Jofra Archer tuned up for a likely Test debut at Lord's next week with a six-wicket haul for Sussex's 2nd XI in his first red-ball appearance for nearly 11 months, before hitting a 99-ball 108 for good measure.

In the bucolic surrounds of Woodmancote, in rural West Sussex, Archer took two early Gloucestershire wickets with the new ball, before adding four more across two further spells in the morning session to end with 6 for 27. In all, he bowled 12.1 overs, and looked fully fit, coming in off his full run-up with good pace and hostility.

Archer came in at No. 6 with Sussex teetering at 52 for 4, but after being dropped at slip on 13, he punished George Drissell's offspin and scored freely off the seamers to reach his first hundred in a Sussex shirt.

ALSO READ: England hoping pace of Archer can provide cutting edge

He suffered a glancing blow from an Adrian Neill bouncer after reaching his hundred, but continued batting after a quick concussion test from Sussex's physio.

Archer missed out on the England XI for the defeat at Edgbaston, having been named in the 14-man squad despite playing through the pain of a side strain for the majority of the World Cup. With James Anderson ruled out of the second Test, he is now in line to make his debut.

Captain Joe Root said before the Edgbaston Test that Archer's omission would "give him time to get absolutely ready and fit". But Jason Gillespie, Sussex's coach - who was not present, instead preparing for the evening's Blast game against Glamorgan - said that Archer "has to play" at Lord's.

"I was surprised he didn't play the first Test, to be perfectly blunt," Gillespie told TalkSPORT radio. "It's easy to say that in hindsight, but he's 100 percent fit, ready to go.

"He had to start the first Test, but the powers that be decided he wasn't quite ready. They thought he'd not played enough red-ball cricket … but the same people were saying he hadn't played enough 50-over cricket and he's gone and been the leading [England] wicket-taker in the World Cup.

"He adds another dimension to this England bowling attack - he's got pace, bounce, movement off the seam, through the air. Four or five-day cricket is his best format, so appreciate how good he is."

England coach Trevor Bayliss had said he hoped Archer would "just get through a number of overs" in the game, and Archer bowled eight with the wind behind him in his first spell. He struck twice, first removing Tom Price, a 19-year-old opener who feathered an edge to wicketkeeper Joe Billings - no relation of Sam - before Gareth Roderick, Gloucestershire's usual Championship keeper, fished outside his off stump and fended a catch to third slip.

Archer also hit Milo Ayres, another of seven teenagers in the Gloucestershire side, on the grille with a back-of-a-length ball that rose sharply off a noticeably quick, hybrid wicket, and despite batting on Ayres was visibly shaken.

Archer's second spell, which came after an end change, lasted only two overs. His first ball was driven down the ground by Matt Brewer, the No. 8, but Archer uprooted his off stump with a perfect outswinger three balls later.

In his final spell, back at the end he had started at, he removed Nos. 9 and 10 in quick succession - caught in the slips and clean bowled - before getting rid of top-scorer Greg Willows to finish with 6 for 27 in his 12.1 overs, Gloucestershire bowled out for 79.

Chris Jordan, Archer's close friend and team-mate, arrived at the ground just in time to see him walk off for lunch, and said that he was "more than ready" to play in the second Test.

"He's been good ever since the end of the World Cup," Jordan said. "He had that week break which did him a lot of good, freed his mind, rested his body, and as you can see in the couple of T20s he's played, and the session here today, he's more than ready.

"You've seen that every time a challenge is put in front of him he seems to rise to it. He's very competitive, and he sets himself high standards more than anything and he'll be looking to live up to those: going into the second Test he'll be a big, big asset for England."

That this was Archer's first red-ball game since a Championship appearance for Sussex last September is telling for two reasons.

Firstly, it demonstrates just how hectic Archer's schedule has been. Since the end of the county season last year, he has played almost non-stop in the T10 League, Big Bash, and IPL, before going straight into the England side for the World Cup warm-up series against Pakistan. It was, perhaps, no surprise that he found himself in "pretty excruciating" pain by the end of that tournament.

Secondly, it demonstrates the extent to which England have found themselves reliant on Archer so early in his international career.

