MLB pitchers' worst-kept secret is their application of illegal foreign substances to get a better grip on the ball, but the party's coming to an end, as the league will finally begin enforcing a rule that's been on the books for years.

The big picture: For decades, strikeout rates have steadily increased as offense has dwindled, but this year's .237 league-wide batting average is tied with 1968 — famously "the year of the pitcher" — for the worst in MLB history.

• In 1969, MLB lowered the mounds to (literally) level the playing field.
• In 2021, it appears this "sticky stuff" — and the anemic offense it creates — might finally get washed away.

How it works: Baseballs don't have much natural grip, so pitchers have long sought ways to improve it through other means (Gaylord Perry rode his spitball all the way to Cooperstown).

• But modern hurlers go well beyond saliva, using a variety of substances ranging from simple pine tar to an adhesive called Spider Tack, which was invented for strongmen to more easily lift giant boulders.
• Applying sticky stuff gives pitchers more control and an increased spin rate, which yields more movement and makes hitting comically difficult.
• By the numbers: One recently-retired pitcher told SI (subscription) he thinks 80–90% of pitchers are using sticky stuff.

The state of play: MLB's recent announcement came after an owners' meeting in which piles of evidence (hats, balls and gloves slathered with substances) made it impossible to ignore any longer.

• Enforcement is expected to begin within the next week or so, and could see umpires randomly checking pitchers upwards of 10 times per game; punishment could be up to 10 days without pay.
• Worth noting: Managers have always been within their rights to call for such a check, but rarely do because they know their own guy would probably get caught, too.

What they're saying: "People need to understand the significance of spin," a team executive told SI. "It is every bit as advantageous as a [performance-enhancing drug]."

• "There's some [pitchers] where, if you swing where your eyes tell you, you won't hit the ball, even if you're on time," says 2017 NL batting champ Charlie Blackmon.
• The other side: "I honestly don't pay too much attention to it," Reds RF Nicholas Castellanos, currently leading MLB in average, tells USA Today. "Sticky (stuff), no sticky (stuff), throw it over the dish and it's going to get hit hard."

The bottom line: If the '90s and early-'00s were the steroid era and the '10s were marked by home runs and sticky stuff, fingers crossed we're about to enter a balls-in-play revolution.

Go deeper: The year of the pitcher, again (SI)

The WNBA's 32-game regular season has already reached its quarter point, and Connecticut's sitting pretty as the only eight-win team.

• There's another month of games before the Olympic break (July 12–Aug. 11), at which point teams will have played roughly two-thirds of their schedule.
• Until then, there's plenty of time to jockey for position, get back injured stars and prepare for the stretch run.

Let's hand out some superlatives ...

Best teams: These standings don't lie. The Storm beat the Aces in last year's championship, and they could easily be on a collision course for round two in October ... unless the Sun have something to say about that.

• By the numbers: Vegas (89.7 ppg) and Seattle (88.8) lead the league in points scored while Connecticut gets it done on the other end, allowing a league-best 72.5 points a night.

Biggest surprises:

• Good: The Liberty have slowed down, losing three in a row, but for a team that went 2-20 last year, 5-4 has to feel pretty good.
• Bad: The Sky were supposed to vault into title contention with the acquisition of Candace Parker, but she's missed all but the season-opener with an ankle injury as they've fallen from 2-0 to 2-7.

Top performers: First, an honorable mention for Aces C Liz Cambage, having the time of her life while dropping 15 and eight on 61% shooting.

• Sun F Jonquel Jones is the only player averaging a double-double, and they're not cheap, either: She ranks fourth in points per game (21.6) and first in rebounds (10.6).
• Mercury C Brittney Griner has stepped up with Diana Taurasi out, scoring 17 a night while ranking second in both rebounds (9.6) and blocks (2.6).
• Storm F Breanna Stewart is inevitable. She's top five in points (22.2), rebounds (9.3) and blocks (2.0).

What to watch: The inaugural Commissioner's Cup, an in-season tournament which comprises each team's first home and road game against conference foes (10 games per team), is about halfway done.

• The winning team, decided by a championship game between each conference's top seed, is on Aug. 12 and comes with a $500,000 prize.

