Bryce Harper’s hitting still mostly hasn’t come around. He’s socked a couple impressive dingers recently, but he’s still batting just .229 on the season after putting up another 0-fer Monday night against the Cubs. Ultimately it’ll be his plate production that determines whether the Phillies are getting their money’s…

The Golden State Warriors, minus Kevin Durant, minus DeMarcus Cousins, minus Andre Iguodala, completed a four-game sweep of the Portland Trail Blazers Monday night, overcoming another 17-point deficit, and another Meyers Leonard Game, and Draymond Green getting dunked through the planet and back out the other side, to…

Meyers Leonard started Game 4 against the Golden State Warriors Monday night. He started Game 3, too, and had a very solid game, box stats-wise, going for 16 points, three rebounds, and four assists in 31 minutes. The Blazers were roundly outscored during his minutes, but plenty goes into that, and anyway a standout…

Seth Curry was careful to say the Warriors are “definitely not a better team” without Kevin Durant in their lineup—which, duh—but it is the younger Curry’s opinion that the Warriors do move the ball and themselves more, and more quickly, when they don’t have Durant around. Durant makes the Warriors better, but the job…

Andreas Nikolaus “Niki” Lauda, a legendary figure of perseverance in the face of adversity and three-time Formula One world champion who remained a fixture in the sport even after his racing days were long over, has died, according to his family members. He was 70.

If, or more realistically, when the Portland Trail Blazers are eliminated, it will mark the end of the deepest playoff run for the franchise in almost 20 years. They should be focusing on this triumph, and what it portends for the future. Instead, the organization is picking a petty fight with a local publication…

The Trine University (Indiana) Thunder made use of what was either a sublimely inventive or sneakily underhanded play to get the last out against Geneseo on Saturday and advance to the Division III Women’s College World Series. Whatever your opinion on it, I believe a hidden-ball trick of this variety has only ever…

Yoenis Cespedes hasn’t played for the Mets since last July, when he returned after months on the DL for exactly one game, homered, and then announced that he needed season-ending heel surgery. The outfielder will now be out for even longer thanks to a mysterious incident on his ranch in Port St. Lucie.

Now THIS is the kind of story fantasists are asking for, and there isn’t as much as a matchbook in sight. There is an attempt here by several people of power and influence to seize the Los Angeles Lakers, and though you may wish this kind of plot turn concerned a team relevant enough to actively hate…

Former Los Angeles Lakers president and current Twitter user Magic Johnson joined ESPN’s First Take this morning to talk about his embarrassing exit from the team, the sorry state of the franchise headed into a critical summer, and the confusing power structure within the organization. Johnson doesn’t believe he did…

The biggest downside—or upside, depending on your point of view—to Kevin Durant’s clearly unmild calf injury is that he has more time to spend online. He was already extremely online, even if you’re only counting his main and not his dozen burners, but injured Durant has extra time to contemplate his future and get in…

Kawhi Leonard is no longer the defensive marauder he once was, maybe because he’s been saddled with Jordanesque duties on the other side of the ball. The Raptors’ sludgy tar-pit offense leaves Leonard no possession to catch his breath. Almost every trip down the floor, he’s relied upon to create something. Even in the…

It brings me no pleasure to report this, but I am compelled to share with you an absolutely brutal exchange between play-by-play man Mark Neely and color commentator Danielle Lawrie that occurred during Michigan and James Madison’s NCAA Softball Tournament game this afternoon.