Root and Bayliss have both highlighted their desire for a "point of difference" bowler in their attack, and Archer, Olly Stone, and Sam Curran all fit into that category. But with his World Cup showing counting in his favour, it seems that he is the most likely candidate to replace Anderson at Lord's, despite his opening burst here representing his longest competitive spell in almost a year.

As if to highlight Archer's rise, he was warned off speaking to the media present, and Sussex even hired a steward to ensure he remained off-limits.

His effort with the bat, for all its flamboyance, is unlikely to count too much in his favour, given the opposition as well as the number of allrounders already in England's lower middle order. His innings combined fluency and fortune: there were elegant cover drives and lusty blows over long-on, as well as an early chance put down at slip. He reached his hundred off 84 balls to put Sussex firmly in the driving seat.

Billings, Sussex's keeper, said that he was stood "certainly a bit further back than normal" to Archer, and that this was the quickest spell he had kept to in his brief career.

"I kept to Tymal [Mills] last week up at Horsham," he said. "That was pretty similar, but I think [this] wicket had a bit of extra pace and carry in it."

The messy fallout from South Africa's disastrous World Cup campaign is now out in the open. Various internal communications leaked to the media over the last few days have hinted at a somewhat fractious end to the tenures of both Ottis Gibson, the head coach, and Mohammad Moosajee, the long-standing team doctor and manager.

Over the weekend, the entire coaching staff of the men's team were let go amid a major restructuring exercise. It has since emerged that Cricket South Africa went back on an agreement - in principle at least - to extend Gibson's contract until 2021.

At a CSA board meeting in February the extension was agreed, and an independent director was asked to redraft a new contract. The specifics of the contract, however, appear to have been a stumbling block.

"I first spoke with Ottis, and I said I would like to suggest that the board have a look at your contract, with a possible extension," CSA chief executive Thabang Moroe explained at a press conference on Tuesday. "Ottis responded by saying that he would more or less look at being employed until 2021, and that's what I should suggest to the board. I did suggest that to the board. The board deliberated on that.

"What the board essentially said to me, to quote verbatim, was, 'we're agreeing that you can go ahead and extend the coach's contract, subject to him agreeing to key specific pointers in his contract changing'. Part of that being EPG [transformation targets], part of that being communication, part of that being performance. We went back to the coach, together with the now acting Director of Cricket and communicated that to the coach, of which he said he could not immediately agree until he saw what his contract looked like."

It has emerged since that the board was concerned at the team missing their transformation targets for the second year in a row, forcing them to enact a policy which would give Moroe final sign-off on team selections and enhanced ability to ensure targets were being met. However, that decision was made without taking the views of Gibson or selection convenor Linda Zondi, resulting in further friction.

"Now, that meeting is essentially the same meeting where this policy of selection was spoken of," Moroe continued. "Obviously it is well documented now in the media that the coach was not really be happy about the board now wanting to activate this policy."

This forced the board to quickly backtrack. It was subsequently reported that transformation targets wouldn't apply at the World Cup. "The perception that was already put out there was that the board, together with the CEO, was intending to interfere in selection, which wasn't true," Moroe said. "To dispel such notions or rumours, we just simply put the policy on ice.

"Similarly, with Ottis not agreeing, that's one of the decisions that emanated from that meeting. That caused the board to say, 'listen because the coach is not agreeable to a few things that we're already saying, lets rather put his contract on ice as well' and judge him the same way we said we would from the first, which is his performances at the World Cup'."

The result was that Gibson went to the World Cup unsure of his long-term future as South Africa's coach. There were more tensions yet, over the participation of several key players in the IPL, which preceded the World Cup. Gibson wanted his players back early, but Moroe is understood to have not forced the issue with the BCCI for the worry of potential financial consequences.

According to reports from leaked communication, Moroe confirmed to Gibson that it had been decided at an April 6 board meeting that CSA wouldn't be able to financially compensate the players for shortened IPL gigs, which is said to have further disappointed Gibson.

The outgoing South African coach wasn't the only member of the team management left disgruntled by events leading up to South Africa's reshuffle. It has also been revealed that there was an attempt to remove Moosajee from his position in September last year. However, Gibson and captain Faf du Plessis are said to have met CSA president Chris Nenzani to secure his position.

