The Players Field

MLS is Back Tournament FiveThirtyEight projections: Which team will win it all in Orlando?

July 28, 2020
5:21PM EDT
MLSsoccer staff-

The Round of 16 in the MLS is Back Tournament rolls on, with LAFC's stock continuing to rise as the preeminent favorites according to the tournament projections calculated by FiveThirtyEight.

The Black & Gold saw their projected odds of winning the tournament jump from 20% to 33% coming off their comprehensive 4-1 rout of the Seattle Sounders on Monday, as they continue to rack up goals at a torrid pace.

New York City FC's tournament may have gotten off to an inauspicious start, but the Cityzens have turned it around and come in at second on the list at 13% following their own dominant showing in a 3-1 Round of 16 triumph over Toronto FC. The Philadelphia Union are right behind at 12%, with Sporting Kansas City and the San Jose Earthquakes rounding out the top five at 10% each.

FiveThirtyEight Projections: Tournament winner (as of July 28, 1:02 am ET)
LAFC - 33%
NYCFC - 13%
Philadelphia Union - 12%
Sporting KC - 10%
San Jose Earthquakes - 10 %
Columbus Crew SC - 6%

MLB SEASON IS BACK!
2020 MLB season expert predictions: Division picks, playoff field, World Series winner[/b]

ESPN.com

After a delay of nearly four months, the 2020 MLB season will begin on Thursday night when the Washington Nationals host the New York Yankees (7 ET, ESPN). It's time to pin down our expectations for what we expect to happen in the abbreviated 60-game season.

Will the Nationals repeat? Is this the year the Los Angeles Dodgers end their long championship drought? Will Gerrit Cole pitch the Yankees to their first title since 2009?
From among our columnists, writers, researchers and editors, we polled 32 of ESPN's leading baseball experts to see what they expect, asking them about who's going to win their respective divisions as well as who's going to win their leagues and ultimately the World Series.

To see who our experts think will walk away with the MVP and other hardware at the end of the 2020 season, check out our award predictions.

Jump to predictions for: National League | AL and NL champions | World Series champion

American League
AL East
Our pick: Yankees (21 votes)

Who else got votes? Rays (11)

Why did you pick the Rays?

The Rays might be the league's most creative team, which makes them the team most likely to find hidden opportunities in these anomalous circumstances. I'd pick the Yankees' wealth and talent to win out in 162 games, but in 60 games, the gap is negligible, and the division could go to the team that first figures out how to make this once-in-a-lifetime schedule work for it. -- Sam Miller


AL Central
Our pick: Twins (24)

Who else got votes? Indians (5), White Sox (3)

Why did you pick the White Sox?
Among the trio of AL divisions, the Central is the most wide-open, and between Cleveland, Chicago and Minnesota, the White Sox possess the highest ceiling during this boom-or-bust season. Tim Anderson emerged as a legitimate offensive force at shortstop last season, winning the batting title despite playing in fewer than 130 games, while Lucas Giolito lived up to his former consensus top pitching prospect hype for the first time to the tune of a 3.41 ERA in 29 starts and an All-Star appearance. Toss in the free-agent additions of Dallas Keuchel and Yasmani Grandal, the continued development of Eloy Jimenez and the rookie season of Luis Robert, and this White Sox squad boasts the highest talent ceiling in the division. 2020 could be the year, amid the craziest of circumstances, the accumulation of top-tier young talent comes together on the South Side. -- Joon Lee


AL West
Our pick: Astros (17)

Who else got votes: A's (11), Angels (4)

Why did you pick the Angels?

While the Astros remain the team to beat, the Angels and A's have closed that gap significantly. I picked the Angels to win the AL West not only because of Houston's loss of Gerrit Cole to the Yankees but also because the Angels added Anthony Rendon and have a fully healthy Shohei Ohtani back in action. Their pitching is suspect, but anything can happen in a 60-game season, especially when you have Mike Trout. -- Marly Rivera
Why did you pick the A's?
I think the balance of Oakland's roster helps in the unbalanced schedule of the short season, especially going up against some shallow rosters in the two Western divisions -- outside of the Dodgers, of course. The Astros are definitely going to miss Gerrit Cole, and that makes the difference in a 60-game sprint. -- Christina Kahrl
AL wild cards
Votes: Rays (21), Yankees (10), Astros (10), Indians (5), White Sox (6), Twins (4), A's (4), Angels (3), Blue Jays (1)

Why do you think the A's will get one of the AL wild-card spots?

