Jacob deGrom's accomplished quite a lot in his MLB career, and he added another historic feat to his ever growing résumé on Sunday.

During Sunday's matchup with the Mariners, the Rangers ace logged his 1,800th career strikeout. deGrom became the fastest MLB pitcher in history to reach this milestone as he did so in 240 games and 1,493.1 innings.

The two-time NL Cy Young Award winner's historic strikeout was thrown against Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford in the second inning of Sunday's game. The three strikes thrown to Crawford were all 98 mph fastballs. It was deGrom's fourth strikeout of the game, too.

After deGrom's past two seasons were riddled with injuries, the ace is having a great comeback season this year. Ahead of Sunday's game, deGrom had a 2.55 ERA with a 10–3 record. He'd thrown 130 strikeouts this season—a solid 9.5 per nine innings pitched

The Rangers star now sits at No. 128 on the MLB's all-time list of strikeouts thrown by pitchers. Nolan Ryan holds a very strong lead for the record with 5,714 strikeouts thrown in his career.

In 2005, the Atlanta Braves were winning the National League East Division title, center fielder Andruw Jones was hitting 51 home runs, and a Braves starting pitcher was busy being born.

Atlanta is set to start pitcher Didier Fuentes on Friday against the Miami Marlins, the Braves announced Friday afternoon. Fuentes, a native of Tolu, Colombia, celebrated his 20th birthday on Tuesday.

Per Mark Bowman of MLB.com, Fuentes will be the youngest pitcher to start a game for the Braves since 19-year-old Mike McQueen started June 23, 1970, against the Los Angeles Dodgers. McQueen wound up spending five years in the major leagues with Atlanta and the Cincinnati Reds.

Fuentes is 0-7 with a 4.81 ERA in the minors in 2025, and Bowman indicated that "this will likely be just a spot start."

The Braves, recovering from a poor start to '25, are 7-3 in their last 10 games. They currently hold a 34-39 record and sit 10 games behind the first-place New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East.

All the numbers and records from a series where the Indian batters made merry

Sampath Bandarupalli02-Aug-2025

Ravindra Jadeja finished with 516 runs for the series•Getty Images

3809 – Runs aggregated by India across the five matches of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. It is the second-most runs recorded by a team in a Test series, behind only Australia’s 3877 during the six-match Ashes series in 1989. The series aggregate is also the second-highest behind the 1993 Ashes, where England and Australia collectively scored 7221 runs.8 – Number of 300-plus totals for India, the joint-most by any team in a Test series. India also breached the 350-mark on eight occasions, two more than any other team in a Test series.516 – Ravindra Jadeja’s tally is the fifth-highest for a batter coming in at No. 6 or lower in a Test series. These are also the most runs recorded by an India batter coming in at No. 6 or lower in a Test series, going past VVS Laxman’s 474 runs against West Indies in 2002.Related

