All you needed to know about how the Los Angeles Angels value Shohei Ohtani's bat was evident in where he hit in his first game back: the No. 3 spot, directly behind Mike Trout, against a lefty.

Ohtani's return -- 0-for-4 with a walk, two strikeouts and a run-scoring groundout in a 5-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers -- was uneventful. But the important thing is that it happened. And now we have him back in our lives for the rest of this summer, even if it's only half of him.

Ohtani is still partly recovering from the Tommy John surgery he underwent in October, a procedure that will keep him away from pitching until 2020. But his power and his strike-zone awareness -- not to mention his speed -- are just as prolific as his splitter and his fastball.

Ohtani coupled a .925 OPS with a 3.31 ERA on his way to being voted the American League Rookie of the Year last season. His left-handed bat should jolt an Angels lineup that had been averaging a mere 4.7 runs per game, despite employing baseball's greatest position player.

Ohtani's return also sparks some fascinating questions, starting with these three big ones.

How will Ohtani impact Trout?

When play began Tuesday, Trout led the majors with 31 walks and led the league with seven intentional walks, putting him on pace for 148 walks (a mark topped by only Barry Bonds this century) and 33 intentional walks (the most since Albert Pujols in 2010). With Pujols past his prime and Justin Upton recovering from turf toe, the men entrusted with protecting Trout in the batting order have been Brian Goodwin (a .250 career hitter through 452 at-bats heading into this season), Justin Bour (a .169 hitter in 2019) and Andrelton Simmons (63 home runs in 961 career games).

That is a long way of saying Trout is probably really happy to see Ohtani back. How much it actually helps him could tell us something about the overall importance of lineup protection.

Trout was seeing 47.9 percent of pitches within the strike zone at the start of this week -- relatively low but not a major departure from rates of prior seasons. The guess here is that pitchers won't really change the way they attack Trout simply because Ohtani looms in the on-deck circle. But the intentional walks should decrease, and the Angels should benefit more from Trout's major-league-leading .475 on-base percentage. Trout has come around to score a career-low 31.8 percent of the time he has been on base this season, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

What will become of Pujols?

The Angels have made it clear that Ohtani will be a regular presence in their lineup. He might not be in it every day, but he will be in it whenever he can. He won't be restricted to starting only against right-handers, as evidenced by Tuesday's start against Tigers lefty Daniel Norris. That puts Pujols and Bour into what is either a platoon or a timeshare at first base. Just as significantly, it means Pujols will usually be in the lineup only if he plays the field.

Pujols, 39, made a combined 34 starts at first base from 2016 to 2017. With Ohtani on the roster last year, he made 70 starts there in the first five months, then spent September recovering from another knee surgery. He is a .240/.288/.397 hitter the past three years, but he has a massive contract that will last through the 2021 season.

Angels general manager Billy Eppler told reporters that Pujols, who has batted two or three spots behind Trout this season, has been "the consummate professional" through the process, but this is when managing an aging superstar begins to get tricky.

How good a hitter is Ohtani, really?

Over the last two months of the 2018 season, when he was no longer pitching, Ohtani produced a 1.042 OPS, fifth in the major leagues. His OPS against lefties went from .500 before August to .831 after July 31. We already knew Ohtani was good at making adjustments -- he swapped his high leg kick for a subtle toe-tap days before the start of his rookie season -- and now we'll see how good he can be when unencumbered by a task that hadn't been attempted in nearly 100 years.

In theory, Ohtani should be better if he doesn't have to worry about pitching. He should also benefit greatly from having a full season under his belt, which he believes could "help me in every single way." But perhaps there is something to be said about how shifting the focus from hitting to pitching helped keep the inevitable slumps from prolonging because it gave him something else to focus on. Some of the Japanese media members who have covered Ohtani for a while have made that point.

This season will mark the first time Ohtani is anything but a two-way player, and that, in a weird way, will be an adjustment for him.

World number one Naomi Osaka and world number three Simona Halep both won in straight sets to reach the Madrid Open quarter-finals.

Osaka beat Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-2 6-3 to reach the last eight in Madrid for the first time.

Halep took just 45 minutes to see off Slovakia's Viktoria Kuzmova 6-0 6-0.

The Romanian, who beat British number one Johanna Konta in the second round, is hoping to win the title for a third time after victories in 2016 and 2017.

Halep will play Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan or Australian Ashleigh Barty in the quarter-finals while Osaka will face Ukrainian Kateryna Kozlova or Switzerland's Belinda Bencic.

"I don't think it was her [Kuzmova's] best match. Maybe she was nervous before the match a little bit," said Halep,

"It's a big tournament and it's not easy to face the top players. I've been in that position. I played my best tennis and I felt good on court."

London Irish have signed World Cup-winning All Blacks winger Waisake Naholo ahead of their return to the Premiership next season.

