Sports
Raiders look to avoid 'shocker' vs. Andy Dalton-led Panthers
Sep 8, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Gardner Minshew (15) prepares to take the snap against the Los Angeles Chargers in the first half at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images The Las Vegas Raiders will experience a role reversal Sunday as heavy favorites against a visiting Carolina Panthers squad that is making a major change to a key position.
“There are shockers each and every week,” Raiders coach Antonio Pierce said. “Last week, it was us (winning). We don’t want to be on that headline (this week).”
The Raiders (1-1) are fresh off a comeback victory at Baltimore last weekend after a frustration-filled Week 1 result against the Los Angeles Chargers.
“How do we follow that up?” Pierce said. “I want to be consistent each and every week.”
The Panthers (0-2) are changing quarterbacks, deciding to have veteran Andy Dalton as the starter. He’ll replace 2023 No. 1 overall draft pick Bryce Young, who hasn’t gained much traction two weeks into his second season.
Carolina has been outscored 73-13 by the New Orleans Saints and Chargers but doesn’t want to be defined by just a pair of games.
“We still don’t know who we are yet,” Dalton said. “It’s still early. … Hopefully, we can really put it together and see what we can be.”
The Panthers weren’t willing to wait any longer before making a move after seeing an offense that was ineffective for the second straight Sunday in a 26-3 loss to the Chargers in Week 2.
“Focusing on the details,” Carolina coach Dave Canales said of what his team must do to improve. “Focusing on being right where you’re supposed to be when you’re supposed to be there. Those are things we have to get better at as a whole group.”
Before facing the Panthers in their home opener, the Raiders showed the ability to bounce back on the road against the Ravens, despite entering the game as 8 1/2-point underdogs.
“Can we just do it for four quarters?” Pierce said. “Let’s see what that looks like in front of our home crowd.”
Las Vegas is led by well-traveled quarterback Gardner Minshew, who’s with his third team in as many seasons. He completed 30 of 38 throws for 276 yards with a touchdown and an interception in the 26-23 win at Baltimore.
With Dalton, 36, there could be a different vibe for Carolina’s offense.
“It’s nice to kind of be back in this position and affect the game,” he said. “I’m just thankful for an opportunity. I wasn’t sure I was going to get it again.”
Dalton is counting on his background to help him get through.
“I’ve been in this position before,” he said. “The experience I’ve had in this league for a long time.”
Canales was peppered with questions this week regarding what’s next for Young, 23, and what this move means in terms of his development.
“My concern is the football team,” Canales said. “My concern is that we push the whole group … and the focus is on the Raiders.”
Dalton has credentials as a three-time Pro Bowler, and the Panthers certainly hope that he’s the story this weekend rather than Young’s benching.
His only start as a Panther came a year ago in a Week 3 loss at Seattle, where he threw for 361 yards and two TDs. In his career, Dalton’s record is 83-78-2 as a starter, including 4-0 against the Raiders.
Carolina needs boosts in several areas. The Panthers began the week with only four healthy defensive linemen.
–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