📆 Tonight ... Lynx at Mystics (7pm ET); Wings at Mercury (10pm)

Go deeper: Power rankings (ESPN)

The Women's College World Series championship is set, with No. 1 Oklahoma taking on No. 10 Florida State in a best-of-three series beginning tonight in Oklahoma City.

• Games 1 and 2 are tonight (7:30pm) and tomorrow (7pm) on ESPN. If necessary, the decisive Game 3 is Thursday.

How they got here: The World Series is an eight-team, double-elimination tournament, and on Thursday the Sooners and Seminoles each lost their first game. Since then, they each played and won four elimination games.

• Oklahoma: The top seed got pushed to the brink by unseeded JMU and their star pitcher, Odicci Alexander, but the Sooners ultimately prevailed on the strength of Player of the Year Jocelyn Alo and Freshman of the Year Tiare Jennings — the Smash Sisters (subscription).
• Florida State: The 'Noles had to beat Alabama twice after Tide pitcher Montana Fouts threw a perfect game to eliminate defending champ UCLA. Nevertheless, they persisted, chasing Fouts after just three innings and never looking back in an 8-5 win. Shoutout to FSU freshman Kaley Mudge, with the first five-hit WCWS game since 2009.

Meanwhile, on the men's side ... The regionals are wrapping up this morning, with No. 11 Old Dominion taking on unseeded Virginia at 9:06am to determine the 16th and final spot in the Super Regionals. Bracket.

• 🎥 Highlight: Unseeded Nebraska took top-seeded Arkansas the distance last night, but the Razorbacks escaped thanks to a two-out, three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to extend their 3-2 lead.

MONTREAL — Canadiens winger Tyler Toffoli scored the game-winner in overtime to down the Jets, 3-2, and send his Habs to the Stanley Cup semifinals, where they'll take on the winner of Colorado-Vegas.

• In Boston, the Islanders outlasted the Bruins, 5-4, to take a 3-2 series lead and move within a win of the semifinals.

📆 Tonight ... Lightning at Hurricanes, 6:30pm (TB leads 3-1); Golden Knights at Avalanche, 9pm (tied 2-2)

BROOKLYN — The Nets made mincemeat of the Bucks in a 125-86 shellacking to take a commanding 2-0 lead. Turns out, losing James Harden isn't such a big deal when you have Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and a rejuvenated Blake Griffin.

• The night's other matchup was far more competitive ... until Phoenix pulled away from Denver with a huge second half to take Game 1, 122-105, in front of an electric crowd of over 16,000 Suns faithful.

📆 Tonight ... Hawks at Sixers, 7:30pm (ATL leads 1-0); Clippers at Jazz, 10pm (tied 0-0)

MLB and the Action Network, a sports betting data and analysis site, have entered into a multi-platform content partnership, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: As sports betting continues to expand and evolve, leagues are looking for ways to provide unique content for their fans, and no sport has as many betting opportunities as baseball, with its 162-game slate.

Details: The partnership spans three main facets — syndication, programming and integration, all with an eye on seamlessly incorporating sports betting content into the MLB landscape beginning later this month.

• Syndication: Action Network-authored articles will be distributed on both Action and MLB digital platforms.
• Programming: The Action Network will produce and distribute a weekly, 30-minute show called "Payoff Pitch," with betting analysis and advice for that week's games.
• Integration: MLB's existing properties, including its articles and its own gambling show, "Bettor's Eye," will regularly feature Action Network talent and betting information.

Go deeper: How sports betting is shaping the future of MLB (WBUR)

17-year-old American Coco Gauff def. Ons Jabeur, 6-3, 6-1, becoming the youngest American woman or man to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam since Venus Williams in 1997 (U.S. Open).

• Wednesday quarterfinal: She'll face unseeded Barbora Krejčíková for a spot in the semis.

Novak Djokovic, who dropped his first two sets against unseeded Lorenzo Musetti, came back with a vengeance, winning 16 of their final 17 games before Musetti retired, down 0-4 in the fifth.

• Wednesday quarterfinal: The top seed will face No. 9 Matteo Berrettini, who advanced on Roger Federer's withdrawal.

Rafael Nadal, the king of clay, made quick work of Jannik Sinner (7-5, 6-3, 6-0) to reach the quarters. He's won the last four tournaments at Roland Garros, nine of the last 11 and 13 of the last 16.

