Rick Stroud and Steve Versnick open with the Rays' magic number dropping to seven to clinch the AL East over the Yankees, then dig into Baker Mayfield's much-hyped return to Cleveland — the viral moment of Baker walking into his press conference in Michigan gear (repping Troy Bowles after Oklahoma's loss) and the tangled history between Baker, the Browns, and new Bucs OC Todd Monken. They also revisit Alex Anzalone's rough Week 1 and Josiah Trotter's historic NFL debut before turning to the Rays' 4-3 win over the A's, Nick Martinez's under-the-radar Cy Young-caliber season, and the never-ending Caminero-vs-Alvarez AL MVP debate, with Chandler Simpson now leading the league in batting average.
The back half is a deep-dive interview with Tampa Bay Times Lightning writer Eduardo Encina on media day: the uneasy state of Nikita Kucherov's contract talks (and why the new CBA's seven-year max complicates things), Victor Hedman's dramatic offseason transformation after a brutal, injury-and-anxiety-plagued year, injury news on Yanni Gourde and Dominic James, Brandon Hagel's case as a future captain, and what really derailed Braden Point's production last season — plus his summer skill-building sessions with Kucherov. They close with a look at the weekend ahead: Bucs prep for Cleveland, and a loaded college football slate led by LSU-Ole Miss, Florida-Auburn, and USF hosting Delaware State.
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