It's hard to make a numbers-based case that Oakland should be favored over the Astros in the AL West, but the A's have one of the best five or six rosters in baseball. What's more, their strengths -- team defense and relief pitching -- should help them find their way as every team seeks to quickly find a rhythm in this odd season. -- Bradford Doolittle



National League
NL East:
Our pick: Braves (16)

Who else got votes? Nationals (10), Mets (4), Phillies (2)

Why did you pick the Nationals?
AL wild cards
Votes: Rays (21), Yankees (10), Astros (10), Indians (5), White Sox (6), Twins (4), A's (4), Angels (3), Blue Jays (1)

Why do you think the A's will get one of the AL wild-card spots?

It's hard to make a numbers-based case that Oakland should be favored over the Astros in the AL West, but the A's have one of the best five or six rosters in baseball. What's more, their strengths -- team defense and relief pitching -- should help them find their way as every team seeks to quickly find a rhythm in this odd season. -- Bradford Doolittle



National League
NL East:
Our pick: Braves (16)

Who else got votes? Nationals (10), Mets (4), Phillies (2)

Why did you pick the Nationals?
FanGraphs has the Nats' odds with the Braves to win the division as a coin flip, and that's about where I landed as well. I'm leaning toward the rotational power the Nats have with their Max Scherzer/Stephen Strasburg/Patrick Corbin trio, but the Braves do have a little more youth and upside. -- Kiley McDaniel


NL Central
Our pick: Reds (14)

Who else got votes? Brewers (7), Cubs (6), Cardinals (5)

Why did you pick the Reds?

The NL Central appears to be the most wide-open division. When in doubt, default to starting pitching, and the Reds should be the class of the division with Luis Castillo, Sonny Gray, Trevor Bauer, Wade Miley and Anthony DeSclafani. Add in new power sources Mike Moustakas and Nicholas Castellanos, and the Reds' lineup should be improved as well. -- Dave Schoenfield


NL West
Our pick: Dodgers (32)

Everyone picked the Dodgers in the NL West, but if one team were to catch them, which would it be?

The Padres are a chic pick, but I'll go with the Diamondbacks, who have an excellent defensive team anchored by shortstop Nick Ahmed, a star in Ketel Marte and a potentially top rotation with Madison Bumgarner, Robbie Ray, Zac Gallen, Luke Weaver and Merrill Kelly. -- David Schoenfield


NL wild cards
Votes: Nationals (12), Mets (, Diamondbacks (, Braves (7), Padres (7), Cubs (5), Brewers (5), Cardinals (5), Phillies (4), Reds (3)

Why do you think the Padres will earn a wild-card spot?
In a conventional sense, the Padres are probably at least a year or two away. But shorten the season to 60 games and all of a sudden a lineup featuring Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. could be a major difference-maker, and young starters like Chris Paddack, MacKenzie Gore and Luis Patino can pitch without much restriction, and a dominant reliever like Kirby Yates can be used more freely. -- Alden Gonzalez

AL and NL champions
American League
Our pick: Yankees (14)

Who else got votes: Rays (7), Twins (3), Indians (3), A's (3), Astros (2)

Why did you pick the Astros as AL champs?

If we were making these picks in March, I'm not sure I would have gone with the Astros. Dealing with packed stadiums getting on you every road trip for six months in the immediate aftermath of the winter's sign-stealing news is a lot to shoulder. And I'm also not sure Houston could cover all of the innings it lost when Gerrit Cole left town for a full season. But the shorter season in front of empty stands really plays in the Astros' favor. They still have a very formidable lineup with lots of extra motivation to prove they can hit without any trash cans banging in the background, and a Justin Verlander-Zack Greinke-Lance McCullers Jr. rotation trio is enough to compete with anyone in October. -- Dan Mullen

National League
Our pick: Dodgers (24)

Who else got votes? Braves (2), Nationals (2), Brewers (2), Diamondbacks (1): Reds (1)

Why did you pick the Braves as NL champs?

If you had any doubts about the incredible talent of Ronald Acuna Jr. before last season, his 2019 campaign promptly silenced any doubters. Between Acuna and Ozzie Albies, the Braves possess one of the best talent cores in the league. Toss in the emergence of Mike Soroka last year and the signing of Marcell Ozuna, and Atlanta brings a team with offensive depth -- and that's without including star first baseman Freddie Freeman, one of the most high-profile players to test positive for the coronavirus. Atlanta lost Josh Donaldson to free agency but brings back much of the core that led to 97 wins last season. It'll need a healthy Freeman to make a run at the World Series title, but the talent Atlanta brings to the table is among the best the National League has to offer. -- Joon Lee

Why did you pick the Reds?

