ROSEMONT, Ill. — Oregon and Washington‘s “inbound interest” to join the Big Ten in the wake of Colorado‘s departure from the Pac-12 to Big 12 largely spurred the Big Ten to consider adding both schools last month, league commissioner Tony Petitti told ESPN.
The Big Ten had been focused on integrating new members USC and UCLA in 2024 and wasn’t considering further expansion as of late July. But Colorado’s departure to the Big 12 on July 27, before Pac-12 schools saw a streaming-based media rights proposal, changed the landscape, Petitti said.
The Big Ten voted unanimously to add Oregon and Washington on Aug. 4.
“Oregon and Washington, they had really intent, they were working hard to make it an option for them,” Petitti said in his first extensive comments about the expansion additions. “They really, really wanted to be in the Big Ten. We felt that throughout the whole process.”
Oregon and Washington will join the Big Ten in 2024 but not receive full media rights shares, like USC and UCLA will. Both are set to receive between $30-35 million annually, according to sources, a share that will increase by $1 million during the Big Ten’s media contract with Fox, NBC and CBS, which runs through the 2029-30 athletic season.
Petitti said the existing Big Ten members had “receptivity right in the beginning” about adding Oregon and Washington, but wanted to see how scheduling, finances and other issues would be sorted out. The scheduling benefits for USC and UCLA in having two more members on the West Coast factored into the Big Ten’s decision.
“We all felt that whatever aspect we looked at, it made us better,” Petitti said. “It just became that process of trying to figure out how. My job is to make sure the conference is as great in the future as it is today. There are opportunities to protect that and make sure that we are going to get better.”
Petitti said the Big Ten is not looking at expanding beyond 18 members at this time. The league is focused on its 2024 and 2025 football schedules, which will maintain the principles of the “Flex-Protect Plus” model announced in June. Oregon and Washington will play annually as a 12th protected game for the league, chief operating officer Kerry Kenny told ESPN, and other protected games are possible.
The Big Ten is “days, if not weeks” away from announcing home-and-home opponents for the 2024 schedule, and then will finalize the specific dates. The league will eliminate divisions after the 2023 season and have its top two teams play in its championship game.
Kenny said the Big Ten’s priorities with its schedule are to maximize opportunities to access the expanded College Football Playoff, play every team as much as possible, and balancing geography with travel and competitive trends.
“We’re making sure that we don’t have outliers in terms of the hardest schedule or the easiest schedule for any of our teams, and working through how to balance the competitive tiers,” Kenny said. “You’re going to see a lot of what people seemingly liked with the Flex-Protect Plus. We’re going through different options of what that could look like to see how we balance not just the travel component of our Eastern and Central time zone schools, but also the frequency of how we can get everybody to play both at those four [West Coast] schools.”
Pettiti agreed with SEC commissioner Greg Sankey that the CFP format must be assessed following the substantial realignment that took place during the summer. The original 12-team format called for the six highest-rated conference champions and six at-large spots.
“Those circumstances are different,” Petitti said. “It’s our job to make sure that whatever was created makes sense. I will say my No. 1 [goal] is access. Something as big and important as the College Football Playoff, as big and strong as the Big Ten is, my focus is giving as many teams the opportunity in a given season, when they’ve earned it, to compete for a national championship.”
The CFP management committee will next meet Sept. 25 at the Big Ten’s offices. Petitti said he doesn’t know a timetable for when the format will be finalized but said there is “a calendar that gives you a sense of when you have to make decisions, because eventually, we’re going to be playing the games.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes champion Sovereignty rallied after losing position heading into the final turn to win the $500,000 Jim Dandy by a length at Saratoga on Saturday.
Ridden by Junior Alvarado, Sovereignty ran nine furlongs in 1:49.52 and paid $3 to win as the 1-2 favorite against four rivals, the smallest field of his career.
Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said Sovereignty would be pointed toward the $1.25 million Travers on Aug. 23 at the upstate New York track.
Approaching the turn, there were a few tense moments as it appeared Sovereignty was retreating when losing position to the advancing Baeza and deep closers Sandman and Hill Road, leaving Sovereignty in last for a few strides.
Alvarado said he never had a doubt that Sovereignty would come up with his expected run.
“It was everybody else moving and at that time I was just like, ‘Alright let me now kind of start picking it up,'” Alvarado said. “I had 100% confidence. I knew what I had underneath me.”
