1:42 PM ET Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR promised radical changes to the 2021 schedule and delivered Wednesday with six road courses, the first dirt race for the Cup Series since 1970 and new stops in Nashville, Tennessee, and Austin, Texas. Dropped from the lineup were Kentucky Speedway and Chicagoland Speedway, two “cookie-cutter” intermediate
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1:49 PM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com Serena Williams‘ latest much-hyped quest for her 24th major title came to an abrupt and anticlimactic halt on Wednesday when she withdrew from the French Open because of a left Achilles injury just hours before her second-round match against Tsvetana Pironkova. For now, that is. Assuming the 2021 season takes
IPL Points Table: KKR came into the match against RR at 7th and shot up the table to 2nd.© BCCI/IPL Kolkata Knight Riders jumped up from 7th to 2nd in the Indian Premier League points table after their comfortable 37-run win against Rajasthan Royals, who themselves dropped from the top of the table to third.
6:37 AM ET Aston Villa have confirmed the signing of Chelsea midfielder Ross Barkley on a season-long loan, the club announced on Wednesday. Barkley is Villa’s fifth summer signing, following the arrivals of Bertrand Traore, Ollie Watkins, Matt Cash and Emiliano Martinez. Surprise. 🤪 Let’s go, @RBarkley8! 👌 🟣 #WelcomeRoss 🟣 pic.twitter.com/Oalvz8Lj4A — Aston Villa
1:00 PM ET ESPN.com staff Kentucky Derby winner Authentic is the favorite to win Saturday’s Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. 1 Related Typically the second race run in the Triple Crown, the Preakness will be the final leg after the schedule was altered because of the coronavirus pandemic. Tiz the Law, who
9:16 AM ET Thursday’s Bellator 247 main event has been canceled after headliner Paul Daley failed to make weight for his fight against Derek Anderson. Daley, who weighed 1.6 pounds over the 171-pound limit, was forced to go to the hospital due to the bad weight cut. As a result, the fight has been canceled,
10:00 AM ET Editor’s note: The SEC is back! Except maybe LSU. Meanwhile, the Bottom 10 never went away, ready to rank the worst of college football while we await the return of the Big Ten, Pac-12, MAC and Mountain West. Inspirational thought of the week: All I hear is what you’re worthWith all those
New time trial and road world champion Anna van der Breggen has won the Fleche Wallonne classic one-day race in Belgium for a record sixth time. The Boels-Dolmans rider now holds the record for most wins following a drag up the legendary Mur de Huy. Marc Hirschi of Sunweb took the men’s race with a
7:00 AM ET For the first time ever we get eight MLB playoff matchups in a single day! Whether you are a National League fan waiting for your series to start or an American League fan seeing if your team can move on (or stay alive) — or just a baseball fan ready to sit
7:15 AM ET In its entire 100-year history, the NFL has never opened a season on the kind of scoring tear we’ve seen in 2020. Teams are averaging 24.7 offensive points per game during the first three weeks, 16% better than 2019 over the same period, and 22% higher than their average during the previous
9:06 AM ET UFC fans might not have seen the last of Israel Adesanya in the Octagon in 2020. The undefeated UFC middleweight champion told ESPN’s Ariel Helwani in an interview posted Wednesday that he’s hoping to compete one more time this year. Adesanya is coming off a second-round TKO of Paulo Costa at UFC
8:10 AM ET Now that unified junior welterweight titleholders Josh Taylor (WBA and IBF) and Jose Ramirez (WBC and WBO) have gone through their respective mandatory challengers, it’s time for them to meet for the undisputed championship at 140 pounds. Whoever wins that fight will hold all four major titles in a division full of
7:52 AM ET Carlton Lance remembers only two of his son’s passes that could have been intercepted during North Dakota State‘s 16-0 season in 2019. There was an out route in a 27-16 victory against UC Davis when a cornerback cut under the Bison receiver and nearly picked off the pass. And there was a
8:00 AM ET The 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs took 65 days, 24 teams, five playoff rounds, two “bubbles” and, most important, 33,394 COVID-19 tests that returned zero positive results, according to the NHL — and that’s not even mentioning the 20,000 or so iced cappuccinos handed out by Tim Hortons. However you want to calculate
8:00 AM ET ESPN Betting Insiders Hudson Swafford won last week’s event in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, and the tour next heads to Jackson, Mississippi, for the Sanderson Farms Championship, where Sebastian Munoz is the defending champion. Who is underrated, and whom should you fade? What bets and props are worth a look? Sports betting
7:00 AM ET When Tyler Motte arrived in Vancouver last year for Canucks training camp, he underwent a physical with team doctors. They took Motte’s vitals, conducted measurements, made sure all of his limbs worked correctly. Everything looked fine. Then the doctor asked: “Is there anything else you have going on, anything else we should
7:30 AM ET After much springtime bloviating, there will be no asterisk on this NBA championship. If anything, it will be more badge of honor — a mark of perseverance through isolation, mental strain, and the internal discord of performing a job in the entertainment industry while issues of social and racial justice roiled outside
6:23 AM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com Three-time French Open champion Serena Williams withdrew from the tournament Wednesday because of a lingering left Achilles injury. She made the announcement shortly before her second-round match against Tsvetana Pironkova. “I really wanted to give an effort here. It’s my Achilles that didn’t have enough time to properly heal after