As someone who has to find something to write about sports every day, I’m thrilled that the MLB All-Star break is over. As a baseball fan, I’m even more excited for what the second half of the season may hold.

Eight teams are back in action today, playing six games (the Yankees and Astros are playing a doubleheader, as are the Tigers and A’s), with the rest of the league returning to play tomorrow.

That Yankees-Astros doubleheader could serve as an ALCS preview and a great way to kick off the second half. But there are plenty of other story lines to focus on as MLB enters the home stretch, which is Tom Verducci’s focus in today’s Daily Cover.

Soto’s saga

The most immediate is the trade deadline, which falls on Aug. 2 this year. The question on everyone’s mind as the deadline approaches is whether the Nationals will move Juan Soto after extension negotiations stalled. Though Soto won’t be a free agent until after the 2024 season, now could be the perfect time to trade him since teams in contention would be willing to break the bank to add him for a pennant race. Verducci writes that the Padres, Mets, Yankees, Cardinals, Giants and Rangers are likely to pursue Soto.

Deadline options

It isn’t Soto or bust for contenders looking to pick up help at the deadline, though. Reds reliever Luis Castillo is on the market and would be a major boost to any team looking to bolster its bullpen. The Royals also have two talented players—2022 All-Star Andrew Benintendi and ’21 All-Star Whit Merrifield—who are supposedly up for grabs.

Injured stars

Other teams might get help from inside. The Mets haven’t gotten to see how terrifying a combo of Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer can be at the top of the rotation, because deGrom has been out all year with a stress reaction in his right shoulder blade. But he’s nearing a return and would be a great deadline acquisition of sorts for a team that’s already in first place. The Dodgers are in a similar situation, with three top pitchers—Dustin May, Blake Treinen and Walker Buehler—poised to come back later this summer.

History in the making

The players to watch most closely, though, are the ones who got off to great starts in the first half and will look to replicate that success the rest of the way. Aaron Judge could very well become the first player since 2001 to hit 60 homers in a season, and the Mariners’ Julio Rodríguez is looking to become the first rookie since Mike Trout in 2012 to have a 30-homer, 30-steal season.

Rodríguez and the M’s are the hottest team in baseball right now, riding a 14-game winning streak into tomorrow’s game against the Astros. Seattle has a long way to go to catch Houston atop the division (it’s currently nine games back) but with Rodríguez leading the way, the pursuit of the franchise’s first playoff appearance since 2001 will be fun to watch.

The best of Sports Illustrated

Chris Herring and Rohan Nadkarni discussed what Russell Westbrook’s next step should be—whether with the Lakers or somewhere else. … One year before the Women’s World Cup kicks off, Molly Geary has a preview of the story lines. … Despite recent developments, the commissioner of the ACC still believes his conference can close the gap with the SEC and Big Ten, Ross Dellenger writes. … Greg Bishop wrote an ode to the 188-foot tower that overlooks the track at Oregon’s Hayward Field.

Around the sports world

The 49ers have reportedly given Jimmy Garappolo’s agents permission to seek a trade. … The Sixers plan to build a new privately funded arena in Philadelphia’s Center City. … Henrik Stenson was stripped of his Ryder Cup captaincy after jumping to LIV Golf. … The Flames are likely to trade Matthew Tkachuk after he turned down a contract extension. … The Buccaneers are reportedly adding tight end Kyle Rudolph.

The top five...

… things I saw yesterday:

5. Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes’s proposal after his first All-Star Game.

4. This atrocious penalty from Chelsea’s Conor Gallagher against Charlotte FC.

3. Stephen Curry’s terrible Dikembe Mutombo impression. (He sounds more like the Cookie Monster.)

2. Georgia Stanway’s long-range game-winner for England at the Women’s Euros.

1. J.J. Watt’s response to a fan raising money for their grandfather’s funeral.

SIQ

On this day in 1959, Pumpsie Green made his major league debut, making which team the last one to integrate?

Yesterday’s SIQ: How much money did Rory McIlroy’s dad win on a 10-year-old bet when he won the 2014 Open Championship?

Answer: $171,000. McIlroy’s father, Gerry, placed a £200 bet ($341 at the time of McIlroy’s win) with the London-based gambling company Ladbrokes in 2004 that McIlroy would win the Open within the next 10 years, meaning Rory won just in time.

Gerry, who was working as a bar steward in Belfast at the time, received 500/1 odds, meaning his £200 bet turned into £100,000, or about $171,000 at the time. Two of his friends also placed similar bets, which returned a total of £80,000.

Bets like the one Gerry placed aren’t unheard of in Europe. Anyone can call up a gambling company and ask for a special odds request to place a bet on a relative winning a major sporting event in the future. A Ladbrokes spokesperson told ESPN at the time that it receives about 300 such bets per year. Members of Lewis Hamilton’s family and some friends placed a similar bet in 1994, when Hamilton was 9, that he would one day win an F1 race and F1 championship. The father of former Wigan goalkeeper Chris Kirkland placed a bet when his son was 12 that he would one day appear for the English national team. He made a single appearance for the team in 2006, making his dad £10,000 richer.

From the Vault: July 21, 1997

If you somehow made it to the bottom of this newsletter despite not being a fan of reading lots of words, I’ve got a treat for you.

The July 21, 1997, issue of SI didn’t have a cover story. Instead, the main feature of the magazine was a 24-page spread of photographs. The pictures were billed as “the finest portraiture in our archives.” Some of them, like a young Muhammad Ali standing in a bank vault surrounded by bundles of cash and Larry Bird flanked by two cheerleaders, appeared on famous covers. Others you’ve probably never seen before, like the one of Duke Snider sitting in an empty Los Angeles Coliseum after the Dodgers’ move to California. (If you look closely, you can faintly see where the B has been removed from his hat.) Other subjects featured include Reggie Jackson, Leon Spinks, Martina Navratilova, Sandy Koufax and Sonny Liston. It’s definitely worth flipping through for a few minutes.

If you do like to read, allow me to recommend that issue’s minor league baseball roundup by David Fleming. He lists several prospects who were lighting up the minors at the time and all of them (with the exception of Daryle Ward) ended up being at least solid major leaguers. Todd Helton and Paul Konerko are the biggest names, but Kris Benson and Guillermo Mota were solid players, too. Fleming also explains the curious case of Travis Lee, a Diamondbacks prospect, who, because the expansion team had yet to debut and did not have a Triple A affiliate, was loaned to the Brewers’ affiliate when he progressed through the minors more quickly than anticipated.

Check out more of SI’s archives and historic images at vault.si.com.

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