Update on the latest sports
APMLB-NEWS
Blue Jays expect to play in Florida, Buffalo and Toronto
UNDATED (AP) — The Toronto Blue Jays expect to split the home portion of this year’s regular-schedule among their spring training complex in Dunedin (duhn-EE’-dihn), Florida, their Triple-A ballpark in Buffalo, New York, and the Rogers Center in Toronto.
Toronto announced Thursday that it will play the first two homestands of the season in Dunedin because of Canadian government restrictions during the pandemic. Team president Mark Shapiro (shuh-PY’-roh) says a return to Buffalo is a likely option in June because of the heat and humidity in Florida. He hopes for games in Toronto at some point during the summer.
During the shortened 2020 season the Blue Jays played their home games at Sahlen (SAY’-lihn) Field, home of the Buffalo Bisons. The Canadian government didn’t allow the team to play at home because of the risk of spreading COVID-19, citing frequent travel required in the U.S. during a baseball season.
The Canada-U.S. border remains closed to nonessential travelers who are not Canadian citizens. Canada requires those entering the country to isolate for 14 days.
In other MLB news:
— The Indians are bringing back reliable and crafty reliever Oliver Pérez. The 39-year-old agreed to a minor league deal with Cleveland, which also invited the left-hander to training camp. Pérez. has spent the past three seasons with the Indians, appearing in 139 games. Pérez went 1-1 with a 2.00 ERA in 21 games last season while helping the Indians gain a wild-card spot. Pérez has a 73-92 record and 4.35 ERA in 18 seasons with the Mets, Pirates, Diamondbacks, Padres, Nationals, Mariners, Astros and Indians.
— Former Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria has reached a final lawsuit settlement to reimburse local government $5.5 million for the cost of building Marlins Park, which opened in 2012. The Miami-Dade County commission approved the deal after Loria agreed to a last-minute increase in the amount. A tentative settlement of $4.2 million was reached last month. The payment stems from the $1.2 billion sale of team by Loria in 2017 to Derek Jeter’s ownership group. Loria bought the Marlins for more than $158 million in 2002. Public money covered more than three-fourths of the $634 million cost for Marlins Park.
NFL-SALARY CAP
NFL increases salary cap minimum to $180 million
UNDATED (AP) — The NFL has increased the salary cap to a minimum of $180 million for the 2021 season.
The league and the NFL Players Association had previously set a minimum of $175 million because of revenue losses incurred during the coronavirus pandemic.
In a memo sent to clubs Thursday and obtained by The Associated Press, the league says a decision to increase the floor by $5 million came after discussion with the union about 2020 revenues and projected attendance for 2021.
The final cap number will be determined following further review of revenue figures for 2020 and other accounting. The cap was $198 million last season.
Total attendance was 1.2 million, down from 17 million in 2019. Thirteen teams didn’t allow fans in the regular season and other clubs limited crowd size to provide social distancing in compliance with health and safety regulations in their state.
TENNIS-AUSTRALIAN OPEN
Djokovic, Osaka and Brady head to finals
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Novak Djokovic (NOH’-vak JOH’-kuh-vich) is now 9-0 in semifinals at the Australian Open and one win away from a ninth title at the season-opening major. The top-ranked Djokovic beat 114th-ranked Aslan Karatsev Thursday 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, ending a remarkable run for the first man to reach the semifinals in his debut in a Grand Slam tournament.
Now Djokovic gets a day off while he waits to see who his opponent will be in Sunday’s final. He says he’ll sit down and eat popcorn to watch tomorrow’s semifinal between No. 4 Daniil Medvedev and No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Tsitsipas is coming off a rousing quarterfinal comeback from a two-set deficit to stun 20-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal. While Tsitsipas is trying to get to his first major final, Medvedev was the runner-up to Nadal at the 2019 U.S. Open.
Naomi Osaka will be seeking her fourth Grand Slam title when she faces first-time major finalist Jennifer Brady in Saturday’s women’s final. The third-seeded Osaka is coming off a victory over Serena Williams in the semifinals and is on a 20-match winning streak. She is 11-0 in Grand Slam quarterfinals, semifinals and finals combined heading into Saturday. The 22nd-seeded Brady pushed Osaka to three sets before losing to her in the U.S. Open semifinals last September.
Brady reached the final with a victory over Karolina Muchova (kar-ah-LEE’-nuh MOO’-koh-vah). The 25-year-old American went through a two-week hard quarantine when she arrived in Australia last month.
TENNIS-FED CUP
Finals of Billie Jean King Cup postponed amid virus concerns
LONDON (AP) — The finals of the Billie Jean King Cup have been postponed for a second time. The International Tennis Federation said the 12-nation tournament formerly known as the Fed Cup cannot take place as scheduled. It was to be an indoor event from April 13-18 in Budapest, Hungary. The ITF cites “continued uncertainty and the challenges due to the COVID-19 virus, locally and internationally.”
The tournament was originally scheduled last April then postponed when the pandemic was declared.
SKI WORLD CHHAMPIONSHIPS-WOMEN’S GS
Gut-Behrami wins again, edges Shiffrin in giant slalom
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Lara Gut-Behrami has edged Mikaela Shiffrin for gold in the giant slalom at the skiing world championships.
The Swiss skier made up a deficit on the first-run leader with a blistering final leg to beat the American by two-hundredths of a second. Katharina Liensberger of Austria was 0.09 seconds behind in third in what was the closest finish ever of a women’s giant slalom at the worlds.
American skier Nina O’Brien was 0.02 behind in second after the opening run before dropping to 10th.
TOKYO OLYMPICS-HASHIMOTO
Seiko Hashimoto takes over as Tokyo Olympic president
TOKYO (AP) — Seiko Hashimoto has appeared in seven Olympics, four in the winter and three in the summer — the most by any “multi-season” athlete in the games. She made even more history on Thursday in Japan, where women are still rare in the boardrooms and positions of political power.
The 56-year-old Hashimoto was named president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee after a meeting of its executive board, which is 80% male. She replaces 83-year-old Yoshiro Mori, a former Japanese prime minister who was forced to resign last week after making sexist comments about women. Essentially, he said women talk too much.
Hashimoto had been serving as the Olympic minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. She also held a portfolio dealing with gender equality and women’s empowerment.
International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said Hashimoto was “the perfect choice” for the job.
Hashimoto competed in cycling in three Summer Olympics – 1988, 1992 and 1996 – and in speedskating in four Winter Olympics – 1984, 1988, 1992 and 1994. She won a bronze medal — her only medal — at the 1992 Albertville Games in speedskating.
NASCAR-ROUSH-CARBON NEUTRAL
Roush Fenway becomes 1st carbon neutral NASCAR team
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Roush Fenway Racing has become the first NASCAR team to achieve carbon neutrality.
The move to reduce its carbon footprint began with small environmentally conscious measures that eventually grew into a company-wide initiative. The team contractually agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and offset the balance during negotiations with sponsor Castrol.
The carbon neutral designation will be spotlighted at Daytona on Sunday with by a clean, minimalistic paint scheme on Ryan Newman’s car. Roush Fenway Racing hopes it can be an example to other teams and the racing industry to reduce its carbon footprint.
