A series of wildfires near Canada's border with Minnesota have caused air quality concerns in the northeast and midwest of the U.S. in recent days

It wasnt so long ago that Spencer Jones was the shiny new toy in the Yankees family. What was there not to love? Jones had a swing made for Yankee Stadiums short right field porch, base-stealing speed, quick-twitch instincts in center field and a can-do attitude.Optimists were calling the 6-foot-7 Jones a future Aaron Judge, but from the left side. The hype was building in spring training. The future looked bright.Fast-forward to mid-July. The narrative has changed. After two stints with the Yankees, Jones is back at Triple-A where hes awaiting a third call-up to the Bronx or a trade before the Aug. 3 deadline.Yankees moneyline is sitting at -104 on DraftKings for Fridays series opener against the Dodgers. Our complete DraftKings Sportsbook review shows you how to sign up and use their platform. Scouts say the Yankees would be wise to choose the latter.Trade Jones while he still has some value, one talent evaluator wrote in a text message this week. Hes Joey Gallo 2.0.Yankees fans dont need an explanation. The memory of Gallos failure in pinstripes is still fresh. He was the slugging outfielder who, like Jones, had a powerful left-handed swing designed to launch home runs over the right field wall.Instead, all Gallo did in parts of two seasons (2021-22) was swing and miss. While batting a combined .159, Gallo struck out 194 times in 501 plate appearances a whopping 39%.Jones whiff rate as a Yankee this year is eerily similar: 42%. Hes batting .233 in his two call-ups this season, with 34 strikeouts in 82 plate appearances.General manager Brian Cashman has to decide in the coming weeks whether Jones has the potential to improve. Can he put the ball in play more often? If the answer is no if Jones future is limited to home runs and strikeouts its highly likely the Yankees will trade him. While he has the power and athleticism to reach the seats at will, Jones has a huge upper-cut that leaves him vulnerable to high-velocity fastballs in the inner half of the strike zone, scouts say.Its a pretty glaring hole, another scout said of Jones cold zone. (Opposing teams) have figured that out and Jones hasnt made an adjustment.Jones advocates say its too soon to give up. They point to Judges struggle in his early Yankees years, believing Jones deserves the same organizational patience.Judges K-rates in his first two seasons in New York (2017-18) were 30.7% and 30.5%, respectively. But his minor league numbers werent quite as acute. From 2014-2016, Judge struck out at a 25% clip.Jones? Hes always been a swing-and-miss machine at a combined 33% clip from 2022 to mid-2026. Theres enough data to believe that while Jones is no Joey Gallo hes a .272 hitter in the minors Jasson Dominguez will be the better bet in the long run.Thats the crossroads Cashman is facing. With Trent Grisham likely to leave as a free agent this winter, the GM has to decide whether he wants Jones or Dominguez in center field in 2027.There are plenty of insiders who think Dominguez will prevail. If so, Jones may still have a fine major league career, but it wont be on 161st Street and River Avenue.Final thoughts on a disappointing All-Star GameThe Yankees should be proud of Cody Bellinger and Ben Rice for providing the cushion for the American Leagues victory in the All-Star Game on Tuesday. Bellingers MVP award will look great on the back of his baseball card.But the game itself was brutally boring for anyone other than Yankees fans. The fact that the National Leagues best ballplayers could only manage three hits underscores the sports fundamental imbalance: pitchers are wiping out hitters.I spoke to Yankees ace Gerrit Cole about this subject last week. He believes pitchers superiority will eventually become a marketing problem for MLB and will have to be addressed. The MLB-wide batting average is .244.The great equalizer will be the robot umpires, who will inevitably replace human umps altogether. Once that happens, the robots can be programmed to call balls and strikes any way the games overlords desire.Theyre going to make the strike zone smaller so offense gets back to where it was in 1980, Cole said, referring to the season Kansas Citys George Brett batted .390.The highest overall average was .271 in 1999, but it has mostly been trending downward since 2009. Baseball needs to address a second, more insidious trend: making the marquee events inaccessible to many fans. The Home Run Derby drew only 5.3 million viewers, the fewest since 2003 (5.2 million).The culprit was Netflix, which owned the rights to the event. Many baseball fans, especially older ones, dont want to pay $26.99 a month for the streaming service. Of course, the real villain is commissioner Rob Manfred, who doesnt know (or care) that baseball is already the hardest sport to follow. His term doesnt expire until 2029, so theres plenty of time to complete his mission making the game as unrecognizable as possible to those who grew up in the 60s and 70s.Manfred is instead obsessing over younger fans, splitting up as many games as possible across Amazon, Apple, and now, Netflix. MORE BY BOB KLAPISCHYankees All-Stars got a taste of whats to come in Philly: They were booing the kids! | KlapischJul. 15, 2026, 9:25 a.m.Yankees at the All-Star break: Whats real and whats not? | KlapischJul. 13, 2026, 3:21 p.m.A word of advice to the commissioner: Theres a reason why the All-Star Game itself drew 8.79 million viewers a 22% increase from last year.Its because the game was on Fox.It was priced at the old-fashioned rate: free.Read the original article on NJ.com. Add NJ.com as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. If you sign up or place a wager, FOX Sports may be compensated. Read more aboutSports Betting on FOX Sports. Destiny awaits two nations as the 2026 FIFA World Cup comes to an end on Sunday. Two teams coming off international tournament championships in 2024 will meet on the World Cup stage for the second time ever. FanDuel has the World Cup final covered with a full slate of betting markets, giving fans plenty of ways to wager on the most anticipated international matches. Both teams arrive in top form, but by very different paths. Spain completely controlled its semifinal against France, earning a convincing 2-0 victory while extending its remarkable defensive run after conceding just one goal all tournament. Argentina had to dig deep once again, rallying late to defeat England 2-1 and continue its resilient knockout-stage run. Now the defending champions will try to become the first nation since Brazil in 1958 and 1962 to win back-to-back World Cup titles. Whether you're backing Spain's dominant defense or Argentina's bid to make history behind Lionel Messi, be sure to check the latest FanDuel World Cup final odds and promos before kickoff. Bet $5, Get $200 in Bet Reset Tokens for 5 Days 2026 World Cup Winner Odds TO WIN Anytime Goalscorers How Will The Final Finish? Spain vs. Argentina: How To Watch