Last week, ahead of CSA's board meeting, Moosajee informed the board that he didn't want to continue, apparently also unhappy that he had been removed from CSA's Exco, a senior executives committee on which Moosajee had been able to directly represent the team he managed. The Exco forms part of the chief executives committee, on which sit both CSA and South African Cricketers Association chief executives.

The subject of CSA's strained relationship with SACA was also a talking point at Tuesday's press conference. SACA launched legal action against CSA on the eve of the World Cup over the restructuring of domestic cricket and Moroe said CSA are seeking to avert litigation with SACA by meeting with them to iron out any differences.

"It would be irresponsible for me to say no, we're willing to go to court at all costs," Moroe said. "If we have to we will, to defend our views as CSA. But yes, it is our hope that we don't go to court. At the end of the day, we are family with SACA and I'd like to think that whatever differences might be on the table, as family we should be able to sit around a table and thrash out those differences and essentially agree to move on. Whether the one party might still be unhappy to a certain extent or not, that should be irrelevant."

UAE 152 for 8 (Ashfaq 56, Braat 3-26) beat Netherlands 138 for 9 (O'Dowd 65, Mustafa 3-30) by 14 runs

Opener Ashfaq Ahmed's half-century and offspinner Rohan Mustafa's three-wicket haul ensured UAE wrapped up the four-match T20I series against hosts Netherlands at the Hague. Netherlands opener Max O'Dowd made the highest score of the game - 65 off 54 balls - but his innings went in vain as his side slumped to their third successive defeat. The final game of the series will be played on August 8.

After being inserted, UAE started strongly, with Ashfaq leading the way. He hit 56 off 41 balls - his second fifty in three innings - including five fours and two sixes. He was aided by a series of contributions from the middle order. Medium-pacer Sebastiaan Braat and left-arm spinner Pieter Seelaar then slowed down the innings by claiming combined figures of 8-0-47-5. Mohammad Boota, however, hit two sixes towards the end of the innings to help his side pass 150.

Netherlands then wobbled around O'Dowd in their chase. They were reduced to 53 for 4 in the 10th over, but O'Dowd took the chase deep. He was the eighth Netherlands batsman to be dismissed, in the penultimate over. The hosts needed 25 off nine balls with two wickets in hand after O'Dowd was run out, and they ended up short by 15 runs. Mustafa took 3 for 30 while Qadeer Ahmed picked up 2 for 18.

Western Storm 126 for 3 (Knight 41) beat Loughborough Lightning 125 for 6 (Jones 65, Davies 2-24) by seven wickets

England captain Heather Knight shrugged off the disappointment of a heavy defeat in the Ashes to lead Western Storm to a winning start in the Kia Super League.

Knight hit 41 as Storm eased to a seven-wicket win over the 2018 runners-up Loughborough Lightning, who were always up against it after posting a 20-over total of 126 for 6 at their Haslegrave Ground, despite a fine 65 from Knight's international team-mate Amy Jones. Storm completed their victory with 18 balls to spare after Knight and India batsman Smriti Mandhana had added 54 in just over seven overs for the second wicket.

Both fell to Sarah Glenn, both caught in the deep by Georgia Adams, who held on to a superb diving effort at long-off to deny Knight as she closed in on a half-century. But a couple of wickets for the promising legspinner was a small consolation for the home side.

Lightning had made an awful start when they batted, losing two of their overseas stars in the opening two overs after Georgia Elwiss had decided to bat first, neither of whom made a run.

The West Indies allrounder Hayley Matthews was out to the second delivery of the innings, leg before to England seamer Freya Davies. Sri Lanka's Chamari Atapattu was next, top-edging offspinner Claire Nicholas on the leg side as she tried to get off the mark, wicketkeeper Rachel Priest having time to jog round and take the catch.

When Elwiss became the third out for a duck, bowled by India offspinner Deepti Sharma, Lightning were 15 for 3. Storm could hardly have wanted a better start, conceding only three boundaries in the Powerplay overs as the home side limped to 27 for 3.

All three had come off the bat of Jones, who put behind her dismal white-ball form in the Ashes series to take charge, posting her second half-century in Lightning colours during a partnership of 77 for the fourth wicket with South Africa's Mignon du Preez.

