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The Tigers can feel good as they near the final month of the 2025 MLB season. After sweeping the Astros this week and winning eight of their last 10 games, they seem to have come out of the slump they hit midway through the year.

Detroit was one of the hottest teams at the start of the season, but cooled off toward the All-Star break when they lost four games going into the break followed by eight of their first nine games after the Midsummer Classic.

That slump naturally brought out concerns from Tigers fans who initially thought their team was on track to contend for their first World Series title in over 40 years. Those worries don't bother manager A.J. Hinch though.

"I think we should just thank them for being passionate enough to care," Hinch said, via 97.1 The Ticket.

The Tigers not only have seemingly emerged from their slump, but regained their lead in the American League Central. Detroit holds a 9.5-game lead over the Royals and a 10.5-game lead over the Guardians, as well as the best record in the league. Hinch knows they can't slow down, but is glad to have the passion from Detroit as they head down the final stretch of the season.

"We’re still going to run the race, we still have a lot of games left, we’re still going to play our game, but I love the emotions that come with sports and respect them for loving us," said Hinch. "I don’t fault people for caring or being super passionate. That’s the kind of city that we want (to play in). But don’t forget to love on us a little bit when things are bad."

The Tigers have given reason for their fans to feel excited again, but they'll need to build off their momentum to keep them feeling confident as the postseason approaches.

Pair join Northern Superchargers after Pakistan players were snubbed in draft earlier this year

Matt Roller04-Aug-2025Mohammad Amir and Imad Wasim have signed contracts with Northern Superchargers, assuaging concerns that Pakistani players would be locked out of the Hundred under new Indian owners.The ECB insisted earlier this year that the identity of new investors – four out of eight are based in India, and a further two are Indian-American – would have no effect on the involvement of Pakistani players in the Hundred. “We’re aware of that in other regions,” Richard Gould, the ECB’s chief executive, said in February, “but that won’t be happening here.”Eyebrows were raised when no men’s players were signed at March’s draft, in contrast to previous seasons. But the snub could also be explained by the unavailability of Pakistan’s white-ball squads (due to a tour of West Indies and a tri-series in the UAE), their recent struggles in T20Is, and the late pullouts of Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah last year.Related

Pakistani paranoia fuelled by Hundred snub, but reasons may be closer to home

Gould: Hundred IPL links won't affect Pakistan player involvement

Then, on Monday, Amir and Imad became the first two Pakistan players to sign deals for the 2025 season, as late replacements at the Superchargers for Ben Dwarshuis (full season) and Mitchell Santner (two games) due to international duty. The Superchargers’ incoming owners are Indian media tycoons the Sun Group, who will assume operational control on October 1.Amir and Imad will link up with Ben Stokes in the Hundred, who revealed on Monday that he will play an informal, mentoring role at the Superchargers as he starts his rehabilitation from the shoulder injury that ruled him out of England’s fifth Test with India. Stokes opted out of the Hundred earlier this year, but will support Andrew Flintoff and Harry Brook.”You will see me knocking about the Hundred, not in a playing way,” Stokes said. “I had to make a decision in January if I would participate in the comp, but that was after my hamstring surgery. I said I’d still like to be a part of it, so I will be milling about. I won’t have a notebook and pen. I said I would come and give my time to the team. I will be cracking on with my rehab.”Most of England’s Test batters will be available throughout the Hundred, though most of their fast bowlers will be resting. London Spirit have roped in John Simpson as their wicketkeeping to face Oval Invincibles in Tuesday’s curtain-raiser, with Ollie Pope and Jamie Smith both rested, while Glamorgan allrounder Dan Douthwaite has also signed a short-term deal.Mark Chapman and Farhan Ahmed have replaced Rachin Ravindra (international duty, four games) and Marchant de Lange (injury, full tournament) at Manchester Originals, while West Indies allrounder Akeal Hosein will deputise for South Africa’s George Linde at Trent Rockets for two matches.The Hundred replacements:London Spirit: John Simpson and Dan Douthwaite to replace Jamie Smith and Ollie Pope for August 5
Manchester Originals: Mark Chapman to replace Rachin Ravindra (August 6-13), Farhan Ahmed to replace Marchant de Lange; Amuruthaa Surenkumar to replace Ella McCaughan
Northern Superchargers: Imad Wasim to replace Mitchell Santner (August 7-10); Mohammad Amir to replace Ben Dwarshuis
Trent Rockets: Akeal Hosein to replace George Linde (August 10-14)

