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The negotiations for Oklahoma and Texas to leave the Big 12 a year early and join the SEC in 2024 have stalled and a deal is not expected to come to fruition, sources told ESPN on Friday morning.

After weeks of negotiations, Texas and Oklahoma are still slated to join the SEC in 2025. Sources said the parties couldn’t come to terms amid a complex negotiation involving two schools, two networks (ESPN and Fox) and the Big 12.

Sources said the sides couldn’t agree on how to create equitable value for what Fox would lose in 2024 — the equivalent of seven football games featuring Oklahoma and Texas that command premium advertising.

The negotiations heated up over the past few days, with the Big 12 meetings late this week doubling as an unofficial deadline to get a deal done.

The timeline in play — the 2024 season — leaves some ambiguity and small potential for a Hail Mary revival, but the strong expectation remains that Oklahoma and Texas will play in the 14-team Big 12 in 2023 and 2024.

“There’s no formal timeline or brink from which you can’t come back,” an industry source said. “But this is where things are right now — a deal is unlikely.”

Ever since Oklahoma and Texas agreed to join the SEC in the summer of 2021, there has been a drumbeat of conversation surrounding whether they would be able to leave the Big 12 early. The schools are contractually committed to play through the 2024 football season, covering four full seasons since the decision to switch conferences. In the recent history of conference realignment, that is an unprecedented amount of time to play out as a departing member.

It was always unlikely that they would leave before that final year of the deal, 2024, as the dynamics of scheduling, the cost of departure and the way the television contracts were structured made any type of quicker move clunky. But with ESPN holding the entire rights to the SEC starting in 2024, the possibility always loomed of brokering a deal a year early.

Instead, Oklahoma and Texas are slated to play out the final seasons of their contracts with the Big 12.

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Cecconi loses no-hit bid in 8th as Guardians roll

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Cecconi loses no-hit bid in 8th as Guardians roll

CLEVELAND — Slade Cecconi took a bid to end Cleveland‘s long no-hitter drought into the eighth inning, and the Guardians rolled to a 10-2 win over Kansas City on Monday night and leapfrogged the Royals in the AL wild-card race.

Cecconi (6-6) was six outs from the first no-hitter in the majors this season — and Cleveland’s first since Len Barker’s perfect game in 1981 — when Kansas City’s Michael Massey singled leading off the eighth.

On Cecconi’s 95th pitch, Massey lined a 2-1 fastball into left-center. The right-hander received a nice ovation from the crowd in Progressive Field before Cecconi got Carter Jensen to hit into a double play.

Cleveland (73-70) won its fourth straight game and moved past the Royals (73-71) into second place in the AL Central. Cleveland entered the four-game series 2½ games behind Seattle for the third and final wild-card spot.

Kyle Manzardo, Daniel Schneemann and Nolan Jones had two RBIs apiece for Cleveland, which set season highs with 16 hits and seven doubles.

The Guardians tagged Ryan Bergert (2-2) for four doubles and six runs in the fourth inning while opening an 8-0 lead. C.J. Kayfus, Brayan Rocchio, Schneemann and Jones hit the doubles.

Royals All-Star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. was not in the starting lineup for the third straight game due to back spasms. Manager Matt Quatraro said Witt ran and did some fielding before the game without any issues and was a possibility to see “game action.”

Witt didn’t get in but is expected to play Tuesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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Phillies expect Turner (hamstring) back by playoffs

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Phillies expect Turner (hamstring) back by playoffs

PHILADELPHIA — Phillies star shortstop Trea Turner was placed on the 10-day injured list with a Grade 1 strained right hamstring but is expected back by the postseason.

Manager Rob Thomson said before Monday’s game against the New York Mets the MRI results were “better than expected” and that Turner’s injury wasn’t as severe as the strained left hamstring that sidelined him for six weeks last season.

Turner left Sunday’s 5-4 loss to the Miami Marlins in the seventh inning because of the injury.

Turner hit a solo homer in the sixth to narrow Philadelphia’s deficit to 4-2. When his turn came again in the seventh, Turner legged out a grounder and reached on a throwing error by Miami shortstop Otto Lopez.

“It was just kind of grabbing on me. It didn’t feel good,” Turner said Sunday. “I felt if I could have kept going, I would have.”

The 32-year-old leads the National League in both batting average (.305) and hits (179) this season.

Without Turner at the top of lineup against the Mets, two-time NL MVP Bryce Harper was batting leadoff for the first time since 2022.

The Phillies also placed 2024 All-Star third baseman Alec Bohm on the 10-day IL with a left shoulder injury.

“He’s been grinding with this left shoulder for a while now, fighting through it. It’s probably been 10 days,” Thomson said of Bohm. “He could feel it every once in a while in a swing. Yesterday he felt it on every swing, so we decided to shut this thing down.”

The Phillies recalled infielder/outfielder Otto Kemp and infielder Donovan Walton from Triple-A Lehigh Valley to fill Turner’s and Bohm’s spots on the roster.

Kemp was starting at third base against the Mets.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Brewers OF Yelich returns after 5-game absence

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Brewers OF Yelich returns after 5-game absence

ARLINGTON, Texas — Christian Yelich returned to the lineup for the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night after their designated hitter missed five games because of lower back soreness.

Yelich batted fourth as the Brewers opened a three-game series at the playoff-chasing Texas Rangers.

The 33-year-old Yelich had played in 132 of Milwaukee’s 144 games this season before the opener in Texas, and was hitting .268 with team highs of 27 home runs and 92 RBIs. He played in only 73 games last year before season-ending back surgery that August.

“Feels good, wants to play. It’s an amazing thing that he’s played so many games,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “Coming off back surgery, we just didn’t know what we were going to get, but the surgeon has assured him this is going to happen, but it’s amazing that it hadn’t happened yet, so we have to be thankful.”

Yelich was a late scratch last Wednesday before a 6-3 win over Philadelphia, and Murphy said then that Yelich had started experiencing some pain during a series against Arizona late last month. He still appeared in 22 consecutive games before coming out of the lineup last week.

“He came to me today and said, ‘I’m in there, right?’,” Murphy said. “He wants to play. That’s a good thing when your leader wants to get in there as soon as possible.”

Yelich made his 112th start at DH on Monday, and has also started 18 games in left field this season. Murphy said while “there’s a reason” to get Yelich a couple of games in the outfield before the end of the regular season, the manager said that’s not a priority.

In other injury news, right-hander Grant Anderson came off the injured list to boost the Brewers’ bullpen.

Right-hander Craig Yoho was optioned to Triple-A Nashville.

Anderson last pitched for Milwaukee on Aug. 23 before going on the injured list with tendinitis in his right ankle. The 28-year-old owns a 2-5 record and 2.87 earned run average in 57 appearances. He has struck out 66 over 62⅔ innings.

The Brewers still have All-Star closer Trevor Megill (right flexor), left-hander DL Hall (right oblique) and right-handers Nick Mears (back) and Shelby Miller (right elbow) on the injured list.

Murphy said Megill is scheduled to throw a simulated game Tuesday, and then would likely throw another one before being able to pitch again.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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