The Reds aren't a perfect team but have no major weaknesses. A stacked lineup will only be aided by the DH as this team is no longer Joey Votto and a bunch of no-names. The additions of Mike Moustakas and Nick Castellanos alone make them the offense to beat in the NL Central. And they have just enough pitching to come out on top. -- Jesse Rogers

World Series champion
Our pick: Dodgers (18)

Who else got votes? Yankees (6), Rays (3), Brewers (2), Braves (1), Nationals (1), Indians (1)

Why did you pick the Dodgers?

My theory on the 2020 season: Health is the single most important variable in a 60-game season. The antidote to the possibility of poor health is depth. There is no deeper team than the Dodgers. And it's really talented, high-ceiling, star-caliber depth too, with prospect capital to supplement via August trades or September roster additions. -- Jeff Passan

Small samples are usually terrible for the favorites, but thanks to a weak division and an outrageous roster -- the NL's best stars at the top, the NL's most depth at the bottom -- the Dodgers are the one team that should be fluke-proof in the regular season. They're the best team in baseball, and the next four, in my opinion, are all in the AL, a gauntlet the Dodgers get to avoid until the World Series. -- Sam Miller

While I'm concerned that further decline from Kenley Jansen could really undermine things, I also don't want to overthink it. The Dodgers won 106 games last season and outscored opponents by 273 runs. Then they traded for Mookie Betts. I know the arithmetic never works out that straightforward, but the bottom line is that arguably baseball's best team added one of baseball's best four or five players. -- Bradford Doolittle

Of the three comparable top contenders, I can't pick the Astros given all the uncertainty and acrimony around their offseason, while the Yankees have to get out of the harder league (featuring six of the top seven teams in FanGraphs' projected team WAR). Even apart from those two factors, the Dodgers are probably my slight preference for the best pick of these three anyway. -- Kiley McDaniel

Why did you pick the Yankees?

The Tampa Bay Rays are a deep and dangerous team, and I intended to pick them to win the 2020 World Series. But in watching the Yankees in the summer camp, in seeing the staggering accumulation of talent -- amplified by the return from injury for Miguel Andujar, Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge -- picking against them would be like picking against the Harlem Globetrotters. Or picking against the Alcindor/Walton UCLA Bruins, or the '98-'00 Yankees. Luck is a greater factor in a 60-game season, but the Yankees' roster advantages will significantly mitigate the chances for derailment by misfortune. They are stacked. -- Buster Olney

Even in a shortened season, Gerrit Cole is able to dominate, leading the Yankees to a championship in his first season in pinstripes. New York's depth up and down the lineup and in the bullpen also prove to be major factors, as the Bronx Bombers end up on top for the first time since 2009. -- Harrison Marder

Why did you pick the Rays?

I project the Rays to have the best pitching staff in the majors, led by Charlie Morton, 2018 Cy Young winner Blake Snell and potential 2020 Cy Young winner Tyler Glasnow. The bullpen is deep and the lineup better than people realize with 2019 All-Stars Austin Meadows and Brandon Lowe and the ability to platoon at several positions. -- David Schoenfield

Insert your own joke beaten into the ground about the Rays being used to playing in front of no crowd at Tropicana Field. Now, sure sure, Tampa Bay's roster has plenty of experience playing in front of sparse crowds, but it also means some of its roster's bright spots go undercovered.

Meadows, acquired in the Chris Archer deal with Pittsburgh, emerged as one of the best bats in the division, and there's a potential bounce-back on the horizon from Snell, who struggled in 2019 to repeat the success of his 2018 Cy Young campaign. Throw in Morton and a perennially strong bullpen pieced together by the team's analytically driven decision-makers and Tampa Bay has everything needed to make a strong run in a small-sample-size season. Tampa Bay dealt away one of its top offensive threats in Tommy Pham and hope Japanese slugger Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, who hit 29 homers for the Yokohama BayStars in the NPB in 2019, can replace some of that production.

Baseball's postseason is always chaotic -- the midseason punch line-to-wild card-to-champions Nationals being proof of that last year -- and the Rays seem positioned to navigate all of it. -- Joon Lee

Why did you pick the Braves?