The opener made a timely hundred against the pink ball following Usman Khawaja’s fitness problems in the first Ashes Test

AAP23-Nov-2025Matt Renshaw’s golden summer continued with a magnificent 112 in front of Australia selector Tony Dodemaide at the Gabba.His innings drove Queensland to 352 for 7 at stumps on day two of the top-of-the-table Sheffield Shield clash after Victoria had declared late on the opening day.Renshaw had made scores of 128, 29, 101 and 51 in the Shield before Sunday’s knock. He also had a consistent ODI series against India which included an accomplished 56 in Sydney.Related

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Runs are runs and Renshaw has filled his cup with them. The 29-year-old doesn’t have to do anything more to convince Australia selectors that he is ready for a return to the Test arena. All he needs is an opportunity.”I’m just keeping it really simple and having a lot of fun out there and having good intent,” Renshaw told AAP. “It’s been a good start and hopefully it amounts to something at the end of March. I will keep trying to put in performances to help win games for Queensland. I’m just concentrating on what I can control and that is trying to do my job for the team.”There is doubt over who will open in the second Test of the Ashes series at the Gabba, which starts on Thursday-week.Usman Khawaja’s back spasms in the first Test have put him in some doubt while Travis Head’s blistering century as opener has also put him in the frame to stay at the top of the order alongside Perth debutant Jake Weatherald.Renshaw now has 421 Shield runs for the summer, putting him on top of the aggregate list with 19 runs more than Marnus Labuschagne.He was patient early in his innings against Victoria before finding a more aggressive tempo and his drives down the ground were exquisite. Once Renshaw reached his half-century the runs started to flow all around the ground.He brought up his century with a controlled cut for three off spinner Todd Murphy. A healthy contingent at the Vulture St end of the ground gave him a rapturous reception, realising what a vital innings it was in the context of the summer.His stay ended when he nicked a delivery that just moved away from Fergus O’Neill, who toiled manfully all day with his tight lines.Renshaw received solid support from Angus Lovell in an 88-run opening stand and Hugh Weibgen.Former Australia Under-19 captain Weibgen, playing his second Shield match, looks a promising prospect with his classy strokeplay and composure. The tall 21-year-old will play for the Prime Minister’s XI against an England XI in a two-day, pink-ball match that starts on November 29 in Canberra.He was caught in a juggling effort by Mitchell Perry trying to loft Murphy over the long-on boundary.Lachie Hearne (47) continued the momentum until he was brilliantly caught on the deep midwicket boundary by Campbell Kellaway.

Mistakes sank the Cubs in Game 2 of the NL division series on Monday night. Now they'll head back to Wrigley Field and try to pick up the pieces, while the Brewers bask in a 2–0 series lead.

Chicago raced to a 3–0 lead in the top of the first as they jumped all over Milwaukee's opener, Aaron Ashby. A single from Nico Hoerner and a walk from Kyle Tucker set the stage for Seiya Suzuki, who launched a 440-foot bomb into left-center.

It took less than an inning for Chicago's good vibes to vanish.

In the bottom of the first, Shota Imanaga got the first two outs, then gave up back-to-back singles to William Contreras and Christian Yelich. Andrew Vaughn was next and worked a full count. That's when Imanaga made Chicago's first mistake of the night. The 32-year-old lefty tried to bury an 84 mph sweeper in on Vaughn's hands. He annihilated it, sending the ball 382 feet over the left field fence at 109.2 mph to tie the game 3–3.

Vaughn slugged .455 on breaking pitches this season, and all but two of his 22 home runs were pulled. Going soft in on him was a terrible decision, and the Cubs paid for it. That wasn't the last pitch Imanaga would regret.

The veteran starter settled down and retired six in a row after the Vaughn home run. With two outs in the bottom of the third, Contreras stepped to the plate. After throwing two splitters and running the count to 1–1, Imanaga again attempted to beat a pull hitter by going in and paid the price. His 91 mph fastball wasn't far enough inside, and Contreras punished it, launching the ball 411 feet to left field in a no-doubter that left the bat at 107.6 mph. The 27-year-old admired his work as it flew out of the park.

Again, Imanaga must have missed the scouting report. Contreras's xSLG on fastballs was .448 this year and .517 in 2024. Only 16 of his 45 extra-base hits went to the opposite field. He tried to beat Contreras in with a fastball, left it belt-high and paid the price.

