Chennai Super Kings 151 for 4 (Watson 50, du Plessis 50) beat Delhi Capitals 147 for 9 (Pant 38, Bravo 2-19, Jadeja 2-23) by six wickets

It will be Chennai Super Kings v Mumbai Indians again. The two most successful franchises in the IPL will fight it out for the trophy once again after MS Dhoni's men produced a clinical performance in a must-win game.

They chose to bowl, so they had to keep the runs down, and they did thanks to Dwayne Bravo, Imran Tahir and Harbhajan Singh. Their 12 overs cost only 78 runs and brought five wickets.

And needing 148 to win, they had their openinng partnership come good as Faf du Plessis and Shane Watson both hit fifties to turn an iffy chase into a cakewalk in the end.

The specialist

Prior to this game, Harbhahjan had bowled 22 of his 36 overs in the Poweprlay this season. And he's been effective, picking up eight wickets at an economy rate of 7.80. It was strange not to see him open the bowling but as soon as there were two left-handers at the crease - one of them was Colin Munro, whose strike rate against spin this season is 66 (188 against pace) - it was time.

The offspinner eventually took out Shikhar Dhawan, which was even more useful considering he has been Capitals' most prolific batsman of the season. At the end of a good shift - 4-0-31-2 - the 38-year old felt happy he could still keep up with the younger spinners in the IPL.

DJ's in da house

Capitals were 54 for 2 after eight overs. And since they had Shreyas Iyer at the crease, with plenty of firepower to follow, ESPNcriicnfo's forecaster had them reaching a total of 168 at that point.

But you know that thing with Dhoni and data, don't you? You know, who wins that battle.

Capitals could make only 26 runs off the next 30 balls they faced, losing three wickets. And they were suddenly 80 for 5.

A major reason for the slide was Dwayne Bravo, who finished with figures of 4-0-19-2. He is often criticised for being too predictable; going slower balls all the time. But here, he got his variations just right. Not simply changes of pace but of length. His first wicket came off a bouncer that Axar Patel guided to deep third man. And his second was a yorker at 139 kph, from round the wicket, taking out Keemo Paul's leg stump. He signed off by bowling an 18th over that cost only three runs.

Pant bats like Dhoni

He was 17 off 14. He saw wickets fall around him but he wasn't panicking. And because of that, the captain of the team that was on top, was anxious. Rishabh Pant was batting like Dhoni and Dhoni knew how dangerous that can be.

It seemed like time to celebrate though when the left-hander mis-hit a Tahir googly all the way to long-off. Deepak Chahar was there, right on the edge of the boundary, but as he took the catch, he carelessly went over the rope. Fielders in the IPL have been pulling off those catches like it was routine and considering this was the wicket that could break the game - at a time when Pant was only 24 off 18 - that was a big mistake.

Dhoni immediately shook his head, instincts over-riding his captain cool persona, and yanked Chahar out and replaced him with du Plessis.

Pant couldn't bat through the innings, finishing with 38 off 25 balls, and with the big-hitter gone and only Nos. 9, 10 and 11 to face the eight balls still left in the innings, Forecaster suggested Capitals would only make 134.

But out came Trent Boult, Amit Mishra and Ishant Sharma and they contributed 22 runs together, with two fours and as many sixes, to drag them up to 147.

The CSK top order finally steps up

It had been a problem all through the tournament. They'd been slow. Capitals made as many runs in one over - 16 - as Super Kings did in their first four. They'd lost wickets - the worst of all the teams - and here du Plessis and Watson began with a mix-up so bad that both of them were running to the same end. Twice.

Also, they were playing on a pitch where it was best to get a lot of runs in the Powerplay because it would get slower (and tougher) as the game went on. That's easy to do when you have confidence coming into a must-win game, but when you don't, the only way forward is conserving wickets and hoping for the best. That's probably why 27 for 0 after five overs might well be in line with Super Kings' plans. The final over of the Powerplay went for 15 runs as du Plessis hit Ishant for a hat-trick of boundaries and began the surge that took him to a half-century off only 37 balls. Watson took a little longer to bring out the big shots and so well were they batting together that as early as the 10th over, Forecaster was predicting a Super Kings victory at 98%.