The 28-year-old, capped 26 times, has also won a Super Rugby title with the Highlanders in New Zealand.

Exiles director of rugby Declan Kidney said Naholo is a "top-class player who will bring great experience with him".

Naholo hopes to be selected for the 2019 World Cup in Japan and is expected to join Irish later in the year.

Kidney told the club website: "We are delighted that a player of his ability and age profile has bought into our vision for where we as a club are working hard to get to."

The signing follows Irish's announcement of deals for Australia prop Sekope Kepu and Perpignan fly-half Paddy Jackson.

Naholo has described Irish as "a team on the up".

He said: "There is plenty of ambition, a world-class training facility, a good group of coaches and players and some exciting signings coming in.

"The supporters have a great reputation as well and I'm looking forward to it."

The length of his contract with the club has not been revealed.

Israel Folau has lost his sponsorship deal with sportswear brand Asics.

Folau was found guilty of breaching Rugby Australia's (RA) player code of conduct after he said "hell awaits" gay people in a social media post.

The Waratahs full-back, 30, had his four-year RA contract in April but requested a hearing.

"We champion inclusivity and diversity," said a statement from Asics, which is also a leading Wallabies sponsor.

"While Israel Folau is entitled to his personal views, some of those expressed in recent social media posts are not aligned with those of Asics.

"As such, our partnership with Israel has become untenable and he will no longer represent Asics as a brand ambassador."

Asics is the second sponsor to have cut ties with Folau after Land Rover withdrew a car issued to him.

The three-person panel which presided over Folau's hearing will now take written submissions from the player and RA before deciding what sanction he will face.

He escaped punishment for similar comments last year.

Wallabies coach Michael Cheika has said Folau is unlikely to be selected for Australia again.

In addition to his rugby union career, Folau has also played professional rugby league and Australian rules football.

In April, Australian rugby league's governing body ruled out Folau returning to the NRL.

In naming a 42-man training squad for the World Cup on Tuesday Gregor Townsend officially launched squad-picking season.

Squad-picking is a pursuit that will inflict many in the coming months. The stricken find themselves incapable of getting through a day without scribbling down the names of the 31 men they think will board the plane for Japan before starting an argument in their own head and ripping up their list and starting again.

It's a Groundhog Day for geeks, with this scribbler firmly in the ranks. Surveys suggest that each victim gets through hundreds of different versions of the squad before they eventually come out of their trance-like state.

Townsend is the only one who has to do it for real and that process has now started. The provisional squad has been named with room for two more - a lock (Richie Gray would be the favourite) and, most probably, a wing (Lee Jones may be the one in the frame if he can prove his fitness).

The 44 will be whittled down to 31, which will take some doing. It's fair to say that of all of Scotland's World Cup squads since the tournament began back in 1987, this one demands more debate than any other and, as a consequence, will be the toughest of all to pick.

How does the numbers game add up?

A natural starting point in all of this is whether Townsend intends to go with a split of 18 forwards and 13 backs or, as Vern Cotter did four years ago, 17 forwards and 14 backs. The former would give him the option of an extra prop or an extra back-five player in the pack at the expense, perhaps, of a wing.

If Townsend knows which way he's going to go then he's not letting on. In reality, he must be open-minded. There's a long way to go, but right now, there's arguably 26 guys who can be considered close to certainties barring any mishap between now and 3 September, the day of Townsend's announcement.

That still leaves a lot of talking points. Jamie Bhatti and Gordon Reid are in a fight to be the fifth prop. With Jonny Gray and Grant Gilchrist virtually on the plane there will be one more out-and-out second row chosen (Gray senior and Ben Toolis are in competition there) with a fourth man picked as a second-row with the capacity to cover back-row. Four years ago that job fell to Tim Swinson. The 2019 version looks like Sam Skinner.

The back-row is where the main conundrums exist. John Barclay, Hamish Watson and Ryan Wilson will travel, but that only leaves two, possibly three, more slots, depending on how Townsend wants to cut it.

If it's only two positions up for grabs you have Jamie Ritchie, Magnus Bradbury, Blade Thomson, Josh Strauss, Gary Graham and Matt Fagerson competing for them. Thomson is the unknown at Test level. The Scarlet is only now making his comeback following a prolonged period out with concussion. He's got the game to force his way in. Ritchie was outstanding in the Six Nations. Strauss has the grunt. Fagerson is fast improving. Graham is the outsider of the lot, but he has a belligerence about him that gives him a chance of causing a surprise.

That's a decent set of options for Townsend. At half-back, things are straightforward. Duncan Weir is playing the best stuff of his life with Worcester but he needs an injury to Finn Russell or Adam Hastings to make it. The only question at nine will be on match day. Does Greig Laidlaw start ahead of Ali Price? If not, does the captaincy revert to Stuart McInally or Barclay? George Horne will be in Japan as the third nine with the livewire capability of pushing the other two all the way.