Gill shows he is ready for the grind of India's Test captaincy

Butter-fingered England spill six chances at The Oval

Oval and out: Jaiswal's series comes a full circle with statement hundred

Jaiswal hundred, Siraj's late strike make India favourites

Jadeja’s six fifty-plus scores are the joint-most while batting at No. 6 or lower in a Test series. Four of Jadeja’s six fifty-plus scores came in the second innings, the joint-most for a batter in a Test series.1131 – Jadeja’s run tally in Test cricket in England while batting at No. 6 or lower. These are the most runs in that position for a visiting player in any country in Test cricket, surpassing Clive Lloyd’s 1126 in Australia.Jadeja’s ten fifty-plus scores at No. 6 or lower in England are also the joint-most for a visiting player in a country, alongside Lloyd’s ten in Australia. Among Indian batters, only Sachin Tendulkar (12) has more fifty-plus scores in Tests in England.ESPNcricinfo Ltd754 – Shubman Gill’s series aggregate is the second-highest for a captain behind Don Bradman’s 810 against England in the 1936-37 Ashes. No other batter has scored more runs in a series between England and India, going past Graham Gooch’s 752 runs in 1990.470 – Boundaries hit by India (422 fours and 48 sixes), the most by any team in a Test series, going past 460 by Australia (451 fours and nine sixes) in the 1993 Ashes.12 – Number of individual hundreds for India, the joint-most for any team in a Test series. These are also the most for India in a Test series, going past the 11 they recorded against West Indies at home in 1978-79.5 – Five Indian batters scored 400-plus runs in this series, Yashasvi Jaiswal being the latest addition. Only three times has a team had five (or more) batters scoring 400-plus runs in a Test series previously – six for Australia in the 1993 Ashes, while five each for South Africa against England in 1964-65 and Australia in the 1989 Ashes.Eight batters have aggregated 400-plus runs across England and India in this series so far, the joint-most for a Test series, alongside the Frank Worrell Trophy in 1975-76 and the 1993 Ashes.Three India batters have gone past the 500-run mark in this series – Gill, KL Rahul and Jadeja, the joint-most for a team in a Test series.Akash Deep celebrates his fifty•Getty Images66 – Akash Deep’s score is the third-highest by a nightwatcher for India in men’s Tests. Syed Kirmani scored 101* against Australia at the Wankhede Stadium in 1979, while Amit Mishra scored 84 against England in 2011, also at The Oval.79.66 – Percentage of runs scored by Jaiswal behind square on the offside during his 118. In all, he recorded 94 runs in that region – 11 fours and two sixes. As per ESPNCricinfo’s ball-by-ball logs, it is the highest percentage of runs scored behind square by any batter while scoring a century in men’s Tests since 2003.6 – Catches dropped by England in India’s second innings, the most by them in an innings since 2018. They dropped six catches in India’s first innings at Edgbaston in 2022 and New Zealand’s second innings at Wellington in 2023.

Part of the India side at the Under-19 World Cup in 2016, Zeeshan Ansari has had to fight for opportunities, till he got the platform he had been waiting for at IPL 2025

Daya Sagar25-Apr-2025This Eid, the at Mohammad Naeem Ansari’s house tasted sweeter than usual – just the evening before, his son Zeeshan Ansari played his first IPL match after waiting for long. He didn’t just make his IPL debut, he made it an occasion, with the wickets of three international batters: Jake Fraser-McGurk, Faf du Plessis and KL Rahul.Soon, people from the neighbourhood started gathering outside Naeem’s small, half-built house in Chaudhary Tola in Lucknow. Even the ones that had taunted Naeem for Zeeshan “wasting his time” and “dreaming big”.The idea had struck Naeem in the early 2000s. Naeem was married, had children, and didn’t want them to do the same work – of running their tailor shop – his brothers and he did. He felt that if a child from the family did well in a sport, a government job could come with it, and that would help the family.Related