Somerset 337 for 8 (Banton 112, Parnell 3-50) beat Worcestershire 190 (Azhar 5-34) by 147 runs

Just to turn up to the right ground for the Royal London Cup play-offs is enough of a challenge, so hurried is this stage of the competition. To turn up and produce the best score of your county career is even more impressive. Tom Banton did just that and his immensely impressive 112 at New Road gave Somerset a semi-final berth against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge on Sunday.

There was a good contingent up from the West Country and they revealed themselves with roars of approval in front of the pavilion as Banton reached his hundred, his second of the competition, indeed the second of his life. Worcestershire pulled off county cricket's record run chase in List A cricket on this ground a year ago - 377 against Leicestershire - but at no stage did they come to terms with Somerset's 337 for 8 and crashed to a 147-run defeat.

Their demise was quickened by Azhar Ali, who entered the attack after 25 overs and conjured up 5 for 34 with seven overs of legspin, the forth five-wicket return of his career. He is no mug with the ball, having 12 international wickets for Pakistan and now 130 in all forms of senior cricket, but as he offered up legspinners, googlies and a quicker ball to confound Ross Whiteley, Worcestershire's lower order were blown aside like apple blossom in a mean May wind.

Banton deserves to be prominent in the rush of daring young opening batsmen entering the county game. Warwickshire's Ed Pollock briefly possessed the fastest strike rate in global T20 cricket, although his star has been waning. Philip Salt's blast-offs for Sussex won a call-up to England's T20 squad. Aneurin Donald can benefit from an opportunity at the head of Hampshire's order. But the classiest of them all appears to be Banton.

Like all the starburst openers, with shots bursting to all points, with excitement flaring and dying, Banton tends to be all or nothing. After his maiden hundred against Kent at Taunton last month, he had six scores in this competition of 18 or less. But there was a self-possession about this innings which augured well. He keeps wicket, too, and is keeping no less a player than Steve Davies out of the side.

He might have failed again, escaping two tough chances to Callum Ferguson at first slip, off Pat Brown, the first bursting high through his hands, the second opportunity at ankle height, before he had reached 20. Give him too many chances and, increasingly, the likelihood will be that you suffer. Thereafter, he drove and ramped the seamers with aplomb and swept Daryl Mitchell's offspin without a care in the world. His brother, Jacques, is a member of Worcestershire's academy.

Two successive boundaries against Brown late in his innings were perhaps his highlight - a ramp followed by a flamingo on-drive when he picked with a slower ball with ease: no mean feat as Brown's variations made him the leading wicket-taker in the T20 Blast last summer. He was caught at deep square, attempting a leg-side pick-up against Wayne Parnell, who finished with 22 wickets in the competition in an otherwise moderate display by Worcestershire with the ball and in the field.

County cricket's 50-over competition has been crammed into a four-week period in early season and, although it fits quite naturally into such a time frame, the condensed finale to the tournament does it no favours. Considering that the group stages only finished on Tuesday night, to stage the second and third-placed play-offs on Friday was ambitious to say the least. Worcestershire did well just to make sure the groundstaff put some stumps out.

To make matters worse, the ECB insist on calling the play-offs "quarter-finals", which would properly demand four ties not two, and so confuses everybody. There is no anticipation, no build-up, no interviews, no time for teams to plan or spectators to arrange free days. The fixtures were conspicuous by their absence in at least one broadsheet. The result is reduced attendances and falling interest in a tournament that is patently no longer on the ECB's list of priorities.

Banton was third out with Somerset 203 in the 35th over, Parnell having earlier caught Azhar's inside edge and a restrained innings from Peter Trego ending to an uninhibited pull and another wicketkeeper's catch.

As Somerset wickets began to tumble, it appeared they might not make Banton's innings pay; Ed Barnard held excellent catches at point to dismiss Tom Abell and running in from long-on to silence Lewis Gregory. But the Overton twins teamed up with 32 from the last 16 balls and their dominance was reasserted.

Worcestershire's innings never fired. Riki Wessels drove Craig Overton loosely to point and Tom Fell looked a mite unfortunate to be adjudged lbw to Gregory, the ball possible missing leg stump. Ferguson, the South Australian, had ground to make up after his fielding lapses, only to be run out by Abell's direct hit from point as Mitchell called him for a quick single.

Worcestershire's captain, Brett D'Oliveira, is also having a thin time. He recorded his fifth single-figure score in a row when Roelof van der Merwe turned one to strike his off stump. He allowed his legspin a solitary over which cost 12 and seemed to jar a shoulder in the field. His Championship place is far from automatic in this form.