Tinker with Taylor?

Townsend listed nine centres that have not made his squad. That's an illustration of how brutal the selection was and will be again when he has to reduce the numbers further. Duncan Taylor hasn't played rugby all season and hasn't worn the Scotland jersey for almost two years because of a catalogue of injuries. If he didn't have bad luck he'd have no luck at all.

You might call him the forgotten man, but Townsend hasn't forgotten. Taylor, fit and firing, is massively important to the coach - and Townsend makes no secret of that. Taylor can play 12, 13, on the wing and at full-back. He's the very definition of versatility and his presence would mean that Townsend can play around with his numbers knowing that he has a guy who can don most jerseys in the backline and deliver in each one.

Of all the intriguing questions the one of most significance and spin-off impact surrounds Taylor and his attempted journey back to rugby. He returns to light training this week. Those opening warm-up games in August will be the making or breaking of him.

Sam Johnson has to be a shoo-in. Huw Jones, too. If Taylor makes it, there will be a maximum of one more centre with a battalion of contenders. Pete Horne, Nick Grigg and Chris Harris are firm favourites of the coach, but Northampton's Rory Hutchinson has the appearance of a bolter every time you see him. This is not going to be easy.

Four wings made it in 2015. Four might make it again, but this is where the Taylor Factor comes into play again. If Taylor travels then Townsend might get away with picking just three wings while adding another forward. Darcy Graham has shot himself into the must-pick category. Sean Maitland and Tommy Seymour are the other two. Both can play 15 if pushed. Blair Kinghorn ought to make it, but he's by no means a banker for inclusion.

In the selection process the more that Townsend's brain is fried the better. The wider squad assembles next month. In the relative blink of an eye 31 of them will be in Japan.

Of the five nominees for European player of the year, two of them - props Mako Vunipola and Tadhg Furlong - are widely thought to be the best in the world in their positions.

Another two - the Ireland hooker Sean Cronin and centre Garry Ringrose - are also established current internationals, and destined to feature in the upcoming Rugby World Cup.

The one anomaly in the quintet is Saracens full-back Alex Goode, last capped by England back in 2016, and repeatedly considered surplus to requirements by current national team boss Eddie Jones.

Unlike former English winners of the award in Nick Abendanon (2015), Steffon Armitage (2014) and Jonny Wilkinson (2013) - who were all playing in France at the time - Goode is eligible for England selection. He just isn't being picked.

"He continues to knock out big performances, all the time," Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall says.

"Especially in the big games he has been sensational. He's been such an important player for Saracens over the last 10 years."

So with that in mind, if someone fresh to the game witnessed one of Goode's performances, and then found out he was in international exile, surely they would be staggered?

"I think so," adds McCall.

"He's certainly played well enough to deserve [England selection], but that is someone else's choice.

"It is [Eddie Jones'] prerogative.

"But if you are going to pick players based on performance - especially in bigger matches, rather than run-of-the-mill Premiership matches - and every time there has been a semi-final or final he produces the goods, then he does have a big-match temperament."

A trip to the Saracens training base a matter of days away from their huge Champions Cup final against Leinster leaves you in no doubt how highly Goode is valued by his club, if not his country.

"His ability to read the game is second to none, and I have never seen a guy make so many breaks with a brick wall in front of him," adds scrum-half Ben Spencer.

"His nickname is 'The Spider', because his legs deceive everyone and he makes breaks everywhere - I don't know how he does it.

"He's a brilliant player, and has been phenomenal for us for years now. Hopefully he can bring a bit of magic on Saturday."

At 5'11" and around 90 kgs, Goode is not the biggest or the strongest, nor can he be labelled an out-and-out speedster in the Anthony Watson or Elliot Daly mould.

It is thought his pace, or lack of it, has counted against him in the eyes of the England head coach.

But according to McCall, Goode has made constant developments in those areas, combining a physical improvement with an innate skill and understanding of the game.

As well as excelling at full-back, Goode has also played fly-half regularly this season, and pulled the strings with class in the European quarter-final thrashing of Glasgow.

"He sees the game very clearly, and sees the game early," explains McCall.

"He is two steps ahead of most people and he anticipates things but he has also worked really hard physically, and I think he is quicker than he has ever been.

"There was a criticism of him five or six years ago that he doesn't have out-and-out wheels - and maybe he doesn't compared to the speedsters in the Premiership - but he is quick, and his hunger to get better in those areas has really paid dividends."

Goode himself says he has "kept pushing his speed and strength", but does he think he is a better player than the one that made his England debut in 2012, or the one that made a solitary appearance under Jones in 2016, the last of his 21 international caps?