• Zampa's IPL ends due to shoulder injury

• 'Everything comes from practice' – Aniket Verma on six-hitting

In the late-2000s, Naeem got four children from his joint family enrolled in the Government Sports Academy not far from their house. That’s where Zeeshan learnt the basics of cricket and now, almost two decades on, has been Sunrisers Hyderabad’s primary spinner at IPL 2025, though not with the kind of success that debut had promised: he has picked up just two more wickets in five subsequent matches.Zeeshan started playing cricket at the age of four or five, like many kids in India do, on the streets around his house, but unlike most others, he was more interested in bowling than batting. Apparently, even at that early stage, Zeeshan tried to give the ball a rip.Gopal Singh, Zeeshan’s coach at the academy, tells ESPNcricinfo, “He came to me when he was 11 or 12 years old. Before that, he had gone to another academy in Chowk [an area in Lucknow] for a year, but that was a little far from his house. Even though his deliveries didn’t quite reach the batters, he used to bowl legspin from the very beginning.”Some children have a body language that suggests that they can become good players in the future. When Zeeshan used to train, run, and play cricket with a tennis ball, that quality was visible. However, it was only after two or three years of training that I was convinced he could become a good legspinner.”Zeeshan would wake up early and go to the academy, where he would catch hold of whichever batters he could and bowl at them throughout the day. When one batter got tired, another would be summoned, and this continued. It didn’t stop when he got home either. His uncle Gayas Ansari would bat for him in the lane adjacent to the house. Gayas had been given the responsibility of ferrying Zeeshan to and from the academy and playing with him at home. In exchange, Gayas – who played his share of tennis-ball cricket in his youth – didn’t have to spend as much time at the tailor’s shop as his brothers did.Naeem Ansari (extreme left) poses with members of the family in front of the old house Zeeshan is helping repair•Daya SagarIn 2014, when Zeeshan was 15 and had performed well at the club and district level, he was called for the Under-16 state (Uttar Pradesh) trials. He was not selected but, remarkably, got into the Under-19 and Under-23 teams the same season.At the Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy in 2014-15, Zeeshan took 40 wickets – the highest – and at the Colonel CK Nayudu Under-23 tournament, he got 18 wickets, including three five-fors, at an average of 13.44.Zeeshan was rewarded immediately by being named in India’s 2016 Under-19 World Cup squad, led by Ishan Kishan. But, with spin-bowling allrounders like Washington Sundar, Mayank Dagar and Mahipal Lomror in the squad, Zeeshan got a chance to play only two matches.He got paid, though, and used it to repair the leaks in his house.After the World Cup, Zeeshan took 30 wickets, the most for Uttar Pradesh, in the CK Nayudu Trophy in 2016-17, and was selected for the Ranji Trophy the following year. Making his debut under Suresh Raina’s captaincy against Railways, Zeeshan returned twin three-fors, but his name was missing from the playing XI for the next match. He has only played five first-class matches so far for 17 wickets to go with one wicketless outing in T20s at the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in February 2019.

“No matter how disappointed he was, he would be found at the ground the next morning for training. He is a fighter, and had no option. What would he have done if he had left cricket?”Gopal Singh, Zeeshan’s childhood coach, on the latter’s difficult times from 2017-20

“That was a bad phase. After playing for India in the World Cup, we thought that our good days had arrived; but it was not so,” Naeem tells ESPNcricinfo. “He was getting very few opportunities, while his team-mates like Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan, Khaleel Ahmed, Washington Sundar and Sarfaraz Khan have all played for India and also in the IPL. Along with him, we also felt dejected. However, we never asked him to quit cricket and he never gave up. He always said that the ones who were getting opportunities were better than him and that his chance would come.”Gopal adds, “He would cry at times. We would also get sad, but we motivated him. One of the best things about him was that no matter how disappointed he was, he would be found at the ground the next morning for training. He is a fighter, and had no option. What would he do if he had left cricket? His father also wanted him to play.”Zeeshan continued to play elsewhere, though, at the district and state level, in the corporate circuit with Indian Oil Corporation, and in Lucknow’s local A-division tournaments, where players like Akshdeep Nath, Vipraj Nigam and Mohammad Saif played with him. Apart from this, he also went to play in the Kolkata club circuit in 2023. Last year, Zeeshan also got an offer from Mizoram to play for them as a professional, but turned it down.Zeeshan Ansari hasn’t had much success after a three-wicket haul in his first match•BCCIThe turning point in Zeeshan’s life came when he won the Purple Cap with 24 wickets in the Uttar Pradesh Premier League in 2024, and his team Meerut Mavericks won the title. Multiple IPL franchises called him for trials. Eventually, Zeeshan was bought by SRH for INR 40 lakh in the big auction in late 2024, which Zeeshan’s father called “God’s miracle” – “Nobody gets anything before it’s time for it.”In IPL 2025, after Adam Zampa picked up an injury – and was later ruled out – Zeeshan became SRH’s frontline spinner despite the presence of Rahul Chahar in the squad and has continued to play despite not being among the wickets much.Zeeshan is on TV every other day and that pleases his 90-year-old grandmother, who does not know what her grandson is doing but smiles when she sees him in action.As for Naeem and his family, the ambitions aren’t too big, They don’t want to leave their old house and live in some upmarket colony. They just want Zeeshan to help get the rest of the house repaired, which he had started doing after the Under-19 World Cup.

أعلن الألماني هانز فليك، المدير الفني للفريق الأول لكرة القدم بنادي برشلونة قائمة فريقه لمواجهة آينتراخت فرانكفورت ضمن منافسات دوري أبطال أوروبا.

