The Rockies are off to one of the worst 81-game starts in MLB history

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🚨 Headlines
⚾️ Franco found guilty: Former Rays star Wander Franco was found guilty of sexual abuse of a minor and given a two-year suspended prison sentence, meaning he can remain free if he meets certain conditions.
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🏈 Tucker suspended: The NFL is suspending Justin Tucker for the first 10 weeks of the season following its investigation into accusations of sexual misconduct against the former Ravens kicker.
⚾️ MLB All-Star voting: Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani were named starters for next month's All-Star Game after leading their respective leagues in voting at the end of Phase 1. Full list of finalists.
⚽️ The Round of 16: Lionel Messi's Inter Miami, Champions League winners PSG, Real Madrid, Chelsea and Bayern Munich headline the Club World Cup knockout stage, which begins this weekend.
♠️ Poker scandal: The World Series of Poker is investigating after the winner and runner-up of a Millionaire Maker event were accused of colluding to earn a combined $2.3 million in prize money.
⚾️ The worst 81-game starts in MLB history
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We're midway through the MLB season, and the Rockies are 18-63, making them just the fifth team in AL/NL history to win fewer than 19 of their first 81 games — and the first in 121 years.
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2025 Colorado Rockies (18-63 through 81 games)
This team seems stuck in an endless rebuild, last finishing above .500 in 2018. And with MLB's 18th-ranked farm system, and few if any veterans worth trading for prospects at the deadline, there isn't much hope of them getting better anytime soon. If the second half of their season goes the same as the first, they'll finish with by far the worst run differential (-426) and record (36-126) in modern MLB history* (since 1901).
The 1888 Nationals at Boston's South End Grounds. (George H. Hastings/Library of Congress)
1886 Washington Nationals (13-68)
This iteration of the Nationals, just one in a long line of teams bearing the same name, never quite escaped the lows of this wretched first season. They folded three years later, but remain an important part of baseball history: 1886 rookie catcher Connie Mack went on to become the winningest manager in MLB history and 1888 rookie outfielder William Hoy, who was deaf, pioneered baseball's use of hand signals.
The 1889 Alleghenys, a year before their top players left for the Players' League. (Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics via Getty Images)
1890 Pittsburgh Alleghenys (18-63)
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Pittsburgh's roster was decimated in 1890 when many of its best players jumped ship for the short-lived Players' League. They got their roster back the following year when the PL folded and they even poached a star player from the A's in a controversial move that some called "piratical." It didn't take long for newspapers to give the team a new nickname that quickly became their official moniker: the Pirates.
The 1898 Spiders, one year before they were gutted. (Cleveland Spiders)
1899 Cleveland Spiders (14-67)
This team was historically awful, compiling a .130 winning percentage (20-134) and -723 run differential that are both by far the worst in MLB history. It's no mystery why this happened: After seven straight winning seasons led by their ace Cy Young, the Spiders' owners bought the St. Louis Browns (now the Cardinals) and brought all their best players there. Rather than disband the Spiders, they played one final season with the worst players from both teams.
Walter Johnson before Opening Day of the 1916 season. ()
1904 Washington Senators (18-63)
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"Washington: First in war, first in peace, and last in the American League." Those words, famously written by sportswriter Charles Dryden, summed up the franchise's early struggles, which reached a nadir in their abysmal 1904 season (38-113-6). They changed their name to the Nationals the following year, and their fortunes began turning in 1907 when a young Walter Johnson debuted. In 1961, they moved to Minnesota and became the Twins.
*Who they're chasing: The 1932 Red Sox currently hold the record for worst modern run differential (-345), which is 81 runs better than the Rockies' pace. And last year's White Sox lost 121 games, five fewer than Colorado's current pace of 126.
🏀 NBA Draft: In review
(Yahoo Sports)
That's a wrap for the 2025 NBA Draft, which was well-represented internationally.
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Second round:
Full draft: Grades for every team
⚽️ Club World Cup pitches draw criticism
A "Please Keep Off" sign at Lumen Field in Seattle. ()
Suboptimal grass fields at the Club World Cup are drawing heavy criticism from players and coaches. What does that mean for the 2026 World Cup?
From Yahoo Sports' Henry Bushnell:
"The pitches," Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham said, "aren't great." They've been "slow," according to multiple players, and "dry."
From New Jersey to Seattle, grass fields in place for the Club World Cup have been "totally different" than the ones European teams are used to.
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On some, Bellingham said, the ball "holds up" and "barely bounces"; on another, PSG coach Luis Enrique said, it was "jumping around like a rabbit." At MetLife Stadium, Borussia Dortmund's Niklas Süle was blunt: "The pitch was pretty terrible."
And no, they weren't making excuses. Bellingham and Enrique were speaking after victories. They were merely highlighting what Enrique called "an obvious problem," and one that looms over the 2026 World Cup.
"Hopefully," Bellingham concluded, "someone will look at that going into the World Cup next year."
Fortunately, scores of experts have been looking into it. And in fact, one reason for the suboptimal Club World Cup surfaces is that, in some cases, infrastructure installed specifically for 2026 isn't yet in use.
