Good morning! Quick Friday ask: If you know someone who would like The Pulse, please forward this lovely newsletter their way. Coming up:
‘Old’ Guys: Sale’s predictable greatness
Yesterday was slow in terms of live sports. Maybe the slowest day of the entire sports year. The WNBA is out before this weekend’s All-Star Game. All other major sports are in the offseason. That leaves mid-season baseball as the lone player at our table.
And yesterday provided a funny moment with deeper context. Perfect fodder to start a Friday:
- In a 6-5 win over the Padres yesterday, Braves ace Chris Sale struck out 11 batters, which ties a season high. He was awesome, enough to where Braves color analyst CJ Nitkowski called Sale’s final K before it happened.
- Here’s the quote: “I’m just going to go ahead and tell you, Freddy Fermin is the 11th strikeout victim of Chris Sale.” After some banter with play-by-play man Brandon Gaudin, Nitkowski narrowed the forecast: “I think he’s sweeping the leg here. I think he falls down after it, too.”
Here’s the result:
“I’m just gonna go ahead and tell you Freddy Fermin is the 11th strikeout victim of Chris Sale.”
“I think he’s sweeping the leg here. And I think he falls down too after he swings at it.”
Well done guys! 🔊🤣 pic.twitter.com/YfnXOunkUx
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) July 23, 2026
Pretty, pretty close. The performance made me ponder Sale, who’s still an elite pitcher at 37 years old. He has a Cy Young case and ranks fourth in our latest starting pitcher rankings, ahead of Paul Skenes, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Zack Wheeler and more.
See the full list — and some jarring stats — here. Let’s keep moving:
News to Know
Jerome Miron / USA TODAY Sports
Chelsea signs American teenPremier League powerhouse Chelsea agreed to buy American youth international player Benji Flowers, just 15 years old, when he turns 18. Flowers currently plays for MLS side FC Dallas, who will receive an initial $3 million fee for Flowers with incentives that could reach $10 million depending on performance. More details here.
- In other American soccer news: USMNT’s Sebastian Berhalter is heading to English side Middlesbrough from the Vancouver Whitecaps. He’s had a nice come-up.
Hill: No power in legTen months after a gruesome knee injury ended his 2025 season, star receiver Tyreek Hill said he has “no power” in his left leg still as he continues a grueling rehab regimen in order to be ready for the 2026 campaign. Hill is also still without a team. Read more on his situation here.
More news:
- Panthers outside linebacker Nic Scouton suffered a season-ending ACL tear, per a source, during the team’s first practice of training camp. Feels unfair.
- The Ravens waived Heisman Trophy finalist Diego Pavia yesterday. It’s unclear what his future is.
- Connor Bedard got his wish: Patrick Kane is back with the Blackhawks on a two-year, $8 million AAV deal. See our full story.
- Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu jabbed back against the prevailing narrative yesterday, saying she was never invited to participate in the WNBA’s 3-point contest this weekend. It all seems like a mess.
- NASCAR driver Alex Bowman will retire as a full-time driver after the 2027 season, he announced yesterday. He explained why in an exclusive interview.
- Add another big name to Italy’s men’s soccer coaching search: Carlo Ancelotti.
- Experts have identified three possible cases of gambling malfeasance from the 2026 World Cup. More in our full story.
📰 Find more news here 24/7.
Monitoring 👀: Baseball’s current HOFers
It’s Friday, which means we’re back monitoring the metaphorical radar screen. On the board this week:
Who’s Hall-ing it? Carlos Beltrán, Andruw Jones and Jeff Kent are heading into the Baseball Hall of Fame, and it’s very apparent that I’m old enough to where every successive Hall class will make my bones 10 percent more brittle. But Jayson Stark used the celebration to focus on today’s players. Jayson has nine active players on assured Hall paths right now, with four more close. Nolan Arenado’s stats have really surprised me, too. See Jayson’s full list and ponder for a while today.
CFB’s schedule winners. We are fully entering the college football preseason, so naturally — before we know if any teams are actually good or not — we have data on who received the easiest and hardest schedules. Penn State, Vanderbilt and Texas Tech are our early “winners,” and while I remain skeptical of the long-term viability here, Stewart Mandel did make a great point about how scheduling luck legitimately helps in deciding conference championship games in our current setup. Read the list here.
The law. Sports-related Congressional bills rarely stick, but the ongoing discussion over the Protect College Sports Act is worth noting. This is a bill that would drastically alter the current college sports landscape, and has drawn mixed reviews from lawmakers and college sports officials alike. Now, in its current form, the bill looks doomed.
KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP via Getty Images
New balls. I was fascinated to read earlier this week about the ongoing controversy over the tennis balls used on the ATP Tour, which has drawn sharp criticism from top players. Currently, balls are changed every seven games, which sounds totally normal to a layman fan, but it has a huge impact on strategy and performance. In August, the Challenger Tour — one step below the main tour — will test a new ball-interchange system. Read about it here.
And, of course, LeBron. Every night, I finish this newsletter and assume that while I sleep, LeBron James will have made a free agency decision. Every morning, we rise to no news. What gives? We’ve had multiple messages from his agent, Rich Paul, and a YouTube snafu from one of his suitors. Common sense would suggest that he’s waiting until after the World Cup for maximum exposure, but that’s gone now. Maybe it’s leverage? The entire league is sort of waiting on him. Joe Vardon wrote a helpful piece on everything at stake.
Thank you for monitoring. Maybe James will have an employer by Monday.
Watch Guide
📺 MLB: Blue Jays at Red Sox7:10 p.m. ET on Apple TVDespite snapping a 15-game win streak, all eyes remain on red-hot Boston and its path to the postseason. Toronto is scuffling after making the World Series last year and could unload some big names by the trade deadline.
📺 NWSL: Portland Thorns FC at Gotham FC10 p.m. ET on Prime VideoThese are two of the four best teams in the NWSL, which should also be a new avenue for the new-ish soccer fan to get a fix post-World Cup. These games are great.
Pulse Picks
There is no better tale you’d read today than that of José Iglesias, the longtime former MLB shortstop who’s out of baseball this year. He also has a new job: Broadway actor.
I also adored this story on Vikings equipment manager Dennis Ryan, who many have called the foundation of the franchise. He finally got his Hall of Fame moment after 47 years on the job. Read this today and smile.
Larry Holder wrote a wild story about literally chasing around Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin during Fanatics Fest. The celeb cameos in here are wild.
Jon Sumrall is the best thing to happen to Florida in the last two decades, Bruce Feldman writes. No pressure.
Pivoting off our college QB Tiers list from this week, Manny Navarro identified 10 signal callers that could make a big leap this year. I’m all-in on Mississippi State’s Kamario Taylor, too.
Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Caitlin Clark’s tech from Wednesday.
Most-read on the website yesterday: Andrew Marchand’s column about ESPN’s new reality.