She had a let-off on 44 when she was dropped at deep backward square off Nicholas, fielder Danielle Gibson picking up an injury in the process, but might have had added to her seven boundaries but for Storm's excellent ground fielding.

Jones lofted rookie Alex Griffiths for six over the short straight boundary and eventually fell for 65, a reverse sweep off Nicholas plucked out of the air nicely by substitute fielder Nat Wraith at short third man.

Good support came from du Preez, who hit 29 on her maiden Lightning innings before 17-year-old seamer Griffiths claimed her first KSL wicket, trapping the experienced former South Africa captain leg before with a full delivery. Georgia Adams made a useful 15 from 17 balls, Jenny Gunn cleared the boundary with her first hit and Kathryn Bryce, on her Lightning debut, struck the last ball of the innings for four but the total never seemed likely to be enough.

Storm, for whom Fran Wilson hit an unbeaten 33 and Davies took 2 for 24, have been the most consistent side since the KSL launched in 2016, appearing at every Finals Day so far and winning the competition in 2017. They will fancy themselves to go a long way again.

"We are looking at Rishabh Pant as the future." This was Virat Kohli, point-blank, when asked about the 21-year old's role in the Indian set-up going forward.

Batting at No. 4 in each of the three T20Is, Pant repaid the team management's faith following two poor outings in Lauderhill. On Tuesday, he crafted his second T20I half-century, an unbeaten 65 that he constructed during the course of a 106-run third-wicket stand with Kohli that helped India canter to victory and a 3-0 whitewash.

"He's got a lot of skill and talent," Kohli said. "It's about winning and finishing games like these and gaining confidence, which he wants to do as well. It's about giving him a bit more space to ease himself into international cricket and not putting too much pressure because of the way he's played in the IPL.

"At the international level, you need to tackle pressure differently and play yourself into the whole set-up. He has come a long way since he started. If he plays like this more regularly, we will see his potential shine for India."

Kohli was equally effusive in his praise for Deepak Chahar and his ability to swing the new ball, a hallmark of his game that MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming have harnessed well at Chennai Super Kings over the last two years.

The India captain felt Chahar's new-ball skills were "right up there with Bhuvi [Bhuvneshwar Kumar]" and that the 26-year-old had done well for himself. "Deepak is very similar to Bhuvi, he's lethal with the new ball," Kohli said. "Bhuvi has bit more experience at the death. Getting a lot with the new ball in any condition has been his USP in the IPL too."

Chahar and Pant's contributions consigned West Indies to their sixth successive T20I loss. Carlos Brathwaite, their captain, accepted he needed to perform better to begin with, but also stressed on being "close to finding their perfect combination" with an eye on next year's T20 World Cup, which they will enter as defending champions.

"The skipper needs to perform firstly," he said. "We need to get a way of playing. We've had a few changes in and out. We haven't had a period of time where we've got together and played as a unit. That's something we need to do after the CPL. We've seen some restructuring in the batting order from game to game, we are still trying to finding out our perfect combination, I think we're a lot closer now."

An alternate local telecast of Washington Redskins preseason games will feature a live interactive prediction contest with cash prizes, the latest sign of the NFL's methodical shift toward a more accepting position on sports betting.

Starting with Thursday's preseason opener at Cleveland, NBC Sports Washington Plus will show the "Predict the Game" broadcast. The game footage will be lined by graphics featuring stats correlated to the prediction contest, with propositions popping up at the bottom of the screen at varying points in the game. The contestants who have the most correct responses in each quarter will win $1,000.

The Redskins are the first NFL franchise to create an alternate broadcast centered on a prediction contest. Washington also was the first NFL team to partner with a daily fantasy sports operator and the first to put its team marks on a scratch-off lottery ticket.

"We're proud to be the first NFL club to do this and it follows a line of innovations that we've had along this space," Redskins senior vice president Scott Shepherd told ESPN on Tuesday.

Participants in "Predict the Game" could be asked as many as 80 questions about outcomes taking place during the game. For example, "Will rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins throw a touchdown pass in the second quarter?" A chime will sound on the broadcast, alerting contestants that a new question has hit the board.

Damon Phillips, senior vice president and general manager for NBC Sports Washington, said they have been discussing at what points during the game to pose the questions.