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Johnny Fisher is under no illusions about his place in boxing's latest civil war between Dana White's Zuffa promotional stable and Eddie Hearn's Matchroom."Of course, I'm a pawn [in the White-Hearn feud]," Fisher admitted candidly this week on Uncrowned's "The Ariel Helwani Show."The promotional rivals have been at odds since TKO's Zuffa Boxing entered the sport late last year. Zuffa's poaching of British star Conor Benn from Hearn's stable in February was as clear of a declaration of intent as one could make.Hearn responded by attacking one of TKO's primary businesses, UFC, and embarking on a signing spree for his Matchoom Talent Agency that has already included UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall and upcoming welterweight title challenger Ian Machado Garry.On Monday, Zuffa struck back, with popular UK heavyweight Fisher (14-1, 12 KOs) becoming the latest fighter from Hearn's stable to switch allegiance on a one-fight deal."Of course, I'm a player in the game of boxing, in heavyweight boxing," Fisher said. "Anyone that can fill up an arena is going to have a value to Eddie Hearn, to Dana White, or any promoter in the game. I'm not stupid, I'm not deluded. But that's also an indicator that they want to be in business with me. I'm only useful to any promoter while I sell tickets or I'm winning. "If either of them stops or both of them stop Zuffa, Matchroom, Queensberry, Ben Shalom, whoever it is no one wants to know me. That's the nature of the game we're in. And I've got no qualms with that because people are trying to run businesses here."Hearn and Fisher's five-year working relationship came to an end in May after his most recent contract expired. Fisher chose not to immediately re-sign with Matchroom and instead explored the market a decision that proved to be very lucrative."That is an accurate number," Fisher said of reports that Zuffa's offer to him was six-and-a-half times larger than Matchroom's offer. "Without going into the actual nitty-gritty of numbers, that was what they were offering me. I'm actually being offered double or triple what I would have been offered to fight someone for a British title under Eddie."With his Zuffa deal being a one-fight agreement, it won't be long before the British heavyweight is back on the market, looking for his next contract. To maximize his position, Fisher knows he must impress both in the ring and at the box office when he headlines Zuffa Boxing 11 on Sept. 26 at London's Copper Box Arena. "It's an amazing deal. If I'm being honest, it's fantastic, it's beautiful, he said. Listen, we all need money, we all need to earn a living. But I was asked this question today, they were saying, 'You must feel amazing, you must feel great.' Well, yeah, it feels amazing, but I know there's work ahead of me to do. I've got to go and earn that now. "I've got to go and show Zuffa what the best version of The Romford Bull is, which is explosive, which does bring a massive crowd."An opponent for Fisher's September fight has yet to be announced.

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