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Major League Baseball is less than three weeks into its regular season, and five of the 14 teams under Diamond Sports Group’s umbrella are currently missing payments.

The Cincinnati Reds and the Texas Rangers recently joined the Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Guardians and Minnesota Twins among those who have not been paid their most recent rights fees by Diamond, the Bally Sports operator that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the middle of March.

Clarity for four of those teams – all but the Reds – might not be determined until the final day of May, at the earliest, at which point a bankruptcy judge will hear Diamond’s claims that those teams should be paid a lesser fee to account for the deterioration of the traditional cable model. Diamond and the Reds, who partially own Bally Sports Ohio and are thus separate from the litigation, entered into a 15-day cure period after Monday’s missed payment. If Diamond doesn’t pay what it owes the Reds by the end of that period, the team would break free from its obligation and MLB would theoretically take over its broadcasts for the foreseeable future.

Diamond will continue to air all of the teams’ games while their situations remain unsettled, a representative of the company said – but that’s part of the problem.

In a filing on Monday, the Rangers stated that Diamond needs to “make reasonable interim payments for the rights they are using” and accused the company of using the threat of non-payment as a bargaining tool to secure streaming rights, which MLB has previously been hesitant to grant. Diamond only possesses the streaming rights for five major league teams and has said that obtaining the remaining rights is critical to running a more sustainable business in the current climate.

The Rangers, as well as the other three teams, have argued that Diamond should make its rights payments in the interim and that those payments can then be adjusted in the wake of the evidentiary meeting that is scheduled for May 31. Diamond has instead said it will place those rights fees – totaling tens of millions of dollars – in an escrow account and will hold off on making those payments for at least six more weeks. A hearing on Wednesday is expected to determine whether those four teams will be paid in the interim.

Diamond, the Sinclair subsidiary that took on more than $8 billion of debt to purchase 42 regional channels across MLB, the NBA and the NHL, filed for bankruptcy restructuring on March 14 and planned to use the process to determine which of its contracts it would maintain. The company missed its initial payment to the San Diego Padres but ultimately paid the team its rights fees on March 29, right before the expiration of its grace period.

On April 5, in the wake of missed payments to the Twins and Guardians, MLB filed an emergency motion to force Diamond to either pay teams their rights fees or release them from their contracts. The D-backs, whose rights payment was missed just before bankruptcy proceedings, meaning it got lumped in with the rest of the company’s debt, filed a similar motion on their behalf. The Rangers, who previously filed a notice of default and termination in the event Diamond becomes insolvent, have since been added to the mix.

Teams are free to break from their contracts with Diamond after a rights fee is missed and the subsequent grace period, typically lasting somewhere between seven and 15 days, expires. That situation applies to the Reds, whose grace period is set to expire on May 2, but the Rangers, D-backs, Twins and Guardians will have to wait a bit longer.

MLB, specifically Commissioner Rob Manfred, has stated that it is in position to immediately pick up the broadcasts for teams once they fall off from Diamond and will do so by providing both a streaming option and a way to watch the games through the traditional cable model. Through that process, blackouts would thus be eliminated within the respective markets. MLB has yet to pick up any broadcasts but believes, based on the rapid rate at which consumers are ditching their cable subscriptions, that it will possess the vast majority of teams’ rights under its umbrella within two to three years.

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First-place Phillies to use 6 SPs with Nola return

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First-place Phillies to use 6 SPs with Nola return

WASHINGTON — Phillies manager Rob Thomson said Thursday that he will utilize a six-man rotation beginning this weekend when Aaron Nola returns from the injured list.

Nola is lined up for the series finale Sunday at Washington. The 32-year-old right-hander is coming back from a right ankle sprain.

Left-hander Ranger Suárez takes the mound Monday against the Mariners. The NL East leaders also have ace right-hander Zack Wheeler, lefties Cristopher Sánchez and Jesús Luzardo and right-hander Taijuan Walker.

Thomson said he isn’t sure how long he is going to use the six-man rotation.

“Once for sure and then we’ve got some other ideas how to attack this thing as we move forward,” he said.

Philadelphia starters lead the majors with 687⅓ innings pitched. Sánchez is up to 150⅔ innings, and Wheeler is at 144⅔.

“Just getting some of these guys some extra rest ’cause we’ve been grinding on them pretty hard all year,” Thomson said before the opener of a four-game set against the Nationals. “The one downside to it is you’ve got to take somebody out of your bullpen, so you’re a little short there but we’ll just have to figure it out.”

Nola hasn’t pitched in the majors since May 14. He posted a 2.19 ERA in three rehab starts with Triple-A Lehigh Valley while striking out 17 batters in 12⅓ innings.

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Padres put King back on IL, this time for knee

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Padres put King back on IL, this time for knee

The San Diego Padres placed right-hander Michael King on the 15-day injured list Thursday because of left knee inflammation.

King (4-2, 2.81 ERA) had just come off the IL on Saturday, allowing two runs in as many innings of a no-decision against the Boston Red Sox.

It was his first start since May 18 as he dealt with shoulder inflammation.

Now, he’s back on the IL with a knee issue in a move retroactive to Monday.

It’s a setback for a red-hot Padres team, who will carry a five-game winning streak into a weekend showdown against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. First-place San Diego is one game ahead of L.A. in the NL West.

King had been scheduled to start the series opener Friday.

In the corresponding roster move, the Padres recalled right-hander Randy Vásquez from Triple-A El Paso.

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Fire up the grill: Brewers free burger promo Wed.

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Fire up the grill: Brewers free burger promo Wed.

While the Milwaukee Brewers keep on rolling, another Wisconsin business is stocking up on beef and buns.

For the third time in its history, George Webb Restaurants will make good on its promise of giving away free hamburgers as part of a longstanding promotion to celebrate the Brewers winning 12 consecutive games.

The free burger giveaway will be held Wednesday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. CT at all 23 of the restaurant’s locations throughout Wisconsin. Vouchers for a burger at a later date will be available at all locations starting Friday.

“Hungry fans are welcome to stop by any location for a free, juicy burger and some camaraderie with fellow baseball fans,” the restaurant said on its website.

Starting way back in the 1940s, when Milwaukee was home to the minor league Brewers of the old American Association, George Webb promised free burgers if the local baseball team won 17 consecutive games.

The promotion dropped to 13 games by the time the Braves made Milwaukee a big league city in 1953, but that franchise couldn’t make it happen before departing for Atlanta in 1966.

George Webb changed the promotion to 12 games when the Brewers moved from Seattle in 1970. In 1987, the Brewers opened the season with 13 wins in a row, and more than 170,000 burgers were given away to mark the occasion.

The Brewers accomplished the feat a second time in 2018, closing the regular season with eight victories followed by four playoff wins. That streak led to 90,000 free burgers being given away in addition to 100,000 redeemable vouchers.

Prior to reaching the magic mark on Wednesday, the Brewers had come close on a few occasions, including an 11-game winning streak earlier this season.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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