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Starting Lineup: 1. Derek Jeter- SS 2. Alex Rodriguez-3B 3. Lou Gehrig-1B 4. Babe Ruth-RF 5. Mickey Mantle- DH 6. Joe DiMaggio- CF 7. Yogi Berra- C 8.Charlie Keller- LF 9. Robinson Cano-2B

Bench: Bill Dickey- C, Don Mattingly-1B, Willie Randolph-2B, Greg Nettles-3B, Tommy Henrich- RF (1B)

Starting Rotation: 1. Whitey Ford 2. David Cone 3. Andy Petitte 4. C.C. Sabathia 5. Ron Guidry

Long Relievers: 1. Red Ruffing 2. Carl Mays 3. Jack Chesbro 4. Waite Hoyt 5. Lefty Gomez

Set Up man: Rich “Goose” Gossage

Closer: Mariano Rivera

Jennifer added ” Babe Ruth plays 3 positions full time. Alex Rodriguez plays 2. It gives the Yankees the luxury to keep a large pitching roster.”

The Yankees have a lot of talented players to choose from, so let us know what you think of Jennifer’s All-Time Yankees team. There are a lot of choices, so who should be in and who should be out.

Starting Lineup: 1. Bip Roberts-2B 2. Fernando Tatus Jr-SS 3. Tony Gwynn-DH 4. Adrian Gonzalez-1B 5. Dave Winfield- RF 6. Ryan Klesko- LF 7. Ken Caminiti-3B 8. Johnny Grubb- CF 9. Benito Santiago-C

Bench: Terry Kennedy- C, Nate Colbert-1B, Mark Loretta-2B (SS) (3B) (1B), Khalil Greene-SS, Chase Headley-3B (1B), Gene Richard-LF (CF), Johnny Grubb- CF (LF) (RF), Darrin Jackson-CF (LF) (RF)

Starting Rotation: 1. Jake Peavy 2. Andy Benes 3. Andy Ashby 4. Randy Jones 5. Ed Whitson

Long Relievers: 1. Eric Show 2. Joey Hamilton 3. Ed Harris

Set-Up man: Heath Bell

Closer: Trevor Hoffman

Here’s Jennifer’s San Diego Padres choices. What do you think? We’re always interested to know if you think anyone was left out or if there’s someone that should be on the team.

Starting Lineup: 1. D. J. LaMahieu-2B 2. Charlie Blackmon- CF 3. Todd Helton- 1B 4. Larry Walker-RF 5. Nolan Arenado-3B 6. Troy Tulowitzki-SS 7. Andres Galarraga-DH 8. Corey Dickerson-LF 9. Chris Iannetta- C

Bench: Jeff Reed-C, Eric Young Sr.-2B, (LF), Trevor Story- SS, Vinny Castilla- 3B (SS), Carlos Gonzalez- RF (LF) (CF), Jay Payton-CF (LF), Dante Bichette-RF (LF)

Starting Rotation: 1. Ubaldo Jimenez 2. Kyle Freeland 3. Aaron Cook 4. German Marquez 5. Jorge De La Rosa

Long Relivers: 1. Jhoulis Chacin 2. John Gray 3. Jeff Francis

Set-Up man: Steve Reed

Closer: Brian Fuentes

Here’s Jennifer’s Colorado Rockies All-Time team. Let us know what you think. I’m interested to see how you like her outfield.

1. Steve Finley-CF 2. Ketel Marte-2B 3. Luis Gonzalez-LF 4. Paul Goldschmidt-1B 5. Justin Upton-RF 6. David Peralta- DH 7. Stephen Drew-SS 8. Mark Reynolds-3B 9. Miguel Montero-C

Bench: Damien Miller- C, Greg Colbrunn- 1B, Craig Counsell- 2B (SS) (3B), Nick Ahmed – SS, Jake Lamb- 3B, A.J. Pollack – CF (LF), Gerardo Parra- LF (RF-54 games) (CF)

Starting Rotation: 1. Randy Johnson 2. Dan Haren 3. Brandon Webb 4. Zac Gallen 5. Merrill Kelly

Long Relievers: 1. Miguel Batista 2. Patrick Corbin 3. Robbie Ray

Set-Up man: Matt Mantei

Closer: Jose Valverde

Jennifer mentioned that she had a difficult time finding a right fielder, so it would be a platoon situation for the Diamondbacks. Let her know who you’d start as their right fielder. Also let us know what you think about this All-Time team.

