monday, courtesy of Willy Adames’ two-run homer.
However, Nick Loftin brought home the winning run in the bottom of the ninth with a squeeze bunt for the Royals’ second walk-off win of the homestand.
“We’re a very relentless team,” Loftin told Royals.TV. “We’re just all clicking together.”
Loftin entered the game after All-Star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. exited with lingering lower back tightness.
The status of Witt, who was rested during the Royals’ 19-2 loss to San Diego on Sunday, is uncertain for Tuesday’s game.
Meanwhile, fellow star teammate Salvador Perez is batting .300 in his last 11 games. He moved within one home run of tying George Brett’s all-time franchise mark of 317 after hitting a two-run shot Monday.
“Just trying to do my job. … Help my team to win,” Perez said.
Perez has five home runs in 19 career games vs. San Francisco, which is 1-3 on its six-game trip since coming out of the break. He’s 2-for-6 with a homer against scheduled Giants starter Tyler Mahle (2-8, 5.31 ERA), who will look to build on one of his better outings of the season.
The right-hander yielded three walks and five hits, but only one run, over seven innings of San Francisco’s 4-2 victory over Colorado on July 11.
“I’m a big believer that preparation pays off. If he has (more performances like his last), eventually he’s going to get wins under his belt,” Giants manager Tony Vitello said of Mahle.
That solid effort came at home, where Mahle is 2-3 with a 3.00 ERA in eight starts this season. However, in seven road starts, he is 0-5 with a hefty 8.45 ERA.
Mahle is 1-0 with an 0.73 ERA in three career starts against the Royals, allowing only a Vinnie Pasquantino solo homer over 12 2/3 innings. The most recent came in 2023 while pitching for Minnesota.
The Giants showed some mettle Monday before losing for the 10th time in 13 road games.
“A loss is gonna be the same way, regardless,” Vitello said. “No matter how it goes down, you don’t like it.”
San Francisco’s Heliot Ramos hit his ninth home run of the season Monday. Two homers have come during his current 10-game road hitting streak.
Kansas City is slated to counter Tuesday with right-hander Luinder Avila (4-3, 5.08 ERA), who will face the Giants for the first time as he remains in a Royals rotation that’s been ravaged by injuries,
Avila is 4-2 with a 5.87 ERA in nine starts this season. He most recently allowed three runs, three walks and seven hits over five innings in his team’s 5-3 loss at Baltimore on July 10.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Odell Beckham Jr.'s Giants Return Comes With Plenty of Questions
Odell Beckham Jr. watched Sunday’s World Cup final at his once and future NFL home digs amid scores of luminaries from sports, stage and screen.
The New York Giants wide receiver hopes to inspire pandemonium, not absorb it, during his forthcoming visits to what again can be called MetLife Stadium. Until then, Beckham Jr. is drawing attention for behavior beyond football as his Giants reunion begins.
Welcome back to real life, if not reality.
In June, OBJ signed a one-year, veteran minimum contract with New York that’s worth up to $1.3 million, per reports. A few weeks later, he discussed the hypotheticals of earning much more, delivering an opinion that made him look disjointed and entitled.
Again, welcome back to – well, you know.
During an appearance on the Pivot podcast, Beckham said that a five-year, $100 million NFL contract – a sum now well beyond the 33-year-old’s grasp – isn’t enough money.
Said Beckham: “It’s five years for $60 million; you’re getting taxed.”
He then asserted that his own spending habits, roughly $4 million per year, would spare him a measly $40 million. Then there’s the matter of taking care of friends and family.
“Can you make that last forever?” Beckham said.
Apparently, you can stretch a fraction of that sum to catch the conclusion of Spain’s dominant run to a world soccer title, anyway.
Beckham posted about his Sunday-afternoon whereabouts on Instagram, including a photo of him alongside Giants quarterback Jaxon Dart. The duo certainly looked cool, with OBJ showing the swagger of the youngster who earned AP Offensive Rookie of the Year with New York in 2014 while collecting 5,476 receiving yards and 44 touchdown receptions over his first five seasons with Big Blue.
To what extent Beckham can channel that production in his second stint remains to be seen. For all the flash he brings and the many feel-good voyages down Memory Lane his signing provided, Beckham shouldn’t project as a lynchpin as the John Harbaugh Era dawns.
OBJ played in only nine games with the Miami Dolphins in 2024, finishing with nine catches for 55 yards before he received a six-game suspension for violating the league’s performance-enhancing drug policy. He sat out the 2025 season and hasn’t caught a touchdown pass since Week 14 in 2023, when he played for the Baltimore Ravens.