"Between series? After a commercial break?" Phillips said. "We're going to experiment to figure out what the right rhythm is, and we're going to find out a lot in the first game."

During the NBA season, NBC Sports Washington Plus offered a similar broadcast built around a prediction contest on select Washington Wizards game. Those broadcasts included traditional betting propositions, including money-line odds and over/under totals.

After discussions with the NFL office, the Redskins' alternate broadcasts will not feature point spreads, odds or over/under totals.

Phillips said the betting-centric alternate broadcasts on Wizards games this past season were a success.

"We were able to create a new way to engage with fans that we didn't have last year," Phillips told ESPN. "There was more time spent on our digital properties as the result of those broadcasts."

In May 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal statute that had restricted regulated sports betting to primarily Nevada. Since the ruling, legal sportsbooks have started operating in nine states outside of Nevada: Arkansas, Delaware, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and West Virginia. Several additional states are gearing up to enter the bookmaking business in the coming months.

While the NBA and NHL have fully embraced the evolving sports betting landscape in the United States, the NFL remains the most cautious of the professional sports leagues. Shepherd said the alternate broadcast doesn't represent a first step into sports betting for the league.

"But it's certainly something from a club perspective and an innovation perspective, we want to be on the forefront of emerging trends and new opportunities that are out there," Shepherd said. "We want to engage with our fans and really begin that conversation and begin that overall experience as legal sports betting is coming online. The NFL, from a legal sports betting perspective, is taking a more cautious and methodical approach versus the other leagues that have fully opted in."

The "Predict the Game" broadcast is considered a pilot. There are no current plans to continue it during the regular season, but it hasn't been ruled out, either, a spokesman for NBC Sports Washington told ESPN.

Tom Brady and his wife, Gisele Bundchen, have placed their Brookline, Massachusetts, home on the market for $39.5 million.

The couple's next-closest property, at Silo Ridge Field Club in Armenia, New York, is nearly 3 hours from Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. They also own a place in New York City -- and reportedly have been looking in Greenwich, Connecticut, and Alpine, New Jersey.

Brady and the New England Patriots have agreed to a new deal that will pay him an additional $8 million this season, increasing his 2019 salary to $23 million, but includes void years for 2020 and 2021, a source told ESPN's Field Yates.

This means Brady and the Patriots will have to revisit negotiations before the end of the 2019 league year to extend the contract, and it is expected they will do so. The Patriots have agreed not to use the franchise tag on Brady, according to a source.

"It's a unique situation I'm in -- 20th year with the same team, I'll be 42 years old. So pretty much uncharted territory for everybody," Brady said Monday.

Representatives for running back Ezekiel Elliott have told the Dallas Cowboys that he will not play during the 2019 season without a new contract, a source close to the situation told ESPN's Josina Anderson on Tuesday.

The source added that at this time, it is not likely that Elliott's holdout continues into the regular season, based on the belief that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones wants to get a new deal done before Week 1.

Elliott informed the Cowboys in January that he would not play without a new contract, the source said.

On Monday, former NFL running back Eric Dickerson said on FS1's "Undisputed" that he spoke with Elliott's agent, Rocky Arceneaux. According to Dickerson, Arceneaux said it was possible Elliott would miss part of the regular season, but that they didn't want that to happen.

Jones said last week that he thought the front office would reach a deal on a contract extension with Elliott, but that it would need to allow the Cowboys to keep all their talent "under the same roof." The Cowboys also are negotiating extensions with quarterback Dak Prescott and wide receiver Amari Cooper.

The owner also said he does not believe there is a time when a deal has to be in place, such as the start of the regular season.

The Cowboys insist they have made solid offers to all three players that would put them at least in the top-five contracts at their positions and have been frustrated at the lack of engagement in negotiations, a source told ESPN's Todd Archer.

Speaking Tuesday on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, executive vice president Stephen Jones said he does not believe there is enough momentum to finalize deals with Prescott, Cooper or Elliott while the Cowboys are in Oxnard, California, for training camp. The Cowboys break camp in Oxnard on Aug. 15 before heading to Hawaii for their preseason game on Aug. 17 against the Los Angeles Rams.

"We've been generous on our offer," Jones said of Elliott's contract.

