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The Philadelphia Phillies unveiled their City Connect uniforms Friday — a modern look that’s intended to celebrate the city’s rich history, while appealing to a younger audience.

The reveal is the first in a line of nine Major League Baseball teams that will have a new City Connect uniform this season. It will debut on the field on April 12.

“We are excited and honored to be the first team this season to officially unveil our City Connect uniform, which features a new modern design that represents being ‘unapologetically Philly’ and celebrates our city’s rich history, ” said Phillies vice president of business affairs Howard Smith in a news release.

The structured process of the Phillies’ design began in 2021 with an emphasis on a look that is tailored to younger fans. The choice of when the uniforms will be worn on-field this season — every Friday home game — is specifically meant for days/times when more younger fans will be able to attend, Smith told ESPN.

“It’s about getting younger as a sport,” Smith said. “We’ve got a lot of 20-somethings in that clubhouse. So it’s kind of part of the target we’re going after, they’re sitting down in the clubhouse. And to see their excitement through the process was gratifying.”

The uniform includes multiple nods to Philadelphia’s roots, a key component of each City Connect uniform. The blue and yellow colors are directly related to the colors of the city’s flag, the oldest and only one that’s gone unchanged in the United States.

Philadelphia’s skyline is depicted on the inside of the uniform’s collar in a bright blue shade, meant to represent what Philadelphia is at its core — “a blue-collar big city with a small-town feel,” according to the news release.

The pattern of “Philly” across the chest is similar to text found on historical documents written in the city and includes a nod to the cracks within the Liberty Bell.

It wouldn’t be a Philadelphia uniform without paying homage to the “City of Brotherly Love” moniker, which appears as a sleeve patch integrated with the word “Love.” There’s an etching pattern on the interior referencing the illustration from literature common around the time of the revolution. Baseball laces are also woven in this detail with the intention of representing the Phillies’ place in the city’s DNA.

According to Smith, John Middleton, the principal owner of the Phillies, was very direct that the process had to be organizationally driven and was important that everyone was on the same page with the design. First and foremost, the players — some of whom were involved in the process — had to like the direction.

“We started with the clubhouse and showed them the designs and [it was] very, very well received,” Smith said.

Smith described the look as “sort of like a mini history lesson.”

“Given the fact that we got to go in Year 3 [of the City Connect series] and see how some of the really successful clubs did it, both in the NBA and Major League Baseball, we knew that just rolling out another red, white and blue jersey wasn’t the answer,” he said. “It had to be distinctive, it had to be different and it had to stand for something and there had to be, like I said, there had to be that connectivity.”

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Sources: Red Sox deal Devers to Giants in stunner

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Sources: Red Sox deal Devers to Giants in stunner

The San Francisco Giants are acquiring All-Star slugger Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox, sources confirmed to ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Sunday evening.

The Giants are sending starter Jordan Hicks and 23-year-old lefty Kyle Harrison, among others, to Boston in exchange, sources said.

Devers, 28, is in just the second season of a 10-year, $313.5 million contract he signed to stay in Boston in January 2023, however his relationship with the team suffered a significant blow after the star third baseman was reportedly blindsided by a move to designated hitter in the spring.

Tensions flared again last month after Devers refused an offer from the team to move him to first base after starting first baseman Triston Casas was ruled out for the season with a knee injury.

It reached a point where Red Sox owner John Henry met with the disgruntled star, making a rare trip to meet the team on the road and smooth things over after Devers’ pointed comments about the request to switch positions again.

Hicks and Harrison give a pitching-starved Red Sox team more depth on their staff while Devers provides a huge boost to a middling Giants offense.

Devers has more than 200 career home runs to his name and has a .894 OPS for Boston this season.

The deal was first reported by Fansided.

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Ohtani’s pitching return might be coming soon

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Ohtani's pitching return might be coming soon

Shohei Ohtani‘s pitching debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers might be quickly approaching.

Manager Dave Roberts told reporters Sunday that Ohtani would throw another simulated game in the coming days that could “potentially” be his last one, and a source told ESPN’s Buster Olney that Ohtani should join the Dodgers’ rotation “sooner rather than later,” potentially within the week.