This might seem hard to believe with the way their season started, but coming into today’s games in Major League Baseball the Tampa Bay Rays will not be in 1st place in the American League East.

Tampa Bay won their first 13 games of the season and looked as though they could go wire to wire in the A.L. East. The Rays are just 1-4 in their last 5 games and are 4-6 over their last 10 games.

Tampa Bay’s struggles have allowed the Baltimore Orioles to move past them in the standings and take over 1st place in the A.L. East.

The Orioles are 3-2 in their last 5 games and 7-3 over their last 10 games. Baltimore also strung together an 8-game winning streak from July 5th until July 16th.

The Orioles and the Rays will meet today in the fourth and final game of this weekend’s series. Baltimore has won two of the three games they’ve played in this series so far.

Friday night the Orioles won 4-3 in 10 innings to take over 1st place. Tampa Bay bounce back on Saturday shutting out the Orioles 3-0, so they were tied for 1st place. Yesterday the Orioles regained 1st place in the division by beating Tampa Bay 6-5.

Tyler Wells will start the game for the Orioles today and they look to take three of four from the Rays. Wells is 7-5 with a 3.54 ERA this season. Rookie Taj Bradley will be Tampa Bay’s starting pitcher today. Bradley is 5-6 with an ERA of 5.29.

Since MLB is no longer using the unbalanced schedule the Rays and the Orioles will only play each other four more times this season after today. Baltimore will host Tampa Bay for a four-game series September 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th.

Can Tampa Bay right their ship and get back into 1st place or will the Orioles be able to hold them off? It appears as though both teams will make the playoffs it might be just the difference of which one goes in as the division winner and which one goes into the playoffs as probably the top wild card team.

I guess will have to see as it’s right around the corner, but you have to wonder if the upcoming trade deadline will have any effect on this division race.

The Orioles are a young team and it’s doubtful that they’d move a large number of their prospects for a rent-a-player type, but it wouldn’t be surprising if they added a veteran pitcher or bench player.

Tampa Bay isn’t usually involved in bigger trades, but they have been linked to a possible Shohei Ohtani trade, but in reality, which teams haven’t been. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Rays make a similar move to what the Orioles might make and add a veteran pitcher or bench type of player.

In the end though it looks as though the A.L. East race will actually be a race and not just everybody trying to chase down Tampa Bay.

I hope that you’ve been reading, enjoying and hopefully commenting on my friend Jennifer’s All-Time team lineups.

She’s getting very close to wrapping things up. I have two All-Time teams from her set and ready to post tomorrow. I’ll be posting her All-Time teams for the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres. After those two are up there will only be four more teams to go. She’ll still have All-Time teams coming from the New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners, Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs.

Jennifer kept both of the Chicago teams for last since we live in the Chicago area. She held off on the Mariners because she knows that I like them. I’m not sure why she waited on the Yankees. It might be the fact that an All-Time Yankees team might be tough to narrow down with their history.

Don’t forget to look for two more of her All-Time teams going up tomorrow and as always look for me on Twitter, I’m @Burketime.

Monday was the National Football League’s deadline for players who were given the franchise tag to sign long term contracts. The deadline was actually at 3:00 p.m. on Monday.

There were three running backs that received the franchise tag from their teams, and they were the only three players under the franchise tag that hadn’t agreed to a deal with their team. Well Monday’s deadline came and went without new deals for Josh Jacobs of the Las Vegas Raiders, Saquon Barkley of the New York Giants and Tony Pollard of the Dallas Cowboys.

Out of these three running backs only Pollard has actually signed his franchise tag. Now will have to wait and see if Jacobs and Barkley sign their franchise tags and play for the $10.091 million dollars next season or if they sit out.

Jacobs was the league’s leading rusher last season with 1653 yards on 340 carries which was the second most in the league. He also scored 12 touchdowns which tied him for 3rd in the league last season.

Barkley rushed for 1312 yards on 295 carries while scoring 10 touchdowns. Barkley showed last season that he was all the way back from a serious injury that cost him 14 games in 2020.