He mentioned the Le'Veon Bell deal, which averages $13.5 million with the New York Jets, in relation to the Elliott discussions. Todd Gurley's deal with the Rams averages $14.375 million and is at the top of the running back market.

Bell weighed in on Elliott's contract talks on Tuesday:

they gotta pay up, period ?? https://t.co/M08n7VQCsc

— Le'Veon Bell (@LeVeonBell) August 6, 2019

Since the start of Cowboys training camp, Elliott has been in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, to work out, sources previously told ESPN.

Elliott continues to be subject to a fine of $40,000 per day, and the Cowboys also can come after a prorated portion of his signing bonus. If he does not report before Saturday's preseason opener at the San Francisco 49ers, he could be fined a regular-season game check of roughly $226,000.

He is under contract through 2020 and is set to make $3.853 million this season and $9.09 million next season.

We're almost three-quarters of the way through the 2019 MLB season, and by now you've probably heard that this is the Year of the Home Run.

Whether it's the ball itself, the launch angle revolution, a generation of historic young sluggers or some combination of the three, home runs have had us buzzing all season. But even as baseballs keep leaving the yard at record rates -- the single-season mark, set in 2017, is certain to fall in the coming months -- it's hard to grasp the magnitude of it.

We challenged researcher Evan Wildstein and the rest of our friends at ESPN Stats & Information to mix math with the madness and present the most amazing home run-related stats of the season.

Here's how amazing the Year of the Home Run has gotten in several categories -- and where it could end up by the time it's over.

Jump to ...
The teams doing (and allowing) damage
The most surprising individual feats
The most amazing leaguewide numbers

The 'your team's home run records are all about to fall' division

1. The Minnesota Twins are on pace to break baseball's single-season home run record of 267.

Why it's so amazing: The record was set by the 2018 Yankees in 162 games. The Twins, who are on pace for 316 home runs, aren't the only team this season with a higher home run/game rate than those Yankees. The 2019 Yankees and Dodgers all have higher HR/G rates than the 2018 Yankees and the Astros are even with the pace, which means at this rate, the four highest team home run totals in MLB history could all come this season.

2. There are 14 teams on pace to break their single-season home run marks.

Why it's so amazing: If you thought the Year of the Home Run belonged to only the power-packed lineups at the top of the standings, this shows that nearly everyone is getting in on the fun. Beyond those 14 teams, there are another four with at least a shot at a new franchise record. That means 60 percent of the league could be crossing out its previous all-time team home run mark and writing 2019's final tally in the record book this offseason.

3. The Mariners hit or allowed a home run in 107 straight games.

Why it's so amazing: That's 38 more than the previous record, per Elias Sports Bureau research. On the other end of the scale, the 1913 Red Sox went a record 55 straight games without hitting or allowing a home run. The longest such streak this year is three games.

4. The Yankees hit a home run in 91 games through July 31.

Why it's so amazing: That's the most by a team before Aug. 1 in MLB history, eclipsing the previous record of 90 games held by the 2000 Blue Jays.

Earlier in the season, the Yankees became the first team in MLB history to hit a home run in 28 consecutive games, breaking the previous record of 27 set by the 2002 Rangers. The streak came to an end after three more games, setting the new mark at 31 straight contests.

What makes New York's bit of history here even more impressive is that 22 players have gone deep as the Yankees have battled injuries up and down their roster all season.

The 'special shout-out to the Minnesota Twins' division

5. The Minnesota Twins are five home runs away from setting their franchise record -- with 50 games left to play.

Why it's so amazing: Yes, we started with the Twins above, but what Minnesota is doing deserves its own section. In 1963 and 1964, the Twins had Harmon Killebrew swatting 40-plus home runs for the most powerful lineup in franchise history and led the majors in total homers by a healthy margin both seasons. In fact, Minnesota had reached 200 home runs four times in franchise history before blowing past the mark in July this season.

6. The Twins are the first team in MLB history to hit 50 home runs in three calendar months within a season.

Why it's so amazing: Pick your 2019 Minnesota Twins home run factoid, and chances are it will be amazing. This number emphasizes that Minnesota, like the rest of baseball's premier slugging teams, is doing it day in and day out for the duration of a season -- not riding one hot streak to franchise history.