New York brought Beckham back while adding a slew of fellow veteran wideouts – including Darnell Mooney, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Braxton Berrios and Calvin Austin – to a receiver room that lost Wan’Dale Robinson to free agency (Tennessee) and is navigating numerous offseason injuries.
In May, Gunner Olszewski suffered a torn Achilles during OTAs. Darius Slayton had core-muscle surgery in the spring but continues to recover and was among the 80,000-plus at MetLife for Spain-Argentina.
Malik Nabers, meanwhile, appears on track to return after tearing his ACL in Week 4 of last season following a standout rookie year.
The Giants hope at least one of their veterans can slide into a starting role to augment their budding youngsters.
While OBJ’s output isn’t the proverbial money in the bank of a decade ago, you can bet his pursuit of a second chance in New York will net plenty of chatter.
He’s due back at MetLife in a little under one month; the Giants host the Minnesota Vikings in their preseason opener on Aug. 15.
Sports
Tigers ride all-around effort of Dillon Dingler into clash against Cubs
Jul 20, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Detroit Tigers catcher Dillon Dingler (13) points after he hits a solo home run during the first inning against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-Imagn Images Dillon Dingler showed again how he can be the Detroit Tigers’ difference-maker.
The Tigers catcher had two home runs, a successful pickoff and the go-ahead RBI single as Detroit defeated the Chicago Cubs 8-6 in 10 innings in the first contest of a three-game set on Monday, all while managing six pitchers in a big-game environment.
Game 2 of the series in Chicago will be Tuesday night.
“A lot of Tigers fans in the stands and obviously a lot of Cubs fans in the stands made it feel like a playoff atmosphere, and the whole team rallied to get a big win,” Dingler said after his 4-for-5, three-RBI performance on Monday.
Tigers manager A.J. Hinch concurred, calling it “a character win.”
Hinch said his favorite part of Dingler’s performance wasn’t the big hits. Instead, he enjoyed watching the All-Star’s way of “navigating the game, in this ballpark, against that offense.”
“I love homers for us, when he hits them, but his contribution behind the plate is always going to be where I go to first,” said Hinch, a former catcher who appeared in 27 games with the Tigers in 2003.
The extra-innings loss on Monday was made even worse for Chicago when reliever Trent Thornton left the game after taking a Riley Greene line drive directly off his foot in the 10th.
Cubs manager Craig Counsell said X-rays were negative on Thornton’s heel after the game, but he added that the team will monitor his status.
Thornton has a 3-3 record with a 2.70 ERA and three saves in 27 appearances this season.
“We’ve done a really good job of — especially in the bullpen — just trying to do the next-man-up mentality,” Cubs pitcher Jameson Taillon told reporters after Thornton’s exit. “But seeing a guy like that go down is tough.”
Injuries have been an unfortunate theme for the Cubs’ pitching staff this season. Phil Maton (knee) was added to the 15-day injured list on Monday, joining fellow pitchers Ben Brown, Daniel Palencia, Ethan Roberts, Hoby Milner and Edward Cabrera on the IL. Other pitchers, including Cade Horton, are on the 60-day IL.
Taillon was making his first start since June 7 in Monday’s loss, recently returning from a hamstring strain. He did not figure into the decision after allowing four runs in 4 1/3 innings.
It will be a clash of left-handers on the mound Tuesday as Detroit’s Framber Valdez (5-6, 4.10 ERA) opposes David Peterson (4-7, 6.45).
Valdez will make his first start since returning from the bereavement list on Saturday after the death of his grandmother. He had a stellar outing in his most recent start on July 9, striking out nine and giving up one run in seven innings as the Tigers beat the Athletics 4-1.
Both of Valdez’s previous starts against Chicago came as a member of the Houston Astros. He’s 1-0 with a 3.60 ERA vs. the Cubs, most recently tossing six shutout innings in a 2-0 Astros win on June 29, 2025.
Peterson is 1-1 with an 8.16 ERA in his three starts for Chicago since being acquired from the Mets on June 25. He took a no-decision last time out against Baltimore on July 9, allowing only one run in five innings of a 3-2 loss.
This will be Peterson’s first career appearance against Detroit.
–Field Level Media
'Relentless' Royals picking up steam entering rematch vs. Giants
Odell Beckham Jr.'s Giants Return Comes With Plenty of Questions