Imanaga surrendered a whopping 31 home runs during the regular season, which was the second-most in the NL. He has now given up three in the postseason in 6 2/3 innings, tied with Cincinnati's Hunter Greene for the most allowed.

After those two massive mistakes, the Brewers led 4–3 in the third inning, and there was plenty of time for Craig Counsell's team to mount a comeback. Unfortunately, that task was made much more difficult because of a third mistake.

Daniel Palencia relieved Imanaga in the third inning. He had been excellent all season and showed up in a big way against the Padres in the wild-card round, picking up the win in each of Chicago's two victories. But the 25-year-old is going to want Monday night's outing back.

Palencia retired the final batter of the third inning, then got Sal Frelick to ground out to open the top of the fourth. After hitting Caleb Durbin, he struck out Blake Perkins before allowing a single to the light-hitting Joey Ortiz. Allowing a single to the weakest hitter in Milwaukee's lineup was a sin, but not his worst on the evening.

Jackson Chourio stepped in to face Palencia and fouled off two 101 mph fastballs. Palencia was feeling himself and his velocity, so he threw the 21-year-old star outfielder another four-seamer right down the pipe. Big mistake. Chourio had seen the pitch twice, and the third came in just above his belt in the dead center of the plate. He didn't miss it, crushing the ball 419 feet to dead center.

Palencia could have tried a slider to break up the sequence—or at least thrown the heater anywhere other than the middle of the zone—but instead attempted to fire another four-seamer by Milwaukee's most talented player. It didn't work.

That home run gave the Brewers a 7–3 lead that was never threatened as Chicago only mustered a single base runner the rest of the game. Three mistakes, three home runs, seven runs for Milwaukee.

That was all she wrote.

Jacob Misiorowski Earns His Stripes, and a Win

Brewers flame-throwing righty Jacob Misiorowski made his playoff debut in Game 2 and lived up to the hype. After a brilliant start to his career, the rookie All-Star faded down the stretch of the regular season. He posted a 6.06 ERA and a 1.53 WHIP in eight starts over the campaign's final two months, but looked fantastic coming out of the bullpen Monday night.

Misiorowski went three innings and allowed one hit and two walks while striking out four. His fastball regularly registered triple digits, and his first eight averaged 102.6 mph. He was electric, and Chicago had no answer for him.

While Milwaukee has limited Misiorowski's innings over the past few months, expect him to be deployed in key spots as the team continues its postseason run. He's earned it.

Chicago's Bats Are Quiet

The Cubs are heading home down 2–0 with few cards they can play. They had one of baseball's best offenses all season, but in five playoff games, they're slashing .216/.217/.386. Chicago has also struck out 58 times, which is second-most in the postseason behind the Tigers (59).

In five playoff games, the Cubs have scored 12 runs. That's 2.4 runs per game, compared to the 4.9 they averaged during the regular season. The key so far has been the team's big bats not showing up.

Kyle Tucker and Pete Crow-Armstrong have been held without an extra-base hit thus far. Tucker is slashing .176/.263/.176, while Crow-Armstrong's line of .222/.222/.222 isn't much better. Dansby Swanson's defense may have won them the wild-card series against the Padres, but he's slashing a weak .176/.222/.235 and has struck out a team-high 11 times.

Michael Busch (1.077 OPS), Suzuki (.930), and Nico Hoerner (.929) have answered the bell, but the rest of the lineup is dragging. Something has to change, or a sweep is coming.

Tarik Skubal won his second American League Cy Young Award in a row in 2025, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be back with the Tigers in 2026.

The 28-year-old lefty has made it clear he won’t sign an extension and plans to hit free agency after the 2026 season. That means Detroit can either keep him and get involved in a bidding war next winter or trade him now to recoup maximum value. With that in mind, there’s a reason he leads our list of the top 10 trade candidates this offseason.

Skubal was unbelievable in 2024 and was even better in 2025. He went 13–6, with a 2.21 ERA, a 0.89 WHIP, and 241 strikeouts against 33 walks in 195 1/3 innings. That improved on his performance from the season before, when he went 18-4 with a 2.39 ERA, a 0.92 WHIP, and 228 strikeouts against 35 walks in 192 innings.