7. When the Twins hosted the Yankees last month, the teams combined to hit 20 home runs in the series, and the balls traveled a total of 7,875 feet.

Why it's so amazing: Wondering what October is going to look like in the Year of the Home Run? This recent series between baseball's two most powerful lineups gave us a glimpse of a potential playoff matchup and just how bonkers things could get when every player in each lineup is a threat to leave the yard.

According to Elias research, the three-game series was the sixth in MLB history in which at least 20 home runs were hit. There were also a combined 57 runs and 80 hits in the series, the most by any two teams in a three-game series this season.

The 'special shout-out to the Baltimore Orioles' pitching for very different reasons' division

8. The Orioles have already allowed 223 home runs this year.

Why it's so amazing: If franchise records for hitting home runs are falling, it stands to reason that franchise records for giving up long balls are falling too -- and the Orioles have managed to distance themselves from everyone else when it comes to allowing gopher balls. The all-time record for home runs allowed by a pitching staff is 258 by the 2016 Reds, a number the O's should shatter this month.

One amazing fact that sums up the long ball problem for Baltimore's pitching staff: O's pitchers have given up five or more home runs in a game 15 times already this season, an MLB record.

9. The Orioles are yielding 3.15 home runs per game when they face the Yankees.

Why it's so amazing: There is a special kind of magic when baseball's best team at serving up home runs faces one of MLB's best at going deep. If you like home runs, you might want to tune in when the Orioles and Yankees play the final six games of their season series in the next two weeks.

The 'amazing individual performances' division

10. So far this season, 207 players have hit at least 10 home runs.

Why it's so amazing: It's tied for the fifth-highest total in a single season, but a quick trip down the home run leaderboard shows about 20 players sitting on nine home runs and another 20 or so at eight. In other words, this number is about to take another jump soon, and it's another example that the Year of the Home Run is about the astounding totals coming from everywhere -- not just the guys at the top.

11. There were four consecutive days when a player hit three home runs from July 23 to July 26.

Why it's so amazing: First it was Robinson Cano. Then Paul DeJong did it. After that, Nelson Cruz got in on the fun, and then it was Mookie Betts' turn. The four-day span was the most consecutive days with a three-homer game by a player in MLB history.

12. There have already been 16 three-homer games so far in 2019.

Why it's so amazing: The mark of most three-homer games in one season, 22 in 2001, is well within reach. Just last week, Cruz went deep three times in a game for the second time in a nine-day span and helped the 2019 total climb higher.

Of all the facts around this year's three-homer performances, Cruz becoming the first player to do it twice at age 39 stands out, especially when you add this to it: Ted Williams is the only player to have a pair of such games at age 38.

13. Three players had 30-plus home runs ... at the All-Star break.

Why it's so amazing: Although Christian Yelich, Pete Alonso and Cody Bellinger have all slowed a bit in the second half, they still have legitimate shots to reach the 50-homer mark this season -- as does Mike Trout, fresh off the first 13-homer month of his career. No matter where they finish the season, that trio of Yelich, Alonso and Bellinger became the first since 1998 to each hit 30 bombs by the break.

The 'really young guys making home run history' division

14. Ronald Acuna Jr. became the fourth-youngest player to reach 50 career home runs.

Why it's so amazing: Take a close look at this list of the youngest players at the time of their 50th career homers:

Mel Ott: 20 years, 166 days (Aug. 15, 1929)

Tony Conigliaro: 20 years, 238 days (Sept. 2, 1965)

Andruw Jones: 21 years, 136 days (Sept. 6, 1998)

Ronald Acuna: 21 years, 215 days (July 21, 2019)

Al Kaline: 21 years, 227 days (Aug. 2, 1956)

Ken Griffey Jr.: 21 years, 251 days (July 30, 1991)

Eddie Mathews: 21 years, 267 days (July 7, 1953)

Mickey Mantle: 21 years, 279 days (July 26, 1953)

Giancarlo Stanton: 21 years, 281 days (Aug. 16, 2011)

Frank Robinson: 21 years, 295 days (June 22, 1957)

This list is full of Hall of Famers and baseball icons, but what's also noteworthy is that every player on it except Stanton and Acuna debuted last century. In fact, Andruw Jones is the only player in the past 50 seasons to reach the milestone at a younger age than Acuna.