Pollard posted the first 1000-yard season of his career as he rushed for 1007 yards on 193 carries while scoring 9 touchdowns. Pollard’s 5.2 yards per carry average last season was 3rd among running backs. Don’t forget that Pollard shared backfield duties with Ezikiel Elliot last season.

Now it’s clear that these three running backs will be the feature running backs for their teams next season and you have to wonder why none of them were able to get some type of a deal done before Monday’s deadline.

We’ve all heard how running backs don’t age well and they have the shortest NFL careers out of any position, so I’m sure that’s part of the reason. Another thing you can add in is that the NFL is really a pass first league now. Remember the league made rule changes to improve the passing game and that seems to be the way teams are built now. You can also probably figure that the dual threat quarterbacks have something to do with it as well.

It’s unclear as to what Jacobs and Barkley will do, but sitting out hasn’t really helped running backs. Levon Bell was the last running back to sit out over a contract dispute and his career never really recovered when he returned.

After Bell sat out the entire 2018 season, he never rushed for 1000 yards in a season again. In the three years he played after his holdout he only scored 7 touchdowns. After his holdout Bell played for four different teams in three years before his career came to an end after the 2021 season.

Now there’s no way of knowing what kind of affect a holdout would have on the performance of Jacobs and Barkley, but there’s a chance that will find out if that’s the decision they make.

Since they were unable to come to an agreement, they only have two choices they can either play under the franchise tag and make $10.091 million dollars fort this season or they can holdout. There’s no in-between ground since under NFL rules they can no longer negotiate a long-term deal.

So, we know that Pollard will play for the Cowboys next season and with Elliot no longer with the team he should be the feature back in the Cowboys’ offense.

Now my question for you is what you see happening with Jacobs and Barkley. Do you think that either one or both of them will report to their teams and play under the franchise tag? Or do you think that one or both of them will sit out part or all of the 2023 season?

Don’t forget to look for me on Twitter, I’m @Burketime.

Bating Order: 1. Carl Crawford-LF 2. Jason Bartlett-SS 3. Aubrey Huff-DH 4. Evan Longoria-3B 5. Ben Zobrist-2B 6. Carlos Pena-1B 7. Matt Joyce-RF 8. Kevin Kiermaier-CF 9. John Jaso- C

Bench: Toby Hall-C, Joey Wendle-2B (3B) (SS), Julio Lugo-SS (2B), Yandy Diaz-3B (1B), Corey Dickerson- LF, B.J. Upton-CF (LF), Steven Souza Jr-RF

Starting Rotation: 1. David Price 2. James Shields 3. Scott Kazmir 4. Chris Archer 5. Blake Snell

Long Relievers: 1. Alex Cobb 2. Shane McClanahan

Set-Up men: 1) Fernando Rodney, 2) Alex Colome

Closer: Jake McGee

Here’s Jennifer’s All-Time team for the Tampa Bay Rays. Let us what you think about it.

Batting Order: 1. Juan Pierre-CF 2. Hanley Ramirez-SS 3. Jeff Conine-1B 4. Giancarlo Stanton-RF 5. Cliff Floyd-LF 6. Luis Castillo-2B 7. Mike Lowell-3B 8. Kevin Millar- DH 9. Charles Johnson-C

Bench: Mike Redmond- C, Dan Uggla-2B, Miguel Rojas-SS (1B), Brian Anderson- 3B (RF), Cody Ross-RF (LF) (CF), Marcell Ozuna-LF (CF), Preston Wilson-CF (LF)

Starting Rotation: 1. A.J. Burnett 2. Anibal Sanchez 3. Josh Johnson 4. Sandy Alcantara 5.Dontrelle Willis

Long Relievers: 1. Jose Fernandez 2. Ricky Nolasco 3. Juan Carlos Oviedo

Set-Up man: Antonio Alfonseca

Closer: Steve Cishek

This is Jennifer’s All-Time Miami Marlins team. What do you think about it?

Now I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t watch a lot of WNBA games. In all honest I don’t think I’ve ever seen a WNBA game from start to finish. I will watch bits and pieces of games when I come across them though. It’s not like I don’t like women’s basketball, but I’m generally watching something else when their games are on, and I just don’t flip over. Yesterday was an exception as I sat down to watch the WNBA All-Star game, but sadly I came away disappointed.