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Keep reading.
📸 In photos: Wimbledon preview
Lorenzo Musetti serves during a practice session. ()
The 138th Wimbledon Championships begin on Monday, where 256 men and women — drawn into their brackets earlier this morning — will compete for equal $4.1 million grand prizes.
The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club from above. ()
The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, which has hosted Wimbledon since the inaugural event in 1877, features 18 match courts and an additional 20 practice courts. But the tournament also relies on 34 qualifying courts and 16 extra practice courts at two nearby venues.
A classic Wimbledon bouquet. (Adam Davy/PA Images via Getty Images)
It's no easy feat to grow and maintain the grass at all 88 of those courts — nor to embed and bloom the 28,000 plants that make this tournament as beautiful as it is iconic. It takes a team of 20 to ensure that "Day 14 [looks] as good as day one," the head gardener told The Athletic ($).
Alcaraz during a practice session this week. ()
On the men's side, the question will be if anyone can stop two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, who's won 18 straight matches.
Eyes on the prize for Aryna. (Adam Davy/PA Images via Getty Images)
And on the women's side, No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka will try to tame the only major she's never reached the finals in. She's finished as the runner-up in each of this year's first two majors.
📺 Weekend Watchlist
The results of the NHL Draft Lottery back in May. (Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images)
🏒 NHL Draft | Fri-Sat, ESPN/ESPN+
Round 1 is tonight in Los Angeles (7pm ET, ESPN), where the Islanders are likely to take OHL defenseman Matthew Schaefer with the first pick. Rounds 2-7 are on Saturday (11am, ESPN+).
⚽️ Club World Cup, Round of 16 | Sat-Sun, DAZN
Lionel Messi has never faced one of his former clubs in an official match… until now, with Inter Miami and PSG meeting on Sunday in Atlanta (12pm, DAZN). Elsewhere: Palmeiras vs. Botafogo in Philly (Sat. 12pm), Benfica vs. Chelsea in Charlotte (Sat. 4pm) and Bayern Munich vs. Flamengo in Miami Gardens (Sun. 4pm).
⚽️ Gold Cup, Quarterfinals | Sat-Sun, Fox/FS1
The USMNT faces Costa Rica on Sunday night in Minneapolis (7pm, Fox) for a spot in the semifinals. The other matchups: Panama vs. Honduras (Sat. 7:15pm, Fox), Mexico vs. Saudi Arabia (Sat. 10:15pm, FS1) and Canada vs. Guatemala (Sun. 4pm, FS1).
🏀 Fever at Wings | Fri. 7:30pm, ION
Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers, who entered college together in 2020 and won three of the last five POY awards, meet for the first time in the WNBA. (Clark, who missed Thursday's game with a groin injury, is questionable.)
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More to watch:
⚽️ Friendly: USWNT vs. Ireland (Sun. 3pm, TNT) … The two sides meet again after the Americans shut out the Irish, 4-0, on Thursday.
⚾️ MLB: Cardinals at Guardians (Fri. 7pm, Apple); Mariners at Rangers (Sat. 4pm, FS1); Twins at Tigers (Sun. 7pm, ESPN)
⛳️ PGA: Rocket Classic (Fri-Sun, ESPN+/Golf/CBS) … Kevin Roy and Aldrich Potgieter (-10) both shot a course record 62 to take the lead in Detroit.
⛳️ LIV: Dallas (Fri-Sun, Fox/FS2) … At Maridoe Golf Club.
🏎️ F1: Austrian Grand Prix (Sun. 9am, ESPN)
🏁 NASCAR: Atlanta (Sat. 7pm, TNT) … The inaugural In-Season Challenge begins.
🥍 PLL: Week 5 (Fri-Sat, ESPN/ESPN+) … In San Diego.
Full weekend slate →
🎾 Wimbledon trivia
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Carlos Alcaraz will look to make history at this year's Wimbledon, where he can become the fifth man in the Open Era (since 1968) to win three straight singles titles.
Question: Who would he join?
Hint: The photo gives one away!
Answer at the bottom.
🍿 Now playing
Brad Pitt and Damson Idris. ()
"F1 The Movie" hits theaters today, and it has all the makings of a classic summer blockbuster. 84% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Synopsis:
Dubbed "the greatest that never was," Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) was Formula 1's most promising phenom of the 1990s until an accident on the track nearly ended his career.
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30 years later, he's a nomadic racer-for-hire when he's approached by his former teammate Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), owner of a struggling F1 team that is on the verge of collapse.
Ruben convinces Sonny to come back to F1 for one last shot at saving the team and being the best in the world. He'll drive alongside Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), the team's hotshot rookie intent on setting his own pace.
But as the engines roar, Sonny's past catches up with him and he finds that in F1, your teammate is your fiercest competition — and the road to redemption is not something you can travel alone.
Watch the trailer.
Trivia answer: Björn Borg (1976-80), Pete Sampras (1993-95, 1997-2000), Roger Federer (2003-07), Novak Djokovic (2018-22)
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