Baeza, third to Sovereignty in both the Derby and Belmont, finished second. Hill Road was another 9¼ lengths back in third. Mo Plex was fourth and Sandman fifth.
INDIANAPOLIS — Chase Briscoe became the first driver to win poles at NASCAR’s first three crown jewel races in one season Saturday, taking the Brickyard 400 pole with a fast lap of 183.165 mph.
His late run bumped Bubba Wallace out of the top starting spot.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has won nine career poles, five coming this season including those at the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600 and now the only race held in Briscoe’s home state. He’ll have a chance to complete a crown jewel sweep at the Southern 500 in late August.
Briscoe has the most pole wins this season, his latest coming on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 2.5-mile oval. It also came on the same weekend his sister was married in Indiana. Briscoe has never won the Brickyard.
Wallace starts next to Briscoe on the front row after posting a lap of 183.117 mph. Those two also led a pack of five Toyotas to the front of the field — marking the first time the engine manufacturer has swept the top five spots.
Qualifying was held after a brief, rescheduled practice session. Friday’s practice was rained out.
Briscoe’s teammate, Ty Gibbs, has the early edge in the championship round of NASCAR’s first In-Season Challenge. He qualified fifth at 182.445. Ty Dillon starts 26th. The winner will be crowned champion and walk away with $1 million.
Last week’s race winner Denny Hamlin faces a major hurdle in winning his first Brickyard title. He crashed hard during qualifying and will start from the back of the field, 39th, as he tries to become the fifth driver to complete a career sweep of the Cup’s crown jewel races. The 44-year-old Hamlin signed a two-year contract extension with JGR on Friday.
There’s plenty of history in the rivalry between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies. It’s about 116 miles from Citi Field to Citizens Bank Park. The two teams been competing for the NL East since 1969. Star players from Tug McGraw to Jerry Koosman to Lenny Dykstra to Pedro Martinez to Zack Wheeler have played for both franchises. Mets fans loathe the Phanatic, and Phillies fans laugh derisively at Mr. Met.
Despite this longevity, the two teams have rarely battled for a division title in the same season. The only years they finished No. 1 and 2 or were battling for a division lead late in the season:
1986: Mets finished 21.5 games ahead
2001: Both finished within six games of the Braves
2006: Mets finished 12 games ahead
2007: Phillies finished one game ahead
2008: Phillies finished three games ahead
2024: Phillies finished six games ahead of Mets and Braves
So it’s a rare treat to see the Mets and Phillies battling for the NL East lead in as New York faces the San Francisco Giants on “Sunday Night Baseball” this week. This season has also been a bit of bumpy ride for both teams, so there is pressure on both front offices to make trade deadline additions in hopes of winning the World Series that has eluded both franchises in recent years despite high payrolls and star-laden rosters. Let’s dig into what both teams need to do before Thursday.
The perfect trade deadline for the Mets
1. Bullpen help
The Mets already acquired hard-throwing lefty Gregory Soto from the Orioles, but David Stearns will likely look for another reliever, given that the Mets’ bullpen has struggled since the beginning of June with a 5.02 ERA. In my grade of the trade, I pointed out the importance for the Mets to add left-handed relief. Think of potential playoff opponents and all the key left-handed batters: Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper on the Phillies; Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy on the Dodgers; Kyle Tucker, Michael Busch and Pete Crow-Armstrong on the Cubs.
Soto has held lefties to a .138 average this season, and it does help that the Mets have two lefty starters in David Peterson and Sean Manaea. They also just activated Brooks Raley after he had been out since early 2024. If he is back to his 2022-23 form, when he had a 2.74 ERA and held lefties to a .209 average, maybe the Mets will feel good enough about their southpaw relief.
They could still use another dependable righty reliever. Mets starters were hot early on, but they weren’t going deep into games, and outside of Peterson, the lack of longer outings is a big reason the bullpen ERA has skyrocketed. Carlos Mendoza has overworked his setup guys, including Huascar Brazoban and Reed Garrett. Brazoban has never been much of a strike thrower anyway, and Garrett similarly faded in the second half last season. Adding a high-leverage righty to set up Edwin Diaz makes sense. Candidates there include David Bednar of the Pirates, Ryan Helsley of the Cardinals, Griffin Jax or Jhoan Duran of the Twins, or maybe a longer shot such as Emmanuel Clase or Cade Smith of the Guardians.