ويستضيف ملعب “كامب نو” مباراة برشلونة وآينتراخت فرانكفورت، في إطار منافسات الجولة السادسة من مرحلة الدوري لبطولة دوري أبطال أوروبا.

ويمتلك برشلونة 7 نقاط محتلًا المركز الثامن عشر في ترتيب جدول دوري أبطال أوروبا، في حين أن آينتراخت فرانكفورت لديه 4 نقاط في المركز الـ 28.

ويسعى برشلونة إلى تحقيق الفوز في مباراة اليوم بعدما تعثر في الجولة الأخيرة وخسارته أمام تشيلسي بثلاثة أهداف دون رد على ملعب “ستامفورد بريدج”.

وشهدت القائمة عودة مارك تير شتيجن لأول مرة هذا الموسم، بيما ما زال رونالدو أراوخو غائبًا عن الفريق لمعاناته من ظروف نفسية. قائمة برشلونة أمام آينتراخت فرانكفورت في دوري أبطال أوروبا

في حراسة المرمى: تير شتيجن – خوان جارسيا – فوتشيك تشيزني.

في خط الدفاع: بالدي – إيريك جارسيا – اندرياس كريستنسن – باو كوبارسي – جيرارد مارتن – جول كوندي – خوفري.

في خط الوسط: فرينكي دي يونج – فيرمين لوبيز – بيدري – كاسادو – بيرنال – درو فرنانديز.

في خط الهجوم: لامين يامال – روبرت ليفاندوفسكي – فيران توريس – ماركوس راشفورد – رافينها – روني باردجي.

📋 𝗦𝗤𝗨𝗔𝗗 𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗧 #BarçaEintracht pic.twitter.com/MzWC67Bys6 — FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) December 9, 2025

MatériaMais Notícias

Histórico! O Novorizontino está classificado para a semifinal do Paulistão. O time venceu o São Paulo, nos pênaltis, no Estádio do Morumbis, na noite deste domingo (17), após empate por 1 a 1 no tempo normal, que teve gols de Rômulo e Ferreirinha.

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➡️ Siga o Lance! no WhatsApp e acompanhe em tempo real as principais notícias do esporte

Nas cobranças, o time visitante fez 5 a 4 no Tricolor, que perdeu dois chutes, com Michel Araújo e Diego Costa. Pelo lado do Novorizontino, apenas Lucca desperdiçou.

⚽COMO FOI A PARTIDA?

O primeiro tempo começou com um susto para os donos da casa. Rômulo, com apenas 12 minutos de jogo, abriu o placar de cabeça para o Novorizontino no Morumbi. Após o gol, o Tricolor reagiu com o apoio de mais de 55 mil pessoas, e Ferreirinha aproveitou ótima jogada de Lucas para empatar. O atacante, no entanto, saiu machuado após o gol. Os dois times ainda tiveram chances de sair do empate ainda no primeiro tempo, sem sucesso.

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O que vem por aí?

O segundo tempo continuou frenético, com chances dos dois lados, mas as principais para os donos da casa. Lucas Moura conduzia o meio-campo tricolor e brilhava em jogadas individuais. Do lado são-paulino, Luciano, André Silva, James Rodríguez e Erick arriscaram na tentativa de virar o jogo, mas não deu tempo. A decisão foi para as pênaltis.

O que vem por aí?

O Novorizontino está na semifinal do Paulistão e agora vai encarar o atual bicampeão estadual, o Palmeiras. O time de Abel Ferreira chego a essa fase da competição após golear a Ponte Preta, por 5 a 1.

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➡️ Veja confrontos do mata-mata do Paulistão

✅ SÃO PAULO 1 (4) x (5) 1 NOVORIZONTINO
Quartas de final doPaulistão – Jogo único

Data e horário:domingo, 17 de março de 2024, às 18h (de Brasília)
Local:Estádio do Morumbis, em São Paulo (SP)
Árbitro:Flavio Rodrigues de Souza
Cartões amarelos:Arboleda (São Paulo) / Chico, Marlon, Lucca e Waguininho (Novorizontino)
Cartões vermelhos:-

Gols:Ferreirinha (São Paulo) / Rômulo (Novorizontino)

⚽ ESCALAÇÕES

SÃO PAULO

Rafael; Rafinha (Igor Vinícius), Arboleda, Diego Costa, Welington (James Rodríguez); Alisson, Pablo Maia, Lucas e Ferreirinha (Erick), Luciano e André Silva (Michel Araújo). Técnico: Thiago Carpini.