15. Gleyber Torres is three home runs away from becoming the third Yankees player with at least 50 homers through his age-22 season.

Why it's so amazing: General baseball rule: If you are on a list of all the Yankees to accomplish something, and Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio are the only two players ranked ahead of you, you've done something pretty amazing. Torres isn't going to catch either of the Hall of Famers ahead of him, but he is certainly in elite company here.

The 'it all adds up to this' division

16. There already have been more home runs this year (4,677) than in the entire 2014 season (4,186) or 2011 season (4,552).

Why it's so amazing: It's Aug. 6! The fact that we're already eclipsing full-season numbers from just a few years ago shows just how much has changed in a short amount of time.

17. There have been 1,000-plus home runs in every full month of the season so far.

Why it's so amazing: MLB has rewritten the record book for homers every month so far this season, and every time we thought there was no way this home run pace could keep up, it has.

18. We've had more five-homer games by a team this season than in any full season before this.

Why it's so amazing: Of all of the numbers here, this one might be the most bonkers. It's not just that the record for five-homer games by teams in a season has fallen. It's that it was set on July 17, just after the halfway point of the season.

19. There have been 131 home runs of at least 450 feet this season. There were just 82 of those all of the past season.

Why it's so amazing: Baseballs aren't just clearing fences -- we've seen a big spike in the number of really long home runs as well. On June 21, Rangers OF Nomar Mazara hit a 505-foot homer, by far the longest hit this season. We have seen five 480-plus-foot home runs this season, which surpasses the total from the previous season (four).

20. 2019 is on pace to smash the all-time home run record of 6,105 home runs.

Why it's so amazing: This is the big one. Just two years after the record-setting 2017 season, numbers are way, way up overall. In 2,430 games that year, an average of 2.51 home runs were hit per game. This season, through 1,689 games, a total of 4,677 homers have been hit -- a rate of 2.77 per game.

The question isn't if the home run record will fall in the coming months. It's just how high the new record will be by the time the Year of the Home Run comes to an end.

A lot of attention has been paid to the players who won't be at Team USA training camp in preparation for the FIBA World Cup, but the players who are in attendance are grateful for the chance to represent their country.

"This is like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a lot of us," Boston Celtics guard Kemba Walker told reporters in Las Vegas on Monday. "I think a lot of us are happy those guys pulled out because this is our chance.

"It's our chance to get on the big stage and showcase our talent. A chance for us to do something new. It'll be a new-look team. Everybody is kind of doubting us, but I think we're hungry."

The Houston Rockets' James Harden and Eric Gordon, the Portland Trail Blazers' Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, the Los Angeles Lakers' Anthony Davis and the Washington Wizards' Bradley Beal are among the star players who withdrew from Team USA training camp.

That leaves the Celtics' Walker, Marcus Smart and Jayson Tatum, the Lakers' Kyle Kuzma, the Toronto Raptors' Kyle Lowry, the Milwaukee Bucks' Khris Middleton and the Utah Jazz's Donovan Mitchell among the 15 players on the roster at training camp, which started Monday.

"Obviously, we play with more of a chip [on our shoulders]," Mitchell said, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "I think a lot of countries think they see an opening, so for us we have to go out there and compete and get ready. We're going to get every team's best shot."

Team USA coach Gregg Popovich said he is only worried about the players who are at training camp.

"I've said that we're going to be fine and by that what I really meant is that we're blessed with a lot of depth in USA Basketball," he said. "All of the players here want to be here, there's no question about it. And that's a big part of the battle itself. And so, when you look at the enthusiasm, the youth, the athleticism and versatility, that'll really work well for us because our depth will be a factor.

"These are not 'C' players. You've heard a lot of criticism about who isn't here, and I keep repeating that it's about who is here. There's some really good talent and it's going to be difficult getting to a 12-man roster when you really think about it. So, every day is important to these players and I would say today's effort was terrific. We had a great first day of practice. Certain individuals did an outstanding job. Overall, it was terrific."

The 2019 FIBA World Cup begins in China on Aug. 31. Team USA begins play against the Czech Republic on Sept. 1.