Gerrit Cole signed a nine-year, $324 million contract with the Yankees in 2019 — the largest ever by average annual value.
Why it matters: If the first month of MLB's sticky-stuff crackdown is any indication, Cole and the Yanks may be in for a bumpy marriage — and that mammoth contract could end up being historically bad.
Olympic Games organizers said Tuesday two staff members working at the athletes' village in Tokyo have tested positive for COVID-19, per the Tokyo Shimbun news outlet.
Why it matters: Australia's ABC notes that the workers who tested positive last week were found to have been dining with two other staff members — a violation of the organizing committee's pandemic measures.
Naval Academy graduate Cameron Kinley will be allowed to pursue a career in the NFL, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced Tuesday.
The big picture: Austin said that he had granted a waiver to Kinley so that he can play professional football, adding that "[u]pon completion of his playing time, we look forward to welcoming him back inside the ranks as a naval officer."
Sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson, who was suspended last week for a positive marijuana test, was left off the U.S relay team and won't compete in this year's Olympics, USA Track & Field said Tuesday.
Why it matters: While Richardson had accepted a one-month suspension, there was still a chance she could return in time to race in the women's 4x100-meter relay in Tokyo on Aug. 6. But USATF declined to add her to the team, saying it wouldn't be fair to the other athletes.
ESPN announced Tuesday it would move its longtime basketball reporter Rachel Nichols off sideline coverage of the NBA Finals amid controversy related to disparaging comments she made last year about her colleague Maria Taylor, CNBC reports.
Why it matters: The sports-media giant's decision comes two days after the New York Times published a leaked audio recording of Nichols suggesting the promotion of Taylor, who is Black, was because ESPN was "feeling pressure" on diversity.
100 years after Babe Ruth bent the sport of baseball to his will, Shohei Ohtani — who takes the mound tonight against the Red Sox — has broken it entirely.
Driving the news: Next week in Denver, Ohtani will compete in the Home Run Derby, start at DH for the AL andtake the mound after becoming the first player ever named an All-Star as both a pitcher and position player.