Ohtani took a big step forward during his most recent simulated game at Petco Park on Tuesday, throwing 44 pitches over the course of three innings against a couple of lower-level minor league players. Ohtani’s fastball reached the mid- to upper-90s, and he exhibited good command of his off-speed pitches in what amounted to his third time facing hitters. Afterward, Roberts said there was a “north of zero” chance Ohtani could join the rotation before the All-Star break.

Because of his two-way designation, the Dodgers can carry Ohtani as an extra pitcher, which means he can throw two to three innings and have someone pitch after him as a piggyback starter. At this point, it seems that is the Dodgers’ plan.

The Dodgers’ pitching staff has again been plagued by injury, with 14 pitchers on the injured list, including four starting pitchers the team was heavily counting on for 2025 — Blake Snell, Tony Gonsolin, Roki Sasaki and Tyler Glasnow.

If Ohtani returns in July — the likely outcome at this point — he will be 22 months removed from a second repair of his ulnar collateral ligament.

The update isn’t as optimistic for Sasaki. He paused his throwing program and is set for a lengthy layoff. Sasaki has not pitched in a game since May 9 and is not part of the team’s long-term pitching plans this season.

“I think that’s what the mindset should be,” Roberts said. “Being thrust into this environment certainly was a big undertaking for him, and now you layer in the health part and the fact he’s a starting pitcher, knowing what the build-up [required to return] entails … I think that’s the prudent way to go about it.”

Sasaki, 23, went 1-1 with a 4.72 ERA in eight starts after joining the Dodgers from the Pacific League’s Chuba Lotte Marines, averaging less than 4⅓ innings per start. He walked 22 and struck out 24 in 34⅓ innings, and his fastball averaged 95.7 mph, down 3-4 mph from his average in Japan.

Roberts said Sasaki was pain free when he resumed throwing in early June, but the pitcher was shut down after feeling discomfort this past week. Sasaki recently received a cortisone injection in the shoulder; Roberts said no further scans are planned.

“I don’t think it’s pain,” Roberts said. “I don’t know if it’s discomfort, if it’s tightness, if he’s just not feeling strong, whatever the adjective you want to use. That’s more of a question for Roki, as far as the sensation he’s feeling.

“He’s just not feeling like he can ramp it up, and we’re not going to push him to do something he doesn’t feel good about right now.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Judge 1-for-12 as NY swept: Got to swing at strikes

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Judge 1-for-12 as NY swept: Got to swing at strikes

BOSTON — Aaron Judge blamed himself for swinging at pitches outside the strike zone as the New York Yankees were swept in a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox.

“You got to swing at strikes,” Judge said after going 1-for-12 in the series, which Boston completed with a 2-0 victory on Sunday.

Judge struck out three or more times in three straight games for only the third time in his major league career.

“That usually helps any hitter when you swing at strikes,” Judge added. “Definitely some pitches off the edge or off the edge in, you know, taking some hacks just trying to make something happen.”

Judge had a tying solo homer in the opener Friday night but struck out nine times as the Yankees were swept in a series for the first time this season.

New York scored only four runs in the three games, matching its fewest in a three-game series at Fenway Park, on June 20-22, 1916 and on Sept. 28-30, 1922.

“It’s very hard,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of facing Judge. “He’s so good at what he does. We used our fastballs in the right spots, we got some swing and misses.”

“Throughout the years we’ve been aggressive with him,” Cora added. “Sometimes he gets us, sometimes we do a good job with that. It’s always fun to compete against the best, and, to me, he’s the best in the business right now.”

Judge’s major league-leading average dipped to .378.

“I don’t think much of it,” teammate Ben Rice said. “If I could have that guy hitting every single at-bat even if he’s not at his best, I would do it. I’m sure he’ll bounce back. He’ll be all right.”

Judge faced Garrett Whitlock with two on in the eighth Sunday and bounced into an inning-ending double play.

“He’s one of the greatest hitters in the world,” Whitlock said. “It’s special to watch him play and everything. We tried to execute and had some execution this weekend.”

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