South Africa coach Ottis Gibson put in a request to withdraw "key players" from the IPL in early May to prepare for the World Cup. But Cricket South Africa (CSA) chief executive Thabang Moroe did not bring up the issue with the BCCI, ESPNcricinfo understands, worried of the consequences of doing so.

A report by TimesLIVE has suggested that the status of India's scheduled tour to South Africa in 2021-22 may have prompted Moroe's action - or rather inaction. A tour by India would provide a major financial boost to an organisation that has forecast losses of R 654 million over the next four years, with any change to the scheduling of such a lucrative tour likely to worsen those losses.

Captain Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, Quinton de Kock and Chris Morris - who replaced the injured Anrich Nortje in South Africa's World Cup squad earlier this week - are all still in India, with du Plessis and Tahir both part of the Chennai Super Kings squad that will play in Sunday's final against Mumbai Indians - for whom de Kock plays - after their six-wicket win over Delhi Capitals on Friday night.

Before the tournament started, CSA had confirmed to the BCCI that its players would be available for the full duration of the IPL. Gibson, however, had requested to CSA that key South Africa players part of the World Cup squad return in the first week of May, which would have likely ruled them out of the IPL playoffs.

Kagiso Rabada was also part of Delhi Capitals' squad until just over a week ago, when he returned to South Africa under something of an injury cloud, having complained of a stiff back and been sent for scans that prompted CSA to call him home. But it is also understood that the return of Rabada from the IPL was not a smooth process. The IPL is understood to have not thought his back issue serious enough to merit an early exit, but CSA's medical team insisted he return to South Africa after Proteas physio Craig Govender, who happened - by chance - to be travelling through Delhi at the time, saw the scans.

For his own part, Rabada said via social media channels that his return was purely "precautionary".

"Ipl was really fun!," Rabada said on Instagram. "Extremely glad for the opportunity! Sad to leave but good to be home! Bittersweet. Regarding my back, I'm good - precautionary is all."

At the time of writing, CSA had not responded to ESPNcricinfo's request for comment on the issue of Gibson's request to have his players back early, though TimesLive quoted a spokesperson as saying: "We are not aware of such a request made to the executive."

"Our understanding is that, as is the case with New Zealand, the Windies, etcetera, we as CSA do our best to assist our players in maximising their IPL income," the spokesperson added. "It is only Australia and England who can afford to pull their players out."

The members of the England squad who had been active in the IPL - including Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Sam Billings and Jonny Bairstow - were all directed by the ECB to return to England on or before April 26. The four members of Australia's World Cup squad who had been part of the league returned by April 30.

But, given that the IPL pays national boards a fee for each foreign player taking part in the league, and CSA's precarious financial position, it was not in a position to risk ruffling any feathers by calling South Africa's World Cup players back early. CSA said that "discussions" around the departure date of its players from the IPL were still happening in March, and by the middle of April, CSA told ESPNcricinfo, the plan was "for guys who make the final to join us on the 13th."

South Africa's pre-World Cup camp begins on Sunday, May 12, the day of the IPL final that du Plessis and Tahir will be part of. South Africa will then depart for England on May 19.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Jacksonville Jaguars coach Doug Marrone still has not spoken with linebacker Telvin Smith, but he wants Smith to know that he and the rest of the organization are there to support him if he wants to reach out.

That was his immediate reaction when Smith announced on Instagram on Thursday that he would not be playing in 2019 because he needs to take time off for his family and his health.

"I kind of put football to the side," Marrone said Friday after the first day of the Jaguars' rookie minicamp. "I think that [football], to me, is an afterthought right now. I really believe in my heart that Telvin knows that we're here to support him in any which way -- not just myself, the coaches, the organization, his teammates, and I'm sure he's aware of that.

"All we can do is just make sure we pray, and he knows that if he needs some support, obviously we're here for him."

Marrone would not speculate why Smith would not be willing to speak to the team and said he had no idea when he last spoke with Smith after the 2018 season ended.

"We just want to make sure that everyone knows that we're there to support them and if they reach out -- and hopefully each player does, not just Telvin -- that to know that they don't have to do anything alone," Marrone said. "We're here for them."

Smith said in his statement on Instagram on Thursday afternoon that he would not play in 2019, but Marrone said the door would certainly be open for him to return if he were to change his mind.

"Hopefully we'll have some communication before that and if we do, yeah, it'd be great," Marrone said.