NOVORIZONTINO

Jordi; César Martins (Renato), Luisão, Chico; Willean Lepo, Geovane (Dantas), Marlon, Rômulo (Danilo Barcelos), Neto Pessoa (Lucca); Reverson e Waguininho (Fabrício Daniel). Técnico: Eduardo Baptista.

Tudo sobre

Campeonato PaulistaFutebol NacionalNovorizontinoSão Paulo

James Wood put on a show during his first round performance at the 2025 Home Run Derby.

The Washington Nationals star crushed 16 home runs in the first round to open up the competition. One of those homers flew outside of Truist Park in Atlanta—yes, you read that right—to go a whopping 486 feet.

Woods's blast went further than any homer has gone during the 2025 season so far. Mike Trout currently holds that lead with a 484-foot home run he hit earlier this season.

This home run sparked a lot of good reactions from Woods's fellow MLB stars. His Derby opponent Byron Buxton of the Minnesota Twins had a spot-on reaction when the camera panned to him. His jaw was dropped, similarly to how a lot of MLB fans at home looked when Wood crushed that ball.

Although Woods's homer was extremely impressive, it's not the farthest hit home run in Derby history by any means. That record is held by Juan Soto, who hit a 520-foot homer in 2021. There's been quite a few 500-plus foot home runs recorded in Derby history.

The Colorado Rockies are trading right-handed reliever Tyler Kinley to the Atlanta Braves, according to a report from Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.

The trade will send a prospect back to the Rockies.

The 34-year-old Kinley has accumulated a 5.66 ERA this season, but advanced analytics suggest he's been a better pitcher than his ERA shows. The Braves are hoping that he can be a reliable righty out of the bullpen for the second half of the season, while also giving the franchise the option to add another year of team control. Kinley is earning $3 million this year in the final year of his contract, but has a $5 million club option that Atlanta could exercise for 2026.

The Braves are a disappointing 45–61 this season, and sit in fourth-place in the NL East.

Chelsea could sell Axel Disasi to make room in the squad for a “monstrous” new centre-back, who is highly-rated by manager Enzo Maresca.

Blues looking to sign new defender amid injury crisis

Injuries have plagued the Blues at the beginning of the Premier League season, and they are currently particularly light on options at centre-back, with Wesley Fofana and long-term absentee Levi Colwill still sidelined.

Against Liverpool, both Josh Acheampong and Benoit Badiashile were withdrawn due to injury, but Maresca’s side miraculously managed to come out on top in a 2-1 victory, with Estevao bagging a stoppage-time winner.

Disasi technically remains an option for the west Londoners too, but the 27-year-old is part of the ‘bomb squad’, and Maresca has previously made it clear he has no plans to reintroduce the Frenchman.

The Italian said: “Since the season started, I haven’t seen either of them. I haven’t seen Axel or Raheem. They train at a different time and on a different pitch. I haven’t seen them since the start of the season.”

As a result, it would make sense for Chelsea to cash in on the defender, and a report from Spain has now revealed they could sell Disasi to make room in the squad for Nottingham Forest defender Murillo, who is also being targeted by Bayern Munich.

The centre-back is highly-rated by Maresca, given his ability to play the ball out from the back, but a deal could be on the expensive side, with a price tag of £80m being touted back in the summer.

There is a belief the Brazilian would be the perfect fit in Maresca’s squad, and the Blues are confident they will be able to convince him to move to Stamford Bridge, despite the interest from elsewhere.

"Monstrous" Murillo could be ideal addition for Chelsea

Under BlueCo ownership, Chelsea have set out to sign young, high-potential players, and the 23-year-old certainly fits the bill in that regard, having already made a name for himself in the Premier League.

Chelsea join race to sign £17m German forward who Bayern Munich also want

The Blues have set their sights on a new target, who is also of interest to the reigning Bundesliga champions.