Atlanta approached 100 wins last year and arguably improved this offseason, adding solid vets (Marcell Ozuna, Travis d'Arnaud, Cole Hamels) to one of the best young talent cores in baseball. The Braves also end the year with 10 of 20 games against Miami and Baltimore. With sneaky depth to take advantage of the new DH, they're a top-five talent right now and are the team best equipped to take on the Dodgers in October. -- Kevin Pulsifer

Why did you pick the Indians?

People seem to overlook the Indians winning 93 games a year ago, despite myriad issues with the lineup (Jose Ramirez, the outfield) and rotation (Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco). The upgraded lineup is deeper and more powerful, led by a motivated MVP candidate in Francisco Lindor; the rotation appears healthy; and with a rather attractive schedule, Cleveland should cruise to the postseason, where a veteran manager with several World Series rings adds another. -- Eric Karabell

Why did you pick the Brewers?

It's an unusual year, so why not an unusual pick? Someone's going to get hot come October, so why not a team that has advanced to the postseason in back-to-back seasons, has a strong lineup and is willing to maximize matchups at any point in the game on the pitching side? Christian Yelich is an MVP favorite, the DH role seems perfect for Ryan Braun and the team has one of the best closers in the game in Josh Hader. -- Tristan Cockcroft

WNBA players adjusting to life in their bubble
4:49 PM ET
Associated Press-
Sue Bird has seen a lot in her storied playing career in the WNBA, overseas and the Olympics. While nothing the 39-year-old Seattle Storm guard experienced has prepared her for life in the WNBA bubble, she is making the best of the situation.
The WNBA put all 12 of its teams at a single site -- the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida -- in hopes of playing the full 22-game season amid the coronavirus pandemic.
"The bubble is part summer camp, mixed in with the Olympic village, playing overseas and an AAU tournament with a little bit of college life thrown in," Bird said in a phone interview.

Two weeks into the experiment, players and coaches have been adjusting to their temporary homes.

"It's like overseas, but a little bit easier as far as access to things as you can order in and it's less isolating since you have so many of your friends around," Bird's teammate Breanna Stewart said. "In the end, getting here and seeing how everything has come to fruition, I know it's going to work, as long as everyone's smart and continues to be safe. We're trusting everyone that's here is going to be safe."

Stewart is living in a villa with some of her Storm teammates while Bird is staying at the hotel on site. Players were given the option of where they wanted to live.

The street where the villas are located -- a few minutes from the hotel -- has the feel of a sorority row.

Each team was given two golf carts and they are usually parked in front of the villas where the players or operations staff are staying. Atlanta glossed up its carts with the team's new logo on the front.

"You say hello to people and could bump into someone a few times a day from another squad," New York guard Sabrina Ionescu said. "It feels like the Nike Nationals AAU Tournament. You could be eating next to a team or hanging out at the pool with players that you're going to be playing against later that day."

While a few players voiced their concerns the first few days about the quality of food and accommodations, the league quickly addressed those issues.

With their quarantines concluded, players and staff now have a robust array of food options offered daily at the hotel. Or players can get groceries delivered and cook for themselves in the villas. The hotel is also where the league does its daily virus testing.

"Food has been great. Service has been great. People have had issues with their housing. but there is no protocol for this, and the league took care of it," Phoenix Mercury veteran Diana Taurasi said. "This is the first time anyone has done this. The WNBA has gone far and beyond what I thought would happen."


Even with the WNBA in the bubble, the virus is still on everyone's mind. Players wear masks unless they are eating. When they line up for food and testing, marks on the ground remind them to stand at least 6 feet apart.

People can hang out in the hotel lounge, which has tabled spread apart to maintain social distancing. The pool has become a popular spot during the day and at night.

Even with the leisure activities, many players spend their free time relaxing in their rooms.

"There is a lot of sitting in your room, FaceTime with your family," Taurasi said. "It's not ideal, but everyone's trying their best to make sure they we are comfortable mentally and physically."