Smith was due to make $9.75 million this season and would have counted $12.56 million against the salary cap. If Smith does not play only the prorated portion of his signing bonus ($2.81 million) will count against the salary cap in 2019.

The Jaguars drafted Smith in the fifth round of the 2014 draft. A positive marijuana test at the NFL combine contributed to him dropping and per league rules also placed him in the NFL's substance abuse program. However, he missed only four games -- all because of injuries -- in his five seasons.

Per ESPN Stats & Information, Smith has had more solo tackles (445) than any player since he entered the NFL and his 586 total tackles ranks fourth over that span. Smith also has nine interceptions (three of which he returned for touchdowns) in his career.

Smith, who had a career-high 134 tackles last season, was a Pro Bowler and second-team All-Pro in 2017 as a key part of a Jaguars defense that finished second in the NFL in sacks and turnovers forced and led the league in pass defense. The Jaguars scored seven defensive touchdowns that season and Smith had two, as well as another in the postseason.

PITTSBURGH -- New Steeler Justin Layne promised on draft night "we're taking all the Browns stuff down" from his Cleveland home.

Layne wasn't lying, and his dad had his back.

"Yes sir. Oh yeah, Browns everywhere, my dad took it all down and replaced it -- literally everything, every flag I had," said Layne, a cornerback picked in the third round, on Friday from Pittsburgh's rookie minicamp. "So, it's all done. We are fully committed."

How's this for commitment: Deondre Layne transformed a Browns-themed bathroom into a Steelers theme, documenting the process on Instagram. Layne's dad was seen painting over the orange colors with yellow and posing from inside the finished product, beside a Steelers logo on the wall.

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That simple...

A post shared by D. Layne (@_gods_favorite_1) on Apr 28, 2019 at 3:48pm PDT

Justin Layne played college ball at Michigan State but was a basketball and football standout at Benedictine High School in Cleveland. Layne said he attended Browns games as a child and isn't sure what to think of the Browns' recent roster upgrades leading to offseason buzz.

Layne is only concerned about his new colors now.

"I don't know what (dad) did with it, but all my stuff is gone," Layne said. "I threw all my stuff away. I don't have no use for it. So, yeah."

WHEN GAVIN EDELSON walks into Ms. Beever's first-grade classroom every morning, it's a safe bet he will be dressed in one of his Troutfits. That's what mom and dad call them. There's the white jersey and the red one and the gray one and the All-Star one and the one with Mike Trout's nickname on the back, which might be the coolest of all, because other 7-year-olds probably aren't big enough fans to know his nickname.

Come to think of it, Gavin knows a lot more about Trout. "Ask me," he said, and, well, OK. Where's Trout from?

"Millville, New Jersey," Gavin said.

When is his birthday?

"Aug. 7," he said.

He didn't wait for the next question.

"You want me to tell you what his wife's name is?" he said. "Jessica."

He was rolling.

"I know everything," Gavin said. "Every night before bed, I read a Mike Trout book. And right now, I'm wearing a Trout shirt. My red one. Whenever I go to a fancy dinner, they make me wear a collared shirt. I just want to wear a Mike Trout shirt."

In his room, there are the bobbleheads, the figurines, the mess of baseball cards, all part of the small shrine to Mike Trout. It doesn't matter that Trout plays for the Los Angeles Angels and Gavin lives in suburban Baltimore. Every morning, Jason and Julie Edelson are awoken by their younger son barging in to turn on MLB Network to see how Trout fared the previous night.

As much as he adores those mornings, Gavin positively lives for the one series a year the Angels play in Baltimore. That starts Friday, at 7:05 p.m. local time, though for Gavin it will begin a bit earlier. He'll head to Camden Yards before the game, properly Troutfitted, and hope Friday is a lot like June 29, 2018.

"I remember it's the best day of my life," Gavin said. "Because I got to hang out with Mike Trout."

FROM THE FIRST moment Gavin Edelson saw Mike Trout, he felt a kinship. It was 2015. He was 3 years old. His older brother, Jake, always seemed to pull Trout cards out of packs, and for Jake's birthday, Jason and Julie took the family to see an Angels-Orioles game at Camden Yards. They sat in the fourth row on the visitor's side, right next to the on-deck circle. As Trout prepared for his at-bat, Gavin started to mimic Trout's every movement.