He and Paul Skenes are locked in a back-and-forth battle to be considered the best pitcher in baseball. Skubal is incredible, and any number of teams would give up a ton to get him. Given that he’d be a rental, any franchise making a move to land him wouldn’t have to surrender as much as you’d think to land the ace.

Here’s a look at the top clubs that could make a move to acquire him this winter.

1. New York Mets

Steve Cohen hasn’t spent as much money as he has to miss the postseason. The Mets are going to be all-in in perpetuity until he gets the championship he’s trying to buy. As we enter the offseason, New York’s rotation looks like a tremendous weakness. Nolan McLean looks like a bright spot, Jonah Tong could be as well, while Clay Holmes and David Peterson will factor in as well. But Kodai Senga completely fell apart, and the Mets may not be able to count on him again.

If New York is going to be all-in, the team needs an ace at the front of its rotation. Skubal would be a perfect fit. A package built around Tong and Jett Williams should be enough to get something done.

Skubal is far better than any targets on the free agent market, and the Mets have the money to sign him long-term once he hits free agency.

2. Houston Astros

The Astros missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016, and now they’re losing ace Framber Valdez. After shipping Kyle Tucker to the Cubs for Isaac Paredes, Hayden Wesneski and Cam Smith, now I think they’ll go the other way and add a guy destined for free agency. They need an elite starter at the front of the rotation to pair with Hunter Brown if they’re going to make a run in 2026. Skubal is the best guy available.

Jose Altuve is 35. If Houston wants to make a run at getting him a third World Series title, the franchise needs to move now and make a big deal to secure an ace.

A package built around Brice Matthews or Jacob Melton, hard-throwing righty Miguel Ulloa, and some lower-level prospects seems equitable for one year of Skubal.

3. Boston Red Sox

Garrett Crochet has become a legit No. 1 starter, and Bryan Bello was solid in 2025. After that, the Red Sox don’t have much in their starting rotation. Connelly Early made four starts in 2025 and looked good, but he’s not a solution to the lack of pitching depth the team is dealing with. Boston will be pursuing starters in earnest this offseason.

Boston is lousy with good young position players, but the rotation needs help if the team wants to make a run in 2026. Skubal and Crochet sitting atop the rotation would arguably be the best lefty pitching combination in MLB history. While the Red Sox haven’t spent as much in recent years, they do have the money to re-sign Skubal as a free agent.

A deal starting with Franklin Arias, Payton Tolle or Jhonstynxon Garcia and adding a few lower-tier prospects would work.

4. San Diego Padres

The Padres are all-in every season with A.J. Preller running things. There’s no reason 2026 should be any different. San Diego is set to lose Dylan Cease and Michael King to free agency, and Yu Darvish will miss the entire 2026 season after undergoing elbow surgery. Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts aren’t getting any younger, and Nick Pivetta can’t hold up the team’s pitching staff by himself. The Friars will need to make some big moves this offseason.

Skubal is a huge name, and we all know Preller loves a big name, even as a rental. While San Diego’s farm system has been cleared out multiple times over the past five years, Preller always seems to restock it. He has several gems still around who could entice the Tigers. Kash Mayfield, Kruz Schoolcraft, and Ethan Salas are the team’s top prospects, while 2025 pop-up Miguel Mendez and reliever Bradgley Rodriguez are all but big league ready. There is enough talent to make. a deal work.

San Diego needs to add power and pitching this offseason. Going after Skubal might be a bit crazy, but when has that ever stopped Preller before?

يستعد فريق ريال مدريد لمواجهة قوية أمام أتلتيك بلباو مساء اليوم الأربعاء، ضمن منافسات بطولة الدوري الإسباني “الليجا” لموسم 2025-2026.

ويحل ريال مدريد ضيفًا على أتليتك بلباو بملعب “سان ماميس” في مباراة مقدمة من الجولة التاسعة عشر لليجا، ويتواجد الفريق في وصافة الترتيب بـ33 نقطة، خلف برشلونة المتصدر بـ37 نقطة بعد فوزه أمام أتلتيكو مدريد بنتيجة 3-1 أمس الثلاثاء.

ويستمر حديث الصحافة الإسبانية حول العلاقة بين تشابي ألونسو مدرب ريال مدريد ولاعبي فريقه، وظهر تقرير اليوم يوضح أن هناك توترًا جديدًا بين الطرفين.

