Sports shorts Indians to host 2019 all-stars

The Indians will host the Major League AllStar game at Progressive Field in 2019, sources confirmed Jan. 26.

The Indians last hosted the All-Star game in 1997 when Tribe catcher Sandy Alomar was named the Most Valuable Player.

A news conference is scheduled Jan. 27 at Progressive Field to announce the event.

The team from the league that wins the All-Star game is designated the home team in the World Series. The American League won the 2016 All-Star game, which is why the Indians had home-field advantage over the Cubs in the World Series last year.

This will be the sixth time for the Indians as All-Star hosts. They also hosted in 1935, 1954, 1963 and 1981 when they played at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, in addition to the 1997 game at what was then known as Jacobs Field.

The Red Sox will be retiring Big Papi’s No. 34 on June 23.

The team said Thursday it will be honoring David Ortiz before Boston plays that day against the Los Angeles Angels. The Red Sox had said before his final regular-season game at home last season that the ceremony would be held during the 2017 season.

Known for his towering homers and clutch playoff moments, Ortiz became a beloved figure in his 14 seasons in Boston. The 10-time All-Star and three-time World Series champion retired at age 40 after Boston was swept out of the AL Division Series in 2016 by the Cleveland Indians. He went out in historic fashion, hitting 38 homers the most for a 40-yearold and for a player in his final season. His 483 home runs with the Red Sox trail only Ted Williams’ 521 on the franchise’s career list. The World Series champion Chicago Cubs added pitching depth, finalizing a $3.5 million, oneyear contract with lefthander Brett Anderson.

Anderson, who can make an additional $6.5 million in bonuses based on starts, figures to compete with Mike Montgomery for the fifth spot in the rotation behind Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks, Jake Arrieta and John Lackey.

Tiger Woods had a rough return to the PGA Tour on Thursday. A slow one, too. Woods, playing in a PGA Tour event for the first in 17 months, fell apart on the back nine of the South course at Torrey Pines and wound up with a 4-over 76, leaving him in danger of missing the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open.

He was 11 shots behind Justin Rose, who shot a 65 on the shorter North Course.

Along with fighting his swing he didn’t hit a fairway after No. 7 and coping with thick rough he had not seen in some time, Woods said he had a hard time adjusting to the pace of play from being in threesomes for the first time since he last played a PGA Tour event at the Wyndham Championship in August 2015.

“Honestly, it was just weird waiting that much,” he said. “Not used to doing that. At home, I guess we’re flying a little quicker than this. It was just a different rhythm.”