In today's edition: The NFL's All-Quarter Century team, Kershaw joins 3K strikeouts club, Machado joins 2K hits club, photo finish and more.
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🚨 Headlines
🎾 Wimbledon update: Novak Djokovic reached his 63rd Grand Slam quarterfinal, Ben Shelton reached his first Wimbledon quarterfinal, Jannik Sinner avoided the upset when Grigor Dimitrov was forced to retire due to injury and 18-year-old Mirra Andreeva became the youngest Wimbledon women's quarterfinalist since Maria Sharapova in 2005.
⚾️ Alonso declines invite: For the first time in his career, Mets slugger Pete Alonso will not participate in the Home Run Derby, which he's won twice. The four confirmed participants so far: Cal Raleigh, Ronald Acuña Jr., James Wood and Byron Buxton.
🏀 3-team trade: The Clippers, Jazz and Heat pulled off a three-team trade that will send Norman Powell to Miami, John Collins to L.A. and Kevin Love and Kyle Anderson to Utah. Grading the trade.
🚲 Heartbreak for Philipsen: Belgium's Jasper Philipsen is out of the Tour de France after a crash left him with a broken collarbone and rib. The 27-year-old sprint favorite won Stage 1 just two days earlier.
🏀 Banchero gets paid: The Magic signed young star Paolo Banchero to a five-year max extension that could be worth as much as $287 million.
🏈 The NFL All-Quarter Century team
Which players make up the NFL's All-Quarter Century Team? Yahoo Sports' Frank Schwab put together his squad. Only the 2000-2024 seasons were considered.
Offense
Quarterback: Tom Brady (biggest snubs: Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes, Drew Brees)
Running backs: LaDainian Tomlinson, Adrian Peterson (Derrick Henry, Frank Gore, Christian McCaffrey, Marshawn Lynch, Clinton Portis)
Wide receivers: Randy Moss, Calvin Johnson, Terrell Owens (Larry Fitzgerald, Antonio Brown, Julio Jones, Justin Jefferson, Ja'Marr Chase, Tyreek Hill)
Tight end: Rob Gronkowski (Travis Kelce, Tony Gonzalez, Antonio Gates, George Kittle, Jason Witten)
Offensive tackles: Trent Williams, Walter Jones (Joe Thomas, Jason Peters, Jonathan Ogden, Tyron Smith, Lane Johnson, Orlando Pace)
Guards: Zack Martin, Alan Faneca (Marshal Yanda, Steve Hutchinson, Quenton Nelson)
Center: Jason Kelce (Maurkice Pouncey, Nick Mangold, Kevin Mawae)
Defense
Defensive linemen: Aaron Donald, J.J. Watt, Warren Sapp (Geno Atkins, Cameron Heyward, Calais Campbell, Kevin Williams, Ndamukong Suh)
Edge rushers: Myles Garrett, T.J. Watt (Julius Peppers, Von Miller, Terrell Suggs, DeMarcus Ware, Jared Allen, Jason Taylor)
Linebackers: Ray Lewis, Luke Kuechly (Patrick Willis, Bobby Wagner, NaVorro Bowman, Derrick Brooks, Brian Urlacher)
Cornerbacks: Darrell Revis, Champ Bailey, Charles Woodson (Ronde Barber, Patrick Peterson, Richard Sherman, Jalen Ramsey)
Safeties: Ed Reed, Troy Polamalu (Brian Dawkins, Earl Thomas, John Lynch)
Special Teams
Kicker: Justin Tucker (Adam Vinatieri, David Akers)
Punter: Shane Lechler (Johnny Hekker)
Kick returner: Devin Hester (None)
Food for thought: Which of these players are most likely to hang onto their spots when the All-Half Century Team (2000-2050) comes out 25 years from now? Which players are most likely to get booted?
⚾️ Kershaw: The last member of the 3K strikeout club?
At long last, Clayton Kershaw reached the mountaintop, striking out his 3,000th batter last week to become the 20th member of a club so exclusive it may soon stop accepting new members.
By the numbers: Kershaw, 37, is just the fourth lefty with 3,000 punch outs (Randy Johnson, Steve Carlton, C.C. Sabathia) and the third to play his entire career with one team (Walter Johnson, Bob Gibson). He also joins Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander as the only active members of the club.
The road to 3,000: The Dodgers' 2006 first-rounder didn't dominate right away, pitching to a 4.26 ERA as a rookie in 2008. But he did strike out the first batter he ever faced, fanning future Marlins manager Skip Schumaker while donning his No. 54 jersey — an odd relic of the past that he wore only for his debut before switching to the now-familiar No. 22.
His 1,000th strikeout came in his sixth season at age 25, the same year he won his second Cy Young. Now fully in his prime, his pace quickened, reaching 2,000 just four years later at age 29. 10 years, 2,000 strikeouts, three Cy Youngs and an MVP. A generational superstar.
But nothing lasts forever, and reaching 3,000 was a grind. The numbers remained elite but the pace slowed as 3,000 transitioned from "when" to "if" over eight injury-marred seasons. He got there, of course, but it's surprising that it ever became a question.
Looking ahead: Due to the status quo of pitchers in MLB's modern era, with innings decreasing and injuries on the rise, Kershaw's accomplishment begs the question: Will the 3,000-strikeout club ever welcome a new member?
Chris Sale (2,528 strikeouts) and Gerrit Cole (2,251) are the closest active pitchers. They're also both in their mid-30s and currently on the IL with the types of injuries that pretty much every strikeout merchant can expect to sustain at some point. Throwing that hard for that long unfortunately has consequences.
It's exciting to imagine 28-year-old Tarik Skubal (796 strikeouts) and 23-year-old Paul Skenes (295) dominating for the next 10-15 years. Maybe they will. Maybe the injury bug will never bite them. Maybe.
