The Rays and Mariners made a weird trade this morning, completing an exchange of right-handed relievers that they seem to think will help them both capture the playoff spot for which they are directly competing. The Rays will send Erasmo Ramirez back to Seattle and will get Steve Cishek in return.Read more...

Welcome to NeyWatch, a series in which we catch up with the daily, often contradictory updates on the hottest story of the summer.Read more...

The Blue Jays ran into one hell of an Ump Show during their game against the Oakland A’s yesterday. Over the course of a few pitches, home plate umpire Will Little managed to eject manager John Gibbons, pitcher Marcus Stroman, and catcher Russell Martin.

Tameka Butt capitalized on a Becky Sauerbrunn mistake to score the only goal of Australia’s first-ever win against the USWNT in 27 tries. Her 67th-minute score last night in Seattle, after what announcer Ian Darke referred to as “dithering defending,” gave her side (ranked seventh by FIFA) a historic result and proved…Read more...

At the 2017 European Speedrunner Assembly, a relay had 70 different people collecting a star each in Super Mario 64. It was pandemonium, and it was one of the most entertaining Mario runs I’ve ever seen.

When discussing Rickey Henderson’s Hall-of-Fame prospects, Bill James once wrote that “if you could split him in two, you’d have two Hall of Famers.” It’s a seemingly hyperbolic quip from one of sports’ most precise thinkers. So it’s probably worth a closer look.

Kyrie Irving wants out of Cleveland, for whatever reason, and he’s apparently doing everything in his power to hasten the exit process. According to The Athletic’s Jason Lloyd (subscribe here), the Cavs’ front office has been unable to get in touch with Irving since news of his trade demand broke.

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A portable kamado grill, a one-day graphics tablet sale, and Civilization VI lead off Friday’s best deals from around the web.Read more...

Over the winter, Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez became just the second catcher ever to be elected to the Hall of Fame on the first ballot. (Johnny Bench was the other.) It was well deserved: Over 21 seasons in the big leagues, Pudge was, amont other things, a 14-time All Star, a 13-time Gold Glove winner, a seven-time Silver…Read more...

Yu Darvish’s worst career start sure sounds like it’ll be his last-ever start in a Rangers uniform. Multiple reports have Texas, struggling since the All-Star break, ready, willing, and able to move Darvish to a contender by Monday’s trade deadline.

Our readers have bought thousands of Char-Griller’s Acorn Kamado grills, but if you’re only cooking for a small group, or want a portable version for tailgate, the Jr. version is down to an all-time low $91 right now.

Egyptian Cotton is one of the softest things you can sleep on, but it comes at a price. Amazon is thankfully helping you out there with their sale on Egyptian Cotton sheets from Thread Spread’s Hotel Collection. Get a set for $43-$52, depending on the size (queen sets are only $45!), with your choice from a bunch of…Read more...

Stone Cold! Stone Cold! Stone Cold!Read more...

Just before midnight tonight, Sports Illustrated published a story about Chip Kelly being considered for the head coaching position left open at Ole Miss after Hugh Freeze’s resignation last week. One problem—the report that their story was based on was fabricated, courtesy of a fake Pat Forde account on Twitter.Read more...

The Yankees defeated the Rays in 11 innings tonight thanks to a walk-off home run from Brett Gardner, allowing them to go up two and a half games over their surprisingly competitive division-mates. Time to celebrate! Unfortunately for Aaron Judge, this celebration involved him chipping his front tooth on someone…Read more...

A homeless West Virginia man stole nearly $4,000 of stuff from the locker room of the Class-A West Virginia Power this morning. He took his mugshot in a hitting coach’s jersey, which he was wearing when he was arrested.Read more...

LeBron James is in Las Vegas today, taking a break from the twisted soap opera of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ offseason and watching his son LeBron James, Jr. play in an AAU tournament. Just like any other dad watching his son play some ball! Right down to a slightly overbearing need to make sure that the score is…Read more...

Mets first baseman Lucas Duda was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays today in exchange for reliever Drew Smith. The Mets are nine games out of the second wild card spot, so it makes sense for them to be sellers before the trade deadline.

Thank you for your continued support of Deadspin. I let my husband pick today.Read more...

After a frustrating rookie season in which he appeared in just one game for Buffalo, Cardale Jones has been traded to the Los Angeles Chargers in exchange for a draft pick. As ESPN’s Adam Schefter told Mike and Mike this morning, the quarterback wasn’t exactly sad to hear the news:Read more...

Anthony Scaramucci, a finance guy or something who doesn’t seem to understand anything about being a press flack, called the New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza last night and ethered every one of his White House enemies in one of the greatest and most surreal interviews in American political history. Here are his best lines,…Read more...

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These days I watch my toddler nephews and nieces watch YouTube videos of adults unboxing and playing with toys for children, and wonder what level of the brain meme I’m living on. Sometimes I poke and probe—what could be interesting about this? Why is watching this more fun than playing with the very good, actual toys…Read more...

Lamar Odom has a heartbreaker of an essay out at the Players Tribune today, wherein he discusses the tragedies of his personal life and gets into the thornier aspects of his cocaine addictionRead more...