وأشارت صحيفة “موندو ديبورتيفو” الإسبانية نقلاً عن برنامج ‘El Chiringuito’ الإسباني، إلى أن تشابي ألونسو قرر تغيير بعض خططه، بما في ذلك السفر يوم المباراة، لخوض مباريات الدوري التي يلعبها الفريق خارج أرضه.

اقرأ أيضًا | شنايدر: لاعب ريال مدريد سيتوج بالكرة الذهبية 100% الموسم المقبل

وقرر تشابي سفر الفريق في اليوم السابق لمواجهة أتلتيك بلباو، فبدلاً من السفر اليوم الأربعاء، سافر الفريق أمس الثلاثاء وبات ليلة في مدينة بلباو.

وذلك على الرغم من أن بلباو تبعد ساعة طيران فقط عن ريال مدريد، وهو ما أثار استياء لاعبي الفريق، ولم يُرض بعضهم.

ويرجع السبب إلى ازدحام جدول المباريات قبل عطلة عيد الميلاد، وكان بعض اللاعبين يفضلون قضاء يوم إضافي مع عائلاتهم، ويعتبرون قرار تشابي ألونسو غير ضروري.

Rohit’s early agression didn’t come off, again. Kohli fell to left-arm spin, again. And India stumbled to the most unimaginable of scorelines

Alagappan Muthu03-Nov-20241:57

Manjrekar: First six wickets were painful to watch

Rohit Sharma walks across his home turf with his head bowed. There was a weight dragging him down. He had no more defence against it.At the same time, over his left shoulder, the New Zealand players had all piled in together. They looked like they’d worked out the secret to human flight – which three weeks ago seemed a more amenable task than what they were setting out to do and now had done.The contrast was powerful. A team together. A man lost.Related

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Rohit on Pant dismissal: 'The bat was clearly close to the pad'

****

At 9.59am, there was hope.Rohit felt the ball on the middle of his bat. He walked off to the side and mimed the way it had reacted off the pitch. Just the slightest little nip away. And he had accounted for it. Getting in line behind it and blocking it with soft hands.Rohit has shots and he plays them in a way that makes you wonder why other batters don’t play them too. It looks so easy when he does it. Maybe that’s why it took him a while to acquire a taste for defending. For a while it worked. In September 2021, two years after making a comeback into the Test team, he scored his first century away from home.This was a brief sight of that Rohit. At 10.00am, that Rohit was gone. Replaced by one who miscued a pull off a ball not short enough. This has been his way of late, and it hasn’t been coming off.Rohit Sharma has tallied 133 in ten Test innings this home season•AFP/Getty Images”As you grow, you try and evolve and I’m trying to evolve as a batter as well to try and see what else I can do,” this Rohit said. “So in that, there is a chance that you can fall on the other side of it, which clearly I have. So I will re-look at my game and see what best I can do.”But I don’t see that I have lost faith in my defence. It’s just that I need to spend more time to defend balls, which I haven’t done in this series and I accept that I haven’t batted well in this series.”On Sunday, this Rohit was dismissed by the 11th ball he faced. He had got to 20 balls in just one of his last 10 innings.

****

At 10.06am, there was joy.Virat Kohli was coming down the Wankhede stairs. When he was fielding in the slips, and the crowd was roaring his name, he had turned to them, raised a hand up high, and brought it to his chest. They have never lost faith in him.Just before play, he had had a line of net bowlers all preparing him for the threat of Ajaz Patel. He launched a series of inside-out drives against them. He used to eat up left-arm fingerspin. Averaged 123.80 against them in all home Tests till the end of 2019. In the years since then, he’s gone at 23.08.Shubman Gill walks out, Virat Kohli walks in. He eventually lasts seven balls•AFP/Getty ImagesThe fans don’t really see these numbers. But they remember how he’s made them feel. And so they believed. New Zealand had probably seen these numbers. Their lead spinner was a left-armer and he had two others for company on this tour. It’s not like they had other options queueing up, so this might just be coincidence but, barring the first innings in Bengaluru, every time Kohli has come out to bat, he’s had to start against a left-arm fingerspinner.Now there’s this thing he does to feel good at the crease. He likes to get forward. And these aren’t small strides. They’re gung-ho with a capital G, U, N and so on. It works really well enough on flat pitches. Or when he’s got his eye in on a not-so-flat pitch. Mumbai ticked neither of those boxes. New Zealand definitely played a hand here. Having often used in-out fields for other batters, they had short cover, backward point, mid-on, midwicket and square leg up for Kohli. They were blocking his other great strength – stealing singles to get himself going.Now it was all up to Ajaz. When he looped one up, made sure it wasn’t a half-volley, and found turn off the straight, there was only one outcome. At 10.13am, one of India’s greatest batters fell to one of the most basic traps, and all around the stadium there was silence.

