Nico Hoerner capped Chicago’s five-run eighth inning with his first career grand slam, helping the Cubs beat the lowly Washington Nationals 8-3

Inter Miami's predicted lineup for their MLS clash with Nashville SC.

Riyad Mahrez has completed his transfer from Man City to Saudi Arabian side Al Ahli.

Refereeing, head collisions and player safety again made the headlines on the opening weekend of the Rugby World Cup with a number of contentious incidents. The most high-profile came on Saturday when an England player was shown a red card for the fourth time this year, as Tom Curry was sent off early in his side’s win over Argentina, following a head-on-head collision with Juan Cruz Mallia. However, apparent inconsistency among officials irked many, especially on social media, with other incidents of head contact across the weekend not being punished as severely. Later in that same match, Santiago Carreras only received a yellow card despite his leap in attempting to charge down a George Ford kick seeing his hip make contact with the England No 10’s head. During South Africa’s impressive 18-3 win over Scotland, Jesse Kriel’s tackle on Jack Dempsey in which his head clattered into that of his Scottish opponent wasn’t even reviewed by the TMO and hasn’t subsequently been cited, while Chile captain Martin Sigren was only sin-binned despite a head-on-head collision while tackling a Japanese attacker. But what are the laws around head contact and high tackles that referees are following and how do they decide on the punishment? Here’s everything you need to know: What are World Rugby’s laws on head contact? Head-on-head contact in the tackle comes under Law 9 of the Laws of Rugby Union, which covers foul play. Law 9.11 dictates “Players must not do anything that is reckless or dangerous to others, including leading with the elbow or forearm, or jumping into, or over, a tackler” and Law 9.13 goes on to say “A player must not tackle an opponent early, late or dangerously. Dangerous tackling includes, but is not limited to, tackling or attempting to tackle an opponent above the line of the shoulders even if the tackle starts below the line of the shoulders.” If a player breaks these laws and the act is deemed to be reckless or dangerous, then the referee is entitled to issue a yellow or red card. World Rugby also clarify the intent of the laws, stating in their guidelines that: “ Player welfare drives World Rugby’s decision making for zero tolerance of foul play, especially where head contact occurs. The focus must be on the actions of those involved, not the injury – the need for an HIA [a Head Injury Assessment] does not necessarily mean that there has been illegal head contact.” What are the punishments for head-on-head contact? Ok, this is where things get technical and debates start to occur. In March 2023, World Rugby issued their latest ‘head contact process law application guidelines’ to guide referees on whether foul play has occurred and how it should be punished. The referee has to go through a four-step process (detailed below) to determine the extent of the foul play and the sanction. The four steps are: Has head contact occurred? Was there any foul play? What was the degree of danger? Is there any mitigation? Step 1 (has head contact occurred?) is relatively straightforward, with head contact including the head and the face as well as the neck and throat area. If any head contact is made at all, we move on to Step 2. Step 2 (was there foul play?) is a touch more complex. The referees are told to consider whether the head contact was either intentional, reckless or avoidable – e.g. the defender is always upright. If it was, the tackler will be penalised and they move on to Step 3. However, if the head contact was deemed not to be foul play, the game continues. Step 3 (what was the degree of danger?) – judged from high to low – determines the initial punishment. A degree of high danger is judged on any of: direct contact rather than indirect, a high-force impact, a lack of control from the tackler, the incident occurring at high speed, the tackler leading with the head/shoulder/elbow/forearm or the tackle being reckless. If the referee judges there to be a high degree of danger, a red card will be shown. Meanwhile, low danger is judged as indirect contact, low force, low speed or no leading head/shoulder/forearm/swinging arm and a yellow card or even just a penalty to the opposition may be awarded. The final step, Step 4 (is there any mitigation?) determines whether the punishment can be reduced by one grade (i.e red card down to yellow card or yellow card down to just a penalty). Mitigation includes a sudden or significant drop in height or change in direction from ball carrier, a late change in dynamics due to another player in the contact area, a clear effort from the tackler to reduce their height or the tackler having no time to adjust. However, mitigation will never apply for intentional or always-illegal acts of foul play. What about the Foul Play Review Officer/Bunker review? Introduced for this World Cup was the Bunker review system. This allows the referee to issue a yellow card to a player, sending them to the sin-bin while play goes on, where a Foul Play Review Official (FPRO) will then take another look at the incident and determine if the yellow card should be upgraded to red, allowing the game to continue rather than a long stoppage to debate this. This is what happened to Curry against Argentina. The referee crosses their arms to indicate a Bunker review will take place. Once a player is in the sin-bin, the FPRO has up to eight minutes to review the decision and decide if it warrants upgrading to a red card. If not, the player will return to the field after their 10 minutes in the sin-bin has elapsed. Read More Tom Curry ban: How many games will England star miss after red card vs Argentina? ‘Ruining this World Cup’: TV presenter slams ‘grotesque’ refereeing as Wales beat Fiji George Ford plays the pragmatist as England finally come to the boil in Marseille cauldron South Africa explain use of signals during Scotland win National anthems are ruining the Rugby World Cup – they must be changed now Tom Curry banned after red card in Rugby World Cup against Argentina