"I don't think I was a bad player then, but you learn from experiences and try and layer on different areas of the game," he says.

"I would like to think I am constantly trying to improve, so maybe I have got better."

With a place in Jones' World Cup squad looking highly unlikely at this stage, Goode is philosophical about his England snub, preferring to focus on his achievements at Saracens, where he has played all his career.

Saturday's final in Newcastle will be an eighth final out of a possible eleven for Premiership champions.

"I would obviously love to play for England, and it was an amazing feeling running out for your country," he reflects.

"But I have been here for 13 years and I love representing the club. It is a pretty special place."

And while he says it is "lovely" to be in the mix to be named the best player in Europe, Goode insists the respect of his team-mates is what matters most.

Regaining the European title from an outstanding Leinster outfit would also eclipse any personal triumph.

"I would bite your hand off to get a victory over the weekend over any individual accolade - that has always been the way at Saracens," he says.

"When you start playing in finals, you are nervous a few weeks out but you learn to relish them and enjoy them.

"You are playing in front of a packed crowd, against the best players in the world, and really testing yourself with your best mates.

"You have got to enjoy that."

CONCORD, N.C. — After rain spoiled recent events at Jacksonville Speedway and Tri-State Speedway, the two races have found new dates this season on the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series schedule.

Jacksonville (Ill.) Speedway has been rescheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 25. The event will start as an entirely new show. Tri-State Speedway, in Haubstadt, Ind., has been rescheduled for Sunday, Oct. 13.

“We’re pleased we were able to work with the track promoters to find new dates for these events in the busy World of Outlaws schedule,” said Carlton Reimers, World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series Director. “We’re not alone this year in dealing with Mother Nature, but we thank our tracks, competitors and fans for keeping a positive outlook.”

Fans who attended the canceled Jacksonville Speedway race should continue to hold on to their wristband and tickets from the event. Also, Aaron Reutzel’s Qualifying time of 10.028 seconds set at Jacksonville Speedway before the event was rained out will stand as the track record.

Patrick Maroon's goal at 5:50 of the second overtime pushed the St. Louis Blues past the Dallas Stars -- and into the Western Conference finals -- with a historic 2-1 win in Game 7 of their second-round series Tuesday night in St. Louis.

It was the third series this postseason to go to a Game 7 overtime, marking the first time that has happened in Stanley Cup playoffs history.

Vince Dunn gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 13:30 of the first period. Stars winger Mats Zuccarello tied it with an unassisted goal just 2:25 later.

That the teams went so long without scoring can be attributed to Dallas goalie Ben Bishop's stellar play at one end and his team's ineffective offense at the other end (just four shots on goal in the second and third periods combined). The Blues peppered Bishop with 54 shots in the game, making him just the fifth goalie in history to face 50 or more shots in a Game 7.

Both Carolina and San Jose advanced in the first round by winning a Game 7 in overtime, the Hurricanes over the Washington Capitals and the Sharks over the Vegas Golden Knights.

The Hurricanes swept the New York Islanders in the second round to move on to the Eastern Conference finals against the Boston Bruins, starting Thursday night in Boston. The Sharks will be looking for more Game 7 magic when they play host to the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night.

As each NHL team is eliminated from the postseason, we'll take a look at why its quest for the Stanley Cup fell short in 2018-19, three keys to its offseason, and impact prospects for 2019-20, concluding by offering a way-too-early prediction for what next season will hold.

What went wrong

Perhaps the Dallas Stars' biggest problem this season was their inability to score goals. They scored the third-fewest goals in the league (2.55 per game), as only the hapless Kings and Ducks were worse. That mostly wasn't an issue in the playoffs, as they scored 35 through 13 games (2.69 per game) and saw breakout performances from secondary scorers like Roope Hintz (five goals) and Jason Dickinson (three). Trade deadline acquisition Mats Zuccarello provided the offensive spark that the Stars were looking for too, with 10 points in the playoffs.

Dallas made it all the way to a Game 7 of the second round series, which to be honest, was probably a fair preseason expectation for this team. The team was adjusting to its third coach in as many years, and there were going to be growing pains to a different style. It even occurred during the season; the team wanted to have a quick, aggressive offense, but they turned into a methodical defensive team. It didn't help that superstars Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin didn't get off to the best start -- which we heard about, unfortunately, in a profanity-filled rant by the team's CEO around Christmastime. Seguin especially picked things up as the season went on, and the team certainly looked like it had found its stride during the first-round win over the Nashville Predators.

Stars coach Jim Montgomery is a big "process" guy, and shortly after he was hired, ESPN asked the former college coach what would be a success in Year 1. "Success is going to be having the right energy and people believing in the process that we're going to instill." Montgomery said last May. "We're going to have a team identity, and success is going to be the players understanding and valuing that process like I do. If that happens, making the playoffs and everything else is going to come with it."