Tuesday’s Sports

Dak Prescott

MLB

Major League Baseball plans to unilaterally issue a 60-game schedule for its shortest season since 1878. It comes after the players’ association rejected a negotiated deal of the same length, putting the sport on track for a combative return to the field amid the coronavirus pandemic. Commissioner Rob Manfred and union head Tony Clark met last week. He outlined plans that included expanding the playoffs from 10 teams to 16, widening the use of the designated hitter to National League games, and an experiment to start extra innings with a runner on second base. But the latest version of the deal proposed by MLB was rejected by the Major League Baseball Players Association’s executive board in a 33-5 vote on Monday. Those innovations now disappear.

Former Riesel and University of Mary Hardin-Baylor baseball standout Landon Dieterich has signed a free-agent contract with the Washington Nationals. Dieterich was a four-year letterman from Riesel High School. He was a four-year starter for UMHB, splitting time between first base and right field. COVI-19 has the minor league baseball season on hold.

NFL

Dak Prescott plans to be at training camp with the Dallas Cowboys, if and when they start. Dak will have one of the wealthiest one-year contracts in franchise history. There is also still time to work out a long-term deal for the star quarterback. Prescott signed his $31.4 million-tender under the franchise tag Monday. That comes just over three weeks before the July 15 deadline to agree on a long-term deal.

NASCAR

NASCAR’S racing had an extraordinary act of solidarity with its only Black driver. Dozens of drivers pushed Bubba Wallace’s car to the front of the field before Monday’s race as FBI agents tried to find out who left a noose in his garage stall over the weekend. In victory, Ryan Blaney thought about what happened to close friend Bubba over the weekend before starting his winning race. Blaney held onto the lead after a restart with two laps to go Monday, earning his second straight win at Talladega Superspeedway on a day that began with NASCAR drivers throwing their support behind Wallace.

HIGH SCHOOL

(KETK) – The effort to rename Robert E. Lee High School in Tyler has heated up again, following the death of George Floyd along with nationwide and international protests of police brutality and systemic racism. One athlete for the school is attempting to take her stand, as the TISD board met Monday for the first time since an online petition to change the name has reached nearly 10,000 signatures.