The last word: "Being an elite starting pitcher is taxing. Remaining an elite starting pitcher is a miracle," writes the Washington Post's Chelsea Janes ($). Clayton Kershaw is a miracle. Only time will tell if he's the last of his kind.
📊 By the numbers
🏀 Year 20
Kyle Lowry has agreed to a one-year deal to return to the 76ers for his 20th NBA season. Only 11 players have played 20+ seasons in the league: Vince Carter (22), LeBron James (22), Kevin Garnett (21), Dirk Nowitzki (21), Robert Parish (21), Kevin Willis (21), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (20), Kobe Bryant (20), Jamal Crawford (20), Udonis Haslem (20) and Chris Paul (20).
⚾️ 9 straight
The Blue Jays (53-38) have surged to the top of the AL East amid a nine-game winning streak, their longest since 2015.
🎾 22 years old
Ben Shelton, 22, is the youngest American man to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals since Andy Roddick in 2004. "I wasn't really playing tennis yet when [Andy] was still playing," said the world No. 10. "Obviously seen a ton of tape now. … It's pretty cool to be mentioned in the same sentence as him."
🏀 18.5 wins
The Jazz opened with the NBA's lowest Over/Under for the 2025-26 season at 18.5 wins. That's the lowest for any team since the 2014-15 76ers (16).
🎾 Wimbledon goes electric
For the first time in Wimbledon's 148-year history, line judges have been replaced by Electronic Line Calling. As you might imagine for an event so steeped in tradition, not everyone is thrilled with the change.
A new era: The All England Club now employs the same Hawk-Eye technology seen across modern sports. 300 line judges have been reduced to 80 "match assistants," and the ELC — powered by 12 cameras per court — calls "out," "fault" and "foot fault" in real time.
Well, as long as the system is actually turned on…
Whoops: On Sunday, the ELC was accidentally deactivated during a match between Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Sonay Kartal. The snafu led to an egregious missed call that cost Pavlyuchenkova the game.
In the end, she rebounded to win the set and match, and Wimbledon later apologized and made changes to ensure such "operator error" couldn't happen again.
But in the moment, Pavlyuchenkova felt the game was stolen from her, adding to the wider doubt regarding ELC's efficacy.
What they're saying: "I don't think it's 100 percent accurate," said England's Jack Draper after his second-round upset loss. "It's kind of disappointing … that the calls can be so wrong," added Draper's countrywoman Emma Raducanu, also after a loss. Some have also complained that the calls are too quiet to hear amid the din of the crowd, notes The Athletic ($).
But many are in favor of the technology, which is generally more reliable than the human eye, and All England Club chair Debbie Jevans hit back at Draper and Raducanu's complaints.
"It's funny," Jevans said, "because when we did have linesmen, we were constantly asked why we didn't have [ELC] because it's more accurate than the rest of the tour."
Zoom out: Wimbledon was late to ELC, which has featured at the U.S. Open and Australian Open since 2021 and is used at every ATP event. The French Open, whose red clay makes it easier to check ball marks, is the only Grand Slam still using line judges — but it's probably only a matter of time before that changes, too.
Looking ahead: Technology-assisted automation is on the rise across sports. Hawk-Eye is replacing chain gangs to measure first downs in the NFL beginning this fall, and it will soon come to MLB in the form of robo-umps and is being tested in the NBA to detect goaltending. So fans and players alike would be wise to prepare for it to become a normal part of the game; and, like at Wimbledon, for it to have a somewhat rocky start.
📺 Watchlist: Tuesday, July 8
🎾 Wimbledon, Quarterfinals | ESPN/ESPN2/ESPN+
The last eight gets underway today at the All England Club: No. 5 Taylor Fritz vs. No. 17 Karen Khachanov (8am) and No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz vs. Cameron Norrie (9:40am) for the men; No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka vs. Laura Siegemund (8:30am) and No. 13 Amanda Anisimova vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (9:40am) for the women.
⚽️ Chelsea vs. Fluminense | 3pm ET, TNT
The British giants take on the surprisingly still-standing Brazilians in the Club World Cup semifinals at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium. Tickets are going for as low as $13.40 after FIFA slashed prices.
⚾️ Dodgers at Brewers | 7:40pm, TBS
It's the old generation vs. the new in Milwaukee: Clayton Kershaw takes the bump for the first time since joining the 3,000-strikeout club, while young fireballer Jacob Misiorowski looks to bounce back from his first poor outing after going 3-0 with 3 hits allowed in his first three starts.
More to watch:
⚽️ U.S. Open Cup: Minnesota United vs. Chicago Fire (8pm, CBSSN); San Jose Earthquakes vs. Austin FC (10:30pm, Paramount+) … Quarterfinals.
⚽️ Women's Euros: Germany vs. Denmark (12pm, FS1); Poland vs. Sweden (3pm, Fox) … Group C action in Switzerland.
🏀 WNBA: Aces at Liberty (8pm, ESPN) … Rematch of the 2023 Finals.
🚴 Tour de France: Stage 4 (7:15am, Peacock) … The fourth stage covers 108 miles from Amiens to Rouen, and features five categorized climbs.
⚾️ MLB trivia
Manny Machado recorded his 2,000th career hit on Monday, becoming the fifth active MLB player to reach that mark.
Question: Can you name the other four?
Hint: Two AL, two NL.
Answer at the bottom.
📸 Photo finish
The world's fittest biker gang.
Trivia answer: Freddie Freeman (2,358 hits), Jose Altuve (2,323), Andrew McCutchen (2,226), Paul Goldschmidt (2,145)
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Category: General Sports