MIAMI (AP) — Aaron Judge hit a 464-foot home run, rookie Anthony Volpe hit a three-run drive and the New York Yankees beat the Miami Marlins 9-4 Friday night.

With the weekend’s action wrapped, Fantasy Premier League managers will be reflecting upon another week of either frustration or elation after some dramatic late finishes and plenty of eye-catching performances. As the Premier League enters its 10th week, FPL managers may be looking to ring the changes as fixture swings occur and new in-form teams emerge. Whether you are looking to just tinker with one or two changes or are planning a number of wholesale changes, here are five players we think you should keep an eye out for ahead of gameweek 10. Phil Foden - Manchester City, midfield (7.6 m) The Manchester City winger has often been an unreliable FPL asset due to his lack of regular starts. Riyad Mahrez’s departure for the Saudi Pro League has now cleared the way for Foden who has started all but one of City’s league games this season. Returns thus far haven’t been plentiful (1G, 3A) and his ownership has dropped as a result, but after a promising display for England in the international break and a much-needed win for City against Brighton at the weekend, the 23-year-old may offer something of a differential pick if you’re looking to make up some ground on mini-league rivals. Kieran Trippier - Newcastle, defender (6.9 m) After a tough run of fixtures at the start of the season, Newcastle are unbeaten in five and back in full flow. Trippier has been the fulcrum of their recent improved performances, with his six assists in his last four games seeing him rise to the top of the points list for defenders. A trickier set of fixtures are on the horizon, but with games against Wolves and Bournemouth mixed in, the experienced right-back should be at the forefront of many people’s plans if they are looking for a premium defensive asset. Alisson - Liverpool, goalkeeper (5.5 m) Going big on keepers is not something many FPL managers see as a necessity but with Liverpool’s good run of fixtures coming up, spending that little bit more to bring in Alisson could be a rewarding transfer. Jurgen Klopp’s side restricted Everton to just 0.09 xG in their 2-0 derby win on Saturday and have fixtures against Nottingham Forest, Luton Town and Fulham in their next five. Ezri Konsa - Aston Villa, defeder (4.5 m) Aston Villa’s statement 4-1 win over West Ham on Sunday continued their superb start to the season as they extended their unbeaten run to six games and remain just one point off the top four. Defensively, they were a tad unfortunate to not keep a clean sheet, with Jarrod Bowen’s heavily deflected strike somehow finding the bottom corner from long range. With fixtures against Luton, Forest and Fulham in their next three, defensive returns are a high likelihood and Ezri Konsa looks to offer some value at just 4.5m. The centre-back picked up an assist against the Hammers and also has two bonus points in his last four games. Neal Maupay - Brentford, forward (4.9 m) There was a time not too long ago when few, if any, FPL users would have looked at Maupay with a transfer in mind. But fresh off an assist in his first start back at Brentford, the Frenchman could be a player rejuvenated. It remains early days but as a potential rotation option, Maupay could offer something different if you are looking to make room for a more expensive player elsewhere. Read More FPL GW9: Watkins, Gordon and five players to consider for transfers Sir Bobby Charlton: England’s greatest ever player and the artist of 1966 Man Utd expect to pay further tribute to Sir Bobby Charlton on Tuesday night Sir Bobby Charlton: England’s greatest ever player and the artist of 1966 Man Utd expect to pay further tribute to Sir Bobby Charlton on Tuesday night Virgil van Dijk will show he is Premier League’s best once more – Sami Hyypia

Three-time All-Pro linebacker Shaquille Leonard looked like his old self Sunday

Earlier today, Yahoo Sports reported that the NCAA is investigating Michigan football for allegedly violating rules that prohibit teams from scouting, in-person

Quite the scene.

Australia head coach Eddie Jones said Saturday's 35-15 victory over Georgia was the "perfect" start to the Wallabies'...

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The start of the women’s 5,000-meter heats will be moved from the morning session Wednesday into the evening because of excessive heat at the track and field world championships in Budapest, Hungary