Welcome to NeyWatch, a series in which we catch up with the daily, often contradictory updates on the hottest story of the summer.Read more...

Eric Hosmer was an invincible monster on Wednesday night. In a 16-2 drubbing of the failing Detroit Tigers, Hosmer provided five runs, five hits, and six RBI, most of which came from a demoralizing seventh-inning grand slam that stretched the lead out to 13-1. He even stole a base for only the fifth time all year. And…Read more...

If you merely scanned today’s Darren Rovell ESPN article on a new survey of NFL fans, you might be forgiven for coming away believing that fans are leaving in droves, turned off by the national anthem protests inspired by Colin Kaepernick. If you bothered to actually read the damn thing, you know this isn’t close to…Read more...

The Vietnam stuff really did happen; he really did the Vietnam stuff. Shattered and crumpled and beat to shit, starving, John McCain really did decline an arbitrary offer of early release from foreign torture prison; he really did choose what turned out to be four more years of torture and suffering and misery over…Read more...

The Gold Cup is a shitty tournament. It’s the championship of CONCACAF, a garbage confederation with two consistently pretty good teams mixed in with a bunch of flotsam of varying quality. It’s normally contested by the participating countries’ B or C teams, since no one cares all that much about winning it. It’s…Read more...

During new White House flack Anthony Scaramucci’s introductory press conference, he bragged that his famously exercise-averse and bulbous boss was in fact a sports genius, capable of throwing “a dead spiral through a tire,” “swishing foul shots” in a suit, and sinking, uh, three-foot putts.

It’s a good day to be a Nationals fan and a very, very bad day to be a Brewers pitcher. The Nationals hit eight home runs in their first four innings today; five of those home runs were off Michael Blazek in the span of six at-bats in the bottom of the third.Read more...

Kristaps Porzingis, despite being the centerpiece of one of the world’s most visible sports franchises and a superstar in utero, spent this summer’s gym trips looking an awful lot like what he is: a skinny-ass 21-year-old trying to put some weight on. It was comforting to see.

After his brief and inglorious tenure as Swansea City manager came to an end last December, ex-USMNT coach Bob Bradley and his shiny head will once again be on the sideline where they belong, as he has been named manager of one of MLS’s newest expansion teams, LAFC.Read more...

Some people are fans of the Cleveland Browns. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the Cleveland Browns. This 2017 Deadspin NFL team preview is for those in the latter group.Read more...

Now that Lonzo Ball is safely on the Lakers, the Lavar Ball media circus has finally started to slow down a bit. A month ago, he was hawking merch and jumping around on WWE Raw; lately, he’s mostly been in the news for an NBA player telling him to fuck off and for throwing a tantrum at his son’s AAU game.

The Philadelphia Union beat the Columbus Crew 3-0 last night, but it wasn’t without a bit of drama — from its own players.Read more...

After what feels like years of turmoil and scandal, of missed fights and blown opportunities, the baddest motherfucker on Earth is finally back.

Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish, one of the top names being thrown around before Monday’s trade deadline, pitched in what could have been his final start for Texas last night. Unfortunately, Darvish’s potential send-off—and a chance to convince good teams he’s worth a high price—ended up being his worst-ever career outing.Read more...

Baltimore Ravens lineman and math genius John Urschel is walking away from football at age 26.Read more...

Here’s a good Twitter thread.

Cavs owner Dan Gilbert and freshly hired GM Koby Altman held a press conference yesterday, the purpose of which was to assure everyone that, actually, the Cavs’ disastrous summer has been good. It was mostly boring, except for one part when Gilbert couldn’t help but throw some shit at the Pacers.

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After jacking a huge home run against the Twins last night, Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig returned to the dugout to give his hitting coach, Turner Ward, a big ol’ kiss. The homer was Puig’s 19th of the season, which matches his single-season career high.Read more...

On Tuesday night, Rangers reliever Jason Grilli struck out Giancarlo Stanton to end the game, securing a 10-4 victory for his team. Grilli was pumped:

Despite a back injury that will keep him out until September, Clayton Kershaw was at Dodger Stadium for his eponymous bobblehead night, and a very special first pitch from 2-year-old Cali Kershaw. Let’s scout some film.Read more...

Adrian Beltre is unarguably among baseball’s purest sources of joy and delight. But umpire Gerry Davis was not too delighted by Beltre’s response tonight when he told the veteran to get in the on-deck circle while he was, uh, on deck. Beltre simply dragged the on-deck circle to where he was already standing—a few feet…Read more...

“Idk why Jordan Morris is out there,” I typed to the Deadspin staff exactly two minutes before his game-winning goal. Morris was barely scoring in MLS with the Seattle Sounders this year, and even his two goals in this tournament came against the far inferior Martinique. He looked lost and mistake-prone in the Gold…Read more...

Jozy Altidore was in a bit of a slump, having not scored for the USMNT since September of 2016. But suddenly, he’s on fire, with two goals in fewer than 90 minutes across the past two games.

There are many productive ways to deal with frustration. Here, for example, is a handy-dandy guide from our colleagues over at Lifehacker. And here is a decidedly unproductive way of dealing with frustration: slamming your batting helmet down after grounding into an inning-ending out, only to watch it ricochet back up…Read more...