• Wednesday quarterfinal: It's a top-10 matchup between No. 3 Rafa and No. 10 Diego Schwartzman.

🎾 Osaka withdraws again: A week after withdrawing from the French Open to care for her mental health, Naomi Osaka will bow out of next week's grass-court tournament in Berlin, too. The question: Will she take the court when Wimbledon begins on June 28?

⚽️ Man U fan-owners: Following calls for the Glazer family to sell their stake in the club, Manchester United have announced they will release a new class of shares — complete with voting rights — for fans to purchase.

🏈 Saban extended: Alabama gave football coach Nick Saban a three-year extension to keep him in Tuscaloosa through the 2028 season at more than $10 million a year.

🏀 Breaking barriers: Katherine Evans has joined Washington's Monumental Basketball as vice president of research and information systems. In supporting both the Wizards and Mystics, she'll become the first woman to lead an NBA team's analytics department.

35 years ago today, the Celtics won the championship, beating the Rockets, 114-97, to take the series in six games.

Why it matters: This was Boston's 16th title in 30 years, but they've won just one more in the 35 years since (2008).

Series recap: The Celtics had their hands full with the young and enormous duo of Ralph Sampson (7'4") and Hakeem (then, Akeem) Olajuwon (7'0"), who combined to average 40 points, 22 rebounds and four blocks a game in the series.

• Yes, but: The Celtics prevailed thanks to their own star-studded lineup, which featured five future Hall of Famers (Larry Bird, Dennis Johnson, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish and Bill Walton).
• MVP: Bird nearly averaged a triple-double (24-9.7-9.5) to claim Finals MVP after already winning the regular season award, making him one of 10 players to pull off the MVP double (he did it in 1984, too).
• Fun fact: This was the first year the league officially switched its branding from "NBA World Championship Series" to "NBA Finals."

The big picture: Boston had one of the greatest regular seasons ever, with their .817 winning percentage (67-15) ranking seventh all time.

• But at home, they were even better, going 40-1 to become the first team in NBA history to lose just one home game since the season expanded to 82 games (1967-68). Only the Spurs (2015-16) have matched them since.

🎥 Watch: Bird Finals highlights (YouTube)

Source: Giphy

As noted above, Larry Bird is one of just 10 players to win MVP and Finals MVP in the same season.

• Question: How many of the other nine can you name?
• Hint: Six were big men.

Answer at the bottom.

Last summer, we shared your personal stories about "why you love sports." We're bringing it back, and over the next 10 days we'll share 10 of our favorites before starting up again with new submissions.

Sean M. (Long Island, N.Y.) writes:

My grandparents emigrated from Santiago, Chile, to Long Island, New York, in 1969. In this move, my grandpa, Nino, had to sacrifice one of his favorite pastimes: soccer. Due to soccer's lack of popularity in America at the time, he felt there was something missing in his new home.

To Nino, soccer was more than a game. It was an obsession. He was hopefully optimistic that his sport would catch on in the U.S., as Pelé continued to gain international attention and the New York Cosmos entered the local scene in 1971. Regardless, there was still a void in his life.

In 1972, a new hockey team moved to their area: the New York Islanders. Hockey was a new game to Nino, but much of the gameplay and fandom drew parallels to the sport he grew up loving. With this, he found a new love for the sport, team and community.

In many ways, hockey became a bridge into the new culture that he would spend the rest of his life living in. He followed the Islanders from year-to-year, through highs and lows, and got to cheer them on during their historic early 80's run.

Growing up, I remember Nino bringing me to games at the Nassau Coliseum. Most recently, I was able to bring him and my father to an overtime win against the Vegas Golden Knights to celebrate Nino's 84th birthday (see above).

That's why sports are more than just a game. To me, sports are a way to make priceless memories with the people I love. For Nino, sports are a part of an immigrant's tale of growing into a new culture.

For now, I can only see Nino through a glass door, but maybe one day we can go back to the Coliseum and shout 'Yes! Yes! Yes!' after an Isles win. Until then, we must stay safe and recognize the things that we love are worth waiting for.

✍️ Submit your story: Do you have a fondest sports memory? Or an example of sports having a positive impact on your life? If you'd like to share, simply reply to this email. We'll be telling your stories all summer.