Dethroned La Liga champions Barcelona beat Alaves 5-0 with thanks to a brace from Lionel Messi on the final day of the Spanish league on Sunday.
Ansu Fati, Messi, Luis Suarez and Nelson Semedo all found the net for the Catalan side. Barcelona coach Quique Setien made six changes to the side that lost to Osasuna on Thursday with Neto, Ronald Araujo, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Arturo Vidal and Suarez added.
With Real Madrid claiming the 2019-20 title on Thursday and Alaves ensuring their safety from relegation on Wednesday, there was little to play for but pride in this top vs. bottom of the table clash.
A pattern for the game was set early on when Barcelona hit the woodwork three times within the first 15 minutes. It took 17-year-old Fati to break the deadlock after 24 minutes with a quick shot from close range following a sweeping cross from Messi.
That assist brought Messi to 21 this season and a new La Liga record, surpassing the 20 that Xavi had previously achieved.
The Argentina international also took one step closer to a record seventh La Liga top scorer award 10 minutes later when he added a goal to his assist. A second score on 75 minutes brought him to 25 goals this season.
Messi's closest challenger for the award is Real Madrid's Karim Benzema who will need to score four goals against Leganes on Sunday to catch him.
Suarez added a third goal just before halftime. Alba floated a cross into the box and the striker headed home for his 16th league goal this season.
Barcelona were forced into a substitution five minutes into the second half after Clement Lenglet went down with an injury.
Substitute Semedo made his presence felt, however, scoring a blazing right-footed shot from the right side of the box into the top left corner just seven minutes after coming on.
Alaves had a couple of chances late on in the second half but could do nothing to stop the wave of Barcelona attacks. Messi's second came from another Alba cross which he caught on the half-volley to take it to 5-0.

Agricultural acumen-
Dwight Howard owns a home on a plot of land encompassing more than 700 acres in north Georgia. And on that land he has a farm where he keeps animals, including cows and pigs, and grows crops.
The Emergency Land Fund was created in 1972 to reverse the trend of descreasing black ownership of lands in the rural South. The records of the fund include correspondence (carbons and photostatics copies primarily), mostly outgoing but some incoming. Other record types include agenda, studies and reports, memoranda, financial records, and news clippings. Topics contained in the records include the effect of the construction of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway on black ownership of farms in Alabama and information about the National Association of Landowners, which has many branches in the South. Groups represented in the records are Agricultural Teams, Inc, Farmers Home Administration, Ford Administration, Southern Agricultural Corporation, Southern Regional Council, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Names in the collection include Benjamin Hooks, Maynard Jackson, and Congressman Louis Stokes of Ohio. Major correspondents are Robert S. Browne and Joseph F. Brooks. Browne was the first president of the fund and later chairman of the board. The positive impact ELF had on rural black landowners, taking the form of organized networks challenging the discriminatory and land grabbing practices of both public and private sector actors. Robert S. Browne was a Man ahead of his time and a giant in the eyes of many. With training in economics from the University of Chicago and the London School of Economics, Bob Browne founded three organizations that served as critical, radical voices around economic issues. The Black Economic Research Center founded in 1969 sought to pull in other black economists for black economic development projects, and it published the Review of Black Political Economy. The Emergency Land Fund founded in 1971 fought to protect black land ownership and reverse its decline, especially in the rural South. Also in 1971 he founded the Twenty-First Century Foundation to “promote strategic black philanthropy.” He helped organize the 1967 National Conference on Black Power and presented proposals at the 1972 National Black Political Convention for black economic empowerment.
He wants to give community youths a hands-on experience manning a farm themselves.
"I want to teach these kids about agriculture, how to use the different utensils on the farm," he said. "How to grow, plant, cultivate these different seeds and stuff like that. At my house this summer, I spent some time teaching my kids how to do a lot of different things, and we want to take that same concept and use it with these kids in the inner city."
History lessons
The other area Howard's Breathe Again initiative will focus on is giving Black community members a current-day sense of self and empowerment by offering education on their past.
"We also are going to be teaching the laws and the rights and the history of Black people to these kids," Howard said. He has already shared some of these stories on his Instagram, from a post about an all-Black professional baseball team, the Cuban Giants, formed in the 1880s to another post about the first African American musicians to hit the mainstream in the early 1900s.
"Giving them some history," Howard said. "Some things that they probably never would have thought about or known, because they were not taught in books."
Lakers coach Frank Vogel said Saturday his team hasn't discussed any group demonstrations for when games begin, and that the Lakers have a national television audience to share their messages, including Howard's. "But I do anticipate having those types of conversations," he said.
For Howard, it will be a chance to keep his mission on track.
"A lot of people are paying attention to everything that's going on in the bubble and with all the negativity that can be running rampant around our world, we want to give them some positive insight and basically some positivity during this time," he said. "So that's what I've been doing in this bubble to try to keep myself and my teammates in a great place."