Mark Vientos was a huge key to last season’s playoff appearance and trip to the NLCS, hitting .266/.322/.516 with 27 home runs after beginning the season in Triple-A. He hasn’t been able to replicate that performance, though, hitting .224/.279/.354. That has led to a revolving door at third base, with Vientos, Brett Baty and Ronny Mauricio starting games there in July. Overall, Mets third basemen ranked 24th in the majors in OPS entering Friday.
Lack of production at third is one reason the Mets’ offense has been mediocre rather than very good — they’re averaging 4.38 runs per game, just below the NL average of 4.43. They could use another premium bat, given the lack of production they’ve received from center field and catcher (not to mention Francisco Lindor‘s slump since the middle of June). Maybe Francisco Alvarez‘s short stint back in Triple-A will get his bat going now that he’s back in the majors, but going after Suarez to hit behind Juan Soto and Pete Alonso would lengthen the lineup.
Tyrone Taylor is a plus defender in center and has made several incredible catches, but he’s hitting .209/.264/.306 for a lowly OPS+ of 65. Old friend Bader is having a nice season with the Twins, hitting .251/.330/.435. Maybe that’s a little over his head, given that he had a .657 OPS with the Mets last season, but he would still be an offensive upgrade over Taylor without losing anything on defense — and he wouldn’t cost a top-tier prospect. The Mets could still mix in Jeff McNeil against the really tough righties, but adding Suarez and Bader would give this lineup more of a championship feel.
The perfect deadline for the Phillies
1. Acquire Jhoan Duran
Like the Mets, the Phillies already made a move here, signing free agent David Robertson, who had a 3.00 ERA and 99 strikeouts in 72 innings last season with the Rangers. On paper, he should help, but he’s also 40 and will need a few games in the minors to get ready. Even with Robertson, the Phillies could use some more help here. They’ll eventually get Jose Alvarado back from his 60-game PED suspension, but Alvarado is ineligible for the postseason. At least the Mets have an elite closer in Edwin Diaz. Jordan Romano leads the Phillies with eight saves and has a 6.69 ERA. Matt Strahm is solid, but more useful as a lefty setup guy than a closer (think of all those left-handed batters we listed for the Mets, then sub out Juan Soto and Brandon Nimmo for Harper and Schwarber).
And the Phillies’ bullpen has consistently come up short in big games. Think back to last year’s NLDS, when Jeff Hoffman lost twice to the Mets. Or 2023, when Craig Kimbrel lost two games in the NLCS against the Diamondbacks. Or the 2022 World Series, when Yordan Alvarez hit the huge home run off Alvarado in the clinching Game 6.
So, yes, a shutdown closer is a must. Maybe that’s Bednar, maybe Clase if he’s available (although he struggled in last year’s postseason), maybe Helsley. But the guy Dave Dombrowski should go all-in to get: Duran. The window for the Phillies is slowly closing as the core players get older. Duran is under control through 2027, so he’s a fit for now and the immediate future. The trade cost might be painful, but with his 100 mph fastball and splitter, he has the elite stuff you need in October.
The Phillies have received below-average production from both left field (mostly Max Kepler) and center field (Brandon Marsh/Johan Rojas platoon). The center-field market is pretty thin except for Bader or maybe a gamble on Luis Robert Jr. I’d pass on Robert, stick with the Marsh/Rojas platoon and upgrade left field with O’Hearn, who is hitting .281/.375/.452 for the Orioles. He isn’t the perfect fit since, like Kepler, he hits left-handed and struggles against lefties, but he’s a patient hitter with a much better OBP, and he’s passable in the outfield.
Here’s the bottom line: The Phillies have to admit that some of their long-term position players aren’t getting the job done — such as second baseman Bryson Stott, who has a 77 OPS+. Third baseman Alec Bohm has been better but also has a below-average OPS.
That makes Castro a nice fit. He’s not a star, but he’s an above-average hitter, a switch-hitter who plays all over the field for the Twins, having started games at five different positions. He could play second or third or start in left field against a lefty. Philadelphia could even start him in center instead of Rojas, although that would be a defensive hit. Bottom line: Castro would give the Phillies a lot more versatility — or a significant offensive upgrade over Stott if they start him every day at second.
Note as well: Stott has hit .188 in 33 career postseason games. Bohm has hit .214 with two home runs in 34 postseason games. The Phillies need a different offensive look for October.