MLB wants 2020 rules to return, but DH is still TBA.
Major League Baseball, fearing that the coronavirus pandemic could create havoc with scheduling once again, reportedly has proposed the return of seven-inning doubleheaders and extra-inning games beginning with a runner on second base.
While the MLB Players Association is expected to approve the rules for the 2021 season, the sides still haven’t determined whether there will be a universal designated hitter or an expanded postseason, with the rosters remaining at 26 players.
MLB has proposed implementing a universal DH in exchange for an expanded postseason — which would generate additional revenue, with the extra round of playoffs televised by ESPN — but the sides have been at a stalemate.
Most baseball executives believe there will be a universal DH, but unless the union approves an expanded playoff field, it might not happen. MLB is seeking a 14-team field, two fewer teams than a year ago but four more than their format since 2012. MLB seeks a playoff pool that gives a first-round bye to the team with the best record in each league.
NBA
Triple-double for Harden in Nets debut
James Harden delivered 32 points and a triple-double in his Nets debut, and Kevin Durant scored a season-high 42 points in his first game back with his former teammate during a 122-115 victory over the visiting Magic.
Harden had 14 assists and 12 rebounds after being cleared to play earlier in the afternoon after all the players in the blockbuster trade that brought him from the Rockets had completed their physicals. Harden also had nine turnovers, and Durant had six.
“Early on, I felt like we all were overpassing, trying to make everybody comfortable,” Durant said. “And then [Harden] just got into his mode of being aggressive to score, and that opened up the whole game for others.”
Harden had no practice time with the Nets and sure didn’t need it, becoming the first player in NBA history to record a 30-point triple-double in his debut with a team.
♦ The Pacers will be without newly acquired Caris LeVert indefinitely after an MRI exam showed a mass on his left kidney during a physical to complete the blockbuster four-team trade that sent Harden to the Nets.
MISCELLANEOUS
47 Aussie Open players in quarantine
Three coronavirus cases have been detected among charter flights carrying tennis players, coaches and officials to Melbourne for the Australian Open, forcing 47 players into strict hotel quarantine. The players from the two affected flights — arriving from Los Angeles and Abu Dhabi — were in a 14-day quarantine, unable to leave their hotel rooms or practice.
♦ Hugues Fabrice Zango broke the world indoor triple-jump record with an effort of 18.07 meters (59 feet, 3.42 inches), becoming the first to jump more than 18 meters indoors. On his sixth and final attempt in a jumps-only meet in Aubiere, France, Zango added 15 centimeters to the previous record set by Teddy Tamgho 10 years ago.
♦ Marta Bassino held on to her first-run lead to win a women’s World Cup giant slalom in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, by a big margin and earn her third victory this season. American Mikaela Shiffrin, fourth after the opening run, finished sixth.