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Associated Press
a minute ago
- Associated Press
Cubs slugger Kyle Tucker gets some rest as he tries to break out of a prolonged slump
CHICAGO (AP) — Kyle Tucker is trying to break out of a prolonged slump, and the Chicago Cubs are doing whatever they can to help the All-Star outfielder. Nothing is working at the moment. Tucker was out of the starting lineup for the opener of a split doubleheader against Milwaukee on Tuesday. He is batting .148 (8 for 54) in August, and he has just two extra-base hits — both doubles — in his last 24 games. A day after manager Craig Counsell said they were 'going to have to take a little step back' with Tucker and give him some days off to reset, the plan for the slugger seemed unclear. Tucker said he might get into the doubleheader opener at some point, and Counsell left open the possibility of him playing on Tuesday. 'We talked Sunday night a little bit and, you know, we put a lot on the table and then we'll see where that goes,' Counsell said. Tucker has some company. Going into Tuesday's action, the Cubs were averaging 3.6 runs per game since the All-Star break, compared with 5.3 in the first part of the season. The slumping offense has played a role in Chicago falling nine games behind surging Milwaukee in the NL Central. The 28-year-old Tucker jammed his right ring finger during an awkward slide in a victory over Cincinnati on June 1. He missed one game and then made a pinch-hitting appearance before returning to the starting lineup on June 5. 'I'm fine,' Tucker said Tuesday. 'I mean, I've played, you know, for the most part every game this year. So I'm fine going out there.' Tucker was acquired in a trade with Houston in December. He is eligible for free agency after this season, but he said that isn't a factor in his trouble at the plate. He got off to a terrific start in his first season with Chicago, batting .290 with 17 homers, 52 RBIs and a .923 OPS in his first 85 games. He made the All-Star Game for the fourth time. But he hasn't been the same player since the break, hitting .182 (16 for 88) with one homer, six RBIs and a .572 OPS in his last 26 games. Asked if he could recall a similar slump at the plate, Tucker responded: 'Probably not this long.' 'But, I mean I think everyone's had stretches where they have, you know, not done that great or whatever,' he continued. 'I don't know. I'm just trying to figure it out.' While Tucker is known for his reserved, steady demeanor, there are signs that the slump is taking a toll on him. He was slow getting out of the box on a grounder that was momentarily bobbled by Milwaukee first baseman Andrew Vaughn in the fourth inning of Monday's 7-0 loss to the Brewers. He had a similar moment in the sixth inning of Sunday's 4-3 victory over Pittsburgh, leading to some boos from the crowd at Wrigley Field. 'I mean it's kind of exhausting. I don't know how many times I've rolled over to first or second,' Tucker said. 'Regardless you still got to run down the line whether you're out by 50 feet or not. But I mean it's just a little tough right now.' While explaining what Tucker is working on at the plate, Counsell pointed to his first at-bat of Sunday's game against Pittsburgh, when the slugger bounced to first on a 3-1 fastball right over the plate. 'There's separation from what he wants and what's happening, what he thinks he feels and what's happening,' Counsell said. 'And you just, you try to just keep working on that and it's a little thing that puts it back in place. It's probably a simple thing that puts it back in place. It's a swing, doesn't have to be like a successful swing even. Could be a foul ball that puts it back in place.' ___ AP MLB:
New York Times
a minute ago
- New York Times
First look at NASCAR's 2026 Cup Series schedule, from Daytona to Homestead
The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series schedule features a new race at a military base, a return to a track once thought lost to time, a new All-Star Race host and a new site for the championship finale, according to a copy obtained by The Athletic and confirmed via multiple sources briefed on the league's plans. Advertisement The 38-race season (36 points races and two non-points races) opens with the Clash exhibition on Feb. 1, 2026, followed by the Daytona 500 on Feb. 15 and concluding with the championship finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 8, 2026. Homestead returns as the host track for the championship for the first time since 2019, replacing Phoenix Raceway, which is now slotted elsewhere in the 10-race playoffs. NASCAR announced the switch this spring, beginning a rotation of its championship race to different tracks on an expected yearly basis. In addition to Homestead returning as the championship venue, the other three big changes to the 2026 schedule are a temporary street circuit constructed at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego, the return of Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., after a six-year absenceO To make room for San Diego and Chicagoland, NASCAR won't return to Mexico City or the Chicago Street Course, a temporary circuit built in downtown Chicago that's held Cup races for the past three years. In June, Mexico City hosted the first international Cup points race since the 1950s, but logistics and finding a spot on the calendar that fit for both the city and NASCAR