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NEW YORK — Mets owner Steve Cohen hopes to construct a casino adjacent to Citi Field as a way to attract people to the area near the ballpark.

Cohen, who bought the Mets before the 2021 season, hopes to create attractions near the stadium in Queens in the manner of other teams.

“There’s nothing going on. The only thing you can do at Citi Field is get your hubcap changed or maybe get back a catalytic converter,” he said Wednesday during the closing session of Sportico’s Invest in Sports conference. “The way I would describe it is 50 acres of cement.”

New York State this year authorized three casino licenses for New York City, Long Island and Westchester, and many groups have discussed proposals.

In addition, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced plans in November to build a stadium adjacent to Citi Field for Major League Soccer’s New York City team, owned by the parent company of England’s Manchester City.

“The fans want something to do before the game, after the game,” Cohen said.

Cohen also is thinking about changes inside Citi Field.

“We’ve done some investing in ballparks and trying to create a fan experience people are excited about. I have tons of ideas I want to implement,” he said. “You can’t spend an unlimited amount of money, so you’ve got to budget. And also, dealing with the underinvestment that I had to deal with coming in. I call it the money pit.”

Cohen bought the team from the Wilpon and Katz families in a deal valued at $2.4 billion.

“I felt like this was like an unpolished gem and if I could turn this sucker around, it would be really cool,” he said.

Approached by reporters after his session, Cohen refused to discuss Billy Eppler’s surprise resignation as general manager last week.

New York finished fourth in the NL East at 75-87, 29 games behind first-place Atlanta. The Mets fired manager Buck Showalter on the final day of the season and hired David Stearns the following day as president of baseball operations. Three days later, Eppler announced his resignation after less than two years as GM.

New York set a major league payroll record this year with a figure projected to finish at $346 million and are on track for a luxury tax of $102 million — more than double the previous high of $43.6 million by the 2015 Los Angeles Dodgers.

Out of contention, the team traded Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander during the summer as part of a sell-off of veterans for prospects. New York agreed to pay $62.1 million next year to cover much of the 2024 salary due the two pitchers.

“That was a hard decision. Actually, it wasn’t,” he said. “It was a clear decision. I was patient. I was waiting for the team to demonstrate some consistency. We’d win three or four in a row and then we’d lose three, four in a row. We never really got it going. I think at that particular time our odds were like 15% to get into the playoffs.”

Cohen also said he is interviewing candidates to become the team’s CEO.

“Usually I like everyone the first time,” he said. “It’s the second where I really start to dislike them.”

He says he has enjoyed becoming a team owner.

“You’re a hedge fund manager. It doesn’t mean much to people,” he said, “But if you’re the owner of a sports team, just people care. And so it’s been transformational for me and my family.”

Cohen would consider buying another team, but not yet.

“Maybe down the road, but I got to get this right, and I haven’t gotten it right yet,” he said.

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Springer’s 7 RBIs help Jays pile on Yankees late

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Springer's 7 RBIs help Jays pile on Yankees late

George Springer had a career-high seven RBIs, including his ninth grand slam, and the Toronto Blue Jays celebrated Canada Day by beating the Yankees 12-5 on Tuesday and closing within one game of American League East-leading New York.

The seven RBIs are tied for the second most by any Blue Jays player in a home game, behind Edwin Encarnación (nine RBIs in 2015), according to ESPN Research.

Andrés Giménez had a go-ahead, three-run homer for the Blue Jays, who overcame a 2-0 deficit against Max Fried. After the Yankees tied the score 4-4 in the seventh, Toronto broke open the game in the bottom half against a reeling Yankees bullpen.

Springer went 3-for-4, starting the comeback with a solo homer in the fourth against Fried and boosting the lead to 9-5 with the slam off Luke Weaver after Ernie Clement‘s go-ahead single off shortstop Anthony Volpe‘s glove. Springer has 13 homers this season.

Toronto won the first two games of the four-game series and closed within one game of the Yankees for the first time since before play on April 20.

New York went 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position, dropping to 3-for-24 in the series, while the Blue Jays were 5-for-7. After going 13-14 in June, the Yankees fell to 10-14 against AL East rivals.

The Associate Press contributed to this report.

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Astros’ Alvarez to see hand specialist after setback

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Astros' Alvarez to see hand specialist after setback

DENVER — Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez has experienced a setback in his recovery from a broken right hand and will see a specialist.

Astros general manager Dana Brown said Alvarez felt pain when he arrived Tuesday at the team’s spring training complex in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he had a workout a day earlier. Alvarez also took batting practice Saturday at Daikin Park.

He will be shut down until he’s evaluated by the specialist.

“It’s a tough time going through this with Yordan, but I know that he’s still feeling pain and the soreness in his hand,” Brown said before Tuesday night’s series opener at Colorado, which the Astros won 6-5. “We’re not going to try to push it or force him through anything. We’re just going to allow him to heal and get a little bit more answers as to what steps we take next.”

Alvarez has been sidelined for nearly two months. The injury was initially diagnosed as a muscle strain, but when Alvarez felt pain again while hitting in late May, imaging revealed a small fracture.

The 28-year-old outfielder, who has hit 31 homers or more in each of the past four seasons, had been eyeing a return as soon as this weekend at the Los Angeles Dodgers. Now it’s uncertain when he’ll play.

“We felt like he was close because he had felt so good of late,” Brown said, “but this is certainly news that we didn’t want.”

Also Tuesday, the Astros officially placed shortstop Jeremy Peña on the 10-day injured list with a fractured rib and recalled infielder Shay Whitcomb from Triple-A Sugar Land.

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Ohtani’s 30th HR before break ties Dodgers mark

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Ohtani's 30th HR before break ties Dodgers mark

Shohei Ohtani reached 30 homers for the fifth straight season, hitting a fourth-inning drive after fouling a pitch off the plate umpire, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago White Sox 6-1 on Tuesday night.

Ohtani fouled the ball off Alan Porter’s right knee in the fourth. Ohtani checked on the umpire and stood by watching until Parker got up under his own power. The three-time MVP then hit a 408-foot shot to center, snapping an 0-for-6 skid and extending the lead to 6-1. He tied Cody Bellinger in 2019 for most home runs before the All-Star break in Dodgers history; Bellinger won National League MVP that year.

Ohtani joined Seattle‘s Cal Raleigh (33) and Aaron Judge of the Yankees (30) as players with at least 30 homers by the All-Star break; it marks the fifth season that three players have reached the 30-homer threshold before the break (2019, 1998, 1994, 1969).

As for Ohtani, this is his third season hitting at least 30 home runs before the break, tying Ken Griffey Jr. for third most in MLB history (Judge and Mark McGwire each did so for four seasons).

During the seventh-inning stretch, Ohtani walked over and checked on Porter again before leading off.

Los Angeles scored its most runs this season in support of Yoshinobu Yamamoto (8-6), staking the Japanese right-hander to a 4-0 lead in the first inning.

The Dodgers won for the 13th time in 16 games and opened a season-high, eight-game NL West lead. They are 16-5 (.762 win percentage) since June 8, the best record in MLB during that span.

Every run Tuesday night was scored with two outs.

Yamamoto allowed one run and three hits in seven innings, struck out eight and walked one.

White Sox rookie Shane Smith (3-6) got two quick outs in the first before walking Will Smith and Max Muncy back-to-back. Teoscar Hernández followed with an RBI single, Andy Pages hit a run-scoring double and Michael Conforto had a two-run single.

Chicago’s lone run came on Lenyn Sosa‘s RBI single in the third.

ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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