By
Dominic Lund

Oct 12, 2025

Journalist Ryan Taylor has been left particularly impressed by the Forest star’s performances, lauding him as “monstrous” earlier this year, and the former Corinthians man has caught the eye across a number of key metrics over the past year.

Statistic	Average per 90
Blocks	1.90 (94th percentile)
Clearances	6.97 (92nd percentile)
Successful take-ons	0.68 (95th percentile)

The only real doubt over the signing of the Brazil international is the fact he isn’t accustomed to playing in a side where keeping possession is a priority, as evidenced by the fact he places in just the seventh percentile for his pass-completion rate over the past year, compared to other centre-backs.

That said, Murillo is still young, and clearly has the talent to succeed at Stamford Bridge, having already made 72 Premier League appearances at Forest, and a January approach would make perfect sense, amid Chelsea’s injury troubles.

Celtic went through a curious couple of days of speculation after it was reported that the club were set to sign central midfielder Bobby Clark for a fee of £6m.

It was claimed that the Hoops were on course to clinch a deal for the 20-year-old RB Salzburg starlet, who is currently on loan at Derby County, in the January transfer window.

However, Brendan Rodgers was quizzed about the link ahead of the clash with Dundee and said: “I wouldn’t normally say anything on anything, but I really don’t know where that has come from at all. Especially in October.”

Whilst it seems like the link to Clark was wide of the mark, it was not a total surprise to see a central midfield link, given that Reo Hatate’s form has tailed off this season.

Why Reo Hatate's form is a concern for Celtic

The Japan international was in influential presence in midfield last season with a return of ten goals and 14 ‘big chances’ created in 37 outings in the Scottish Premiership, per Sofascore.

Hatate provided a consistent threat as both a scorer and a creator of goals, but that has not been the case for him in the 2025/26 campaign so far.

The 27-year-old star has scored one goal, created one ‘big chance’, and failed to register any assists in six appearances in the Premiership, per Sofascore, as Celtic have failed to score in four of their last nine games in all competitions.

Rodgers needs more from his midfielders from an attacking perspective, because of Hatate’s concerning form, but signing Bobby Clark should not be the answer, as Paulo Bernardo is an even better option than him.

Why Celtic should unleash Paulo Bernardo

The Portugal U21 international has the quality to be the club’s next version of Hatate in the middle of the park, as a central midfielder who can score and create goals for the team.

Clark, meanwhile, has no goals and no assists in nine appearances for Derby in the Championship, per Sofascore, after a return of one goal and no assists in 17 matches in the Austrian Bundesliga for Salzburg in the 2024/25 campaign.

These statistics do not suggest that the English starlet would arrive at Parkhead to provide the goals and assists that the Hoops are currently lacking in midfield.

Starts

11

13

Goals

3

2

Conversion rate

10%

8%

Key passes

11

31

Big chances created

4

5

Assists

3

3

However, as you can see in the table above, Bernardo’s form in his first two full Premiership seasons with the club suggest that he has the potential to deliver quality in the final third.

The Portuguese whiz, who was hailed as “tenacious” by Rodgers, scored five goals and created nine ‘big chances’ in 24 Premiership starts in those two campaigns, which is a fairly impressive haul for a player who did not play week-in-week-out.

His statistics in the Premiership show that he is a better central midfield option than Clark, who has failed to make much of an impact at the top end of the pitch at Salzburg or Derby in the past 18 months, since leaving Liverpool in the summer of 2024.

Unfortunately, though, Rodgers has only handed Bernardo two appearances and one start in the Premiership this season, which means that he has not had many opportunities to showcase his quality in midfield.

Given Hatate’s drop-off in form, the Celtic manager should be looking to unleash the Portuguese talent in the coming weeks because he has the attacking potential to be the club’s next version of the Hatate that they had in the middle of the park last term.

Not just Yang & Scales: 18-touch Celtic dud must be dropped by Rodgers

Celtic suffered their first Premiership defeat of the season at Dundee on Sunday, and one flop, not Liam Scales or Yang Hyun-Jun, must be dropped.

Oct 20, 2025