prevented an encore visit next year. NASCAR hopes to return to both Mexico City and Chicago in 2027. Other notable changes to the 2026 schedule include: Although some reports had Iowa Speedway at risk of being dropped, the short track is again on the schedule for a third consecutive year, slated for Aug. 9. There was never any consideration that Iowa would not have a date, according to sources briefed on NASCAR's thinking. Iowa has sold out each of the last two years and has strong sponsorship in place. NASCAR intends to release the 2026 Cup Series schedule this week. The full schedule below is the final version, according to those sources briefed on the league's plans. (Photo of Cup Series driver Christopher Bell celebrating his win in May's All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway: David Jensen / Getty Images) Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
Forbes
a minute ago
- Forbes
Turns Out Research Tax Breaks Alone Can't Conjure Developers
In the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), Congress revived a lapsed tax break that lets companies immediately deduct the cost of research and development (R&D). This was a big win, on its face, for innovation and U.S. job creation. At first glance, it has much promise: job postings for R&D should surge, tech startups are scrapping overseas hiring plans, and software engineers are hot again. So far, so good. But here is the catch—or at least a potential catch: what happens when you juice demand for domestic tech labor without increasing the supply? What happens if, in fact, you reduce supply by constraining immigration? Ultimately, you may find yourself not accelerating innovation—but inflating labor costs. Incentives Without Infrastructure The new version of Section 174 lets companies fully expense R&D costs in the same year they are incurred. However, expensing is limited to domestic costs. That is a huge incentive to hire within the U.S., particularly for high cost, labor-intensive tech startups. It is also a welcome return to the pre-2017 status quo, when the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act phased in a requirement that forced companies to amortize R&D costs over five years domestically, and fifteen years abroad. However, unlikel capital, labor is not instantly and infinitely scalable. You can't conjure a mid-career artificial intelligence engineer or a competent data scientist out of thin air. And, if you enact policies that curtail immigration, you can't call one from abroad either. As it turns out, we've made it harder, not easier, to bring in new talent—and now we've accelerated demand for the talent we do have. A Subsidy for Scarcity You can squint at the numbers and begin to see this shift already. Demand for U.S. based R&D roles is up 15-20% in just the past month, according to staffing firms. And some companies are now paying as much as 20-25% more to hire U.S. based engineers. The deduction, in effect, is being offset by wage inflation. The R&D shift isn't so much a tax incentive for innovation as a subsidy for talent scarcity. While immigration might normally ease that pressure, it is hardly a footnote in today's policy playbook. On the boats and on the planes, people simply aren't coming to America. If you can't import more talent, and you can't afford the rising cost of domestic labor, your only option as a startup is to scale back. This is the quiet paradox of modern innovation policy. We subsidize supply chains, enact tariffs by social media post and whim, fund domestic fabs, and now write off R&D wages – all in the interest of international competitiveness. But if the workforce can't scale with those policies, the policy just cannibalizes itself. Hiring slows, projects get delayed, marginal innovation doesn't happen, and companies we claim to support are left treading water in a labor-crunched economy, unable to fulfill the demand for domestic products that our ill-considered policies helped create. Normally, labor market imbalances can also resolve themselves through expanded domestic training pipelines: STEM programs, coding bootcamps, workforce grants, and more money flowing to education. But none of that is happening—at least not at scale. Even if the current administration reverses course and makes educational initiatives a priority, they can take years to yield results. So what happens next? If you can't import more talent, you can't train more talent, and you can't afford the rising cost of domestic labor, plans need to change. The question becomes, 'should we hire at all or wait out the current political climate and see what 2028 brings?' The Labor Market Becomes the Bottleneck In theory, Section 174 is pro-growth and innovation. In practice, it may just be another short-term sugar rush—juicing the labor market without adding any actual economic nutrients. We're frontloading cost savings, backloading the labor problem, and hoping that somewhere in there innovation still occurs. There is a better way, of course: R&D expensing is good policy. But it needs to be paired with other tools, like high-skilled visa reform, targeted immigration pipelines, and sustained and predictable domestic training investments. Otherwise, we're just creating a bidding war for a small pool of engineers and calling it progress. Turns out, tax breaks can nudge companies toward domestic hiring—they just can't conjure a developer that doesn't exist.
