Sankey: A lot of reasons to keep bowls in CFP

Published

1 month ago

May 29, 2025

admin

DESTIN, Fla. — Despite the roaring success of first-round home games in the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey on Wednesday said a lot of factors support the continued inclusion of the major bowls in the next iteration of the CFP.

“My expectations will focus on those early rounds being on campus,” Sankey said following the second day of the conference’s spring meetings. “I think we’re still working through later rounds, but a lot of issues around preparation and hosting that support bowls continuing to be a part of the experience. But, more to come.”

This past fall, the higher seeds earned home games in the first round, and all four of them (Texas, Penn State, Ohio State and Notre Dame) won by double digits. According to announced attendance numbers at each game, almost 400,000 total fans attended first-round games.

Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte, who is the only athletic director at the league’s meetings this week from a school that hosted a first-round CFP game, said that as far as being a proponent of more home games in future rounds, “I’m all-in on that action.”

“I’m holding on that,” Del Conte said. “The wear and tear on your fans, and the price of tickets and airlines at that time of year, it’s really an expense. In the NFL, the higher-ranked team gets the home advantage. Having a home game and playing Clemson at home was unbelievable. Yet we’re still married to that old bowl system for a moment. So you’ve got to give a little bit of grace as we go through this. But having a home game was great.”

The 12-team playoff will have the same format this fall, with the higher seed earning the first-round home game. The difference this season will be a straight seeding format, which will award first-round byes to the selection committee’s top four teams — something that was reserved for the four highest-ranked conference champions last year.

This season, the Rose Bowl Game will start an hour earlier than its traditional window and kick off at 4 p.m. ET as part of a New Year’s Day tripleheader of CFP quarterfinals on ESPN. The rest of the New Year’s Day quarterfinals on ESPN include the Capital One Orange Bowl (noon ET) and the Allstate Sugar Bowl (8 p.m.), which also will start earlier than usual.

The Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, a CFP quarterfinal this year, will be played at 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN) on New Year’s Eve. The VRBO Fiesta Bowl, a CFP semifinal, will be at 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN) on Thursday, Jan. 8, and the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl will host the other CFP semifinal at 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN) on Jan. 9.

Sports

Pirates ball-crusher Cruz accepts HR Derby invite

Published

1 hour ago

July 8, 2025

admin

Pirates ball-crusher Cruz accepts HR Derby invite

Field Level Media

Jul 8, 2025, 04:16 PM ET

Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Oneil Cruz accepted an invitation on Tuesday to compete in Monday’s Home Run Derby in Atlanta.

Cruz is the fifth player to commit to the competition, held one day before the All-Star Game. The others are Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Atlanta Braves, Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners, James Wood of the Washington Nationals and Byron Buxton of the Minnesota Twins.

Cruz, 26, is known for having a powerful bat and regularly delivers some of the hardest-hit homers in the sport. His home run May 25 at home against the Milwaukee Brewers had an exit velocity of 122.9 mph and was the hardest hit homer in the 10-year Statcast era.

But Cruz has never hit more than 21 in a season, and that was in 2024. He’s on track to set a new high this year and has 15 in 80 games.

Cruz has 55 career homers in 324 games with the Pirates.

Cruz will be the first Pittsburgh player to participate in the Derby since Josh Bell in 2019. Other Pirates to be part of the event were Bobby Bonilla (1990), Barry Bonds (1992), Jason Bay (2005), Andrew McCutchen (2012) and Pedro Alvarez (2013).

Overall, Cruz is batting just .203 this season but leads the National League with 28 steals.

Among the players to turn down an invite to the eight-player field are two-time champion Pete Alonso of the New York Mets, Kyle Schwarber of the Philadelphia Phillies and 2024 runner-up Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals.

Defending champion Teoscar Hernandez of the Los Angeles Dodgers recently turned down a spot as a consideration to nagging injuries.

Top power threats Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers also are expected to skip the event.

Sports

Yanks moving Chisholm back to 2B after 3B stint

Published

1 hour ago

July 8, 2025

admin

Yanks moving Chisholm back to 2B after 3B stint

Field Level Media

Jul 8, 2025, 01:40 PM ET

New York Yankees All-Star Jazz Chisholm Jr., after making 28 starts in a row at third base, is moving back to second base starting with Tuesday’s game against the Seattle Mariners, manager Aaron Boone said.

Boone confirmed the change on the “Talkin’ Yanks” podcast on Tuesday.

Chisholm, who is batting .245 with 15 home runs, 38 RBIs and 10 steals in 59 games, has recently been bothered by soreness in his right shoulder, which he said is an issue only on throws.

He said he prefers to play second base and prepared in the offseason to exclusively play in that spot before injuries played havoc with Boone’s lineup card, starting with Chisholm’s oblique injury in May.

Third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera went down with a season-ending ankle injury on May 12.

DJ LeMahieu manned second base while Chisholm was at third, but Boone has a better glove option in Oswald Peraza, a utility man with a stronger arm plus defensive skills across the infield.

LeMahieu, 36, is batting .266 with two home runs and 12 RBIs this season.

Sports

White Sox reinstate OF Robert (hamstring) from IL

Published

1 hour ago

July 8, 2025

admin

White Sox reinstate OF Robert (hamstring) from IL

Field Level Media

Jul 8, 2025, 03:55 PM ET

The Chicago White Sox reinstated outfielder Luis Robert Jr. (hamstring) from the 10-day injured list Tuesday.

Robert, 27, has struggled this season through career lows in batting average (.185), on-base percentage (.270) and slugging percentage (.313). Through 73 games, he has amassed just 16 extra-base hits (eight doubles, eight home runs) in 285 plate appearances.

He does have 22 stolen bases in 28 attempts and is just one shy of his career- high in steals.

In a corresponding move, the White Sox optioned infielder Tristan Gray to Triple-A Charlotte. Gray was just recalled before Monday night’s game but did not play.