****

At 11.10am, a fightback began.Rishabh Pant defended Glenn Phillips but he wasn’t to the pitch of the ball. Mindful of that, he played the original line, softened his hands and opened the face ever so slightly. So now if there was turn, he would have it covered. If there wasn’t, he’d plonked his bat in front of the pad so he was unlikely to be out lbw.The crowd roared their approval. A forward defence sent the Wankhede into raptures.Pant made 64 off 57 because he found a way to put pressure back on the spinners. He was brave enough step down the pitch when he saw a ball that was tossed up. It forced the bowlers off their length. Both Ajaz and Phillips went shorter on more than one occasion because they were worried about being whacked down the ground, except they were coming off worse now because the shots Pant could now play – cuts and pulls – were riskless.1:16

Manjrekar: ‘With Pant, the word genius came to mind’

It was a high-wire act. On day two, Rachin Ravindra had tried stepping down to a spinner in order to mitigate the threat they posed on this surface and ended up looking desperately out of place. Pant might be one of the few players in world cricket capable of pulling something like this off. Taking a team that was 29 for 5 in conditions that nobody could trust and keeping them alive, because he has this innate and outrageous understanding of how to play attacking shots. He sacrifices his body to achieve this objective. That’s why he ends up in all those weird shapes when he’s at the crease.New Zealand were getting desperate. They’d missed out on Pant’s wicket when India were 59 for 5 because they failed to review an lbw appeal. So in the 22nd over, they were prepared to burn the two they had left if it meant they could get rid of him. It worked, though there are people still wondering if the umpires had made a terrible mistake.At 12.24pm, the big screen flashed the letters O-U-T and it prompted a chant of “Cheater! Cheater! Cheater!”

****

India going down to New Zealand at home was an improbable outcome. But being swept 3-0? On pitches they had asked for? With the batters they had? Kohli has 10 times the runs that Will Young does in Test cricket. The bowlers they could unleash? R Ashwin has taken twice as many wickets as Glenn Phillips has bowled overs. The first session in Bengaluru caught them off-guard but everything that’s happened from there on has been on their own terms, in conditions loaded in favour of their strengths. And yet there they were, brushed aside at 1.03pm on the third day. An invincible aura, built over 18 series spanning nearly 12 years, had come apart in less than nine days of cricket.This can’t be wished away now. This can’t be set right with perspective. This will have to be dealt with. And the fall-out could be far-reaching.

Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper reportedly engaged in a heated exchange with MLB commissioner Rob Manfred in a recent visit between the commissioner and the ball club, according to a report from ESPN's Jeff Passan.

The meeting between Manfred and the Phillies was part of the commissioner's visit list with all 30 clubs as he tries to improve relations between players and the league at-large.

Things grew contentious during the clubhouse meeting when Manfred began discussing the economics of MLB. The two-time MVP in Harper told Manfred to "get the f— out of our clubhouse" if Manfred wanted to talk about the implementation of a salary cap as part of the next collective bargaining agreement. The current CBA is set to expire in January of 2026, with multiple owners voicing support for the implementation of a salary cap. Major League Baseball is the only American professional sport without a salary cap. The MLB Players Association has long opposed a salary cap, arguing that a cap would increase franchise values more than lessen the disparity between high-spending and low-spending teams.

Harper was reportedly quiet during much of the meeting with Manfred and the team, which lasted more than an hour. However, Harper stood up in the middle of the locker room during the economics discussion and said, "If you want to speak about [the salary cap], you can get the f— out of our clubhouse."

Harper and Manfred eventually shook hands before Manfred left, but Harper would not take the commissioner's calls the following day.

Manfred has not committed to pursuing a salary cap, but pressure from multiple owners around the potential for one in the new CBA is intensifying.

On the flip side, players from opposing clubs have reportedly voiced frustration to Manfred in other clubhouse meetings about some teams' lack of payroll spend.

Expect this to be a hot-button topic in negotiations as they intensify leading up the Dec. 1, 2026 CBA expiration date.