It was cute, his parents thought. Little did they realize what it would turn into. Gavin wanted to be like Trout. The next morning, he woke up and put on a red T-shirt, gray sweatpants and red socks. He then got a jersey and wore matching baseball pants and spent his days walking around and swinging like Trout, a perfect little simulacrum. By the time the Edelsons returned to Camden Yards for an Angels game two years later, Gavin came with a poster that read: MIKE TROUT'S #1 FAN.

Then the Angels returned in 2018. Jason secured passes to watch batting practice on the field. Ebel was the first person to emerge from the Angels' dugout. Jason asked whether he remembered Gavin. "Of course," Ebel said. They thanked him for everything he did in 2017. Ebel said he'd see what he could do this year.

"I remember it's the best day of my life, because I got to hang out with Mike Trout." Gavin Edelson describing the day he got to join Mike Trout on the field at Camden Yards

The Angels started stretching along the third-base line. Trout was stationed near Albert Pujols, Kole Calhoun and Luis Valbuena. Suddenly, he looked at Gavin and waved him over. Jason said to Julie: "Is he talking to us?" He pointed down at Gavin, then toward Trout, who nodded.

"I saw him, wearing my jersey, and I think it's everybody's dream to be messing around with big league players," Trout said in an interview last week. "I thought it was cool. I thought it was a great experience for him. He's going to live with that forever, and he's going to tell all his friends. Any chance you get to make a kid's day -- you don't know what they're going through. I didn't even know him before that. Just interaction with the guys, bringing him on the field, watching BP, I think it's special for him."

At first, Trout said, Gavin "was shy, but after a couple minutes, he started talking to us. We all started talking to him and got to make him feel comfortable. You obviously don't want to make him feel too overwhelmed."

Too late. Gavin, who rarely lacks for words, was speechless. He was standing next to Mike Trout. And doing high-knee stretches with Mike Trout. And talking about the weather with Mike Trout.

"Here you have by far the best player in baseball," said Jason, whose hands shook as he took video. "And he'll probably go down as the greatest ever. And he goes out of his way to do this for kids. It's not like he just pulled the kid out there to watch him play. He's having a conversation with the kid, laughing with him, actually talking to him."

After about 15 minutes, Gavin was comfortable enough to ask Trout if he could have his bat following batting practice. Sure, Trout said, and that bat is now the featured item in the shrine. Fully emboldened, Gavin asked Trout for one more thing before he returned to his parents: If Trout could hit a home run for him that night.

"I'll try," Mike Trout said, and then in the first inning, on the third pitch he saw, Trout deposited a David Hess fastball 408 feet into the center-field stands. Eventually, pictures of the meet-and-greet emerged after commissioner Rob Manfred at the All-Star Game questioned Trout's desire to market himself. ESPN's Eddie Matz tweeted a few photos and a video of Gavin and Trout, and they reminded that the best player in the word didn't have to acknowledge the kid, let alone spend time with him. He did, though, and it says far more about him than the greatest commercials possibly could.

"There's no better way to market Mike Trout," Jason said, "than to show what he did on that day."

AMELIA BEEVER ISN'T much of a baseball fan, but she has learned one thing about the sport during the 2018-19 school year.

"I know that Mike Trout is absolutely amazing," she said.

She knows this because in her role as Ms. Beever, first-grade teacher, she reads Gavin Edelson's schoolwork. And more often than not, if there is a writing assignment in Ms. Beever's class, Gavin will use the opportunity to wax poetic about Trout.

Ms. Beever adored the baseball cards Gavin gave out for Valentine's Day -- the ones with a picture of him and Trout, custom-made by Topps. The company originally rejected the card because it featured an active player, Jason said, but he called up the Major League Baseball Players Association, asked for permission to use the photo since MLB's official account had tweeted it and got the go-ahead.

Gavin would come to school and tell his friends about how he was playing shortstop against 8- and 9-year-olds, and how his swing really was like his friend Mike Trout's. Ms. Beever's shelves were thin on baseball books, so she picked up every one she saw and made sure to tell Gavin there was a new selection for him to try.

"He's very respectful, very hardworking, very helpful. He's a great friend," Beever said. "He really is a very sweet boy." She saw that earnestness not just in Gavin's actions but in his words. Last year, he wrote Trout a letter that he delivered to him on the field. This year, he put together a new one, affixed the Mike Trout and Gavin Edelson card to the top and is holding out hope that the rain scheduled to hit Baltimore during Friday's game goes in another direction. Because he really wants his hero to understand how he feels.