While I thought it was kind of interesting that they added a 4-point shot. The negative to that was it came off as gimmicky and it seemed as though any time someone took a 4-point shot it was unchallenged. The other issue I had with the game was it was way, way too much what the NBA All-Star game has turned into. I don’t think I saw anyone even attempt to play defense and I don’t mean just on those 4-point shots, but in the entire game. That was reflected in the final score.

Team Stewart beat Team Wilson 143-127. Jewell Loyd of Team Stewart was the game’s leading scorer with 31 points, but Team Wilson’s Kelsey Plum finished just one point behind her as she put up 30 points for her team. Loyd’s 31 points was an All-Star game record and was named the game’s Most Valuable Player.

The WNBA did correct one of the major flaws from last year’s game. Loyd’s MVP trophy was much more representable of what an MVP trophy should look like. Plum actually won the MVP award in the 2022 game and was given an MVP trophy so small that she referred to it as “my little teacup”.

Loyd’s MVP award continues a streak of guards winning that award. The last time a player that would be considered a true post player won the WNBA All-Star game award was in 2013 when Candice Parker who was with the Los Angeles Sparks at that time won the MVP award.

The captains are both forwards. Both had good games. Aja Wilson finished with 20 points and five rebounds; Breana Stewart had a game-high nine assists — but they were asked what needs to happen for a post player to take home the MVP trophy again.

“We just need to shoot more 3s … 3s and 4-pointers,” Stewart said, referring to the special spots on the floor for which four points were awarded. “Or if someone gets a triple-double.”

One of the biggest stories coming into and during this All-Star game was the return of Brittany Griner. During last season’s All-Star game Griner was still being detained in Russia, but she was named an honorary All-Star in 2022. The players actually all wore Griner’s #42 in the second half of last season’s All-Star game.

Griner was able to display her skills as she posted a double-double scoring 18 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. Griner also blocked 2 shots and had 2 dunks in the game.

Griner’s team the Phoenix Mercury will be the host of the WNBA’s 2024 All-Star game. It’s a little too earlier to consider this, but it possible that this could be Griner’s teammate Diana Taurasi’s last All-Star game. Taurasi is signed through the 2024 season and has been a 10 time All-Star.

Taurasi wasn’t selected for yesterday’s All-Star game, but if next season did turn out to be her last season, you’d have to think that the WNBA would find a way to make sure Taurasi would be in the game.

2024 would be Taurasi’s 20th season in the WNBA. She has won three WNBA titles and was named the MVP in two of those finals. She was the WNBA’s MVP for the 2009 season, and she’s been named to 10 All-WNBA 1st teams. She was also the league’s Rookie of the Year in 2004. Taurasi has also led the league in scoring three times and led them league in assists once.

Did you watch any or all of the WNBA All-Star game? If so, what did you think? If you didn’t watch let me know why you decided to not watch? I’d also like to know if you think that the WNBA should find a way to get Diana Taurasi into next seasons All-Star game if it’s her last season?

Don’t forget to look for me on Twitter, I’m @Burketime.

Batting Order: 1. Christian Yelich-LF 2. Robin Yount – SS 3. Paul Molitor-3B 4. Ryan Braun- DH 5. Jeremy Burnitz-RF 6. Cecil Cooper-1B 7. Gormon Thomas-CF 8. Fernando Vina-2B 9. Jonathon Lucroy-C

Bench: Dave Nilsson- C (1B) (RF), George Scott- 1B (3B), Jim Gantner-2B (3B), Jose Hernandez-SS (3B) (2B), Don Money-3B (2B) (SS) (1B), Sixto Lezcano-RF (LF), Sixto Lezcano-RF (LF)

Starting Rotation: 1. Ted Higuera 2. Ben Sheets 3. Chris Bosio 4. Bill Wegman 5. Mike Caldwell

Long Relievers: 1. Moose Haas 2. Jim Slaton 3. Yovani Gallardo

Set-Up man: Dan Plesac

Closer: Josh Hader

This is Jennifer’s All-Time Brewers/Pilots team. I can honestly say that there are a couple of players that I would have in the starting lineup that she doesn’t, but I’d like to know what you think about this team.