ESPN multimedia reporter Alden Gonzalez contributed to this story.

In moves that reshape the front office of one of the Western Conference's perennial playoff franchises, the Utah Jazz have promoted general manager Dennis Lindsey to executive vice president of basketball operations and assistant GM Justin Zanik to GM, the team announced Friday.

Lindsey, the Jazz's general manager since 2012, will take on a broader, strategic and leadership role, and Zanik will become responsible for the day-to-day duties of running basketball operations.

"We are excited for these promotions as they further enable Dennis to provide executive leadership and overall strategic vision for Jazz basketball operations and give Justin the opportunity for greater impact on our organization," Jazz president Steve Starks said in a statement. "As one of the brightest young executives in the league, Justin will be responsible for the day-to-day operations. Their leadership allows us to work collectively toward our championship goals."

The Jazz made the playoffs for a third straight season this spring, after making trips to the Western Conference semifinals in 2017 and 2018.

Lindsey, the 2018 Executive of the Year runner-up, oversaw draft-day trades that resulted in the selections of Jazz cornerstones Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell. He also oversaw the hiring of accomplished coach Quin Snyder.

Zanik, 44, has established himself as one of the league's top young executives since moving to the team side from a decade-long career as a player agent.

He has spent five seasons as an assistant general manager with the Jazz, buffered by a year-plus departure to Milwaukee in 2016 where he served as an assistant GM and interim GM.

Zanik was a finalist for the Philadelphia 76ers' GM job that went to Elton Brand last year.

Milwaukee Bucks center Pau Gasol will miss the remainder of the playoffs after undergoing surgery Thursday to repair a navicular stress fracture in his left foot, the team announced Friday.

Gasol has not played since March 10 and missed 26 games earlier in the season with a stress fracture in his left foot.

The 38-year-old Gasol joined Milwaukee after reaching a buyout agreement with the San Antonio Spurs in February but played in only three games for the Bucks. Milwaukee viewed Gasol as a veteran with playoff success who could help prepare the team for the rigors of the postseason.

Gasol averaged a career-low 3.9 points and 4.6 rebounds in 30 games this season.

The Bucks have advanced to the Eastern Conference finals and await the winner of Sunday's Game 7 between the Toronto Raptors and Philadelphia 76ers.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Rays reinstated outfielder Austin Meadows on Friday from the 10-day injured list for the start of a three-game series against the New York Yankees.

The Rays also placed catcher Mike Zunino on the 10-day IL with a left quadriceps strain that happened in the eighth inning of Wednesday's 3-2, 13-inning loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Meadows sprained his right thumb when he awkwardly slid into third base on a two-run triple in the seventh inning of a 6-5 loss to the Boston Red Sox on April 20. The 24-year-old right fielder was hitting .351 with six homers and 19 RBIs in 20 games at the time of the injury.

American League East-leading Tampa Bay began Friday with a 23-13 record and a 1½-game advantage over the Yankees.

Tampa Bay also selected the contract of catcher Anthony Bemboom and recalled reliever Casey Sadler from Triple-A Durham. Infielder/outfielder Andrew Velazquez was optioned to Durham.

CHICAGO -- Cubs infielder Addison Russell attempted to walk back comments he made to the Chicago Sun-Times on Thursday in which he seemed critical of fans who boo him.

"Everyone is entitled to doing whatever they want to do, think whatever they want to think, say whatever they want to say," Russell said Friday morning. "The reaction to me, I have to respect that. My actions are what they are. I have to be responsible for them."

Russell, 25, recently returned from a 40-game suspension for violating the league's policy on domestic abuse stemming from his former marriage, and after hearing boos before his first at-bat on Wednesday night, he said, "If hometown fans want to boo someone that's trying to help bring the team a World Series again, then that's on them."

That statement brought him a new round of criticism, which had him in front of about 20 reporters before the Cubs took on the Milwaukee Brewers.

"I have nothing but respect for the fans," Russell stated. "It's a goal to get the respect of the fans back. I just wish it could be on different terms."

Russell was suspended last September and has gone through league-mandated counseling as part of the conditions for his return to the majors. The Cubs called him up before Wednesday's game when Russell reiterated his commitment to the team, family and fans. Friday probably won't be the last time he'll have to explain himself, as he hasn't played a road game since his return.

"There's going to be a lot more adversity moving forward, for sure," he said.